First Impressions / NANA

OP Sequence

OP: 「rose」 by ANNA inspi’ NANA (BLACK STONES)
Watch the OP! Mirror 1 and Mirror 2

Summary:
Komatsu Nana is jumping for joy when she finally gets a message from her boyfriend Shouji saying that he got accepted into a university. At the train station, she buys a one-way ticket to Tokyo. The train is packed, and Nana finds the only empty spot occupied by another girl’s guitar. She tries to say something to the girl, but then the train lurches to a stop. The other girl removes the case and gives her the seat. Nana notices how pretty this dark and short-haired girl is and even spots the Vivian ring that she’s wearing. The two start talking, with the other girl comparing Nana to a high-schooler because of her fast phone typing skills (Nana is actually 20 years old). A voice on the intercom then announces that the train will be delayed because of the snow. Nana reveals that she’s going to Tokyo and hoping to get a job. She starts to ask the other girl questions about being a musician when her own phone goes off. It’s Shouji checking up on her, and because of the call, the other girl finds out what Nana’s name is. Nana reveals to her companion that Shouji didn’t want her to originally go to Tokyo with him because she had no objective and no money. She had promised that she’d go to Tokyo when he got accepted into Tokyo. Their conversation really takes off, and they even make a toast. It’s then that the other girl reveals her name: it’s also Nana.
The two spend the rest of the train ride talking, though Komatsu Nana feels that she only talked about herself and didn’t learn much about the other Nana. When they arrive in Tokyo after the five hour ride, Nana gets reunited with Shouji, whereas the other Nana simply walks off and disappears. Nana also gets to see her good friends Junko and Kyousuke, who have also come to pick her up. However, Nana is surprised when her “home” in Toyko turns out to be Shouji’s apartment since she had originally thought that she’d be living with Junko. It turns out that Kyousuke and Junko are already living together. So, Nana sleeps with Shouji for the night, but when she wakes up in the morning, he’s already gone. Nana spends the day cleaning up the house and cooking for him. Shouji enjoys the food when he gets home, but he also makes Nana realize that she didn’t accomplish anything about finding work or getting her own place. He reminds her of her promise to find a job, which causes Nana to blurt out that she came to Tokyo for his sake. Shouji isn’t too happy about this and emphasizes his own self-sufficiency.
The next day, Nana goes by herself to her real estate agent’s office. There happens to be a 2DK (2 bedrooms, and a combo dining room/kitchen) for only 70,000 yen a month, but that’s still above Nana’s price range. The apartment is on the seventh floor of a building with no elevator that Nana thinks was built long before she was born. When they get to the Room 707, they see another person there: the other Nana. Since Oosaki Nana is unsure about the place, Komatsu Nana decides to look around. She falls in love with it immediately and decides to take it. However, the other Nana decides that she also wants it and almost signs the lease. Komatsu Nana’s agent suggests that since they’re friends, why don’t they live together? The prospect of half the rent really appeals to both girls, and the agent even promises to get keys made for the sake of their privacy. The two Nanas decide to go through with it, and both agree to move in the next day. As the two new roommates shake hands, Komatsu Nana thinks to herself that she feels like crying because the other Nana’s hand is unexpectedly warm and that makes her own heart warm.

ED Sequence

ED: 「a little pain」 by OLIVIA inspi’ REIRA (TRAPNEST)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1 Mirror 2
The OP and ED are very fitting for this series, sounding very much like songs that Blast or Trapnest would sing, respectively. Since I’m more of a Trapnest fan, I much prefer the ED over the OP (for the record, I preferred Endless Story over Glamourous Sky). I do like how the OP gives a lot of little hints about the story, like the falling strawberry glass and the cigarettes.

Very good first episode, they started off with Volume 2 and kept pretty close to the manga, omitting only a couple of scenes. I love the way the episode ended, blending the handshake with Nana’s voiceover and the music. It was the perfect way to end the episode. I suspect that Nana’s voiceovers, like at the beginning and end of this episode, will become some of my favorite parts of this series.
I got used to KAORI’s voice (Komatsu Nana) immediately, but Paku Romi’s voicing of Oosaki Nana seemed slightly gruffer than I had imagined it (maybe I had become too familiar with Mika Nakashima as Nana). But by the end of the episode, both voices felt to me like they really fit the characters. The animation and background music are pretty good, though obviously not as flashy as some of the other series this season (which isn’t a bad thing where this show is concerned).
They seems to be moving at around three or four episodes per volume of manga, which means that they’ll probably end up covering around the first eight volumes if the series goes 26 episodes like everyone suspects it will (I haven’t heard officially). I just can’t wait till they rename Komatsu Nana to Hachi so that I can stop having to differentiate between the two Nanas. Next episode can’t come soon enough…
*Goes to listen to the LOVE for NANA album*

32 Comments

  6. Hey, this looks pretty much like the manga. I heard it will be a 26 episode show. Maybe they will cover only the first volumes narrated by Hachi… And what about the prologues?

    Trigger
    Reply

  7. sweeet-nesss!!!
    has it been said how many episodes Nana is going to run for?
    I can’t wait till this gets subbed. The animation quality looks awsome~ the colours and everything~
    So happy they finally made Nana into an anime~
    Yay~
    =)

    Kocopo
    Reply

  13. The Nana anime is finally here! Skipping the volume one prologues isn’t too bad, there’s not much in there that was that important; and they can always use material from it for the important setups & relationships.

    One of the must gets for the season, I wonder how many groups will fansub this and which ones, heh.

    kinb
    Reply

  15. the ~Love for NANA~ album is *great* – i’m really pleased to see they’re using it for the OP/ED. hope they work the rest of the album into the anime… and that it gets 26 eps… and a second season…

    @EliteF22: no, there’s no yuri in NANA – shoujo-ai, maybe, but certailny not yuri.

    sean
    Reply

  18. the ~Love for NANA~ album is *great* – i’m really pleased to see they’re using it for the OP/ED. hope they work the rest of the album into the anime… and that it gets 26 eps… and a second season…

    No no no, sorry I didn’t mean that they were using it in the series. I was just reminded of it when I heard the OP and ED, so I had the urge to go listen to it

    Omni
    Reply

  23. I’ve been waiting for this series. I really like both the OP/ED songs but like you I perfer OLIVIA’s song more. I can’t wait till till release and OST for this anime or at least the singles for the OP and ED song.

    Looks like a good start so far, following the manga quite closely. It did take me a while to get use to KAORI’s voice. I think Paku Romi voice is quite fitting for Oosaki Nana.

    Oh well good start, if this keeps up I might end up liking this more than the live-action.

    Angel
    Reply

  24. wow thanks a lot for letting us see the OP and ED for this series! ive been looking forward to it for such a long time now ^.^ but for some reason the OP is really jerky and choppy when i play it…is it supposed to be like that or is it just my computer?? oh well, thanks again!

    kandi_heartz
    Reply

  25. Nah…That’s the best anime ever!I just love it!@__@
    Atleast i think it’s going to be..I wonder how many eps is it going to be,tho..Since the manga is Ongoing and all..-__-

    Miko
    Reply

  27. wow thanks a lot for letting us see the OP and ED for this series! ive been looking forward to it for such a long time now ^.^ but for some reason the OP is really jerky and choppy when i play it…is it supposed to be like that or is it just my computer?? oh well, thanks again!

    I encoded it as XviD, so make sure you have the right codec. Past that, I would advise just using VLC, which will play just about anything without needing to hassle with codecs.

    Omni
    Reply

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