Hitoiro - NANA starring MIKA NAKASHIMA

This song is the theme of NANA 2 where the lyrics are written by Yazawa Ai, the manga's author and the melody composed by GLAY's Takuro. As compared to the insert song by Ito Yuna, this is more on the rock side but not as groovy as "GLAMOROUS SKY" though. The melody is much more mellow and slower. However, it does show Nakashima Mika's vocal ability to a certain extent especially the parts where the lyrics have to be sung at a faster pace which I'm glad to see as a form of improvement on her part.

In tune with the title, "Hitoiro" i.e. monochrome, you will see only black-and-white images in this PV except for the scenes in the movie which is in colour. This is rather different from Ito Yuna's PV which has a lot of beautiful scenery from Scotland. And you don't get to see scenes from the movie in Ito's PV. Another significant difference was the fact that the Trapnest members appeared in Ito's PV but none of the Black Stones members made a live appearance in the Hitoiro PV. It was more of a one-man show from Nakashima right till the end.

One issue I have with the PV is the shiny crumpled dress she was wearing while she's walking on the road. Personally, I cannot appreciate this outfit at all and thinks Nakashima looks quite awful in that. Somehow, I remember seeing this type of style before but I can't remember who had worn a similar outfit in the past.

As the "Truth" PV was done in an elaborate fashion, the "Hitoiro" PV pales in comparison in terms of the packaging but it has a certain edge over its rival because it featured scenes from the PV. However, it's quite evident that there was a difference in the budgets for both productions and Nakashima's PV had a strong sense of her personal style. In essence, it felt more like a song from Oosaki Nana rather than from Black Stones.

I can't say that I really like the song right from the start but this grows on you over time. However, given that it's not easy to take to this song easily, this may have an impact on the sales figures especially when compared to "Truth" which can be easily accepted by the mass market due to its ballad style. We'll see how the sales go from now on...