Otani Kentaro’s Nana is a product of the pop culture phenomenon that is Yazawa Ai’s eponymous hit manga. Since its debut in the comic magazine Cookie six years ago, Nana has been compiled in fourteen paperback editions that have sold more than 27 million copies.
Otani (Avec Mon Mari, Travail, Thirty Lies Or So) hits the big romantic notes that fans of the manga no doubt expect. At the same time, he grounds his story in character, not the more usual mix of stereotype and formula. Also, though his two principals are hardly original types, they are real enough individuals, whose dilemmas cross the barriers of age, sex and culture.
By the big climax, at a provincial rock concert, we feel the weight of those dilemmas, even though the two friends are doing nothing more dramatic than staring intently at a stage. We’ve all been there, wanting something we can no longer have, reliving moments that are past, regretting decisions that are final.
The first one we meet is Komatsu Nana (Miyazaki), with her bright eyes, chipper look and crinkly smile. She is off to reunite with her high school sweetheart Shoji (Hiraoka Yuta), now a student in Tokyo.
On the train she encounters Ozaki Nana (Nakajima), who is also on her way to Tokyo. Though hailing from another boondocks, Ozaki Nana is a hard-core rocker, her kohl-rimmed eyes glittering with ironic amusement at her new companion’s enthusiasm.
Nothing in common? Not quite; Ozaki Nana takes a liking to Komatsu Nana, as she might to an eager puppy, while Komatsu Nana is impressed by her seatmate’s air of sophistication and maturity, though she is exactly the same age.
When they later discover, by chance, that they are both in the market for the same apartment Komatsu Nana suggests that they become roommates - and Ozaki Nana agrees. They shop for household furnishings like a pair of newlyweds, with Komatsu Nana the bubbly bride, Ozaki Nana, the indulgent groom. A happy lesbian couple in the making?
Not really - Ozaki Nana is madly, but one-sidedly, in love with Ren (Matsuda Ryuhei), a moody guitarist with the band she used to front. He has since gone on to fame and fortune with a J-pop band called Trapnest. She wants succeed in her own right and meet him on equal terms. To that end she forms a garage band that consists of two high school mates and a handsome newcomer (Matsuyama Kenichi).
All this striving strikes Komatsu Nana as false pride. She would be supremely happy as a traditionally devoted housewife - or so she believes until she discovers what is really on Mr Right’s mind.
Otani tells the story of the Nanas’ friendship without resorting to cliched oil-and-water gags. Instead he shows us, in scene after deftly calibrated scene, why these two connect. Their friendship, we see, is based on a mutual admiration for the qualities one has but the other lacks. They also support each other when they drop the masks - one smily, the other cool - and reveal the real hurt and pain.
Nakajima, a million-CD-selling rock vocalist in real life, sums it all up in kick-ass stage performances of the theme song Glamorous Sky. This is a Japanese movie about the rock scene that actually rocks.