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ファイト／ステイナイト 
November 9, 2006 | 
46 Comments
REIRA starring YUNA ITO - TRUTH (43MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
NANA the MOVIE 2 teaser (YouTube video)
This is basically the main theme for the second NANA MOVIE starring Nakashima Mika and Ichikawa Yui. I am a bit disappointed to know that Miyazaki Aoi doesn't reprise her role as Hachi in the second film since I thought she's perfect as the character. As it turns out, many other actors from the original film won't reprise their role. Nobuo Kyo has taken over the role of Ren from Matsuda Ryuhei. Matsuyama Kenichi who plays Shin in the first film (and L from Death Note movie) has been replaced by Kanata Hongo. Anyway, this is a beautiful looking PV that was shot in Scotland and features the actors who will play the TRAPNEST members in the second film. The song itself is nice but it's not as good or sad as Endless Story, which I think is one of the best songs I've ever heard. As a side note, I haven't had the chance to go through the lyrics with great care since I'm strapped for time so any correction is welcome as usual.
This is a rather good episode that mostly focuses on Hachi's unexpected life changes. Not surprisingly, she barely capable of supporting herself in a crisis like this. On the other hand, it's rather nice to see her friends turn out to be quite supportive after all. They are also clever enough to figure out how to help Hachi without making life easy for her. Animation-wise, this episode starts to show some inconsistencies here and there. Thankfully it's not enough to detract the show in its entirety and the animators are still motivated to show some unusual angles and animation style from time to time. One of particular note is Hachi's crying face reflected on a jar of pickled plums.
It's weird to arrive at this point in the story after watching the live action version. This story makes me wonder if a certain character is a lot more tolerable here because we know more about his story or because being an animated character makes him a bit more difficult to hate. What I meant by the later is that in comparison to an animated character, an actor on the screen tend to remind the viewer of a real life person. As a result, when the character exhibits some unpleasant personality, the association to a real life person with similar personality is likely to be more immediate. Anyway, as as side note, a commenter have informed me that there's a full Kanji lyric for the opening theme of NANA, Rose. I've updated that entry with full romaji lyric so check it out. And if you're looking for the ED theme, you can find it in this entry.
ANNA inspi’ NANA (BLACK STONES) - rose | Mirror (28MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
I suspect if I had been in the actual rock concert, I'd probably enjoy this a lot more. However, this is just a PV and I have a hard time seeing what's going on in it because the camera keeps moving left and right. Between this and a little pain, I prefer a little pain mostly because I'm not really into rock music. The PV itself simply shows Tsuchiya Anna acting just like a rocker. There's no particular narrative or story that holds the sequence together although one of the band members actually look a little bit like Shin. Update:. Thanks to Mizu, I've managed to obtain the full lyric to the song. The romaji version can be found below the cut as usual. Although after hearing the song again, there was one line after Kareochiru kanashimi my soul which I'm still not sure if it's correct or not.
OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST) - a little pain | Mirror (31.4MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
This is basically the ending theme for NANA anime. I find it weird that the singer is willing to use that strange stage name in order to perform this song but I guess she gets paid to maintain the illusion that she is actually Reira from Trapnest. The PV itself is one of those narrative-less type. It only shows Reira performing the song while wearing a period dress. In some scenes, she actually looks a bit scary due to the makeup in her face and the way the scene was lit. Thankfully the song itself is quite good and represents the longing that both Nana probably feel for their respective loved ones. It makes one wonder, especially in Oosaki Nana's case, if she was actually waiting for Ren while she got seperated from him.
For some reason this episode feels a lot more interesting than the ones before it for me. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that this is the episode that deals with the topic of finding a career instead of about the girls' love life, which as interesting as it was, a little bit difficult to relate. In fact, the general feel of the story leans heavily towards slice-of-life type until the last few minutes of the episode. This is probably the second time in a week a series decide to take this approach. Animation-wise, the quality is as consistent and good as always. A more notable element is the soundtrack that accompanies this episode. Some of the background music feature here help to create the mood of everyday life that the episode wants to project. Last but not least, as I pointed out yesterday in the previous entry, this series seems to have been given a tentative 50 episodes:
http://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/ntv-animation.pdf
I think the animation quality goes down a bit in this episode but that is to be expected in a mid episode like this one. The storyline also starts to slowdown a little bit and starts to have a little bit of slice-of-life feel to it. Through this simple stories, however, it's not hard to see that the two Nana are quite different from each other. This is why I'm surprised to see them getting along with each other. As a side note, I realised that I've been calling Komatsu Nana as 'Hachi' right from the first episode but that is simply because it's more convenient to do this than to refer her as Nana.
