# Nana (manga)

Nana (stylized as NANA) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. First published as a two-part prologue in Shueisha's monthly shōjo manga magazine Cookie in 1999, Nana was later serialized in the same magazine from May 2000 to May 2009, before going on indefinite hiatus. Its chapters have been collected in 21 tankōbon volumes. The series centers on Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu, two women who move to Tokyo at the age of 20, with the story focused on Nana O.'s pursuit for fame and Nana K.'s pursuit for romance, all while struggling to maintain their friendship.
The manga was adapted into a live-action film in 2005, with a sequel released in 2006. A 47-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by Madhouse and directed by Morio Asaka, aired on Nippon TV between April 2006 and March 2007. All Nana media has been licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media, which serialized the manga in their Shojo Beat magazine until the August 2007 issue, while also publishing it in the tankōbon format. They released both films in 2008, and their English dub of the anime was broadcast on the Funimation Channel beginning in 2009. The anime series was later re-licensed by Sentai Filmworks in 2021.
Nana won the 48th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōjo category in 2003. By 2019, the manga had over 50 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.

## Plot

On March 5, 2001, Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu (nicknamed Hachi) cross paths when they both move to Tokyo after turning 20 years old: Nana O. to pursue a professional music career with her band, Black Stones, on her own merit; and Nana K. to join her friends and move in with her boyfriend. Despite having different personalities and ambitions, the two women find commonalities with each other and, by coincidence, move into the same apartment. However, as they follow their dreams, troubles of fame and love begin to test their friendship.
As the two women continue their lives in Tokyo, Nana K. breaks up with her boyfriend after he cheats on her, while Nana O. reunites with her ex-boyfriend Ren, the guitarist of Japan's current top band, Trapnest. Nana O.'s relationship with Ren eventually leads Nana K. into starting an on-and-off relationship with Trapnest's bassist, Takumi, causing her friendship with Nana O. to become awkward, while falling in love with Black Stones' guitarist, Nobu, at the same time. Ultimately, when Nana K. becomes pregnant, she chooses to marry Takumi instead. Nana O. begins to suffer from panic attacks at the thought of losing Nana K., but she later resolves to win her back from Trapnest by using the popularity and success of Black Stones.
When a tabloid magazine exposes Nana O. and Ren's relationship, this causes Black Stones to skyrocket in popularity and formally debut. Nana O. and Ren, however, start facing troubles in their relationship due to Nana O.'s jealousy of Trapnest and Ren's drug addiction, even as they become engaged. As the tabloids continue to target Black Stones and Trapnest, Nana K. begins to learn secrets behind Nana O.'s family history, including her birth mother. Shortly before Black Stones begin their first tour, their bassist, Shin, is arrested, causing Nana O. to embark on a solo career in the meantime. As she begins to make a name for herself, Ren dies in a car accident. While recovering from his death, Nana O. begins to question her dependency on Nana K. as well as the change in their relationship.
Starting with volume 12, scenes that take place years later are interspersed in the series, showing that in the present, Nana O. is rumored to have died, but Nana K. and her friends learn that she fled to England and try to find her.

## Media
### Manga

Written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, Nana first appeared as a two-part prologue in 1999 in Shueisha's Cookie manga magazine (volumes 1 and 2), a sister magazine of Ribon. Initially, Yazawa was asked to create two one-shots to accompany the launch of Cookie, and she decided to make both stories related to each other so that they would be easier to read in case they were picked up for serialization. Yazawa stated that while creating Tenshi Nanka ja Nai in the early 1990s, she had wanted to draw a story centered on a rockabilly band. For Nana, she decided to focus on a punk band instead because she had already drawn one of the main characters for Tenshi Nanka ja Nai with a pompadour.
Nana was later serialized in Cookie, starting on May 26, 2000 (July 2000 issue), when it was relaunched as a monthly magazine. Nana ran in the magazine for 84 chapters, until May 26, 2009 (July 2009 issue), and in June of that same year it was announced that the series would be put on hiatus due to Yazawa falling ill. Yazawa returned from the hospital in early April 2010, but it was not specified when or if she would resume the manga. During Yazawa's 2022 art exhibition, she expressed interest in continuing the series once she is able to.
The individual chapters of Nana have been collected by Shueisha into 21 tankōbon volumes, published under the Ribon Mascot Comics Cookie imprint, between May 15, 2000, and March 13, 2009. Its latest four chapters have not been published in a tankōbon volume. In addition to Nana, each volume features a short bonus comic called Junko's Room (淳子の部屋, Junko no Heya), featuring Junko as the owner of a bar, with characters from Yazawa's works making guest appearances.
Nana is licensed for English-language release in North America by Viz Media. It was serialized in Viz Media's manga anthology Shojo Beat, premiering in the July 2005 debut issue and continuing until the August 2007 issue. The 21 volumes were published between December 6, 2005, and July 6, 2010. Viz Media added the series to its Viz Manga digital service in May 2023. On January 24, 2025, Viz Media announced that it will publish the series in a 2-in-1 omnibus edition starting in Q4 of the same year.
Nana prominently features the brand Vivienne Westwood, as Yazawa herself is a fan of the brand. Some outfits featured in the series are clothing from her personal collection.

