Rock and Romance: Unpacking the Heartfelt Journey of “Nana”

Plot Summary:

Directed by Kentarō Ōtani, the live-action film, Nana, follows the lives and friendship between two girls who share the same name, “Nana.” The opening scene of the movie starts with Nana Osaki’s band, Black Stones, performing a live at her hometown. The first set of sequences introduces the members of her band, Ren, Nobuo, and Yasushi. They drink after their performance to celebrate. After, they split up into two groups, and the audience is introduced to the romantic relationship between Ren and Nana Osaki.  

Two years later, Nana Komatsu speaks about the first time she meets Nana Osaki on a train headed to Tokyo. The train is delayed due to a blizzard, and the two girls become friendly toward each other. Nana Komatsu speaks about herself and her boyfriend, Shōji. She is moving to Tokyo to be with him after a deal that they made. While he goes to an art college, she will try to be independent and look for work and a place to stay. After arriving at the station, she meets up with her boyfriend. She cleans and cooks the first day, but then she goes job hunting and apartment hunting after being confronted by Shōji. She meets Nana Osaki again and agrees to share the apartment as the rent will be cheaper, and there are two private bedrooms.  

Nana Komatsu eventually finds work as a furniture sales assistant and becomes closer friends with Nana Osaki, who is starting to pursue her career as a vocalist for her band, Black Stones. A couple of scenes are dedicated to showing how Shōji becomes attracted to his female coworker and fellow oil art student, Sachiko, and eventually sleeps with her. After Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki go to his workplace to see him, they wait for him and see his affair. Nana Komatsu cuts him off after that incident. Nana Komatsu switches jobs and becomes an odd job worker, who always gets yelled at by her older, female coworker.  

After preparing a new song, Nana Osaki performs in Tokyo with her band, Black Stones. Nana Komatsu goes to support her friend and is accompanied by Junko, who had originally caught and confronted Shōji for cheating on Nana with Sachiko. Although still recuperating from her heartbreak, she receives a letter stating that she won two front seat tickets to Trapnest, the popular band that Ren plays with as a guitarist. After finding out about Nana Osaki’s relationship with Ren, Nana Komatsu invites her to the show.

They end up staying at Nana Komatsu’s house in her hometown, and Nana Osaki opens up about her childhood. During the Trapnest concert, Ren loses focus and misses several notes which his band members note. With the intention of breaking things off, Nana Osaki goes to see Ren to return his key from his old, abandoned warehouse place. Instead, they sleep together and make up to a certain extent. Nana Osaki returns back to Nana Komatsu’s place, and then they eventually return back to their apartment in Tokyo. In return for helping her meet Ren again, she promises Nana Komatsu that she will grant her one request. Nana Komatsu asks for Takumi’s signature, the bassist from Trapnest, her idol.  

After a grueling and humiliating day at work, she returns to an apartment with Black Stone’s members and Takumi and Ren playing Mahjong. She was able to finally meet her idol in person and was extremely grateful for Nana Osaki’s gift.   

Personal Thoughts:

What was most impressive of this film was its portrayal of young adult life. It is messy, uncertain, and traumatic but bittersweet and slightly beautiful in odd ways. Although I do not share either of the girls’ personalities, I think that the creator displayed the circumstances of this stage in peoples’ lives realistically. Betrayal and new connections were a major theme. The friendship between both Nanas became increasingly intertwined and solid. Even without romantic feelings toward each other, the two were inseparable and portrayed a certain strength.  

Two words that I would use to describe this movie is melancholic and bittersweet. The romantic relationships and their dynamics for Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu were both complicated and multi-faceted. Especially since the live-action film did not show everything of the manga series, the audience is left with an increasing feeling of anxiety or uneasiness concerning Nana Komatsu’s feeling of not fitting in no matter where she is. A bigger gap or crack might appear between their friendship if this issue is not resolved.  

One critique for the live action that I noticed was that it spent a significant portion of the time showing Shōji’s infidelity. Whether it was lack of content or progression in the original source material, it would have been better for the movie to delve deeper into furthering the friendship between the two Nanas even more. Although it did affect her significantly, Nana Komatsu had a lot more issues than just her loss of a boyfriend. Her identity was questioned and pressured in all aspects: her love life, her working self, her friendship with Nana, and her place in that world.  

All in all, Nana was a dynamic piece that teaches that a single connection such as a name can link two people together whether intentionally or not. Likewise, although they seem stereotypical to their roles, Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu are so much more developed and complex as characters than shown in a piece such as Kamikaze Girls, who also portray this type of unique friendship.