(L) Nana

[KimmyChan]

This series is so incredibly cool and very good to watch, the manga rocks aswell

[Ryusiangel]

i'm glad its coming out on dvd but i did got bored in the later episodes it like got boring it seems the earlier eps was more good somehow XD; or maybe its cause i hate takumi

[KimmyChan]

It's not coming out on DVD over here in the UK yet unfortunately

Booooo!!! And there was me hoping that it would be soon!

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Marionette

What you said about Takumi...how does most women react to her husband not loving her and does her every wrong he could by being even more of a push over? What did you get that idea? And it's OK that he treat her like shit as long as he prevent her from being a unmarried mom and that she knows her place? How is that a change for the better? PS: thanks for the reminder, I tagged it.

None of the relationships in this manga/anime are ideal. Kind of like real life in that way. It took me a long time to understand where Hachi was coming from in this, but I do think there is still a hangover from the days when Takumi the distant star was her god. He's still larger than life to her, so she accepts being #1 (sort of) of too many, like the wife of an emperor accepted all the other wives and concubines. She knows that he will keep coming back to her, in part because she is less challenging than a lot of women, in part because of his child, in part because he is actually a very responsible guy -- and he is a good provider. When it comes to her child, she is responsible, too.

[golthin]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

None of the relationships in this manga/anime are ideal. Kind of like real life in that way. It took me a long time to understand where Hachi was coming from in this, but I do think there is still a hangover from the days when Takumi the distant star was her god. He's still larger than life to her, so she accepts being #1 (sort of) of too many, like the wife of an emperor accepted all the other wives and concubines. She knows that he will keep coming back to her, in part because she is less challenging than a lot of women, in part because of his child, in part because he is actually a very responsible guy -- and he is a good provider. When it comes to her child, she is responsible, too.

plus hachi has a lot of people that provide her with different kinds of love

[KimmyChan]

The friendship chemistry between Hachi and rocky Nana has always been admirable

[Marionette]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

None of the relationships in this manga/anime are ideal. Kind of like real life in that way.

That's an pretty big understatement for this sham of a marriage. Ren and Nana are not ideal: they have serious issues but they are together because they love each other. It's not like Takumi/Hachi where he keeps her around just because she's easy and pregnant, and she stays around because she's easy and pregnant. In the real life I live in most people don't consider what he does to her even close to being acceptable. In fact, in my reality rape is a crime.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

It took me a long time to understand where Hachi was coming from in this, but I do think there is still a hangover from the days when Takumi the distant star was her god.

She's married to a man who abuses her and she considers him a god, any problem here?

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

He's still larger than life to her, so she accepts being #1 (sort of) of too many, like the wife of an emperor accepted all the other wives and concubines.

Except she didn't grow up in the tenth century where she had no choice and is raised to think that it's OK.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

She knows that he will keep coming back to her, in part because she is less challenging than a lot of women, in part because of his child, in part because he is actually a very responsible guy -- and he is a good provider. When it comes to her child, she is responsible, too.

Coming back to her as in a quick visit to their child every X years like in the flash forward? Or no phone call in three month of absence, like they are now? He can be responsible to their children without being married to the mother, and she doesn't need a "provider" because she's an adult who isn't mentally or physically challenged. She also isn't responsible to get a job and get child support to raise her child and set a good example for him/her, but have to instead marry the first man that offers to bail her out.

Originally Posted by golthin

plus hachi has a lot of people that provide her with different kinds of love

WHat does that suppose to mean? She doesn't need love to marry because she have backups like Nobu and Nana to love her although she'd abandon them as soon as Takumi waves his hand?

[Kaoru Chujo]

Can't really dispute much of what Marionette says here. Thank goodness it's fiction. But for me, these are all full and deep characters. This is not instructions for living, it's art.

[KimmyChan]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

This is not instructions for living, it's art.

Very well put there Kaoru Chujo, I like it a lot...Describes this series perfectly

[Marionette]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Can't really dispute much of what Marionette says here. Thank goodness it's fiction. But for me, these are all full and deep characters. This is not instructions for living, it's art.

Unfortunately it's readers often can't tell the difference, or else they won't think since it happened in the manga that is supposedly realistic and mature and complicated it must be acceptable, instead that since it's realistic and mature and complicated something can happen in the story unchallenged and still be wrong and messed up.

