NANA ep.10

June 7, 2006 | 10 Comments

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.

Brief Summary:

Hachi apologises to the neighbour after the noise from Nana's rock concert disturb them. While doing this, however, she overhears that apartment 707 is cursed. Hachi becomes afraid to sleep alone that night. Because of this he tells Nobu to sleep in her room so she can have an excuse to sleep in Nana's room. Through Nobu, Hachi also finds out that Nana intends on making a living through her music. Hachi becomes excited thinking about it and therefore decides to help Nana and Nobu by placing an advertisement in front of her workplace. Later on that day, Shouji decides to take Hachi to Jackson Hole to have lunch together. Hachi, however, becomes disappointed when she finds out that Shouji can't spend time together with her that often. In response, Shouji reminds Hachi that she did refuse his offer to come to his place a few nights ago. He also wonders as to why he has to be the one who works around Hachi's schedule.

Hachi realises that she's growing apart from Shouji and decides to mend their relationship by going to his workplace. Her plan, however, is ruined when a young boy tells her that he's interested to apply for the bassist position that she advertised. Meanwhile at his workplace, Shouji is introduced to a new employee. One whose name happens to be Kawamura Sachiko. At the same time, Hachi, Nana, and Nobu get to see the ability of the potential new member whose name is Okazaki Shinichi. After a session with the guy, Nana and Nobu are impressed with his ability. They, however, become a bit nostalgic when they realise that Shin's style fits theirs because he's a big fan of Ren. Back to Shouji, he finds himself smitten with Sachiko especially when he finds out that this version is completely different from the one that was created by Hachi's imagination. However, Shouji tries to stay away from her after he remembers that he already has a girlfriend.

Impression:

Watching this episode feels like watching a trainwreck. You know it's going to end badly and yet you can't avert your eyes from it. It's kind of sad to know the whole Sachiko thing ends up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy for Hachi. If she didn't start mentioning the name to Shouji, I wonder if he'll still be attracted to Sachiko. It's also unfortunate that Sachiko seems to be similar to Hachi only a lot more attractive and mature personality-wise. It's no surprise that Shouji ends up being attracted to her. In a way, this makes him look a lot more sympathetic here than in the live action version. In this version, it's really obvious that he and Hachi have grown apart due to their jobs and because they have different sets of people that they hang out with. It's kind of ironic when one thinks about it because they seem a lot closer when they were living in different cities. Although that in itself could be the start of the rift between the two.

© memento 2003