Nana

While the anime adds a definite charm that you cannot get just from the manga, it also adds so many flaws that I had to stop watching it.

The most utterly incomprehensible flaw is that Blast turns out to be the least punk music possible. Nana's vocals sound like a Japanese, girlier version of that mid-90s Creed movement, and nothing in the instrumentals is slightly punky. This was a lot better when I could imagine them being something like a modern, trying too hard to be trendy, Japanese Sex Pistols in the manga.

The art is definitely another terrible translation. In the manga, nothing is especially fantastic, ... but nothing is ever glaringly wrong. The anime has one glaring anime that makes it impossible for me to actually attentively watch the series, which is that characters haphazardly gain a white, vertical stripe on their face. It is supposed to be a lazy attempt at depth/shadowing, but it just makes every character look like clowns for large durations of time.

The animation is smooth sometimes, and some of its quirks are nice, but it ends up usually being clumsy if anything. I understand it is probably a stylistic choice, but it is not a good one. It especially goes poorly with their attempts at gag art.

Finally, for having a lot of big shot voice actors, they actually mesh really, really poorly. The voice acting really often sounds flat and tepid. I was surprised since I like so many of them.

The story loses little, and the translation from manga to anime does not especially hurt the characters, but with the other flaws screaming at me, it was just something I could not get through. Judging by the relentlessly breathless and positive reviews, no one else finds these flaws as noteworthy though.

Nana has tremendous characters, tremendous art, and a soundtrack that's top tier in every way. If only I'd known how this series ended before I sat through all 47 episodes I never would have bothered in the beginning.

It started as a dramatic comedy (different, in my eyes, from a comedy-dramas in that comedy is the primary genre and the drama evolves from there) with attention-catching art and super snazzy music. Nana and Nana were extremely dynamic women with bright futures and mysterious pasts; supporting characters introduced along the way added charm and allowed the Nanas to bounce their personalities around with fresh perspective.

Then, before it ... really took off, the series tanked hard into drama that no amount of funny expressions or good music could prop up. I realize now that this series is designed for young women and girls, and while I'm neither of those I'm still able to empathize and extrapolate. Some lessons conveyed in the show are actually very important for young people to be taught. But then, as I got into the 30-40 episode range I thought to myself "wait, what IS the main thesis here?"

Well, it's that if you're a pretty young girl it's totally fine to sleep with an endless line of guys and things will just work out for you. Friends just happen by accident, good situations just take a number and pop up when it's their turn, and your fortune/fate will basically be determined by people who happily overlook your slutty personality by virtue of you being naive and pretty. Everyone enables the protagonist to such a degree it really started to make me angry for the last five or six episodes. Sure, there's a harsh angle of schadenfreude after all, but not only will it probably be missed by the target audience, it's not enough to make up for the morals passed through the previous episodes. Eventually everything just got depressing--and I mean SUPER depressing--and all elements of comedy were tossed aside in favor of tears. One or two attempts were made in the 40-45 range, but they were halfhearted at best and barely took attention away from the sad pit that the show had dug itself into.

I've read a synopsis of the manga, and thankfully this series was put out before those things happened or I would have just tossed my computer out the nearest window. I absolutely do not understand why situations are made so depressing just for the sake of more drama. Who actually derives entertainment or enjoyment out of these scenarios? Is everyone that batshit insane in the world?

So yeah, I'm not the target audience. Obviously. But the potential for something really special was here, and I'll remember these characters for years. I'll also remember how thoroughly trashed they were through pointless melodrama. What a disappointment.

Gotta say, this is one of the most disappointing series to show up in the MAL top list. On the one hand, I found most of the characters really boring. Especially "Hachiko" who I couldn't sympathize with at all, and found I felt no pity for her at all in her fate. The other Nana was somewhat better, but overall, all of the female characters come across as being incredibly weak people who have nothing else in life to live for but to succumb to their men. Jun strikes me as the only one with any inner strength but alas she's a side character we ... never really get to know well.

As an anime, it's important to also consider the artwork, and in this area the series fails even harder. Obviously anime allows a great deal of freedom in styles, but in all cases it has to "look right". It's not successful art if I'm distracted from the story because the drawings look wrong. There are several angles where the artist clearly cannot draw heads and they look bloated and misshapen. The men are all strange giants with spidery appendages that look like they would break if they bumped into anything. In several scenes, I noted the ratios were ridiculously wrong and it appeared that arms came out of a person's mid-section rather than the shoulder. Again, if I'm noticing these things instead of the nuances of the story, there's a problem in the delivery here. Another point I'd like to mention is that characters that frequently are supposed to look angry appear to be smiling. It looks stupid and completely destroys any semblance of intended drama in the scene.