### Films

Two live-action film adaptations have been made for Nana. The first, Nana, was released on September 3, 2005. The film stars Mika Nakashima as the punk star Nana Oosaki, Aoi Miyazaki as Hachi (Nana Komatsu), Ryuhei Matsuda as Ren Honjou, Tetsuji Tamayama as Takumi Ichinose, Hiroki Narimiya as Nobuo Terashima, and Kenichi Matsuyama as Shinichi Okazaki. 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, and staying in the top 10 for several weeks. A sequel, Nana 2, was announced right after the first film debuted. However, on August 4, 2006, Toho stated that shooting would begin mid-September and that the film was to be released on December 9, 2006. Miyazaki, Matsuda and Matsuyama would not be reprising their respective roles as Hachi, Ren and Shin; as such, their roles were assigned to Yui Ichikawa, Nobuo Kyo and Kanata Hongō, respectively. Some locations from the manga had been changed for the film, and many plot differences were introduced as well.

### Anime

An anime television series adaptation of Nana was produced by Nippon Television, VAP, Shueisha and Madhouse and directed by Morio Asaka, with Tomoko Konparu handling series composition, Kunihiko Hamada designing the characters and Tomoki Hasegawa composing the music. The series aired on Nippon TV from April 5, 2006, to March 28, 2007. The first and third opening song, "Rose" and "Lucy", respectively, and the third ending song, "Kuroi Namida" (黒い涙, "Black Tears"), were performed by Anna Tsuchiya (credited as Anna inspi' Nana), who provided the singing voice for Nana Osaki; Tsuchiya also performed the ending song "Stand By Me" (for episodes 45 and 46). The second opening song, "Wish", and the first two ending songs, "A Litte Pain" and "Starless Night", were performed by Olivia Lufkin (credited as Olivia inspi' Reira), who provided the singing voice for Reira Serizawa; Lufkin also performed the ending song "Winter Sleep" (for episodes 43 and 44). The episodes were collected and distributed on 17 DVD volumes by VAP from July 7, 2006, to November 21, 2007.
In 2007, Viz Media licensed the anime for release in North America, and released it on four DVD box sets between September 9, 2009, and April 13, 2010, including an English dub. Funimation acquired the broadcast rights to Viz Media's dub and it premiered on the Funimation Channel in 2009. After Viz Media lost the rights, Sentai Filmworks re-licensed the series in 2021 and premiered on its Hidive service on April 22 that same year. Sentai Filmworks released the series on a SteelBook Blu-ray edition on February 22, 2022, and on a regular Blu-ray edition on May 17 of that same year.
The anime was intended to be equal to the manga, and adapted up to the first chapter of volume 12 to avoid filler. In April 2007, when asked about a continuation of the anime, Junko Koseki (editor of Nana in Shueisha) and Masao Maruyama (the then managing director of Madhouse) stated that they had decided to wait until the manga's conclusion before producing more material.

### Image and tribute albums

Nana inspired two image albums; Punk Night: From Nana, released by King Records on September 26, 2003; and Nana's Song is My Song, released by Momo & Grapes on November 6 of that same year. A tribute album, Love for Nana: Only 1 Tribute, was released by EMI Music Japan on March 16, 2005; several famous artists contributed to it, including English musician Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Canadian singer-songwriter Skye Sweetnam, and various Japanese artists.

### Video games

A Nana video game for the PlayStation 2 platform was produced by Konami and released on March 17, 2005. A PlayStation Portable game, Nana: Everything Is Controlled By The Great Demon King!? (ナナ: すべては大魔王のお導き!?, Nana: Subete wa Daimaō no Omichibiki!?) was released on July 6, 2006. A Nintendo DS game, Nana: Live Staff Mass Recruiting! Beginners Welcome (ナナ: ライブスタッフ大募集! 初心者歓迎, Nana: Raibu Sutaffu Daiboshū! Shoshinsha Kangei) was released by Konami on June 21, 2007.

## Reception

Along with Kaze Hikaru, Nana won the 48th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōjo category in 2003. Nana was the top favorite shōjo manga for Oricon Style in 2005. It was nominated for the 10th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Award in 2006.
The Young Adult Library Services Association in the United States listed the series in its "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" in 2007. Deb Aoki of About.com ranked Nana as the fifth "Must-Read" shōjo manga series in its "Top shojo Manga Must-Reads" list, with Aoki stating the manga is "a beautifully-drawn series that is filled with heartfelt drama, big city glamor, fabulous fashion, rock and roll sass and many unexpected twists." She also ranked the manga in its "50 Essential Manga for Libraries" list, noting its mature themes and "demonstrates the need for an adult collection." In a survey conducted by Goo in 2012 among 1,939 people, Nana was among the top favorite manga for women. The Independent stated that part of the appeal of Nana in Japan was how it was centered on the juxtaposition between a rebellious character and a character aligned to traditional values.
The 18th volume was the second highest-selling manga volume of 2007. During 2008, the 19th volume was the third highest-selling manga volume, and the 20th was the fifth highest-selling one in Japan, selling 1,645,128 and 1,431,335 copies respectively. In the first half of 2009, the 21st ranked as the third best-selling manga volume, having sold 1.4 million copies. By the end of 2009, Nana was the sixth best-selling manga series, with 3,122,146 copies sold. The first twelve volumes of the manga had cumulatively sold over 22 million copies by 2005. By 2008, the manga had sold over 43.6 million copies. By 2019, the manga had over 50 million copies in circulation. In the United States, the 21st volume debuted ninth on the New York Times Graphic Books list for the week of July 10.
The highest average TV ratings for the anime television series adaptation was 6.3% in the Kanto region, which was unusually high for a late night anime; the record was broken by Nodame Cantabile at 6.6% in November 2008.