Informatii

Nana (ナナ, Nana?) is a shōjo manga series by mangaka Ai Yazawa, serialised in Cookie published by Shueisha. There is an anime adaptation, as well as two live-action movies. The first twelve volumes of the manga series have cumulatively sold over 22 million copies.[1] The manga derives its title from the name of the two main characters, both of whom are called Nana. What sets them apart, however, is the stark difference between their lives. One Nana comes from a small town, following along with her friends and boyfriend, looking for a goal to obtain, while the other Nana's goal is set on making her dream and band, Black Stones, among the best. The two Nanas are brought together in what has become a major success for Ai Yazawa and the shōjo genre.[citation needed]

Nana is presently being released in North America by Viz Media. It ended its serialization in the August 2007 issue of Shojo Beat and was replaced by Honey and Clover. It will continue, however, to be released in tankobon (graphic novel format).[2] The manga has also been adapted into a highly successful live-action movie with a sequel released on December 9, 2006, and an anime adaptation that premiered on April 5, 2006. The anime adaptation has subsequently been announced as licensed for release in North America by Viz Media[3] In 2003, the manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo.

There are currently seven volumes available in the United States. The eighth volume has a January 1, 2008 release date scheduled
Plot synopsis
Nana Osaki is a punk singer who wants to debut with her band as soon as possible to leave her ex-boyfriend, Ren Honjo, behind. Nana was the lead vocalist in their old band with Ren, and they lived together as lovers. When Ren is offered a chance to debut in Tokyo as a replacement member of the popular band Trapnest (TraNes for short), Nana chooses to cultivate her own band, Negru Stones (BlaSt for short) instead.

Nana Komatsu, the other Nana, is called Hachi as she has weak mental characteristics that resemble a puppy. With a habit of falling in love at first sight, Hachi has always depended on other people to help her. When her friends and then boyfriend leave for Tokyo, she decides to join them a year later after having saved enough money.

Nana and Hachi meet in a train by chance, both on their way to Tokyo. After a string of coincidences, they come to live together in an apartment numbered 707. Despite having contrasting characters and ideals, the Nanas like and respect each other.

While the Black Stones begin to gain popularity at live gigs, other issues need resolving, especially in the areas of romance. The story of Nana revolves heavily on the romance and relationships of the two characters as one seeks fame and recognition while the other seeks love and happiness.

Nana has been made into a movie which was released on September 3, 2005. The movie stars Mika Nakashima as the punk star Osaki Nana, and Aoi Miyazaki as Hachi (Komatsu Nana). The DVD edition was released on March 3, 2006. The film did quite well at the Japanese box office, grossing more than 4 billion yen, staying in the top 10 for several weeks.
Main cast
Nana Komatsu (Hachi): Aoi Miyazaki
Nana Osaki: Mika Nakashima
Ren Honjo: Ryuhei Matsuda
Takumi Ichinose, Takumi: Tetsuji Tamayama
Shinichi (Shin) Okazaki: Ken'ichi Matsuyama
Nobuo (Nobu) Terashima: Hiroki Narimiya
Reira Serizawa: Yuna Ito
Sachiko Kawamura: Saeko
Yasushi (Yasu) Takagi: Tomomi Maruyama

[edit] Theme songs
In addition to creating a Nana craze throughout Asia, the movie also helped launch Mika Nakashima to the peak of her career as she released the single "Glamorous Sky" under the name Nana starring Mika Nakashima. The single created topicality with its unic collaboration between Nakashima, Hyde (who wrote the song), and Nana author Yazawa Ai (who wrote the lyrics). The single became Nakashima's first number one single on the Oricon Charts.

The movie also helped promote another artist, Yuna Ito, who starred in the movie as Trapnest vocal Reira, released her debut single "Endless Story," the insert song of the movie, under the name Reira starring Yuna Ito. The single ranked second on the Oricon charts, next to Nakashima's "Glamorous Sky," and made Yuna Ito one of the most successful debuting artists of 2005.

[edit] Movie sequel

Nana 2Nana 2, the sequel to the first movie, was announced right after the first debuted. However, on August 4, 2006, Toho stated that shooting would begin mid-September and that the movie was to be released on December 9, 2006. Aoi Miyazaki and Ryuhei Matsuda were not be reprising their respective roles as Nana Komatsu and Ren Honjo; as such, their roles have been assigned to Yui Ichikawa and Nobuo Kyou, respectively [1].

Two new singles were released under Nana starring Mika Nakashima and Reira starring Yuna Ito.

However, the sequel was a let-down for fans and company, it only peaked #4 at the Japanese Movie Rankings, and had much more bad press than any good.

The movie had its international premiere in New York City on December 15, 2006. It opened for a single showing at the IFC in Soho. Both Mika Nakashima and Yui Ichikawa were present.

[edit] Main cast
Nana Komatsu: Yui Ichikawa
Nana Osaki: Mika Nakashima
Ren Honjo: Nobuo Kyou
Takumi Ichinose: Tetsuji Tamayama
Shinichi "Shin" Okazaki: Hongo Kanata
Nobuo "Nobu" Terashima: Hiroki Narimiya
Reira Serizawa: Yuna Ito

[edit] Theme songs
Nana 2 once again featured the two artists Mika Nakashima and Yuna Ito, releasing songs under the names Nana starring Mika Nakashima and Reira starring Yuna Ito, respectively.

Nana, starring Mika Nakashima's new single "Hitoiro" featured Takuro of Glay as composer and Nana author Yazawa Ai as the lyricist again. It did not do as well as its predecessor "Glamorous Sky," peaking at only #5 on the Oricon charts. Two weeks after the release of the single, however, Nana starring Mika Nakashima released her first and last album, The End, which managed to rank at #2 on the Oricon charts.

