Manga Review: Nana Volume 1

Ai Yazawa

1999, Shueisha, Japan

Allison Wolfe (English Adaptation)

2005, VIZ Media, USA

Romance/ drama

8.7/10 stars

            Nana Komatsu thinks she’s cursed.  She might be named for the “lucky” number seven, been when it comes to love, luck has never been on her side.  First there was her crush on the art teacher, then the video store worker, then the chef, then the baby-faced pizza boy, then her ill-fated affair with a married man.  Now, broken hearted and with no ideas for the future, Nana must once again rely on a helping hand from her best friend, Junko.  However, it’ll take more than Junko’s help to teach Nana what really matters, and a lesson in life and love may come too late to save her.

 Nana Osaki is totally opposite – she’s never needed a boyfriend to know who she is.  It might be fate that brings her and ultra-cool bassist Ren together, but it’s talent and a love of music that makes their band, and their relationship, work.  It is fate or love then that takes Ren away from Nana, to find success with a new band in Tokyo?  Nana will once again only have herself to depend on, if she’s to make a life for herself without Ren…but fate hasn’t finished with her, either.

 Nana is the separate stories of two twenty year old women who share the same name, and who both dream of leaving their mundane lives behind for the glamour and opportunity of Tokyo.  Volume 1 provides the prologue to their meeting where, apparently, the number seven has an important hand in deciding both their destinies.

 As a story, it is compassionately written and superbly executed.  The Nanas are nothing alike – Nana Komatsu is a typical boy-crazy girl, Nana Osaki is passionate and headstrong.  Though friends play an important role on both sides, their name is really the only thing the title characters have in common.  Both stories have high and low points, just as both Nanas have good and bad traits.

 Ai Yazawa’s story-telling is mature and engaging, well-paced, with an almost lyrical rhythm.  The twists are sharp and the emotion intense.  Artwork is as detailed as the lives of the girls it depicts.  Hair, fashion and character design are excellent.  While Nana has a definite shojo style, with the long, slim, beautiful characters, Ai Yazawa has ensured each one is distinct; no doubling-up of pretty boys or girls.  The boys look like boys too, which is a rare thing in shojo manga, and they’re no less sumptuous for it.

 While I thoroughly enjoyed this volume, I thought it needed a more generous supply of humour.  With so much drama and tension, Ai Yazawa really needed to crack a joke more often.  Maybe she’ll lighten up once the serialisation begins in Volume 2, but for now, the story is a bit too intense.

 That’s my only complaint, however.  Nana Volume 1 is brilliantly written, engaging and heartfelt, and damn good to look at to boot.  I’d recommend it to older readers who like a more realistic approach to life and romance than most shojo manga provide.