NANA!

Edit: After reading the Nana manga and finding out what happens in the prospective season, I have come to the conclusion that Ai Yazawa was/is on crack, and a 7th grader could have written a better storyline. I will not be watching the next installment.



Original post:

Dear Ai Yazawa,

Why oh why must you be the queen of realistic romance/slice-of-life stories?

First of all, I just want to say that I am a huge fan of your work. I think I may have started off reading Nana, then your first famous manga Tenshi nanka Ja Nai (I'm not an angel). And though I loved the latter as a whole, parts of it made me weep from the abysmal depths of my heart. Why must your work be so gut wrenching? Why do you have to make us feel miserable before we can have the happy (or a crappy) ending????

Sincerely,

Pachinko

P.S. Hope you get better soon so you can finish off Nana. がんばって!

I am more than halfway through Nana, the anime. I started out hesitantly because I knew that it would have the same feel as Tenshi nanka Ja Nai as well as Paradise Kiss (which in my opinion sucked balls--sorry). Because I excel so much in procrastinaton, I started watching something that I had downloaded four years ago..

It started off so-so. Girl meets girl on train. They are the same age, both heading to Tokyo, both with the same name, Nana. Coincidence or fate? That is, until they meet again a few days later at a real estate inspection, both looking for somewhere to live. They decide to live together to split the renting cost, so begins the story of Nana x Nana or later, Nana x *Hachi(ko).

If I had to get down to what really bothered me about this anime, it's this: The character of Nana Komatsu, aka Hachi, is annoying as shit.
But why you say? Because she's all happy and ditsy in the first half of the series, then she gets her heart broken by a weak douchebag and becomes an emotional train wreck who cries at the drop of a hat, that's why. Normally, I wouldn't give two hoots about this sort of character in an anime, but because she's so central to the storyline and the other characters, it's very hard to ignore.

The Hachi Disaster Timeline

Episodes 1-3. You learn that Hachi has an affair with a married man. Enough said.

Episode 4. She and Shouji fall in love.


Your naiveté makes me cry



Episode 12. By this episode Hachi and Shouji are drifting because of Hachi's selfishness. Shouji starts to fall for Sachiko, his cute colleague and classmate, giving him opportunities to cheat.

Episode 14. She learns of Shouji's infidelities (epic scene) and they break up. So begins the
downward spiral.

omgwtfbbq



Hachi and Nana watch on = Shouji in deep shit



Yes what have you done little girl?

Because she is dumb, Nana!

NoOoOOooo!! I lost to some kid with an ugly fringe!

Episode 19. She meets Takumi, her favourite idol from the band Trapnest, through Nana's boyfriend Ren.

Hachi's inner fangirl is overwhelmed

Episode 21. Hachi and Takumi sleep together on their second encounter, despite her knowledge of him being a womanizer. What where her reasons again? Oh yeah, she wanted to "create special memories" because sleeping with a celebrity doesn't happen everyday! You are way too easy, girl.

Takumi's response to her exclamation that she could die happy being in a luxury suite. Smooth bastard.

Episode 24. She receives a confession of love from Nobu, the sweet kinpatsu (who she absolutely does not deserve) guitarist from the Black Stones. She feels extremely happy even though she is "with" Takumi. And the girl is torn..awww...not.

Episode 27. Hachi and Nobu hook up. She confesses to him that she is a "horrible
woman" (to which I wholeheartedly nodded in agreement to).

Episode 28. So begins Hachi and Nobu's shortlived romance. She tells him that she will break up with Takumi. She eventually does over the phone, and it's like she's "awoken from a 100 year slumber". Pfft.

<3

Episode 29. She tells Nana she's head over heels in love with Nobu, with tears in her eyes for the dramatic effect.

Episode 30. She finds out she is knocked up. Like, o-m-g, who is the father!?

Imagine someone walked in on you when this scene came on. Funny and  awkward!

Episode 31. Nobu claims that he was wearing condoms the whole time so it's a slim chance that he's the baby daddy. Takumi surprisingly takes responsibility , but it doesn't change the fact that he's still a fucking douche.

Episode 33. Hachi doesn't give Nobu a reason to stay together so that he can continue pursuing his music dream. Hachi and Takumi decide to marry. Sad.

Episode 39. She tells her friend Junko she isn't with Takumi just because he's most likely the father, but because she actually loves him. Oh come now, you were head over heels for someone else 10 episodes ago you silly, fickle girl.

Well he doesn't really love you :P

I know this anime gets kudos for being a realistic romance, and deep in my heart I know it's probably one of the best josei animes I've seen. But damnit, all the angst is making me miss the kind of anime that views the world through rose-coloured glass. I don't like to watch something and be reminded how life actually is..that people fall in and out of love as quickly as the wind can change, and that you can be close to someone one day and be strangers the next. So fuck you realists!

Now, it's back to my beloved shoujo.

*Nana means "7" in Japanese so later on, cool Nana decides to call annoying Nana
"Hachi" which means "8,"  and then Hachiko- akin to the dog who waited for its
master.