Beneath The Sheets

‘Even now I am still calling your name.’

Anime?
Over the past few years I’ve watched my fair share of anime and I guess you could call this the first of a fair few recommendations I will most likely end up doing.

Anime is japanese cartoons however they differ greatly to the types of cartoons you are probably used to seeing or would probably even expect. Anime in Japan is deeply routed into Japanese culture and is watched by millions, most Anime shown on TV is in fact aimed at older teens and adults rather than at young children.

There are series about cooking, ones about death gods, ones about solving murders, and down the more seedy end of the scale one’s all about lesbian police women.

So, there’s a whole bunch of cartoons to watch in Japan is basically what I am saying and if you’re reading this you probably already knew that anyway. However I have found that you have to watch a fair amount of sub-par anime before you hit a real gem.

What is Nana?

Nana is in short is my favorite anime of all time. Nothing I have watched before or after has topped it, and I think it defiantly stands up there as one of the top 10 anime releases of the past few years.

It is based on a Japanese shojo manga series of the same name, by one of my favorite manga artists Ai Yazawa. The series itself is a huge success and is the 5th best selling shojo manga to date.

It is so popular in Japan in fact that two live action movies have been made following the same time span as the first anime season, however the anime is much better than the movies.
Although the first series of the anime is finished and no more will be made until the manga story is complete the manga it is still being released in japan monthly as well as being translated into English by Viz media.

Nana is considered as a ‘girls comic’ I wouldn’t say it is a series that would be completely lost on boys, it was most defiantly not lost on me it has many male fans even though the two main protagonists themselves are female. However if most of the anime you enjoy watching is filled with men wielding swords around this one probably isn’t for you.

The story

One thing that makes an amazing anime is a strong and well rounded story and Nana defiantly has the series sticks closely to the original manga story which is brilliantly written and translates perfectly to screen.

The anime is a true to life show, one would almost call it a ’soap opera’ but without all of the cheesy acting.

The pretext of the show is simple two girls of exactly the same age, with exactly the same name (Nana, literally meaning ‘7′ seen as an unlucky number in Japan) meet one day on a train to Tokyo where they are both relocating to live their dreams. The two Nana’s however couldn’t be more different from one another.

Nana Komatsu (also known as Hachi) is a chatty, overly excited, ditsy type character with a past full of broken hearts and foolish loves due to her habit of easily falling for men, usually the wrong ones.

She is moving to Tokyo to be with her current boyfriend and live out her dream of being the perfect girlfriend.

Nana Osaki, the other is a singer in a punk band, decked out in Vivienne Westwood accessories with a brooding and secretive personality. Her past is a lonely one that is scattered with pain and loss, as well as an old band member boyfriend (who is now rocketing to fame in a band of his own.)

She is moving to Tokyo to peruse her career as a front woman and to make sure her band becomes better than than her ex-boyfriends.

These two completely conflicting characters meet accidentally not once, but twice and eventually find their fate together is sealed as they become flatmates to save on renting costs. This choice however changes their fate and their lives in a way that they could never had imagined as they tackle lifes hurdles together including both of their pasts coming back to haunt them.

This may seem a little thin story wise but the show really comes into its own eventually, with love triangles, prostitution, drugs and while all of this unfolds you watch the friendship of two girls slowly growing stronger to the point that separation would be the most painful thing to occur.

The characters

There is more than just the story making this anime my personal best however, the characters themselves are incredibly well rounded.

‘Hachi’ though chatty and fun loving is never shown as the usual completely dumb blonde 2-dimensional character, there is pain in her heart and she is trying her hardest to be a better person and not to fall in love so easily.

Where as with Nana Osaki you expect a purely aggressive, punk and brooding attitude but instead are shown a character in need of love and affection. Someone who like most people is unsure of herself and where she is heading in life as she takes risks and tries to aim for her dreams. Through all of her uncertainty and struggle she still laughs like her heart is aglow.

Their characters are revealed slowly and delicately to the viewer, with small glimpses into their past and heartbreaking voice overs at the start of each episode referencing their futures. You want them to stay together forever even as unlikely as it seems.

They are the kind of characters that you find yourself drawn to incredibly they make you feel you are one of them or that you know someone just like them, as you watch how they react to situations you have been through yourself or hope you never will have to go through.

They are possibly the most real characters I have ever watched in an anime, and I would go as far as saying they are more real than a deal of characters I’ve watched in movies and television shows. You never doubt them.

The way I am describing this however you could almost be lead to think that these two are the only characters in the show, however this is not the case there is an incredibly large team of characters in this show.

Members of the band BLAST and their rival band Trapnest for example, this being said none of these characters get overlooked unlike a lot of other anime ‘co-stars.’ None of the characters are thrown in there purely for ‘comic effect’ or for ‘filler’.They are not put in there to represent a ’stereotype’ or anything else for that matter, they are there with their own troubles and triumphs with their own back stories and relationships.

The music

What sets Nana apart from many other anime is the music that is heavily present within it, mostly due to the storyline and the two bands within the show.

The music itself isn’t overdone however there are only a handful of songs featured in the 47 episodes and nearly all of these are the opening and ending themes, you end up loving these songs though and they really do get stuck in your head.

For the songs Yazawa wanted two artists that would represent the two front women in the show, namely Nana Osaki and Reira Serizawa. The two artists that represent these characters are Anna Tsuchiya (Nana) and Olivia Lufkin (Reira) the songs they perform are based upon these characters and their lives as the two artists take on the persona’s of the characters themselves, someone that you would be very unlikely to see happen in the west.

Olivia to me is an amazing artist and one of my favorite Japanese solo artists. She personified the character Reira through the entire period she was working on Nana and I feel it is a shame she couldn’t have played Reira in the live action movie.

The voice-overs

‘Hey, Nana. Do you remember the day we met?’

The voice-overs in Nana isn’t something that many people write about however they are something that often really touched me and really made me want to watch till the end.

At the start and end of most episodes there is always a voice-over, firstly from Hachi and later in the series from Nana these little snippets of thought are almost conversations from one Nana to the other they are insights into the future, foreshadowing heartbreaking events that may occur.

They never ruin the story for you and are presented in a vague manner however when you find yourself sinking deep into the story they can become quite upsetting which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Not convinced?

Should you watch it? That is probably a question you’re asking yourself if you’ve read this and it isn’t a question I can answer for you.

The program though not shockingly adult in content is quite a mature show and you would need a level of maturity to understand a lot of the situations that occur.

It does feature relationships and sex and can be quite upsetting at times, however all of this aside I would still recommend it to most people.
It is clever and thought provoking, and for anyone who has ever loved someone so much they never want to let them go it can strike many truths.

When you’re watching it you forget completely about it being a cartoon. It forces you to feel for the characters and the situations and you find yourself deep in the story and in love with the characters when they cry, you cry.

I would say give it a go at the least watch a few episodes, there are subbed DVD’s out there to buy and if you’re not that convinced it is pretty easy to find to watch/download online.

Watch a few episodes and you’ll soon find out if it is something you will enjoy, it is better than any soap opera that I have ever seen and if you like programs that are true to life I swear you won’t be disappointed.

Again though, if you are used to supernatural anime or horror anime this may not be your thing but bear in mind horror/supernatural are my favorite anime genre’s and I still found NaNa enjoyable.

If you do watch it let me know what you think. I’d also love to hear what your favorite anime is? Is there a similar anime to Nana you think I’d enjoy? I’m always looking out for new shows so please drop me a comment.