Hence why people would try to excuse Takumi's raping cheating abusive ways and convince themselves that he must love Hachi deep, deep, deep down his heart because this is a shoujo manga so the heroine must choose the right guy and he must love her and they can't split up because shoujo mangas have happy endings and the way it end up to be must be the way life should be.

[KimmyChan]

I sure hope that when I begin to finally start watching the anime, that it lives up to the manga series

Although I'm pretty sure it will stick to the storyline quite well hopefully

[MikaMiaka]

I was just watching Ultraviolet, and noticed that it was Nana's voice. I had no idea how much I loved her voice until I started noticing it in other shows. For someone like me, who doesn't even speak or understand Japanese, to be able to tell a difference between voices, makes her voice VERY distinctive.

It's so damn sexy! I mean, I sat through the crap that is Ultraviolet just because of her voice, heh.

Hence why people would try to excuse Takumi's raping cheating abusive ways and convince themselves that he must love Hachi deep, deep, deep down his heart because this is a shoujo manga so the heroine must choose the right guy and he must love her and they can't split up because shoujo mangas have happy endings and the way it end up to be must be the way life should be.

I haven't read through this thread, but surely, you must be mistaken when you say that most people would convince themselves that Takumi loves Hachi the way she wants him to.

I think most people are heartbroken at the fact that she refused Nobu, because they know that his love for her is real and true. More accurately, what people are trying to convince themselves of is that Nana would be happy without the kind of love that Nobu can provide.

To me, it seems that she cannot survive on the type of affection that Takumi can provide. That's what breaks my heart about this series.

I know she can't. She's just like me, convincing herself that material goods are enough, that as long as a guy can give her stuff and that she can largely do what she wants, she will be happy.

But I think that I've realized that this is not the case.

Overall, I think that we are just used to our heroines being THE ONE, but in this case, perhaps Hachi is NOT The One to break through Takumi's barriers.

If this is so, I want to see whether she can break down the barriers (Takumi does care for her after all -- maybe he tries) or, as the ending FF tells us, whether Nobu can break down her barriers.

Either way, I still find myself questioning whether someone like her deserves such devoted true love.

The fact that this is even a question for me is very telling of how layered the characters are.

Overall, this series has deeply touched me.

[yezhanquan]

As with most shojo anime I've seen, this one's too short. The back portions are the real tear jerkers.

[KimmyChan]

It's one of the more longer series that I've come across lately, as it has 50+ episodes

[Kaoru Chujo]

@MikaMiaka: Nana is voiced by PAKU Romi, who was born in 1972 in Japan to Korean parents, and who won the first annual Seiyuu Award for best female seiyuu of 2006 for her role as Nana.

She is also famous for such roles as Loran Cehack in Turn A Gundam, Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, Teresa in Claymore, and Haraken in Dennou Coil.

I agree with you that she is really a great voice actress. If I had to pick the best female seiyuu of all, it might be her. Her voice is precise, but also can convey deep emotion. Here's a pic:



@yezhangquan -- Yes. The later volumes of the manga are amazing. I really hope we get a new anime. As I hope we get a new series of Skip Beat, which is a different kind of story, but another good shoujo manga that the anime covers only a small part of.

[KimmyChan]

I've read somewhere that the singing voice of Nana Osaki in the anime is Anna Tsuchiya

[Karnot]

I'm quite amazed, that there are people, who watched 50 episodes of anime about a couple of sluts.

[golthin]

Originally Posted by Karnot

I'm quite amazed, that there are people, who watched 50 episodes of anime about a couple of sluts.

I can understand calling Hatchi a slut, but Nana is hardly a slut. Nana only was with one guy during the whole series while Hatchi was with at least 4 guys and 2 of them at the same time.

[yezhanquan]

Seriously, Hachi's folks have been rather loose with her.

[KimmyChan]

Originally Posted by golthin

I can understand calling Hatchi a slut, but Nana is hardly a slut. Nana only was with one guy during the whole series while Hatchi was with at least 4 guys and 2 of them at the same time.

Too true, and it's always best to not take the series & it's character's personalities too seriously as after all, it's only fiction & not all girls in this real-world out there are like Hachi whatsoever