.anime phreak. – call me Ki様

(ナナ)

Additional info:

This series is currently completed.
Genre: Drama, Romance, Music
Demographic: Shoujo
Animation Studio: MadHouse

Synopsis(ANN):

On board the train to Tokyo to meet her boyfriend Shoji, Nana Komatsu (“Hachi”) happened to sit beside Nana Osaki who was traveling to Tokyo to fulfill her dreams of becoming a musician. The vocalist for her punk band “Blast”, Nana aims for a major debut for “Blast” in Tokyo where her boyfriend, Ren, is the guitarist for a popular band “Trapnest”. Sharing the same name “Nana”, both girls quickly form a bond of friendship. Their paths cross again when they encounter each other while searching for accomodation in Tokyo. Eventually they decide to live together in the same unit and this further strengthens their bond as the two “Nana(s)” go through their love lives and career.

Review:

Artwork and Animation: 10/10
For an anime fan like me who got used to Shounen style of drawing, it takes some getting used to. For me it was easy since I never really liked oversized eyes anyways. That aside, this style still features larger than proportional eyes. The animators tried their hardest to keep it like the style done by Yazawa Ai, which they did a good job in. When I got accustomed to the style I find myself liking this style better, although I still like the sweat-drop on the side of the forehead instead of middle.

Sound (Themes and Inserts): 9/10
Rare usage of themes in this anime, not that it needed it. So that was a good choice, don’t really like the third OP, but I liked all the other ones, especially the ones by OLIVIA. Although it’s about music, its primary focus is on the relationships between the characters, music scenes are rather rare (since it’s not a great idea to put a lot of music scenes in the manga, the anime can’t stress too much on it either). Although they picked the right songs for the OP and ED, again, the third OP seems to be too light to be the OP of the climax section of the anime.
I have most of them uploaded in my box folder, either download them of listen to them on the widget on the right.

Plot (including character development): 11/10
Favourite, hands down. Since I already rated some plot 10/10 and I can’t even place them on the same level, I’ll have to give it a 11/10. This is the first time I’ve seen a manga/anime that is so…real. Throw all your dreams of pure love with a side of fluffy clouds, since this is here to slap reality in your face. Then again, quite a few of anime fans would dislike that since it shatters the idealism and the moe complex of many male audience out there. I say that, but my friend who disliked it was female, but she’s into stuff like fate/stay night. That means this anime is on the extreme side, you’ll find this either very enjoyable or very disappointing. Having rated it 11/10, I can’t say it’s anything less than a masterpiece, and this is a great wake-up call for those otakus (otaki?) out there staying single all their life waiting for the ideal girl that shounen (even some seinen) anime/manga portrays.
My favourite part would be the monologues, it generates suspense and serenity at the same time, because they reminiscing in the monologues you know that something has happened that caused them to be apart, even many years later. But what you don’t know is the event that caused it and if the story will catch up to the present and they get back together. In the sense of reminiscing, they concentrate on every little thing and wondered if it made a difference.

Directing: 10/10
I haven’t read the manga after starting the anime in earnest, but in the beginning I can tell it followed the manga very closely, that includes the directing style. Although some scenes would be too disjointed if done manga style, but a lot of still and pinnacle scenes are done according to the manga. It would be bad if the manga was horrible at those scenes, but that’s not the case, the manga is exceptionally great at those scenes, and it still has a lot of slapstick comedy that’s mixed into the heavy, moody moments that’s characteristic of the NANA series. I especially like how they manage to keep the impact of the monologues from the manga, which in itself should be a hard task since it’s much more time consuming than the manga and can make people impatient.

Overall: 10/10
I was going to stick to the anime-manga-anime-manga-etc… schedule, but as soon as I started the manga I got sucked in and read for quite a bit (to episode 26 equivalent of the anime), and when I started the anime I couldn’t stop until I finished it. It’s that good. But that carries a great deal of guilt if you’re putting behind work to read/watch the series, like I did. Either great planning or discipline is required (I have neither). Definitely buying this series to support it (when I get a credit card). And we have a new #1 on my top anime list! I can’t wait till they come out with Season 2, since they’ll definitely come out with it, since it’s just too good!