“Nana” is a live-action movie that is a direct adaptation from its anime and manga counterparts. Anybody that has watched the anime series and read the manga should understand the plotline behind Nana. It revolves around two young women of the same age whom are both named “Nana.” One is named Nana Osaki and the other one is named Nana Komatsu. The two of them meet up by fate on a train ride to Tokyo. Both girls have their own reasons for heading to Tokyo.
The two of them are separated temporarily. Nana Komatsu who goes by the name of “Hachi” goes to Tokyo to live with her current boyfriend. At the same time, Nana Osaki is a punk rock singer trying to restart her band called the “Black Stones” or “BlaSt” for short. Contrasting to the anime series, the movie starts off a bit in the past detailing the old Black Stones that consisted of Nana Osaki and her ex-boyfriend Ren Honjo who had left the band to pursue his goal of going mainstream as he got an offer to join a popular mainstream band called Trapnest.
After a series of coincidences, the two of them end up sharing an apartment together. The two of them are very contrasting in goals and personalities. In the case of Nana Osaki, she’s looking to become famous with her band. In the case of Nana Komatsu, she’s simply looking for romance. Nana Osaki tends to be a bit more serious and focused on her work than looking to find romance. Nana Komatsu is given the nickname of Hachi because she resembles a happy and cheerful puppy. In terms of personality, Hachi tends to be pretty bubbly and scatterbrained.
There’s really no solid linear plotline involved in the movie. A solid plotline is also absent from the anime series and the manga itself. All three versions of Nana are very much non-linear as they are deemed a slice of life. Slice of life type stories do not have a solid plotline or objective as it focuses on the daily lives of people. The daily lives of both Nanas are the basis for the movie. There is a lot of things that aren’t covered in the movie that are present in both the anime and manga.
But there are key points in the anime and manga present in the movie such as their apartment number “707.” The apartment number plays a lot of significance as “Nana” is Japanese for seven. While there are forty seven episodes of the anime series, the movie itself only covers half of the anime series. Mainly because that the live-action version runs almost at two hours and there’s a lot of things that have to be taken out because of time constraints.
Still, the live-action movie is pretty enjoyable. The movie tends to cover all the extremely important points covered in both the anime and manga counterparts. However, the movie tends to be more grounded in reality. The anime series itself is more comical and animated like any typical cartoon. But, the two of them do stay true to their respective anime and manga counterparts.
As explained, the movie tends to cut off halfway into the anime. Anybody that has kept track with the anime series should be familiar with the ending of the live-action movie. Everybody tends to stay true to their counterparts.
The rest of the anime series is very much covered in the live-action sequel called “Nana 2.” However, it is said that the sequel wasn’t as well received as the first one. In a sense, it tends to follow the manga more carefully as it’s a bit more serious than the anime series. Japanese actors Ryuhei Matsuda and Aoi Miyazaki who respectively play Ren Honjo and Nana Komatsu do not reprise their roles in the sequel. Pop singers Mika Nakashima and Yuna Ito respectively play their roles of Nana Osaki and Reira Serizawa in both films.
Both singers had released soundtracks under their characters’ names. Mika Nakashima does a great job portraying the role of Nana Osaki.
If you’ve enjoyed watching the anime and reading the manga, you may enjoy watching the live action movie. Nana remains an interesting slice of life movie that revolves around the culture of rock ‘n’ roll.
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