I never noticed it until this episode but the characters in this series sure wear all sorts of nicely designed clothes. Some of them are the casual kind like the ones that Shouji wears but others are quite lavish and eclectic like Kyousuke's cowboy hat and his and Junko's matching pyjamas. A lot of details have certainly gone to the design of the clothes in this series. It makes me wonder if they actually work with several clothes retailer in order to promote each other's product. I think it's nice to see a series where the characters don't wear the same thing over the course of 26 episodes. I'm sure it adds up to the cost of the production though but I'm glad because it means that this series has a high production value attached to it.
This is a rather unusual turn for the series. For some reason, this sixth episode ends up being a return to the first episode. In other words, this episode is basically similar to the first episode except for several additional scenes which did not make it in the first episode. There are probably two explanations for this. The first one, the rumour (scroll down and look for a news that's dated May 2nd) that Yazawa Ai was not happy with the cuts/alterations that were done in the first episode was true. And because of it, she demands that another episode is screened to fix these missing scenes. Or maybe the writers simply want to follow the narratives of the manga and the first episode is simply a taste of things to come, a teaser, one may say. Either way, in the end fans do get to see the episode in the order that they were presented in the manga.
I was hoping that I'll get to hear Endless Story again but unfortunately that song doesn't seem to be a part of the anime soundtrack. It's a shame really because I've associated that song so much with Nana and Ren's farewell scene. In this version, the scene is simply accompanied by a background music. It works effectively but not as dramatic as the live action version. I supposed since the anime doesn't feature Trapnest concert while going through Nana and Ren's flashback makes it impossible to feature any Trapnest-related music. In the end, however, the scene works as effectively as the one in the live action version. Moreover, Nobu is a lot interesting in this version than in the live action version so that is a plus.
This episode basically concludes Hachi's part of the story while showing the first half of Oosaki Nana's past. Unfortunately, the transition from one girl's story to the other one is not that smooth. All that the anime used to indicate the two stories is just a simple black screen that stays for 2-5 seconds. I find this to be rather abrupt and would have preferred it if they had included a scene where Nana and Hachi are talking to one another. Having said that, I realised now why they left the last few minutes of Hachi's story in this episode. In comparison to Hachi's story, the majority of Nana's story mostly involves conversation with her and Ren and doesn't require as much animation. In fact, they had to pad out this episode with a rock concert by Nana and her band to ensure that they the end of the episode by the time the first half of Nana's story ends. This time around, however, they chose a right spot to end the story.
This is a rather strange episode because it doesn't exactly end the past story of Komatsu Nana but at the same time it looks as if next week's episode will start Oosaki Nana's story. Overall, however, the emotional impact of the episode is quite satisfying. As always, the soundtrack does a good job of conveying the atmosphere and the emotion that the characters supposed to have in each scene. There is one particular scene in a restaurant that I thought really captured the mood of the story. In general, voice acting is also stellar and at times it actually makes me dislike a certain character because of it. This time around, the animation seems far more traditional in the sense that the animators didn't try any experimental method to deliver the storyline like the still picture with baloon words in the second episode.
This is another impressive episode for the series. I was a bit worried that we won't get to see Komatsu Nana's and Oosaki Nana's individual story prior to their meeting with each other. Thankfully that does not seem to be the case. This episode basically covers the first half of Komatsu Nana/Hachi's past. I am quite surprised to see this as I thought the anime writers will speed things up and show Hachi's and Nana's story in only one episode. But as it appears now, I think each girl will get at least 2 episodes to flesh out their background before the story will get back to their time together in Tokyo. The most notable part of this episode is probably the manga-like static scenes which show Hachi's experience as she fell in and out of love with various men. It was quite hilarious to see the first time around.
Opening Theme: Rose by ANNA inspi' NANA (BLACK STONES) (11MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
What a relief! I finally find a manga adaptation that is actually worth watching this season. I have to say that this is probably one of the best series that are released this season. Everything from the animation, the maturity of the acting, the soundtrack, down to the super-deformed facial expression is perfect. I especially love the soundtrack which is quite jazz influenced. If there is one thing I have to criticise it's probably the way the storyline has been modified a bit just like in the movie but this is not a big deal since if they had followed the manga to a T, I don't think they'll have enough time to cover every single part of the story. If you like the live-action version, then this is definitely better. The opening theme itself is not as good as the ending theme but it gets better after repeat listening.
Since I'm going to include the upcoming Nana anime into my watching list next season, I figure I should check out the movie adaptation first just to compare and contrast it with the anime later on. I have to admit that I was rather apprehensive about this movie because the majority of manga to live action conversion usually don't end up well. Thankfully this turns out to be an exception. Most of these can be attributed to Nakashima Mika and Miyazaki Aoi's performance as Nana and Hachi. Both of them manage to convey the friendship between the two characters quite well. Having said that, this does't mean that this is a perfect adaptation. I personally disagree with some of the casting choices. But this is just a minor point and in general the movie gives me hope that the anime adaptation will turn out well.