Komatsu Nana moves to Tokyo, following after her boyfriend Shouji to gain a life she has always dreamed of. On a train bound for Tokyo, she meets Osaki Nana, the vocalist for the punk rock band "Blast", also moving to Tokyo to achieve her dreams of becoming a professional. Sharing the same name, the two of them perhaps through a twist of fate, ended up becoming flat mates in Tokyo, where together they support each other through each of their love lives and careers.
After watching this anime, it's truly one of the few animes that you will never forget. Every episodes starts with "Hey, Nana..." then asks a question or makes a statement, like a heartfelt remembrance made years later of times past, and then it takes you right into the story and hooks you every time.
The characters are extremely realistic. There are no tsunders, yaneres, school presidents, or any of the other typical garbage you'd find in anime. This is a classic, a real anime. They're incredibly interesting wonderful characters, and they live in a real world. That, is a fact that you will eventually learn through the telling of the story. Because in the real world, not everything just magically happens how you wanted it. That's just not how things really work...
The characters come off as so real, and it's so easy to get attached to them. Both main characters are named Nana (coincidentally), and they first find themselves sitting next to one another on a train headed for Tokyo. What happens next is, you're drawn into the crazy adventure with ups and downs, fun and sadness, wonderful and terrible, that is their life.
It's such a great anime, I'll never forget it. I can never think of bands the same ever again. Every episode is soooo good. You'll just get hooked and won't be able to stop!
One thing I will say though, is that at first the short haired Nana's voice annoyed me like a raspy chain smoker in the English dub, but this was only at first. She wasn't given the typical super hyper super cute kind of voice most girls get, I think it's more realistic this way and honestly it really fits her. And the more I watched, it wasn't nearly as raspy or chain smoker-ish as I had originally thought. Overall I liked the English dub. I just had to get used to her voice at first, but once I did it was great. Their songs are in English too, so it might even be better to watch in English since it seems to match her singing voice really well. She actually sounds a lot like Revy from Black Lagoon, and her personality fits perfectly just the same.
Overall though, it was honestly one of the best animes I've ever watched, and every single one of you needs to watch it right now!
\\\ I had to edit the original below because they had spoilers out the wazoo \\ Extended Review"Say, Nana... Do you remember the first time we met?
These words are the introduction of the beautiful world of "Nana". Ai Yazawa is probably the most convincing shoujo manga writer ever. With colourful, realistic characters, breathtaking events and just a pinch of music she creates a world in witch every girl can forget about reality and fall into the embrace of romantic fantasies.
One of the best things about "Nana" are the characters - we can actually see the reflection of ourselves in some of them and believe, that someone like that can really exist. This is proof that you can make a good anime without the conventional tsundere, moe or annoying childhood friend.
The story is also one of Nana's strong points. Ai Yazawa worked really hard on it, and did her best to create a realistic world so that the reader can almost become part of it and experience it emotionaly.
Even though the plot is a typical shoujo tearjerker (with a bit of music) it has that magical something that makes you cheer unconsciously for some characters and experience emotionally some events almost as strongly as the characters themselves. Yazawa-sensei gives her characters a big imagination (especially Hachi). But the world they live in is just like ours.
Nana has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. The openings and endings were songs by the 2 fictional bands in the show, witch was a brilliant idea imo. Olivia Lufkin and Anna Tsuchiya fit the characters perfectly. Nothing much to add here: the music in Nana is brilliant. Period.
Overall, Nana is a must-see position for shoujo-fans. It tells us a lot about life, it's hardships and also teaches us an important lesson about the mistakes, that we shouldn't make.
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