Reira, starring Yuna Ito's "Truth" had no more luck than Nakashima's new single, ranking in only at the tenth place on the Oricon charts. The music video of the single was filmed in Scotland and used as scenes of the movie. Neither singles were as record-setting as their predecessors.

Nana has been adapted into an anime series, directed by Morio Asaka and animated by the studio Madhouse. The first opening and third ending songs are sung by Anna Tsuchiya for the band Black Stones as Nana Osaki, and Olivia sings the second opening and first and second endings for the band Trapnest as Reira Serizawa. The first DVD release was on 2006-07-07.

[edit] Theme songs
Openings
"Rose" by Anna inspired by Nana (Black Stones)
"Wish" by Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest)
"Lucy" by Anna Tsuchiya inspired by Nana (Black Stones)
Endings
"a little pain" by Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest)
"Starless Night" by Olivia inspi' Reira (Trapnest)
"Kuroi Namida" (黒い涙) by Anna Tsuchiya inspired by Nana (Black Stones)
"Winter sleep" by Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest)
"stand by me" by Anna Tsuchiya inspired by Nana (Black Stones)
Inserts
"Zero" by Anna Tsuchiya inspired by Nana (Black Stones) (First played in Episode 4, also played in episodes 5, 10, 19, 30, and 39).
"Recorded Butterfly" by Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest) (First played in Episode 18, also played in episodes 22 and 27).
"Shadow of Love" by Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest) (Instrumental version first played in Episode 32, also played in episodes 34, 35, 37, 39, 41, 42, and 44. Vocal version first played in Episode 45)

[edit] CD releases
As with the movie Nana, the anime helped promote two artists, Olivia and Anna Tsuchiya. In addition to their respective singles, there have also been several albums released for the anime. These releases did not fare as well as the movie-related releases.

Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest) - "Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest) album|Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest)" (February 28, 2007) (#22)
Anna Tsuchiya inspired by Nana (Black Stones) - "Anna Tsuchiya inspired by Nana (Black Stones)" (February 28, 2007) (#16)
Anna Tsuchiya inspired by Nana (Black Stones) / Olivia inspired by Reira (Trapnest) - "Nana Best" (March 21, 2007)
There are currently two soundtracks for the anime series - Nana 707 soundtracks and Nana 7to8 soundtrack. Nana 707 is literally a soundtrack. It consists of 44 tracks, 43 of which are background music heard in the series. Track 44 is a song.

Two versions of Nana 707 were released - a limited edition which comes in the form of a hardcover book containing stills from the series plus 7 postcards, and a regular version.

The official soundtrack for the anime series, Nana Best, was released March 21, 2007. This soundtrack consists of 14 tracks that are the songs featured in the anime. The first press limited edition version comes in deluxe packaging with a DVD featuring particular Nana anime video material.

[edit] Games
There is a "Nana" game released for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) platform. The PS2 game was produced by Konami and released on 17 March 2005. A PlayStationPortable (PSP) game, Nana: Subete wa Daimaou no Omichibiki!? (Nana: すべては大魔王のお導き!?) was released on 6 July 2006.

A Nintendo DS game, "Nana: Live Staff Daiboshuu! Shoshinsha Kangei" was released by Konami in June 2007.

[edit] Seiyuu
The seiyuu cast for the PS2 game is entirely different from the anime cast. Additionally for the PSP game, the seiyuu cast of the anime is used.

Nana Osaki: Minagawa Junko
Nana Komatsu: Shishido Rumi
Ren Honjo: Sakurai Takahiro
Takagi Yasushi: Tsuda Kenjirou
Ichinose Takumi: Koyasu Takehito
Saotome Junko: Fuchizaki Yuriko
Kawamura Sachiko: Suzuki Masami
Uehara Misato: Tamura Yukari
Takakura Kyosuke: Ueda Yuji

[edit] Tribute album
There has also been an album, "Love for Nana ~Only 1 Tribute~" with 3 versions (Black Stone limited version, Black Stone standard version and Trapnest standard version) released in tribute of the series, including songs by Tetsu, Do As Infinity, Ai Otsuka, Tommy heavenly6, Skye Sweetnam and Sex Machineguns.

Love for Nana ~Only 1 Tribute~(March 16, 2005)
Beat 7 -The Theme of Love for Nana- / Toshihiko Takamizawa (The Alfee)
Gimme All Of Your Love!! / Tommy heavenly6 for Black Stones
Twinkle / Kaela for Black Stones
Reverse / Tetsu69 for Trapnest
Stay away / abingdon boys school for Black Stones
I miss you? / Do As Infinity for Black Stones
Bambino / Tomoyasu Hotei featuring Miho Moribayashi for Trapnest
Sleepwalking / Glen Matlock and The Philistines featuring Holly Cook (from Sex Pistols) for Black Stones
Sugar Guitar / Skye Sweetnam for Trapnest
Reimei Jidai / Japaharinet for Black Stones
Black Crow / Sex Machineguns for Black Stones
Two Hearts / Zone for Trapnest produced by Toshihiko Takamizawa
Cherish / Ai Otsuka for Trapnest
Nana's song is my song (November 6, 2003)
Marble/Battle Bomb Rounge
Kimi no namae/Savage genius
Rakuen no tobira/Bulukapu
Shin-ai/Chihiro Izu
Lotus Blues/Olive
Thanks/Barna☆Sister
Toi/Blue Frog
Not be mine/Green Bear
Kanaderu Kami/RK Rosebud
No Title/Yamaoka Chiharu
Mayonaka no Asahi/Kakimoto Nanae
My Way/Realize Power Wave
Ashita no Hana/Ann