2 screenshot limit

April’s been a really rough month, at least fandom-wise. I’ve only read 7 volumes of manga, compared to the 21 that I breezed through in February.

Though it’s just as surprising to you as it is to me that 5 of the 7 books that I’ve read this month was Nana. I actually sold the volumes of this series that I owned and I’ve just been using the good old NYPL to supply me with my fix. And, in my defense, I didn’t sell them because I didn’t care about the series anymore — it was more because I was getting frustrated with the pace of the Viz releases.  After seeing both live-action movies, I felt like I already knew a good chunk of the story and didn’t need to keep up to date with the manga.

And then I read volume 10. And then I just couldn’t stop reading.

The trademark of a well-written story, at least in my amateur concept of literary theory, are characters who tread that thin gap between adoration and derision. I empathize with all of the characters in Nana (yea, even Takumi) but at the same time, I also cannot help but be critical of some of their life decisions.  I feel that they are the causes of their own miseries. Yet at the same time, each of these characters’ happiness, successes, and loves are the results of their own struggles and mistakes.

That’s probably why this series is so good.

After having read so much other shoujo manga where the characters ascribe to fate and destiny and preordination as the reasons why they’re happy and/or miserable, it’s so nice to finally read a manga where each individual person is accountable for each of their own paths (I can foresee some parental drama angst later, but that’s down the line, I’m writing about what I’m reading now).

At this point in the story, the rest of Blast and Trapnest are getting some additional screentime as well. Like Hachi, I have a special spot in my (motherly) heart for Shin, but since I’m in the mood for a tl;dr entry, let me just go down the list…

As always, possible spoilers may be interspersed below.

NANA – I adore the fact that she doesn’t even hide how much she wants Hachi. The relationship of the two Nanas has always bordered on “are they or aren’t they?” but personally, the details of their relationship aren’t important as the intensity and passion behind it. And that’s what Nana is all about, right? Passion. For the band, for Ren, and for the girl who shares her name.

HACHI - I never really disliked her too much, even when she was all “I just want a boyfriend!!!” phase. I think there’s aspects to Hachi that I see in myself and in many ways, I see her as the central pivot of the manga anyway. The story has changed and evolved due to Hachi’s machinations; now, whether those events were deliberately (or maliciously) planned or not is moot — they’ve already happened and have already affected everybody.

I do think that her actions once finding out about the pregnancy have been more introspective than her behavior in much earlier volumes. I wouldn’t necessarily say that she’s grown up, but I think she’s at least becoming less selfish.

SHIN – This kid is going to break my heart. I think, more so than Nana O., Shin’s got the “tough as nails” act down to a science, even though he’s possibly the most vulnerable of them all. He knows that everybody worries about him, but I get the sense that he worries about the rest of them 10x more.

NOBU – I’ve always been indifferent to this one. I think that the artist has always downplayed his role in the series — he’s never been the primary love interest, nor does he have such  a woeful sob story like the rest of them. These last volumes that I’ve been reading though, I think I’ve been changing my attitude towards him. Unfortunately, it’s not all positive.

YASU – It’s incredibly easy to like (even adore) him, as he’s generally presented as the stable, strong man who keeps the rest of Blast on the straight and narrow.  However, I do like how Yazawa hints that even Yasu isn’t as perfect as he seems, and there are chinks on this white knight’s armor…

REN – Woooo boy.  Honestly, he scares me. He’s the guy who never lets anybody in, doesn’t want to share, and gets jealous when other people are happy and he’s not.  And instead of doing or saying anything about it, he just becomes self-destructive.

REIRA – Again, another character where my opinions are on the fence. I think she’s extremely likeable, but like the rest of the females in this series, she has a lot of sorting out to do with her relationships with men.

NAOKI – Unfortunately, other than the extra chapter in volume 9, he doesn’t get much screen time for me to formulate a concrete opinion on his character.

TAKUMI – Left my ‘favorite’ for last. I think my issue with him isn’t that he’s the series’ ultimate realist — it’s that he doesn’t know how to temper the pragmatism with presentation. After all, Junko was the voice of reality/reason before he came along, but at least, she tried to deliver the message with empathy. Takumi just swings it like a giant sledgehammer, not really minding how it’ll impact the receiver, just as long as he gets it done.

It’s insane how much drama has been packed in these volumes. Ordinarily, I would stop reading here since I know that, as an ongoing series, there would most definitely be more twists and loops before this series ends. But when you’re addicted, it’s not easy to stop. Not here.

Image from Dreamy & Hopeful Life in Tokyo

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 11:57 am and is filed under manga & manhwa, viz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.