Nana 11

There are only so many ways and times I can say I like something, which is sorta why it’s been quiet around here lately.  The latest batch of books I read were Nana, Skip Beat, and After School Nightmare, all of which are my favorites, now and forever.  I’ve been putting off writing about them because I just don’t know what to say that I haven’t already.  But I always figure something out once I get going, so here we go.

This volume was mostly about the bands, Trapnest and Blast/Black Stones (it’s sort of unclear what the name of Nana’s band is at this point, I can’t remember if the label changed the band’s name, or if the original name of the band is just left over in all the artwork… I remember something about a change from Black Stones to Blast for copyright reasons, but both names are used pretty freely in this volume).  Hachi’s story gets put on the back burner, but sadly she and Nana are still passing like two ships in the night.  Both want to see each other very badly, but can’t think of a reason to be friends anymore.  It literally breaks my heart to read these parts.

Blast is in a remote location recording their album, and the publicity from the Ren/Nana thing seems to only have helped them.  Everyone is predicting big things, and the four members of the band are kept extremely busy, with no room for social calling, both at the retreat and when they get back.  There’s lots of interaction between the Blast characters as a result, but most of them seem to be keeping secrets from all the others.  Nobu starts hanging out with a fellow dorm-mate who he swears isn’t really a romantic interest, Nana is wondering if there’s something between she and Yasu, which is kind of weird and out of left field, Yasu is trying to get Ren and Nana back together (I… guess I didn’t realize they had “broken up?”  when did they?  DID they, or were they just trying to keep apart because of the publicity?), Shin has the whole… Layla thing… yeah, it’s a mess, as always.  There’s a few good Ren/Nana scenes towards the end that are to die for.

Actually, there’s a little bit of Hachi mixed into things here.  We actually see her old, first boyfriend for the first time in a long time, and he talks things over with Jun and her boyfriend.  Hachi shows up at Jackson’s, the old bar, and it winds up being a pretty funny and touching scene.  Even someone like Nana’s old boyfriend, who wasn’t given much story time and hasn’t appeared in forever, you just can’t help but feel for him.  Ai Yazawa is really the best at characters and portraying, quite literally, the most realistic and raw emotional scenes you will ever read.  There is just no other girl’s comic like this one.

There’s a cliffhanger for the next volume.  I really, REALLY hope that Hachi doesn’t wind up flaking out on me.  I don’t think I could take it.

Nana 10

I was a little bummed because this volume was a bit of a rehash of stuff we already knew.  But seeing as how it was a new volume of Nana, I still ate it up on every page.

Again, it’s always hard to talk about these things without spoiling them.  Both Nanas are in this volume, and both have pretty significant roles, but I think that Nana rather than Hachiko probably figures more prominently since the most major event in the volume affects her directly.  Hachiko is in it a lot, though.  With so much stuff going on, my favorite scene was at the end when Takumi came back to see her and made her play a choosing game.  I know Takumi is a huge jerk, and is supposed to be, but it’s nice how much he can be humanized.  I’m still not entirely sure what his deal is, though.

The Sachiko joke came back for another round.  I don’t think it will ever get old.

I also don’t think the unique relationship between the Nanas will ever get old.  It really is what I like best about this series.

Nana 9

So the one thing I kept hearing about this volume was that it revealed the origin of a name, and that it was silly.  For some reason, I thought the name was Trapnest, but I couldn’t think of how there could be a silly origin for that name, because I could pretty much accept any explanation for it.  Well, it wasn’t Trapnest, it was Reira, explaining why her parents named her that.  REIRA.  I must say, I don’t often “hear” names in my head when I’m reading, but I sure do hear that one now.  I have been giggling about it ever since.

Even after what happened last volume, I have a new favorite moment in the series.  Hachi and Nana… well, things happen, and Hachi writes Nana a note.  The note comes into play about halfway through the volume, and the text isn’t revealed to the end.  It made me cry, it was seriously one of the most heartbreaking things EVER.  I was so sad, even though… well, it’s not really a dire situation or anything between them.  Not really, anyway.  Hachi is sort of cast to the background in this volume, but what happened last time affected Nana in a very serious way, and this volume makes you realize more than anything what each girl means to the other.

Other things happen, but nothing quite as major as the origin of Reira’s name and the note to Nana, along with Nana’s… reactions to the whole situation from last volume.

