Nana 19

Ai Yazawa – Viz – 2009 – 21+ volumes

I never really have that much to say about Nana, since even dropping a little hint would spoil every volume, but it breaks my heart every time.  Even volumes like this one, that aren’t particularly sad, are heartbreaking and excellent in a way that only Nana can be.

Several things happen, including a resolution to the Shin situation, a light at the end of the tunnel for the problems that Ren and Nana have (or at least a healthy view on Ren’s part), a proposal from Nana to Hachi, and a separate, but no less disturbing problem that Ren seems to be getting into.  I would rather the series not take that path, but it should be interesting if it blows up and the other characters catch wind of it.

But I want to talk a little bit about Takumi.  Takumi is the closest this series has to a bad guy.  Not very many people like him, and he started the series off as a jerk.  We were given hints he wasn’t all that serious about Hachi.  But as the volumes progressed, any hints we were given about infidelity seemed like just teases, aside from the dangerous, but necessary and long-standing relationship between he and Reira.  He seems to wave back and forth between pushing Reira away and encouraging her affection depending on her mood, and he does the same in this volume, but in a less veiled way than before since Reira is emotionally unstable without Shin.  Takumi also comes home late to Hachi and always leaves her feeling lonely, something that it’s hard to forgive him for.  But on the other hand, whenever he is home, we see that he and Hachi lead a somewhat cozy, affectionate domestic life, and he treats Hachi with a great deal of love and devotion.

This time around, we learn that Reira is more important to him than anybody else, but while he is a womanizer, Hachi is the only one he loves for real.  The problem with Takumi is that he’s not very sincere.  He may love Reira, his childhood friend, but he seems more devoted to Hachi, his wife.  He may love both women, which puts him in a spot, but not a spot he would ever, ever seek advice for a way out of.  He doesn’t really have any friends to talk to, anyway.  From the way he carefully words things, I would guess that he loves Hachi and indulges and is very attached to Reira, who does need emotional support.

Basically, aside from all the weird craziness that came up in this volume, I took away the fact that Takumi is probably my favorite character, and one of the more interesting things about the series.  And for all that stuff I mentioned up there, he and Yasu are probably the most centered, least emotional people in the main cast.  They are the ones that call the shots and offer advice to the others, but Takumi is a bit more direct, demanding, and evil in what he does than Yasu.  I like him a great deal for it.