It's certainly not the worst show I've seen (I can think of plenty of harem series that are worse, for example), but I'd steer clear of this one.

the beginning of this anime was absolutely amazing. it was easily a 10/10 anime. it was something special. but the last half of the anime... i wish i could get the time i spent watching this back. it was horrible. seriously. i've never gotten stressed out from an anime before, but this one really stressed me out and made me anxious and sad. the ending wasn't even good, they didn't resolve anything. i just wish it would've worked out in the end. i guess i'm just not the target audience, i hate sad endings. if you're a sucker for sad endings, this one is for ... you.

Nana is definitely not the worst anime I've watched when it comes to art, sound, and the skill of the writers. But it is the only one I've watched that has caused me to feel physically ill due to my disgust with the characters.

I watched this show years ago, and absolutely hated it with every fiber of my being. While finally making my MAL profile awhile back, I was surprised to see how highly rated the show was. Due to this I eventually decided to rewatch Nana since I was semi young the last time, and figured as an adult I would be able ... to relate to some of the themes better.

After rewatching it I can confidently say that I was not mistaken with my first take on the show. It is likely that adult me hates the show even more than my younger self. Hachi is one of the most irritating characters I have ever encountered in any sort of media, and at no point in the entire show did I feel sorry about any of her plights. She is actually the main reason for the abysmal and probably unfair score that I give the show. While Hachi is the epitome of the sort of people that make me sick to my stomach, she is not the only problem. I do struggle to understand the choices some characters make throughout the show, or how people find anything they do compelling. And the closer I got to the end the more I questioned how anyone involved was capable of making any sort of meaningful relationship.

Honestly if we are including all aspects of the show there is no way my overall rating holds up, as the writing, art, music, voice acting, among other things are actually quite good. I do really like the fact that it isn't another basic high school romance, and has deeper themes, but the sheer irritation and awful taste left in my mouth after watching leaves me unable to score it any higher despite what is probably deserved.

I'm sure I'll look back and cringe at myself for getting so wound up about a couple characters, and being so harsh on a show whos writer is obviously good at what they do; as they were able to evoke so much emotion (albeit extremely negative emotion) out of me towards said characters. Maybe I have some repressed memories of people that Hachi and Co. subconsciously remind me of, or maybe I'm a giant asshole with an extreme lack of sympathy. But regardless I absolutely hated this show, and wish I could erase it, and primarily Hachi, from my memory.

a good manga as well as any other good literature entrusts a lot to the readers imagination. in the case of an animation our imagination will vanish. instead we are supported with someone else ideas to create an anime out of this fragile collection of scarcely commented pictures, we would walk through in our mind inspiring our fantasy.
although I never red the manga I feel here a considerable loss.
nana is unfortunately a case of an only commercially motivated animation.
we got not only the sociological depth, and with it a great part of essential emotions and misunderstandings, swept away by a simply unprepared voice cast ... which only can handle the parts of the film more or less properly which are very common to them. figures like a punk girl, an underaged call boy, artists, a lawer, a girly singer, several levels of business people, high school groopies, a fashion girl and more are all communating in the same mix of love comedy/ business drama style, just by coincidence matching the story, ignoring any changes in the moment or the developement in a character ... totally disappointing!!
fully censored was also the music and - even more surprising - the passion for it. music - this seemed somehow important for musicians? but actually there is no music at all.
...
i only may praise the producer for his good sense of self reflection to punish the audience after 25 min spending on this reduced to an out-of-the-mill love comedy anime with "nana no heya - nanas room" an extraordinary botch of preview and advertising featuring shizue nana the powerful force behind and propably girlfriend of the voice cast director. we deserved it.

Well, well, well, call me a black sheep, but I gotta say, Nana is just soso in my book. I mean, I've heard so many people rave about it, so I thought I'd give it a shot, but by episode 10, I was already like, "meh, should I just move on to something else?" But I held on, I persevered, and I finally finished it at episode 47. And you know what? It's still just soso for me.

Despite my lukewarm feelings towards Nana, there are some things I enjoyed. The music is amazing, and the bands' performances are a highlight. I also appreciate the realistic ... portrayal of relationships and the struggles that come with them.

Now, don't get me wrong, the plot is actually pretty solid, but the delivery is just so slow. One thing that bothered me, however, is the lack of closure. The anime ends abruptly, leaving many loose ends and unanswered questions. It's frustrating to invest so much time into a series only to be left hanging.