Nana, the work used to surpass One Piece

I think that everyone has a favorite anime as their treasure, and today I am going to talk about my precious anime Nana. Nana may not be familiar for anime fans in recent years, but the plot makes me hang on for years, and its style is never outdated.

Between 2000 to 2018, Nana is the only manga that surpassed One Piece in 2005. As the only manga that surpassed the top, Nana has its unique attractiveness. While Nana was serialized in a monthly magazine, One Piece is serialized weekly. Both two works have a common feature: Both works are not finished. In 2009, it was revealed that Manga artist AI Yazawa had contracted a sudden illness, putting Nana on hiatus. The manga was serialized from 1999 to 2009, was one of the top favorite manga for women.

Great work is always worth reading repeatedly. In terms of plot, it will bring you new insights to any age when you read the anime. To the present day, the work has been released for more than twenty years. Let's review this classic work today.

"Hey, Nana, Do you remember our first encounter?"

The story begins on a snowy night when two girls of the same age, with different purposes, meet on a train to Tokyo.

Nana Osaki (Nana O.) is a punk girl who went to Tokyo for her dream of pursuing a professional music career with a band. While Nana Komatsu (Nana K.) is a naïve girl who went to Tokyo for her boyfriend with no goal other than to be silly. It looks like they are in parallel lines that will never intersect, but fate is so magical that we can never guess it.

Nana O. and Nana K. hit it off when they first met. They are sharing the same given name - that's the most coincidental part. Nana K. asked the waitress for two beers and cheers for their encounter.

After a few days, the two were separated at the station, they were introduced to the same apartment by the rental agent. They both did not want to give up the apartment at first, but later the agent suggested that they may share the apartment together. Then Nana O. and Nana K. began a life of living together.

Room 707, the pronunciation of 7 in Japanese is as same as their name "nana", while the number 7 has a bad significance in Japanese. Manga artist AI Yazawa has mentioned the number 7 several times in the work, perhaps it is foreshadowing of what fate that two girls may suffer in the future.

Let's slightly talk about the relationship of the two girls.

Nana O. not only went to Tokyo for her dream but also for the man she loved, Honjou Ren, her former member of the band Blast. Ren was scouted by a record company in Tokyo and soon moved to Tokyo for his career development. Nana O. did not follow Ren to Tokyo immediately but decided to pursue her music dream again in Tokyo after almost one year of hiding her light. Although Nana O. got back together with Ren, Ren did not love Nana O. with all his heart. It is no wonder that Manga artist AI Yazawa arranged such a sad ending for Ren later.

On the other hand, Nana K. always easily falls in love. To follow her boyfriend Shoji, she came to Tokyo. But later her boyfriend cheated. And then she fall in love with Nobuo but quickly separated. Finally, she gets pregnant with a child of Takumi. She change three men while she stay less than one year in Tokyo.

I always think that Nana O. and Nana K. love each other the most, no matter how many men have changed around them.

And I think that when Nana O. and Nana K. in the fireworks event, the moment that they smile at each other, is the most touching screen for me. When I watched this episode for the first time, I feel my mood is like Nana O.'s mood, full of emotion.

On a summer night with fireworks, girls in a kimono, and Nana O.'s words of reveal feelings are so impressive.

Some people classified Nana as Girls Love anime, but I don't think so. I think it is an emotion similar to love but better than love.

Besides emotional relationships, the process and attitude of pursuing the dream of the main characters are also admirable.

"All you need to pack for Tokyo is a guitar and cigarettes." The person who said it is Nana O.. She is like a female warrior who will get tired and needs to rest, but the flag of the dream in her mind will never fall down.

And Nana K. dreams to become a beautiful bride. Her dream is simple but sweet enough.

Ren wants to be a good bass player, which is why he gave up everything in his hometown and went to Tokyo alone, to pursue his dream.

Takagi is a lawyer. It is a decent career, but he gave up and try to restructure the band Blast.

People never stop chasing their dream, although maybe the ending is not perfect. But people may not regret the process and effort along the way.

I have thousands of words in my mind about this anime, but I can only describe how good it is through these words. When I watched the anime for the first time, I was only 17 years old. Now I am no longer as young and innocent as I was back and time has changed, I have new interpretations and thoughts about the work.

The Manga artist AI Yazawa has created the most touching works. If you have not watched the anime, I highly recommended you watch it. I believe you will gain a lot from the work.