NANA 2 is the sequel to last year’s smash, based on a hit manga, about two 20-year-old women with the same name but radically different styles and personalities (one a fiercely independent rocker played by Nakashima Mika, the other a marriage-minded cutie pie played by Miyazaki Aoi), who become unlikely roomies and friends.
After Nana became one the biggest hits of 2005, TBS scrambled to cast the sequel - and learned that Miyazaki and costars Matsuda Ryuhei and Matsuyama Kenichi had scheduling conflicts. The network found Ichikawa Yui to replace Miyazaki, while Kyo Nobuo and Hongo Kanata took over from Matsuda and Matsuyama, respectively.
For fans who invested heavily in the first film’s cast, the changes may inspire everything from mild shock to howls of betrayal. Nonetheless, the film's meticulously created world, from the two Nanas’ all-white apartment to their strawberry-patterned drinking glasses, has acquired such an iconic power that even the invested will want to come for a second visit.
For those who have seen the first film, NANA 2 will be a reprise of familiar tropes, mixed with a story of growing up and moving on. Think of it as an extended farewell to youth - and the Nana films. This time, over means over.
As the story begins, the two Nanas are still living in their funky old apartment, number 707 (“Nana Zero Nana” in Japanese). Together they celebrate the Tanabata Festival on July 7, with Komatsu Nana (the cutie, nicknamed “Hachi”) wishing for a boyfriend and Osaki Nana (the rocker) wishing that Hachi gets her wish.
Soon after, with Nana's encouragement, Hachi hooks up with Takumi (Tamayama Tetsuji), the long-haired leader of Trapnest, the successful J-pop band that Nana’s old flame Ren plays in - and that Hachi has long been a fan of. Looking like the cover boy of a bodice-ripper novel, Takumi would seem to be out of Hachi’s league - and acts it, treating poor Hachi like the latest in a long line of disposable women.
Nobu (Narimiya Hiroki), the guitarist of Nana’s struggling punk band Black Stones, falls hard for Hachi - but she is already in Takumi’s thrall and feeling lousy about it. Instead of opening her heart to Nana, her one real friend, Hachi shuts herself off, feeling embarrassed and conflicted.
Meanwhile, Nana’s band is finally on its way up and her on/off relationship with Ren is in an off phase, perhaps for good. Then she discovers Hachi and Takumi in a compromising situation and flips, believing that Hachi is throwing herself away
for a rat.
How can she bring Hachi and Nobu together, while blowing off Takumi?
Fans of the manga will be prepared for what happens next. For non-fans used to the conventions of the Hollywood romantic drama, the climax may run counter to genre expectations. Let’s put it this way - you're not going to see two couples at the altar by the final fade.
As Hachi, Ichikawa plays more to the fluttery, mousy side of the character than to the bubbly, puppy-doggish side that Miyazaki embodied so well. Nakashima, however, is still totally Nana, whose outer toughness is a cover for a passionate, tender heart. Surrounded by a male cast that is cool to the point of self-parody, Nakashima stands out like a bonfire on a white sand beach at dusk. All her heat, though, can’t burn away the feeling of sadness, of paradises lost and roads not taken, that hangs over the film. Yes, record deals and babies and the other bounties and burdens of the grownup world await, but Nana and Hachi will never again have what they had at number 707. Be careful, as they say, what you wish for.