One night, a 20 year old girl named Nana gets on a train to move to Tokyo. She sits next to another 20 year old girl named Nana who is also moving to Tokyo. Despite the coincidences, they’re very different; one is a comphet flake (and I think a satanist) while the other is an ambitious musician who is absolutely going to get big because she’s that good.
They talk the entire train ride and get along great and don’t plan on meeting again. But if they didn’t meet, there wouldn’t be one of manga’s (and anime’s) most beloved and frustrating love stories.
The Nanas next run into each other when checking out an apartment that would be perfect if it wasn’t just a little too big and too expensive for one. Clearly fate wants them to be roommates and best friends and maybe more.
The first volume of Nana: 25th Anniversary Edition by Ai Yazawa includes a prologue that shows how Nanas were before they met. One, the flake, is a mess. To avoid confusion, she’s called Hachi – not as a compliment (if you’re not familiar and click the link, be aware it’s a sad dog story). She sleeps with at least one married man, and she wants a boyfriend so much it’s sick. Hachi Nana doesn’t even see men as people, she falls in love at first sight constantly, and will throw out her personality to match whoever she has a crush on. When I was a teen and in my 20’s, I knew plenty of girls who had similar boyfriend fixations and I think they’re all lesbians now, so it’s hard for me not to read her that way. This interpretation of her character is fairly common – and from my perspective it takes away from the bigger issue of her constantly praying to the demon lord and those prayers seemingly being answered.
The other Nana – who’s just Nana – has less pages because she’s a mystery badass. She grew up poor and got in mild trouble. She liked fashion and music. Her relationship with her boyfriend was pretty healthy and supportive – especially since they were playing Sid and Nancy of murder-suicide fame.
The volume ends with Nanas moving in together and getting settled. They seem well on their way to becoming best friends and maybe more.
Nana is notoriously unfinished due to the creator’s health, but there have been rumors and official announcements that the end will come out. I’d like to wait for that before I pick up the rest of the anniversary volumes. But I’ve said similar things about this series before. When my husband saw me with the volume he said, “I thought you were done reading about ‘those damn kids.’” I was. They’re so frustrating. But it’s worth it. I just talked myself into requesting the 2nd volume from the library.
