Romancing The Stone: Long Lost Love

Nana Vol. 20-21
By Ai Yazawa
Published by Viz

You know, the whole time I was doing The Virgin Read, I was already having a love affair with one comic book. But at that time, it was obvious to me from the way people responded that what I loved was a manga, and that meant it wasn't always accepted as a comic book by everybody. So I kept it to myself most of the time. Now that I've tried switching over to this Romancing The Stone format, I've found myself having another affair with manga--Pluto. And if I'm going to write about Pluto, then it's probably completely unfair of me to ignore my first love, my long-lost love: Nana.

Remember Nana? Nana was the first comic that I ever actively sought out. When I found myself in a comic book store, a Barnes & Noble; even when I was in some podunk book shop near Fenwick Beach, Delaware, I eagerly checked to see if the latest translation of Nana had been released. I felt proud of myself doing that. I realize that might not make a lot of sense, but Nana felt like it belonged to me in a way that a lot of the other comics I read hadn't. Looking for it, buying it myself, reading it first--it went like that for over a year at least, and it was wonderful.

I fell in love with Nana for it's fun and lightness at first. It was about girlfriends! In the Big City!! There was fashion and romance! And just as I thought I was going to have to stop reading it because of that very lightness, all of a sudden, the characters grew. Emotionally. They started making choices (some of which were bad) and explored their emotions (some of which just hurt), and it was happening in a way that you don't often see in other books, or real life, let alone the comics I'd seen.

But somewhere along the line....around the time that Hachi and Nobu parted ways, and she continually remained loyal to Takumi even though he's a shitty husband, and Nobu gained a porn star girlfriend (and navigated the terrain of that new relationship remarkably), something started to happen in the story, and I felt myself pulling away. I felt tired reading the books, I wasn't flying through them anymore, it all felt like a chore. I don't know if Ai Yazawa thought she needed to keep adding new characters and was doing so haphazardly, or if her story was planned out all along, but suddenly there were so many subplots and new characters and the story was congested, the pace was stifling. Eventually, I realized I just didn't care about Nana the way I used to anymore.

It was especially clear to me in volume 19. I couldn't even finish that one, I didn't even want to. It was more of the same: Hachi with Takumi, Nobu with the new porn chick, Yasu with his melancholy girlfriend, Nana and Ren split but in love/but split/but in love, the story of Nana's mother being hotly pursued and the mystery of the girl who looked just like Nana - her possible sister, AND the bands needing to protect their image, AND the paparazzi, AND the creepy news people at SEARCH, AND.....see what I mean? Did you even read all of that? It's too much, but it's not enough..

Issue 21 came out the other day. My husband was really startled by the content. For the hell of it, I grabbed 20 and 21 from the shelf and left for my commute to work. I read 20 one day and 21 the next. 

I'm so glad I did.  

In 20, even though most of the same characters were present, it seemed more streamlined, more concise. Within the first two pages of reading it is when I realized that I never finished 19, and two pages later, I realized it didn't matter. I got the gist of what happened. It began with a scene set in the near future, which is something the series had started playing with a lot more frequently lately. (There's always been some future narration, but actual scenes have started popping up a lot. They tell a bit of a story, but it's rarely direct, and sometimes it's just a collection of random lines that glance off of a larger narrative.)

The most driving thing in 20 is Ren's drug problem. He doesn't really want to get clean, but he knows that he's dragging everyone down. Everyone is dancing around it, they're all side stepping him, constantly trying to make sure that the press doesn't get wind of his drug problem. No one actually gets mad at Ren, and he's the one to point out that everyone should be. But instead, they're looking to Takumi (because he's the toughest, the meanest, the one who seems not to care at all about anyone personally), and following his lead, which is to place the success of the band before all other concerns. Aside from the main Ren story, the issue is about everyone else's most intimate relationships - whether they are taken to the next level or on the rocks. It's the same intimate relationships that Nana is always about, and while there's not much major that seems to be happening, all of them are clearly moving forward towards something.

And then it hits, and then it ends, with a shock from out of nowhere. I don't want to spoil it for anybody, so I'll try to be vague and not use names. At the conclusion of Volume 20, there's a horrible car accident, and when you open the 21st, its made completely clear that, yes, one of the main characters has died.

The rest of 21 is all about grief. It's about all of the characters coming together and taking care of each other in the face of the death of a friend. Everyone is devastated. Everyone is in tremendous grief. It's poignant, painful stuff, and you see pain illustrated just as often as the dialogue describes it. And right between all of it, there's love, cracking through the emotional craziness of the last  few volumes. Nobu's unending love for Hachi comes out as he convinces her to take a bath and rest. OH! I can't do this. I can't really give you an more examples or I'll spoil the story. But nevertheless, this is a powerful piece of work. I've always notice Ai Yazawa's illustrations, I've always been impressed by them, but in this issue she's outdone herself. (I need to go back and look at some of the previous volumes, but from what I can remember, this feels like some of the best work she's ever done.) What she's able to depict in a character's eyes, from one frame to the next..it's gorgeous, emotional work. I had to put the book down on the train and stare out of the window for a minute just to escape where it was taking me.

No other comic book has touched me as deeply as Nana. I think Pluto has the potential, and I'm sure there's others I haven't explored yet, but what was so surprising is that it seems like Yazawa planned it this way all along. Even though there was a time when I lost interest because it seemed like it was not planned - I can see that it could have been. It was all so much fun at first. Running off to the big city and chasing dreams, falling in love with boys and staying up late with insane best friends. Falling into responsibilities no matter how ill-prepared one felt for them, and then watching time start to stretch and fracture a network of relationships, people pairing off with strangers and giving up on hope, locked into long-term slow motion catastrophes, confusing careers, unexpected babies, rushed marriages, the always looming rent. And then, just when all of the conversation and the focus has turned inside, down into selfishness and closed & frightened eyes, something horrible happens, something that happens to everybody, and we all have to run right back into each other's arms, trying as hard as we must just to breathe again.

It's a profound read. I highly recommend it.

-Nina Stone, 2010

Comments

[Kenny Cather]

I've only read the first volume of Nana, which was cool and I liked a lot, but stopped because for some reason, I thought you and Matt Brady kinda gave up on it cuz it started to disappoint. (Well, that and One Piece started to really eat up my manga budget.) I'm glad to see it's back to form though and the disappointing volumes make sense.

And manga is totally comics, don't let anyone tell you differently. I know I was waiting with bated breath for each book of Pluto....

[José]

While I can't say I shared your feelings of disillusion with regard to the 19th volume, I was right there with you over the last two, and the 21st one in particular. I can still remember a few of the images distinctly, and I guess I shouldn't spoil anything, but I'm sure anyone who reads will have a few sticking out in their mind. It was almost overwhelming at times.

Considering how long we might need wait for the next volume, if it comes out at all, it's a good place to take a break from a brilliant series.

[NoahB]

I had the same experience you did (more and more characters I don't care about.) But maybe I'll go back to read 20 and 21 now. My wife spoiled the surprise for me...but it still sounds worth reading.