Magazine Cookie | ||
 | ||
English publisher Madman EntertainmentViz Media Original run July 2000 – June 2009 (on hiatus) Genres Drama, Romance novel, Music Similar Paradise Kiss, We Were There, Kimi ni Todoke, Vampire Knight, Love Com | ||
Nana (ナナ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. It was serialized in Cookie magazine from July 2000 until June 2009 when it went on indefinite hiatus, with its chapters collected into 21 tankōbon volumes published by Shueisha. The series derives its title from the name of the two main characters, both of whom are called Nana. Nana Komatsu is a small town girl who goes to Tokyo to follow her boyfriend and college friends, with the hope of having her dream life. Nana Osaki was in a popular punk rock band in her hometown. She goes to Tokyo with the goal of making it big as a singer. The two Nanas meet on the train ride to the city. Later, they run into each other again when they happen to check out the same apartment, and the girls decide to become roommates. The series chronicles their friendship and their lives as each chases her dreams.
Contents
The manga was adapted into a live-action film in 2005, with a sequel released in 2006. An anime adaptation created by Madhouse aired on Nippon TV between April 5, 2006 and March 27, 2007. All Nana media has been licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media. They serialized the manga in their Shojo Beat magazine until the August 2007 issue, while also publishing it in the tankōbon format. They released both films in 2008 and their English dub of the anime was broadcast on the Funimation Channel beginning in September 2009. Nana won the 2002 Shogakukan Manga Award for Shōjo manga and has sold over 43 million copies.
Plot
Nana Osaki is a punk rock singer who wants to debut with her band, Black Stones (BLAST for short), where she is the lead vocalist and her boyfriend, Ren, is the bassist. Nana and Ren have lived together as lovers since she was 16. When Ren is offered a chance to debut in Tokyo as a replacement member of the popular band, Trapnest, Nana chooses to continue on with BLAST and to cultivate her own career instead of following Ren, as she has too much ambition to simply be a rockstar's girlfriend. She eventually leaves for Tokyo at the age of twenty to start her Musical career.
Nana Komatsu, the other Nana, has a habit of falling in love at first sight all the time, and depending on other people to help her. When her friends, and then her boyfriend, leave for Tokyo, she decides to join them a year later after having saved enough money at the age of twenty.
The two Nanas meet on a train by chance, both on their way to Tokyo. After a string of coincidences, they come to live together in an apartment numbered 707 (nana means "seven" in Japanese). Despite having contrasting personalities and ideals, the Nanas respect each other and become close friends.
While BLAST begins to gain popularity at live gigs, the two Nanas face many other issues together, especially in the areas of friendship and romance. The story of Nana revolves heavily around the romance and relationships of the two characters as one seeks fame and recognition while the other seeks love and happiness.
Manga
Written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, Nana premiered in Cookie in 2000 where it ran until June 2009, when the series was put on hiatus due to Yazawa falling ill. Yazawa returned from the hospital in early April 2010, but has not specified when or if she will resume the manga. The individual chapters have been collected and published into 21 tankōbon volumes in Japan by Shueisha.
Nana is licensed for English-language release in North America by Viz Media. It was serialized in Viz's manga anthology Shojo Beat, premiering in the July 2005 debut issue and continuing until the August 2007 issue. They published all 21 collected volumes as of July 6, 2010.
Films
Two live-action film adaptations have been made for Nana. The first, Nana, was released on September 3, 2005. The film stars Mika Nakashima as the punk star Nana Osaki, Aoi Miyazaki as Hachi (Nana Komatsu), Ryuhei Matsuda as Ren Honjo, Tetsuji Tamayama as Takumi Ichinose, Hiroki Narimiya as Nobuo Terashima, and Matsuyama Kenichi as Shinichi Okazaki. The DVD edition was released on March 3, 2006. The film did quite well at the Japanese box office, grossing more than 4 billion yen, and staying in the top 10 for several weeks. A sequel, Nana 2, was announced right after the debuted. However, on August 4, 2006, Toho stated that shooting would begin mid-September and that the film was to be released on December 9, 2006. Aoi Miyazaki and Ryuhei Matsuda would not be reprising their respective roles as Nana Komatsu and Ren Honjo; as such, their roles were assigned to Yui Ichikawa and Nobuo Kyou, respectively. Some locations from the manga had been changed for the film, and there also were many plot differences. Additionally, the film's ending is not the actual end of the manga; "Nana" is an ongoing story.
Anime
Nana was adapted into an anime series, directed by Morio Asaka and animated by the studio Madhouse. The first and third openings and third ending songs are sung by Anna Tsuchiya for the band Black Stones, and Olivia sings the second opening and first and second endings for the band Trapnest as Reira Serizawa. The first DVD release was on July 7, 2006. The anime series was intended to be equal to the manga and it was adapted until the 12th tankoubon to avoid filler. According to Junko Koseki (editor of Nana in Shueisha) and Masao Maruyama (president of Madhouse) a second season is probably going to be aired once the manga series is finished.
The anime adaptation was also licensed for release in North America by Viz Media. Funimation got the broadcast rights to Viz Media's dub and it premiered on the Funimation Channel on September 19, 2009.
Albums inspired by Nana
Nana has inspired several studio albums, the most notable being Love for Nana. Several famous artists contributed to it, including English musician Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols, Canadian singer-songwriter Skye Sweetnam, and various Japanese artists. Punk Knight from Nana and Nana's Song Is My Song were albums made up of mostly unknown artists.
Love for Nana
01. BEAT 7 ~The Theme of LOVE for NANA~ / Takamizawa Toshihiko of The Alfee
02. GIMME ALL OF YOUR LOVE !! / Tommy heavenly for BLACK STONES
03. Twinkle / Kimura Kaela for BLACK STONES
04. REVERSE / TETSU69 for TRAPNEST
05. stay away / Abingdon Boys School for BLACK STONES
06. I miss you? / Do As Infinity for BLACK STONES
07. バンビーノ (Bambino) / Tomoyasu Hotei featuring Miho Moribayashi for TRAPNEST
08. Sleepwalking / Glen Matlock & The Philistines featuring Holly Cook for BLACK STONES
09. Sugar Guitar / Skye Sweetnam for TRAPNEST
10. 黎明時代-レイメイジダイ- (reimei jidai) / Japaharinet for BLACK STONES
11. BLACK CROW / Sex Machineguns for BLACK STONES
12. Two Hearts / ZONE for TRAPNEST
13. Cherish / Otsuka Ai for TRAPNEST
Video games
A Nana video game for the PlayStation 2 platform was produced by Konami and released on March 17, 2005. A PlayStation Portable game, Nana: Everything Is Controlled By The Great Demon King!? (ナナ: すべては大魔王のお導き!?, Nana: Subete wa Daimaō no Omichibiki!?) was released on July 6, 2006. A Nintendo DS game, Nana: Live Staff Mass Recruiting! Beginners Welcome (ナナ: ライブスタッフ大募集! 初心者歓迎, Nana: Raibu Sutaffu Daiboshū! Shoshinsha Kangei) was released by Konami in June 2007.
Reception
Volumes 19 and 20 were the third and fifth highest selling (respectively) manga books of 2008. Volumes 1 and 2 were listed on YALSA's "2007 Great Graphic Novels for Teens" list. The first twelve volumes of the manga series have cumulatively sold over 22 million copies. As of 2008, it has sold over 43,600,000 collected volumes. In 2002, Nana won the Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shōjo category.