Check Out Ai Yazawa's Nana on HIDIVE or Hulu

The anime series Nana, which aired in 2007, was available for streaming in late summer of this year, with Sentai Filmworks picking up the North American streaming license. The anime originally streamed on Crunchyroll in 2007 before Viz Media picked up the license and started streaming it on its own website, which was powered by Hulu.

Viz Media released an English-language dub of the series which the broadcasting rights were purchased by FUNimation. Once Viz Media had lost the North American license to Nana, the series was unable for streaming for many years until Sentai Filmworks acquired the regional license.

The series can currently be streamed on Sentai Filmworks' HIDIVE platform (though it's not available on the HIDIVE channel via Amazon Prime Video) or on Hulu.

Nana, adapted from Ai Yazawa's original manga (which has been on hiatus ever since 2009, takes place in Tokyo. The year is 2001 and the story mostly takes place in Tokyo, Japan's capital, and focuses on two 20-year-old women who are both named “Nana.”

Nana #1, known as Nana Osaki, is an aspiring professional musician who heads to Tokyo to pursue her own dream of being a famous singer.

Nana #2, known as Nana Komatsu aka “Hachi,” is a scatter-brained woman with no true sense of direction in her life. She heads to Tokyo to stay with her current boyfriend, Shouji Endo, who currently attends college.

The first few episodes of Nana feel like a “slice of life” story but that is far from the truth as Hachi feels that she's being a burden on Shouji and chooses to find her own place to live. Since Hachi doesn't have a lot of money, she finds an apartment building located in the boonies. This is where she crosses paths with Nana once again, but as competing tenets, who both want to rent out “Apartment 707.”

After Nana's real estate agent makes a suggestion, Nana and Hachi agree to be roommates, which is fitting as the number “7” is pronounced in Japanese as “nana.” It is fitting as there are two 7s and there are two Nanas.

As the story progresses, the two Nanas continue living their own lives.

That is UNTIL the surprise arrival is made by Nobuo Terashima, an old high school friend of Nana's, who delivers a large speaker. Nobuo's arrival symbolizes the intertwining of the two Nanas' lives as they slowly converge. Hachi learns that Nana and Nobuo were in a band together, Blast, that ultimately got disbanded when Nana's boyfriend, Ren Honjo, left when he got recruited by a well-known band called Trapnest, a band that Hachi loves.

Hachi becomes the factor that binds Blast and Trapnest together once Nana is reunited with Ren after attending a concert in Hachi's hometown.

Things get scandalous in the process as there are relationships between members of both bands, especially when Hachi is thrown into the mix. The two Nanas, once close, begin to drift away from each other as their own personal lives get intense.

Nana becomes a love story that is filled with sadness, grief, anger, trauma, and more. The story, at the same time, becomes a story that shows the lengths one has to go to in order to reach their dreams. Even if their goals have been achieved, that success has to be maintained.

Nana is one of those “timeless” series that one should watch. I also enjoyed Nana for its soundtrack, too, with Anna Tsuchiya performing Nana O's vocals and Olivia Lufkin performing Reira Serizawa's vocals.

“Rose,” the first opening song, was what got me hooked on Nana.

It is unknown if the anime will continue as the studio wants to wait until the manga ends. I doubt the manga will continue as Yazawa hasn't worked on it since 2009 when she had fallen ill.

The original story also received a live-action adaptation and a sequel with pop singer Mika Nakashima playing the role of Nana Osaki.

If you want a relaxing series to check out, watch Nana.

You can read my original, longer, version on Medium.

https://canhoangtran.medium.com/ai-yazawas-nana-is-a-timeless-masterpiece-treasure-a2c827dbbad9

Or you can read my original review on HubPages.

https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/Anime-Review-of-Nana