Google sheet: NANA―ナナ― Vocabulary Sheet Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.
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Wrote down Nana and Ren’s timeline for my own sake, might as well share it here:
2 years and three month before beginning of the chapter, Christmas concert, Nana sees Ren for the first time, they meet shortly backstage. She is 15 and he is 17 (p.116)
beginning of this section, the next summer, Nana meets Ren for the second time at Nobuo’s house and joins the band. She is 16 (p.143)
they start a relationship around Christmas, one year after meeting for the first time, and start living together (p.155)
beginning of the chapter, beginning of march, snowy night, Nana turns 18 in one week (p.109)
Ren leaves for Tokyo, march, after having lived with Nana for one year and 3 months (p.166)
One year and 9 months later, Christmas, Ren is a superstar, meanwhile Nana says that she bought herself a oneway ticket to Tokyo for her birthday in March Tokyo (p.173)
I know I am a broken record at this point, but Nana O. is just. so. cool. She embodies such strength and vulnerability all at once. I think it’s interesting to contrast her initial arc with Nana K’s and see that, despite covering about the same amount of time, Nana K grows quite a bit more. It’s almost like Nana O had to grow up so quickly, but then she stagnates – part of her is always in fight or flight mode. I think this impacts the story a lot at is it gets further in.
I forgot Nana O. worked at a bookstore…I wonder what kinds of things she reads?
The scene where Blast says goodbye to Ren as he gets on the train absolutely breaks me every time. I don’t think smoking is good or cool but Ren giving his cigarette to Nobu hit me so hard! And when Nobu runs to the window and sees that Ren is sobbing, too – ugh! My heart! It’s one of those panels where, despite not having any words, you have to sit there with it for a long moment before moving on.
In an earlier chapter I was like “I’ve always found Ren so hard to figure out” and part of me still stands by that. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though! I mean, I know he’s supposed to be ~cool and mysterious~ but contrasting him with Shoji, for example, we get a lot of his internal thoughts/feelings in scenes where he’s sharing with Nana/Junko/Kyosuke. Ren is basically just a god from his first appearance and I feel like it pretty much stays that way.
The very final scene is just so incredibly cool and beautiful and absolutely gives me chills.
She doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of manga judging by what she says to Nobu (笑). Actually, this kind of “manga isn’t real reading” attitude used to be quite prevalent in Japan as recently as 15 years ago (don’t know about now) I’ve had Japanese friends confess to liking manga like they’re confessing to being fans of tabloid news.
Out of curiosity I looked up the book she shows to Nobu on page 149:
It appears to have been released around the time the manga was written in 1999. Hasn’t left a big footprint on the web however. I don’t think it’s ever been translated into English as far as I can tell.
Nana book club offshoot?
EDIT: oh but wait it is a manga or visual novel given that an artist is credited on the cover. I’m confused then.
Ohh this is interesting! I didn’t even think to look for this. I can’t tell if it’s a novel or a manga either? But the page you linked does recommend it for a 5-6th grade reading level So maybe Nana O. was saying “here’s something for your dumb ass to read.”
Yeah I genuinely can’t find much more info than what’s on that page. It has an amazon.co.jp page (where it seems that it can still be bought, although maybe only used?) but no preview or reviews.
I can’t find a digital copy anywhere, either on legit websites or… less legit ones. Mysterious. Makes me want to actually read it. What secrets are you hiding, 闘いの季節?
The fourth-wall breaking omake is pretty fun too. I liked Nana complaining that she’s not even on the cover of the volume. That confused me too during the entire first part.
Finally finished! The contrast between the two Nanas and their respective character growth is really interesting, as @nerdqueen666 mentioned. Their (in)dependence from their respective (ex-)boyfriends is quite a contrast. While reading this I realized I barely remember anything about the story, but from this first volume I’m still partial to Nana O
Yayy, done with Volume 1 and very satisfied. Looking forward to reading the next volume soon! Really enjoyed reading everyone’s thoughts and reflections in the club too, and found myself nodding to most of the comments haha.
Lessgooooooo!!! ノブ is very sweet in trying to comfort Nana, but I love that Nana is very clear about what she wants. The contrast between both the Nanas is so stark here. Chef’s kiss!
As a reader, I can obviously predict how the situation might turn out (like I mentioned in Week 5 — Ren being nonchalant about having babies could potentially mean that Nana is just losing all that precious time focusing on an aspect she didn’t even want in the first place). But for Nana, who is in love (?) with Ren, it might be so hard to see how things could unfold. And it’s probably really easy for her to pretend like everything will be fine and just follow Ren. But the fact that she doesn’t do that shows how strong-willed and smart she is.
I like both Nanas, but if you can’t already tell, I love Nana O
With Nana K, I empathize with her, but I’m also constantly frustrated with her decisions/attitude — and that’s the best part, because that’s how teenagers are supposed to behave! Like nerdqueen666 said, Nana O had no other option but to grow up quickly and learn how the world works in a very messy and hard way.
God, I love their expressions here! (and everywhere else)
So maybe Nana O. was saying “here’s something for your dumb ass to read.” 
