Nana | complete

47 episodes later…

I must admit I think this one fell victim to the manga/anime production schedule syndrome, where a solid ending couldn’t be written for the anime as the manga is still going. That’s my first issue with the closing chapters or as I like to say, bracket.

Without spoiling too much, I felt like everything the series was working towards was discarded or left half-done in the final bracket. A shame, because the bracket before it was pretty good, with Nana Komatsu’s life truly taking some interesting turns, and so too her own outlook and attitude towards life. The legendary Nana Osaki is left out in the cold as once again, not much is made of her character. We fall so much in love with her and everything she does, even her mistakes, but ultimately she is not honoured. As obnoxious as Nana Komatsu often is, I thought the middle bracket truly was working towards her having a real change in character and learning some bitter, painful but rewarding life-lessons which would strengthen her relationship with Osaki, but just when the show hit a good peak, it was all left out of focus as we wash out to shift attention to the two bands.

The second syndrome I think Nana has fallen victim to is the sequel syndrome. It was hugely popular in Japan when I was there, and I suspect a second season will be in the offering. That being said, I must say that I’m totally unsatisfied with Nana Komatsu’s situation, and feel that Osaki deserves much more respect than she’s been given. Will a second season cure this? I’m not sure I’ll have the patience for it. 47 episodes is already a lengthy offering, and though I generally enjoyed all of it, there was a lot of stalling. Not filler really, just delaying actions to ultimate plot-points and emotional landmarks in the characters’ lives. Stand Alone Complex is thus far the only show that I appreciate the full 52 episodes, and I’ve been absolutely turned-off from any other series that extends beyond that. What I don’t want Nana to become is yet another soapy that just keeps dragging on and on and on. 47 episodes was more than enough to develop both Nanas, and indeed the characters around them, and I feel that too much time has already been wasted. Any more length and it will just be unnecessarily prolonging or even distorting the achievements we as the audience wish to see fulfilled.

So after all is said and done, Nana ends up being a fair way shy of Honey & Clover. Sure, at times it reaches the same level, but it just didn’t have enough to keep it at that high level of character development.