Photo Courtesy: Pinterest
Tesla Bethel
Lantern Staff
Nana is a hidden treasure in the Netflix world, a mature adult animation based off of the manga written by Ai Yazawa and directed by Morio Asaka on the Funimation network. I must say Asaka did a wonderful job. The English voice acting was superb, and the animation style was beautiful. Nana is definitely in my top three favorites.
Now, usually I watch animation that is more action-packed with supernatural tendencies tastefully woven throughout such as: Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan, Guilty Crown and Code Geass. However, Nana was a wonderful change of pace. Now I have seen some romance, drama and even slice of life animations, but Nana stands completely and solidly on its own playing field. I have yet to see something compare to the bittersweet rollercoaster storyline.
Nana is about two young women who are 20-years-old and happen to meet on a train going to Tokyo. Now by some miraculous chain of events, the young women end up becoming roommates. That being said, there is real character growth throughout the story line. Each character has their faults.
Nana Osaki, for instance, moved to Tokyo to make it big as a punk rock vocalist. However since she has been on her own and taken care of herself at a young age, she is an introvert and struggles with mental illness as well as actually letting anyone close to her.
Nana Komatsu is the opposite, bubbly and full of joy. She also has a tendency to fall in love at first sight. However, she is extremely naïve and has never truly been alone a day in her life, so she is constantly asking for help in the beginning. She moves to Tokyo to be with her boyfriend.
As the storyline progresses, both girls work to achieve their goals and become friends. Osaki somewhat learns to put her pride aside and let Komatsu in. Komatsu learns that you have to budget and save money to be a successful adult. This animation also shows the difference between a good, healthy relationship and an unhealthy, controlling one, as well as difficult decisions people have to make throughout their life. But there isn’t just character growth in the main characters, the supporting characters have their struggles too and with every struggle they grow a little more.
Another reason this animation is not only on its own playing field, but in my top five favorites of all time is the soundtrack. The music in this animation completely exceeded my expectations, featuring songs that you would hear nowadays in the popular pop punk bands, but this animation came out years prior. Ahead of its time, Nana was more than just an animation. It carried lessons that I will hold with me in years to come, and who knows. I may even re-watch it, it’s that good.
