NANA – 04

Summary:
Running through the streets of Tokyo, Nana hears her name called. The Shouji that she’s been looking for has found her instead. After, he apologizes for what he said before, the two return to their hotel, but Junko makes Nana and Shouji stay in the same room. Shouji reveals that he really wants to be with Nana in Tokyo, but he doesn’t have any way of supporting them both. Nana suggests that she can take a job at home and come to Tokyo in a year after she’s saved some money and Shouji’s entered college. Shouji likes the idea and then jokes that since they’ve reconciled, they should sleep together. Nana is willing, but only if Shouji says that he loves her. He doesn’t feel that Japanese guys say things like that, so he tries to pretend to be an American named Michael. Hearing that Nana doesn’t want to do it with anyone other than him, Shouji embraces her and kisses her forehead. Nana realizes that this is his way of telling her that he loves her from his heart. After a night of passion, Nana and Shouji start their long distance relationship.
Oosaki Nana introduces herself by saying that she doesn’t know where she was born or who her father is and she’s forgotten her mother’s face. This Nana is currently the singer of a popular local band called Blast, which its share of devoted fans including one named Misato who gives Nana a present for her 18th birthday. While eating with the other band members – Ren, Nobu, and Yasu – Nana finds out that the present is a Vivienne Westwood jacket. Nobu is about to graduate from high school and Yasu is planning on becoming a lawyer, whereas Ren and Nana are both high school dropouts. When it’s time for them to part ways, Yasu reminds Ren that he has something he needs to tell Nana. Ren makes a joke in order to avoid raising the subject right now. Ren and Nana return to the apartment that they live together in. In the bath together, Nana asks Ren if he remembers when they first met. He recounts the Christmas performance he gave where she showed up in a red dress.
It was around that time that she had stopped going to school and started working. Nana had lived with her grandmother because her mother had abandoned her when she was young. Nana never wore girlish colors like red or pink until after her grandmother died and she decided to buy herself a red dress as a Christmas present. She wore that dress to the live performance so that Nobu could introduce her to this cool guy named Ren. She had her doubts about him, but her eyes became fixed during the performance and their gazes met. Nana wasn’t sure what to call the feelings that came from that night: jealousy, envy, impatience, and sexual desire. She admits that even now she feels uneasy because living with Ren seems like a dream. In bed together, Nana asks Ren what Yasu was talking about earlier. Ren still doesn’t give her a straight answer, so she gets out of bed to go take some birth control medicine. Ren thinks that having kids would be ok, but Nana disagrees. He pulls her back onto the bed and confesses that he’s going to Tokyo – she can live her life how she wants to now. Nana is shocked by these words.

The transition between the two stories wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. The Komatsu Nana story ended fairly quickly and it switched Oosaki Nana. The highlight of the episode for me was being able to hear a Blast song start off that half of the story. That’s something the manga just can’t do. And with the exception of some cut dialogue between Nana and Ren about Nana’s grandmother, this episode followed the manga pretty faithfully. It ended with Ren telling Nana that he’s going to Tokyo, which I found to be a pretty good stopping point. The sex between Ren and Nana is tastefully done, though I was surprised that they kept a little bit of nudity in.
Random thought: Nobu and Ren’s voices seemed to fit them pretty well, but Yasu’s was a bit deeper than I thought it’d be.
Next week’s episode should conclude Oosaki Nana’s prologue, finishing the first volume. Though I doubt it’ll happen, I’m suddenly starting to hope that they’ll animate the Junko extras that are at the end of every volume of the manga.