NANA Ep 01

Nana, do you still remember how we met? I'm the type who believes in destiny thus I feel that we were fated to meet. Even if you want to laugh at me, it's OK...

Komatsu Nana checks her mobile phone anxiously and sees a message from her boyfriend Endou Shouji which has the subject of "Sakura Saku" (meaning the sakura has blossomed). This makes Nana leap into the air with joy and startles the customers at the video rental store she works in. Actually, Shoji has made it to an university in Tokyo and this means that Nana can finally join him there. She rushes home to pack up and leaves a note for her family members to indicate her whereabouts and asks them to send her belongings over once she finds an apartment to live in.

As Nana had been ranting about going to Tokyo for a long time, she feels that her parents would not be surprised at her sudden departure and may be happier since the house will become quieter without Nana who's the second child with a 2-year-older sister and 2-year-younger sister. In addition, Nana's strong desire to go to Tokyo also outweighs any sense of longing for her hometown of 20 years and her family as she can only think of reaching Tokyo at the shortest possible time.

Nana manages to buy a train ticket to Tokyo despite the snowy weather and is gushing with happiness as she receives an email from Shoji who will be coming to fetch her. However, she is shocked to see that the train carriage is full of people and regrets not buying a stipulated seat ticket earlier on as she tries to find a vacant seat.

Nana sees a girl dressed in leather wear and listening to her discman who placed her guitar on the seat. When Nana tries to speak to the girl, the train suddenly jerks and hurls Nana onto the laps of the girl with the guitar crashing down on her back.

The girl asks Nana if she's OK and she replies in the affirmative. Nana then asks to sit beside her as she can't find another vacant seat. As Nana settles down, she starts to observe the girl and marvels at her good looks. When the girl notices that Nana has been staring at her, she misunderstands that Nana is disturbed by the cigarette smoke but the latter denies it. The girl comments that the train has been stopping repeatedly ever since she boarded it due to the snowy weather. This makes Nana worry as she's anxious to get to Tokyo but she whips out her mobile phone and sends an email to Shoji. The girl is shocked by the speed at which Nana does this and comments that the senior high school girls of today are really good at typing emails on mobile phones. Nana clarifies that she's already 20 which makes the girl burst out laughing since they are of the same age and yet she saw Nana as someone younger.

Just then, there is an announcement played through the public address system saying that the train will travel at reduced speed in the midst of the snowstorm. When Nana laments again about this, the girl asks why she's going to Tokyo. Nana reveals that she's going to look for a job there and is surprised to know that the girl is doing the same even though Nana had assumed that the girl should be a musician returning to Tokyo after doing a live concert tour.

Suddenly, Nana receives a phone call from Shoji and the girl is visibly stunned upon hearing Nana's name. After hanging up, the girl teases Nana for going to Tokyo for the sake of a man. Nana tells the girl about Shoji being her ex-classmate from art school who left for Tokyo one year ago to prepare for the entrance exams of an art university. The girl asks Nana why she didn't go with him at that time and the latter replies sadly that Shoji didn't want her to tag along without any purpose as he felt that she would be better off working at their hometown to save money before moving to Tokyo. As such, when Shoji makes it to an university, she would go to Tokyo and join him while working there. Nana starts to get embarrassed over telling these to the girl whom she barely knows but the girl says that it's OK since it will probably be some time before they reach Tokyo. As such, Nana starts to get carried away talking about Shoji while the girl regrets letting Nana speak freely.

When they buy beer to drink, Nana suggests toasting for Shoji's entry into the university but the girl rebukes that this doesn't concern her. The girl then says that they should toast for the rare happening of 2 same-aged girls going to Tokyo on the same train at the same time and even reveals that her name is the same as Nana. In the end, they only reached Tokyo 5 hours later but Nana wasn't bored at all since she had someone to talk to.

(From now on, I will use Hachi to refer to Komatsu Nana and Nana to refer to Oosaki Nana so as to prevent confusion.)

Hachi is thrilled to see Shouji after alighting from the train and fails to realise that Nana has walked away silently. Hachi rushes over to hug Shouji and gets overwhelmed at seeing him that she starts to cry. When Hachi finally remembers Nana, she is disappointed not to see her and regrets not getting Nana's contact details. However, she soon cheers up upon seeing her buddies Junko and Kyousuke who have also come to fetch her.

