I've been an anime fan for 6 years now. My favorites are the Slayers series (it got me hooked), Ranma 1/2, Full Metal Panic and Love Hina. I went to Otakon (2003-2005), Manganext (06), Animenext (07), and volunteered at New York Anime Fest (07). I'm really into Harry Potter, Harry Potter fanfiction, and fantasy books like Dark Materials series. IF ANYONE IS GOING TO ANIMENEXT I'LL SEE YOU ALL THERE! The live-action adaptation of Nana, a story of two girls with the same first name and totally different lives, is going to be screened in New York and Los Angeles. I’m sure some Nana fans will flock to Los Angeles on March 21-27 to the ImaginAsian Theater in order to see the movie. Anyone who cannot make it to LA may want to consider going to New York on April 4-10 to catch the few showings (also at the ImaginAsian) this film will have in North America (unless, of course, you import it from Japan or went to the New York Anime Festival in 2007).
For those of you not familiar with Nana, it is a shojo manga by Ai Yazawa about two girls with the same first name, but totally different personalities and backgrounds. One is Nana Komatsu (played by Aoi Miyazaki), a small town girl who follows her boyfriend to Tokyo and is hoping to find something to work towards. The other is Nana Osaki (Mika Nakashima), a punk rocker with the band Black Stones who hopes to make it big in Tokyo. They meet on the train to Tokyo, somehow end up living together in the same apartment, and become best friends even though one is meek and dependent on others while the other is strong willed and independent. Don’t you just love how mangas can get people who normally have nothing in common to get along really well?
As usual in a shojo manga, Nana concentrates on the girls' trials to fulfill their respective goals. Nana K., as she is referred to in the English adaptation, is looking for Love and Happiness. Nana O., as referred to in the English adaptation, is looking for Fame and Glory in the music business. You will be able to see these themes in both in the film and its original manga. However, the movie presents something absent in the manga: music. Like other mangas with music as a big part of the story, such as Gravitation by Maki Muramaki, this presents a chance to hear songs by Nana O., who is played by singer, actress and model Mika Nakashima. If you are like me and enjoy finally being able to hear the musical parts of the manga we read, then this is reason enough to catch the film.
Source: Viz Media