Nana

Title: NANA
Also Known As: ナナ / Nana
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Subtitle: English
Year: 2005
Genre: Drama, Romance

The Bottom Line

The good news for fans of Ai Yazawa's Nana manga: Nana the movie is a faithful adaptation of this stylish rock and roll romance. The casting is spot-on and it's a blast to see these familiar characters come to life on the silver screen.

The bad news? The live action Nana K. is extra perky… and extra whiny. And when we finally hear Nana O's singing, it simply can't live up to the manga's hype. The movie, like the manga spends a lot of time setting up the story, so by the time the drama's ready to kick into gear, it ends, and expects viewers to come back for more in Nana 2.

Synopsis

Two girls meet on a train headed for Tokyo. The bubbly girl in white is named Nana and she sits next to a black clad rock girl named Nana as well. They talk briefly and seem to share some common bond, before leaving for their own seperate ways. When bubbly Nana looks at an

apartment for rent in Tokyo, of course black clad Nana would be there and wants to rent the same apartment. Instead of trying to decide who should get the apartment they decide to share the apartment as roommates. From there their bond grows closer as they help each other deal with their own personal problems.

Guide Review - Nana (2005)

Two twenty-somethings both named Nana meet on a train bound for

Tokyo. Nana O. is an aspiring singer. Nana K. is a student who just wants to be in love. Fate ties the unlikely pair together, and they become roommates who share their lives, loves, dreams and heartaches.

With its mix of rock, romance and style, Nana by

Ai Yazawa is one of the most popular shojo manga series, ever. So when the movie version was made, the director opted not to mess with success. This first Nana movie (of two made) is a faithful, scene-by-scene re

presentation of what readers enjoyed in the manga. Depending on your familiarity with the Nana story, this can be a mixed blessing.

Fans of the Nana manga will be thrilled to see their fa

vorite characters come to life. The casting is spot-on perfect. Mika Nakashima embodies the spirit of proud, determined Nana O. Cute and sweet Aoi Miyazaki perfectly suits the character of naïve Nana K. And it's fun to hear and see both Blast and Trapnest live in concert. But going from print to live action has its downsides too.

In the manga, Nana K. is perky and emotionally immature. When translated to the silver screen, Nana K's swings between being cutesy and whiny are more irritating than a Rachel Ray marathon on Food Network. Nana O. also suffers in this transition as Nakashima's merely adequate singing simply cannot live up to the manga's hype of her character's supposed raw talent and charisma.

Does this movie work as an adaptation of the manga? Yes, definitely. Can it stand alone as a great film to viewers who've never read the comics? Probably not – there's too much crammed in and it ends by presuming that viewers will stick around for Nana 2 to see the real drama kick into gear.

So if you're a Nana fan, this is your flick. If not, read the manga first – it'll make a lot more sense, and will be a lot more fun.

Cast:

Mika Nakashima - Nana Osaki
Aoi Miyazaki - Nana Komatsu
Hiroki Narimiya - Nobuo Terashima
Ken'ichi Matsuyama - Shin
Saeko - Sachiko
Yuna Ito - Reira Serizawa
Momosuke Mizutani - Naoki
Anna Nose - Jyunko
Takehisa Takayama - Kyosuke
Tomomi Maruyama - Yasu
Tetsuji Tamayama - Takumi
Ryuhei Matsuda - Ren Honjou
Yuta Hiraoka - Shoji Endo
Seiji Nozoe
Natsuki Okamoto

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