Kyousuke and Junko drop Hachi and Shouji off and leaves together in their car. This makes Hachi a bit bewildered as she's feeling sleepy after the long train ride. When Hachi realises that she's going to be imposing on Shouji before she finds an apartment, she apologises to him for coming to Tokyo without giving prior notice and reveals that she had planned to stay with Junko first. However, Shouji remarks that this is not possible since Junko is already staying with Kyousuke, who is her boyfriend. Hachi is surprised to hear that Junko and Kyousuke are cohabiting and wonders if she and Shouji will become as close as them in future since they have been living in different cities for the past year.

The next day, Hachi oversleeps and finds Shouji out for his part-time job even though she had planned to make breakfast for him. As such, she decides to clean up the house and cook dinner for him while thinking that it would be good if she could take care of Shouji like this every day.

At dinner time, Shouji comments that he never thought that Hachi could cook that well. When Shouji asks if she has found an apartment or a job, Hachi realises that she has clean forgotten about these things as she was too eager to please Shouji. This makes Shouji complain that she is not in Tokyo to clean his house and reminds her to do what she should. Hachi retorts unhappily that she did everything for Shouji which causes him to feel unhappy and refuse her gesture to help him wash the dishes. This makes Hachi sad and regret what she said to Shouji.

Hachi goes to a real estate agent where an old man Andou tells her that it is hard to find an apartment where the rent is below 50,000 yen. Andou then suggests bringing Hachi to look at an apartment which charges 70,000 yen per month without the need for security deposits. Hachi is happy to see the building made of red bricks and a river with lots of greenery beside it. The only grouse she has would be the absence of a lift even though the apartment she's going to view is at the 7th storey.

Upon reaching the apartment 707, Hachi is thrilled to see Nana who has also come to view the place. However, Nana pretends not to remember Hachi which scares her for a brief moment. Nana's real estate agent Yokoi asks if she's ready to sign the contract but she still needs to consider. As such, Andou asks if she can let Hachi view the apartment too and they find her already doing that while exclaiming about the good points of the place.

Hachi decides immediately to rent the apartment which is met with objections from Nana and Yokoi since they were the first to come here. Just when Hachi and Nana are arguing over who should rent the place, Hachi reveals that she needs to move out of Shouji's place urgently or he will dump her one day. Nana expresses interest in this topic only to be met with Yokoi hurrying her to sign the contract instead of getting bothered over trivial matters. This earns Yokoi stares from the girls who scold him for being unfeeling.

On seeing this, Andou suggests that the girls can live together and split the rent and living expenses among themselves since they both like the place. When Nana comments whether Hachi will not infringe on her privacy, Andou suggests fixing locks on the rooms but Yokoi tries to dissuade Nana from sharing the apartment with Hachi because his commission will be halved. This makes Nana unimpressed with Yokoi's attitude and decides to accept Andou's suggestion instead. They make arrangements to move in on the next day and shake hands which marks the beginning of their friendship as roommates...

After watching the first episode, it appears that a lot of the details from the manga have been left out e.g. Shouji and Hachi making up after that brief quarrel. As such, the flow of the story seems rather awkward especially for those who have read the manga before watching the anime. And I find it weird for the story to jump straight into Vol 2 when they should have started with the background stories of Nana and Hachi and yet they prefer to do a recap of the past by showing the fateful meeting of the girls first.

As for the voice-acting, it's quite hard to get used to KAORI's high-pitched saccharine-sweet voice even though it suits Hachi's personality. It's a matter of personal preference since I'm not too receptive when it comes to squeaky-female voices. It doesn't help that Hachi appears like an airhead at an early stage of the story. On the other hand, Park Ro-mi's voice keeps reminding me of Ed in Fullmetal Alchemist so I thought it would have been better if there was some distinguishing traits to prevent the confusion. Although Nana should have a husky voice, what I hear in the anime just doesn't fit in since it feels a lot like a teenager boy's voice rather than a 20-year-old woman.

Talking about the theme songs, I tend to prefer the OP by Tsuchiya Anna more than the ED by olivia because I don't like the chorus part of the ED. Besides, I like Tsuchiya's vocals more on a comparative basis. This is exactly the opposite of what I felt for the real-life movie as I liked Ito Yuna's song first before growing to accept Nakashima Mika's song. Anyway, based on first impressions, I'm not sure if the anime songs will be as good or even better than the movie's versions so I can only judge after repeated listenings.