There’s a short story at the end which chronicles the life of Naoki, the drummer for Trapnest.  Naoki is the only member of Trapnest who isn’t caught up with the members of Blast, which makes him sort of the odd man out.  He’s the only one who comes to visit Hachi at the end of the volume, and he and Hachi seem to get along really well.  I hope this means he’ll be appearing more frequently, because I really liked him after that, and I liked him even more after reading his bonus story.  His bonus story, in addition to making him an awesome guy, goes far in explaining the backgrounds of various characters like Yasu and Takumi, and also explains how it was that Trapnest got together.

The Jun’s Place bonus section is crammed in there somewhere, and Johji shows up, which made me even happier with this volume, if that’s even possible.  Apparently the end of Parakiss corresponded to this volume, which is hard to believe.  What volume is Nana on in Japan again?  18?  And it’s still going?  Parakiss ended… let’s see, I was still in school… 2004?  I guess that was only 4 years ago.

Nana 8

There’s really only one thing I can say about this volume of Nana.

HOLY SHIT.

Nana 7

I felt like something awesome should have come with the seventh volume of Nana, like a poster or something.  That’s okay though, because we get more awesome Nana in volume seven, which is enough for me.

It’s hard to talk about this series without spoiling it, but it just keeps getting better and better.  Punk Nana’s character took a turn for the weird this volume, and we learned that she’s somewhat more… possessive than you would have guessed.  The Nanas also both love each other very much, which is nice.

Hachi seems like she’s in a very happy relationship at this point.  Part of me wants this to go on, because everything’s so NICE right now.  The other part of me liked the popularity of the other match even though he’s more drama-tastic.  A third part of me loves drama like nobody’s business.

I’m glad there’s a potential for us getting more of this series faster now that it’s out of Shoujo Beat (though I don’t know if it’ll come out faster for sure).  I just… I want more Ai Yazawa.  Bad.  Part of me worries that her other series aren’t being licensed because they may be crap, because sometimes I find manga companies have good judgment when it comes to holding off on things.  On the other hand, how could they NOT be good?!  It’s Ai Yazawa!

Nana 6

*squeals* Did you guys hear?  This series will be going direct-to-GN soon in favor of Honey and Clover running in Shoujo Beat.  Not only is H&C something I’ve wanted to read for awhile, now I get more Nana than 2-3 volumes a year!  I’m so PUMPED!  Now all I need is more Ai Yazawa and I’m set!

This volume was just… sad, though.  There was a melancholy going through the entire thing, and even the lighter moments didn’t help to pull Hachi out of the really horrible, desperate hole she’s digging for herself.  Nobu even offers to throw her a lifeline, but she can’t take it.  On the other hand, I would love to see things work out in the current way, even if it does break my heart to see things like they are amidst the main characters.  The person that Hachi is paired with now… if that works out, that would be awesome.  Too bad he’s a huge jerk, though.

Number two: They keep teasing about Nana and Hachi perhaps living apart!  They wouldn’t do that, would they?  They can’t, you see, because that is the plot of the series.

Number three: SHIN!  You bad boy.

That will be all for your Nana report.  I still need to do Elemental Gelade… man.  I thought I was caught up.

Nana 5

I always read this one straight out of the wrapper when it comes in the mail.  I truly, truly wish this came out more frequently, and I don’t have the heart to buy Shoujo Beat just to read this one, because the other series don’t interest me at all and I wouldn’t be able to throw them away, and I wouldn’t have any reason to buy the graphic novels but I would anyway.  What a dilemma.

Anyway.  I also wish that more Ai Yazawa stuff got released in English.  If all of it is this fantastic, it would be like printing money.

There were several key moments in this volume that made it stand out in my mind.  I nearly cried when Nana returned Hachi’s favor about halfway through the volume.  It was completely unexpected, and it really was the best way to pay Hachi back for everything she’d done.  It was quite touching.  Another great observation was when Hachi reflected back on what she was doing with her life and surmised that she was a nobody clinging onto Nana’s glamorous friends.  At this point, this is kind of true, as Jun and her boyfriend weren’t in this volume much and the story has definitely shifted, at least temporarily, over to a musical focus.  At one point, Nana brings up to Hachi that she should find some work that’s suited to her and Hachi reflects on what that is, so perhaps Hachi will come into her own a bit more in the future.

