Sleep Is For the Weak

Rated M for adult situations, nudity, and fairly graphic (but not pornographic) sex; super awesome pink official website

The first volume of Nana is amazing. It consists of two self-contained short stories that introduce the two main characters before they meet. In a single volume of manga, Ai Yazawa managed to make me understand and sympathize with characters I would usually hate, showed me the way they think and the things they believe, and very clearly followed both of them through a major growing-up period in their lives. It’s really good stuff, and I’d recommend it to anyone.

The second volume of Nana is about buying furniture. I couldn’t get through it, and I ended up dropping the series for years.

About a month ago, I decided to give Nana another chance. I read all eleven volumes that are available in English, and like my impressions of the first two volumes, my opinions on the next chunk of the series are pretty mixed.

First, the good. The major characters in Nana are extremely believable. Ai Yazawa has created a cast of layered individuals who vary between sympathetic and pathetic, lovable and irritating the same way real people do. There are no heroes or villians in Nana, no bizarre one-note characters introduced to move the story along, just a bunch of messed up people hurting each other through that non-malicious, self-centered cruelty that everyone’s guilty of on occasion. It’s one of the most realistic character stories I’ve ever read, and I am really impressed by Ai Yazawa’s character building abilities.

Unfortunately, the characters that the mangaka built so realistically end up being pretty unpleasant as of a few volumes in. It might be partially the length of the series (19 volumes and counting in Japan – way longer than any of Ai Yazawa’s previous works), but the characters seem to lose sight of their respective goals pretty quickly. The longer the story goes on, the more the major characters wallow in their bad qualities and the less they try to work toward anything. I like the way Nana’s characters make more mistakes from putting themselves first or being passive than from more exaggerated character flaws, but after a while I start to wish that somebody, anybody, would come out and do something to change things – start a real confrontation, make an ultimatum, even just cut someone destructive out of his or her life. Yes, the paralysis and self-destructive inaction the characters in Nana go through is realistic, but it could be equally realistic if even a single character made a real attempt to think or act differently. The first volume of the manga is about two young women figuring out what they actually want out of life and taking the first steps to get it. So why is it that in volume 11 both Nanas are still doing the same stupid shit they swore they’d stop doing in volume 1? Girly Nana’s awful relationships just get worse and worse through her own selfishness and stupidity until she ends up trapped in the worst of them, and Punk Nana, despite her original plan to become more independent, ends up depending constantly on a small group of friends and still can’t manage to be happy without her man. Any realistic story would have to acknowledge the difficulty of changing your nature, and I like the point that deciding on a course of action and sticking to it are two very different things. But after a while neither Nana seems interested in doing anything but wallowing in her own problems and taking the path of least resistance. If the major characters don’t seem to care what kind of people they are, why should I?

As I said before, one of the things I like about Nana is that the characters and their interactions are very realistic. But now the mangaka seems bent on ruining even that. For example, here’s a quote from volume 11 that was presented as a big revelation:

“They were together since [character] was born… at the same orphanage.”

So what’s next? Characters haunted by the deaths of their pure, innocent sisters? Long-lost brothers turned evil just waiting to be revealed? I think it’s obvious from reading Nana that the mangaka wants it to be taken more seriously than your average piece of melodramatic fluff, so why is she intent on making every cynical part of my brain roll my eyes right out of my head?

UPDATE: The preceding paragraphs were written after reading volumes 1-11. I read volume 12 on Viz Media’s dime, an honor I’m sure I will never receive again considering that volume 18 is out now.

Volume 12 does exactly what volume 11 did – starts with an unsatisfying, anticlimactic resolution of the last volume’s promise, then sets things up so that it seems like, maybe, the next volume will really take off. And then volume 13 doesn’t move forward, either. I decided after that one that I can’t read any more about Girly Nana’s romantic misadventures – the way her relationship plays out has just become depressing. It’s too realistic to be a fun fantasy, too melodramatic to be taken that seriously, and a painful example of how women get caught in bad relationships and allow themselves to be mistreated by controlling men – without actually dealing with that issue in a satisfying or enlightening way for volume after volume. I’ve read some spoilers, and it turns out that the big plot twist of later volumes is one that’s just going to piss me off. So I give up.

Educated Impression: I’m sure a few of the more annoying plot points will be resolved well at some point – I have that much faith in Ai Yazawa. I’m also sure it will take an incredibly long time to get there, and I’ve spent enough time waiting for Nana to get interesting. (NotHayama)

Additional Educated Impression: I find that when reading Nana, it helps to remain blindly optimistic. I’ve had two friends refuse to keep reading because it’s so damn depressing, and it’s not like I can reassure them that it gets better, because it doesn’t.  So far it’s only gotten worse. And yet, I keep reading. I’m emotionally invested at this point and still hope, maybe foolishly, that the characters can redeem themselves and that a happy ending is possible. Unfortunately, with every setback (and there are a lot of them), the end seems that much farther away. Yazawa’s ability to drag out a story and reveal just enough along the way will leave readers alternately discouraged and heartened. If annoyance doesn’t completely obliterate any feelings you have toward the series, Nana is worth reading to experience Yazawa’s skill with storytelling and character development.

Owing to the fact that it adapted the source material so faithfully, everything that’s been said about the manga also applies to the anime, except that the latter has a slower start (episode 1 is also kinda episode 6) and more stops along the way (due to unnecessary yet clever recap episodes). And only if you’re dedicated to the series should the two live-action movies be attempted. It’s not that the enjoyment is hampered by the wooden acting, or that the character development is lacking because of the need to condense the story, but the styling stands out above all else and seems a tad ridiculous in a real world setting. Suspended disbelief can only do so much to convince you that a man shaved bald and forced to wear sunglasses is actually Yasu. But luckily for a story about two rival bands, the high point of every adaptation is its soundtrack. Whether it’s the movies, anime, or manga tribute albums, there’s not a single miss across the board. If you must expose yourself or your friends to some aspect of Nana, make it the music – then, at least, no one can blame you for putting them in a bad mood. It’s a shame that the first ending theme isn’t included on the R1 DVDs, though…I guess it was a licensing problem, but man, that sucks. (Orange Skirt)

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