Ne, Nana… – [NANA Review]

This is a show I’ve put off watching for years with no reason. I was always deeply interested in it, it was just something I never got around to, and the few times I’d think of doing so I’d get sidetracked. Finally, after accidentally avoiding it all these years I watched the hell out of it. It starts off happily enough – and yet, right away, you can feel this is going to be something special. Something far beyond what you’re expecting. And mixed with that is the feeling of something ominous, something that you’ll notice episode after episode and never understand until much further in – one small line that always makes you get a really bad feeling the moment it shows up and makes it near impossible to stop watching and is both the very first line in the show and the very last, “Ne, Nana…”.

Nana in concert and singing the best BLAST song? Yeah, best OP.

NANA defines what truly should be considered “mature” anime. I see a lot of people asking for mature shows or saying how mature a series full of nothing but titties and gore is – because of said titties and gore, and I’ve never gotten how they could think that’s mature. It’s actually the opposite, it’s childish. It’s brainless violence and sexuality being thrown in your face for entertainment value, which is fine, but it’s not something that’s anywhere near mature.

How is Nana so damn beautiful?

However, NANA deals with pretty undeniably real people going through real things and having very real emotions. It’s by far the most “human” thing I’ve seen out of anime, literature, or much of anything else. I said Space Bros is the most “real” series I’ve seen – but NANA actually steals that spot…sadly in a very depressingly fucked up real way all in itself, dealing with all the things in this world we’d rather forget; things from cheating, betrayal, a much more true-to-life view of love and relationships to deep trauma, PTSD, impulse decisions and consequences of youth, and so on. It’s an amazing feat of storytelling and character development that resonates so damn perfectly with the viewer that it can genuinely change things in the audience purely because of how well it makes you feel as if you’re watching yourself and the mistakes you’ve made and thoughts you’ve had. This show is full of twists you won’t see coming yet are never ‘out of nowhere’ bullshit either so you’re always on your toes, watching for hints and signs of what will come next.

The character development is also handled so realistically that there are no “bad” characters. Everyone that seems like a shithead can easily develop into someone much better…while the opposite is true too, everyone that seems like a great person may easily change drastically into one of the most horrible people in the show very quickly. Real life doesn’t work so simply as a person being good or bad – people change, things happen, and a person can go from being the most normal cute person to being a disgusting piece of shit. On the other side, a person can appear at first glance as a shitty punk deviant problem causing slut and actually be one of the most pure kind-hearted people you’ll ever come to know. The bad may be forgiven, and the good may be hated, it all depends on their actions and people don’t always pick the bad or good. This is something rarely portrayed in anime on such a level and something, even in real life, most people tend to forget.

It’s all done so exceedingly well that no matter who you are or what you’ve gone through, you’ll feel a deep connection with the cast and empathize with them through all the shit the show puts them through. As for me, a lot – and I mean almost all – of the stuff in the show was just so damn familiar, and much of the stuff either Nana said or felt were things I’ve specifically even said or reacted to in the same exact ways – it was almost jarringly familiar. It was like watching a series based on me with characters portraying different sides of myself, especially the two Nana’s. It made me see a new perspective on who I am in some aspects, changed the entire way I interact with one of my only friends, helped me realize quite a bit about who I am and why I’m that way, and even gave me a really deep motivation for my pretty recently found passion for writing.

I’ve read a lot, especially when I was younger, and I’ve seen a lot of anime, tv shows, movies, whatever. I’ve loved much of it, and a lot got to me real deeply. However, NANA steps into an area I didn’t know literature or whatever else could really get into, an area that’s almost uncomfortably personal. It resonates so damn perfectly with me in ways that just aren’t really easy to put into words. At times it was even too much for me to watch – it was just too damn close to home or brought back a rush of shitty memories I finally wiped from my mind. And at other times, it was almost creepily way too “me” – often in the monologues saying things that were almost verbatim with what I’ve said to a close friend over a month or so due to almost pushing them out of my life constantly and trying to explain myself and things I’ve dealt with and had on my mind for years. Having such deep and some of it fucked up emotions show up almost copy pasted out of my own words and thoughts was funny at first, but then it got further along and it was almost painful at times.

It felt like a show made just for me, based on me, based on my deepest and some of my darkest feelings and thoughts, to let me see myself from multiple points of view. Almost the entire cast was too familiar as myself, with the only real exceptions being Shoji and Sachi (who are both just complete shit). The two Nana’s however were the ones I really saw myself in the most. At first, Nana Komatsu – and then about halfway through the show, Nana Osaki – whom at first was more like how I’d rather be, but because of events in the story ended up a lot like myself.

Seriously, how’s she so damn nice to look at?

Of course – that’s all my personal experience with the show, but this is a masterpiece even without including that. The series is extremely well put together; the music is fucking outstanding, the cast is so perfectly crafted and developed from start to finish that it’s almost unbelievably well done, and the story is so real there’s no way anyone would get by without ending up connected to the rather large and diverse ever-changing cast or empathizing and sympathizing with them for one reason or another. I suppose this ended up being less of a review and more of a personal experience with the show, but whatever.

If I had any complaint – it’s that very early on (like episode 4 or 5, maybe sooner) had way too much recap in them. It was done on purpose to show the different point of view from each Nana but it just felt like they went far overboard in 2 of the episodes, so please don’t let it make you misjudge the show – if it bothers you too much just skip through for any new scenes (which they all have) and go past all the stuff you’ve seen already. It never happens again, so no worries. There’s literally nothing else in this show that’s not top notch.

So fashionable!

Seriously, don’t worry about it’s demographic, genre, or how it looks. Just watch the damn thing. Really, you’ll regret missing this or putting it off – this is one of the most human and mature stories you’ll find in anything. As for me, even before completing it – it managed to put itself in my top 5 anime I’ve ever seen and actually takes the number one spot.

Edit – years later I got around to rewatching it and I have to say it’s still as amazing as it always was and still holds strong without peer as my top favorite series of all time.