There was a rather incredible thing, related to Nana’s surprise, that I was totally blown away by at the end of the volume.  Not necessarily that it happened, because I was kind of rooting for it, but the fact that it caused the degree of inner conflict in Hachi that it did.  All the right things flashed through her mind, and she kind of did what I probably would’ve done in that situation.  Though I still don’t like Hachi much, she keeps developing into a less shallow person with every volume.

There were also some good moments for Nana, obviously, but the series definitely seems less focused on her.  In parts, it seems like Hachi is narrating retrospectively, and I’d love to see that go somewhere at the end of the series.

Nana 4

For whatever reason, Moveable Type stopped working on my server. HostRocket must’ve updated their PERL or something. Damn, I’ll have to reinstall… I’m not looking forward to re-importing 350+ entries.

Man, I really wish this came out more frequently. The characters are so good, and I really blow through one of these in what feels like minutes.

Of course, this picks up where the last volume left off, though not immediately as heartbreaking as you may think… it starts off kind of light for the first few pages, then delves into the drama. I must admit that Hachi didn’t take it as hard as I thought she would, and I was a little disappointed… but on the other hand, it made me like her a bit more, too. She’s a bit stronger because of it.

The conflict between her and Nana’s groupie is a little weird, and also justified, and… I dunno. I didn’t like the groupie that much, she was kind of annoying, and admittedly I love the relationship between Nana and Hachi a lot. On one hand, I would like it if Nana got back together with her boyfriend. On the other, is there really another for Hachi?

The Trapnest concert at the end was good. I was sad the volume left off where it did, because I wanted MORE of that. We hardly know anything about Nana, it seems, because the story is very Hachi-focused, but Nana is just as cool. Again, I don’t really identify with either of the girls or any of the characters really… not punk rock enough for Nana, and not girly enough for Hachi. But I still like this series and its characters so much.

Urg… I hate waiting on this one, and I really, really wish more of Ai Yazawa’s manga would be licensed since Parakiss and Nana are both so good.

Nana 3

I think that I don’t like this series as much as I liked Paradise Kiss… but it’s hard to tell, because I do have to wait for volumes of this, and I haven’t read any volumes consecutively. That was part of the magic of Parakiss, inhaling the first three volumes simultaneously, so it’s hard to know if I would or could do that here. But it’s still GOOD, it’s still some fine shoujo.

Anyway. The end broke my heart. It’s sad to see Nana’s boyfriend do that to her, particularly since they both adore one another. That event playing out through the duration here just turned my stomach the entire time, and I wanted it to go away. But nooooo… cliffhanger. Good thing 4′s coming up, and there’s a magically short wait between volumes. But in regards to that whole situation, I was glad to see the characters all acting in rather appropriate ways. Nobody thought it was funny, the two committing the act didn’t enjoy it, and there were some good lines from Jun and her boyfriend.

On the plus side, I do like how Nana-Hachi got back on her feet after the mini-event this volume, and I liked the funny monetary gift halfway through, though I do wish there was more family involvement here. I don’t really like Hachi as a person, but I do feel sympathy for her. I’m also pumped about seeing where Nana’s band goes.

Hooray for Nana!

Nana 2

Hee. Though it’s a bit weird that volume one was a bit of a nonsequitor going into what we get here, I still love everything about this series. Except the godawful slang. Fix that, please. Seriously. I also hated how frequently the fourth wall was broken. Yazawa did it occasionally in Paradise Kiss, and it was funny there, but here, when it’s so frequent, it starts being kind of stupid. But I did like the Jun’s Restaurant or whatever segment at the end.

I love the dynamic relationship between Nana and Hachi. I have no idea about the joke behind the name Hachi, but it’s an awesome name nonetheless. I liked that they bought everything vintage, and I liked how they both were doing their own thing and getting along so famously. Things I didn’t like were Hachi’s… infidelity perhaps, because I’d like to think that her and her man friend are BFF.

I’m so pumped about reading more of this series, it’s hard to wait for new volumes. It’s so tempting to just get the Shoujo Beats, but then I wouldn’t read the Graphic Novels and would still feel obligated to buy them, probably. I just got a paycheck and wanted this volume so bad that I trolled the city for hours until I found a comic shop/Borders that had it.