Nana (manga)

 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 almost all 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.
The manga was adapted into a live-action film in 2005, with a sequel released in 2006. An anime adaptation directed by Morio Asaka 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. In 2002, "Nana" won the 48th Shogakukan Manga Award for "Shōjo" manga and by 2019 it has over 50 million copies in circulation.
Plot.
Nana Komatsu 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 her then boyfriend, leave for Tokyo, she decides to join them a year later after having saved enough money at the age of twenty.
Nana Oosaki, the other Nana, is the punk-styled lead vocalist of a band called Black Stones (BLAST for short). She had lived with her boyfriend, bassist Ren Honjou since she was 16, but when Ren is offered a chance to debut in Tokyo as a replacement member of a popular band called 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 be relegated to a rockstar's girlfriend. She eventually leaves for Tokyo at the age of twenty to start her musical career.
The two Nanas meet on a train by chance, both on their way to Tokyo. After a string of coincidences, they come to share an apartment. 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.
The main story begins in 1999, and as of volume 21, reaches March 2002. Starting with volume 12, scenes that take place years later are introduced throughout the manga. The monologues by the two Nanas, which are inserted into the story starting with volume 2, are by the two of them several years in the future.
Media.
Manga.
Written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, "Nana" first appeared as a one-shot in 1999 in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of "Cookie", a sister magazine of "Ribon", and began serialization in the July 2000 issue of "Cookie" when it was relaunched as a monthly magazine. 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 under the Ribon Mascot Comics Cookie imprint, except for the four last chapters which were published individually in "Cookie" but never released in tankōbon form.
"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 Oosaki, Aoi Miyazaki as Hachi (Nana Komatsu), Ryuhei Matsuda as Ren Honjou, Tetsuji Tamayama as Takumi Ichinose, Hiroki Narimiya as Nobuo Terashima, and Kenichi Matsuyama 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 first film 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. Miyazaki, Matsuda and Matsuyama would not be reprising their respective roles as Hachi, Ren and Shin; as such, their roles were assigned to Yui Ichikawa, Nobuo Kyo and Kanata Hongō, respectively. Some locations from the manga had been changed for the film, and many plot differences were introduced as well.
Anime.
An animated adaptation of "Nana" was produced by Nippon Television, VAP, Shueisha and Madhouse and directed by Morio Asaka, with Tomoko Konparu handling series composition, Kunihiko Hamada designing the characters and Tomoki Hasegawa composing the music. The first and third openings and third ending songs are sung by Anna Tsuchiya, who provides the singing voice for Nana Oosaki, while the second opening and first and second endings were sung by Olivia Lufkin, who provides the singing voice for Layla Serizawa. The series was published and distributed on 17 DVD volumes by VAP from July 7, 2006 to November 21, 2007. The highest average TV ratings for the series was 6.3% (Kanto region), which was unusually high for a late night anime. In 2007, Viz Media licensed the anime for release in North America and released it on four DVD box sets between September 2009 and April 2010. Funimation got the broadcast rights to Viz Media's dub and it premiered on the Funimation Channel on September 19, 2009. After Viz Media lost the rights, Sentai Filmworks re-licensed the series in 2021.
The anime was intended to be equal to the manga and was adapted up to the first chapter of volume 12 to avoid filler. According to Junko Koseki (editor of "Nana" in Shueisha) and Masao Maruyama (former managing director of Madhouse) a second season will likely be produced once the manga is finished.
Albums inspired by "Nana".
"Nana" has inspired several image and tribute albums, the most notable being "LOVE for NANA 〜Only 1 Tribute〜", an album released by EMI Music Japan on March 16, 2005. Several famous artists contributed to it, including English musician Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Canadian singer-songwriter Skye Sweetnam, and various Japanese artists. The CD was released in gold and silver cover variations, but the content was the same. The 2003 image albums "PUNK NIGHT-from "NANA"" and "NANA's song is my song", on the other hand, were made up of mostly unknown and upcoming artists.
LOVE for NANA 〜Only 1 Tribute〜.
01. BEAT 7〜The Theme of LOVE for NANA〜 / Toshihiko Takamizawa of The Alfee
02. GIMME ALL OF YOUR LOVE !! / Tommy heavenly6 for BLACK STONES
03. Twinkle / Kaela Kimura 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 / Ai Otsuka 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, was released on July 6, 2006. A Nintendo DS game, was released by Konami in June 2007. The voice actors for the PS2 game did not return to reprise their roles for the PSP and DS games, which instead feature the anime's cast.
Reception.
"Nana" won the Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shōjo category in 2002, and was also nominated for the 10th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Award. "Nana" was the top favorite Shōjo manga for Oricon Style in 2005. The Young Adult Library Services Association in the United States listed Volume 1 and 2 in its "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" in 2007. The first twelve volumes of the manga series have cumulatively sold over 22 million copies. Volume 18 was the second highest selling manga series of 2007. During 2008, volume 19 was the third highest-selling manga and volume 20 was the fifth highest-selling manga in Japan, selling 1,645,128 and 1,431,335 copies respectively. By the end of the year, "Nana" was the sixth best selling manga with 3,122,146 copies sold. As of 2008, the manga series has sold over 43.6 million copies. In the first half of 2009, Volume 21 ranked as the third best selling manga, having sold 1.4 million copies. In the United States, volume twenty-one debuted at number 9 on the "New York Times" Graphic Books list for the week of July 10. In a survey conducted by "Goo" in 2012 among 1,939 people, "Nana" was among the top favorite manga for women.
Deb Aoki of About.com ranked "Nana" as the fifth "Must-Read" Shōjo manga series in its "Top Shojo Manga Must-Reads" list, with Aoki stating the manga is "a beautifully-drawn series that is filled with heartfelt drama, big city glamor, fabulous fashion, rock and roll sass and many unexpected twists." She also ranked the manga eight in its "50 Essential Manga for Libraries" list, noting its mature themes and "demonstrates the need for an adult collection."