What is supposed to be taken from Nana?

Sep 21, 10:31 AM

Offline

Mar 2020

So I just finished Nana, and tbh im using this forum post as an excuse to gush over this anime because I want to hear what other people think. Im a big fan of romance anime, but I have never seen a romance done in the way Nana was done. I know im late to the party, but I genuinely think Nana perfectly represented the messy side of love as a young adult. This is not a happy fairy tale story like so many of the other high school romances (not that they're bad). It was so refreshing to see a completely different take on romance, a story where not everything, honestly dam near nothing, goes the way you may want it to. And not only that, but the emotions represented felt insanely real. As a 20 year old male, I have both witnessed and experienced so much of what the characters in Nana go through. Everyone in the whole story is pretty flawed (Besides the goat Yasu), so it almost feels like we're just a fly on a wall watching these characters go through they're however they see fit. I absoultley love this anime, and I am so sad that we will most likely never get a proper ending. This leads me to the topic question though: what is the main takeaway of this story? Don't get me wrong, I understand that every story is not supposed to have some type of ultimate lesson or theme, and I see Nana as being one of those stories. This is more to see what you all got from this story. What do you think was trying to be said or warned about? Why do you think the anime was formatted the way it was, giving us two different perspectives? What did you all think was the overarching theme, if any? Thanks for reading yall, and I hope to hear some good responses. Also if yall know anything similar to Nana, please let me know. Its gonna b hard to go back to that generic high school romance formula after watching something like this lol

Sep 21, 11:13 AM

johneaston

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Jan 2021

211

What stuck out to me most about Nana was loneliness: it underpins all of the romance, and I got the feeling that Nana O and Nana K were both using each other to stage it off, which is why some of their interactions sometimes felt romantically charged.

Sep 21, 8:54 PM

Risscat

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Nov 2024

What is to not be taken from Nana? It is a beautiful masterpiece and tragedy in many ways. It showcases the dangers of codependency, people pleasing, choosing the desire to be loved over desires for other things like ambitions or friends. Particularly in regard to Hachi. And each character has their own path, their own flaws. They can all be disliked, but some more than others. Most importantly though, there’s at least one character that people watching can relate to. It isn’t a stereotypical high school romance anime where their biggest problems are their inability to communicate, it transcends that simplicity. It tackles adult issues, adult feelings, real people you can encounter, and captures the sheer melancholy that can lie in life. The loneliness that is felt throughout the series, each conveyed in a different manner by the various characters, hits you hard and I certainly could resonate with that palpable sentiment. Hachi-codependency, Nana-overprotectiveness, Nobu-over-romanticizing his partner and has somewhat of a need to save/help them, Takumi-in need of power/control, the list goes on and on. It’s interesting to see how much weight this whole show holds and how it differs from person to person as well. This is just my personal view of it but some people could absolutely see it in a more black and white, straightforward way. Depends. And that’s why this anime is so lovely.

Sep 22, 5:36 AM

tsubagakure

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Mar 2012

248

Nana is a beautiful rain shower of love and passion, solitude and melancholy, pitch black, painted by heavy, grievous music and elegiac poetry..

Sep 22, 11:19 AM

YukiPwns00

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May 2010

425

I've had a few friendships over the years that were intense and very close for a short period of time but we were separated by various circumstances and and could never quite get back to what we had before, even though they still mean so much to me. Nana and Hachi's friendship reminds me a lot of that, and portrays those feelings well.

Sep 22, 3:45 PM

survivor_girl

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Jul 2020

Being able to watch Nana when you are 20 is so special! I also watched it for the first time when I was 20, and I think it really added to the experience. The show really captures the messier side of becoming an adult and trying to figure out who you are. Particularly with Hachi, being 20 years old and the lack of maturity & agency that sometimes entails is essential to everything that happens. The choices both Nanas make are so realistic and often unhealthy for them.

I think the core of the show has a lot to do with learning how to build a healthy relationship with yourself and with others. Your life won’t start until you are honest with yourself and take responsibility for your actions. Losing yourself in vices, pretending everything is okay, and ignoring your problems ends up destroying your relationships and only makes you feel worse.

Unfortunately we leave off when most of the characters are just reaching their respective impasses, so we don’t get to see whether or not they are able to turn things around. (I am still so worried about Shin.) But even without a definite ending, Nana is such a true depiction of young adulthood, self-discovery, and the cost of pursuing your dreams.

Sep 22, 8:49 PM

omana

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Jun 2021

184

i thought it was alright. the romance was more realistic than most but at times i thought it was messy just to be messy. Hachis final decision to stick w takumi was just stupid and in the end she never grows as a woman at all it feels like she’s the same person as the start except with more trauma now.

Nobu was also done insanely wrong will never back down on that

nana osaki and rens relationship felt so performative and never once did i get the feeling of an actual love sparking. seems they’re just too attached to each other to let go which is kind of interesting

that little prostitute boy and reira was the most dumb side plot of the whole show i think. never provided any growth to either characters and it kinda just took up screen time i never cared for the boy especially with making him such a young age which was super strange.

yasu was probably my favourite character. he was always there for everyone and supported both bands no matter what.

Sep 23, 12:30 AM

Lilane_q

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Mar 2022

What struck most is how quick the downfall is after long lingering.

Sep 23, 3:15 AM

Merve2Love

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Apr 2020

3938

I don't think there is an ultimate lesson.

What made Nana so great, for me, is it's depiction of love, growing up and managing day to day life when you're young and starting to hit adulthood.

It's down to earth. It feels real and it hits close to home. It's just about life. These are the things I loved about it.

Sep 24, 9:48 PM

#10

MangaConsumer

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Sep 2020

Nana encapsulated what it looks like to be a young woman with people-pleasing tendencies who bought into the norm of wanting NOTHING MORE than to be in a relationship. Hachi was addicted to the idea of having that perfect relationship. She wanted her fairy tale ending. When she applied that to her real life, she ended up falling deeply and quickly for men without really getting to know who they were first. Hachi didn’t see if the men she was interested in could support her in the ways that she needed. Hachi didn’t approach dating in a way that was fair to herself; she didn’t take time to learn slowly and surely what personality traits the men she was getting involved with had. There was an overwhelming sense of urgency to jump into the next relationship. She was too driven by loneliness, codependency, and yearning to fill the void. It destroyed Hachi. Her values were heavily weighted with romance, to the point where friendships suffered, as well as all other areas that could’ve brought her joy. It appeared that Junko was incredibly fed up with being Nana’s friend after seeing her fall into pattern after pattern of unhealthy relationships. When Hachi fell for Takumi, this perfectly demonstrated how people can fall in love with THE IDEA of the person they think they’re dating. Hachi fell for the famous rockstar, a person who outwardly had a great public appearance. Falling in love with this idea is a dangerous trap. Nest. It’s refusing to be honest with yourself about what kind of person you’re dating, which takes you further away from yourself. It’s subjecting yourself to an emotionally numbing experience. When people make this decision, to continue dating controlling and abusive people, they often rob themselves of everything their life could offer them; like pursuing their dreams, maintaining rewarding relationships with friends and family, growing themselves and leading an authentic life. Nana shows us the importance of placing our values in a more well-rounded manner, and that codependency can, ironically enough, leave us feeling more empty inside than if we were alone.

Sep 25, 12:53 PM

#11

xia_xenos

Offline

Jun 2025

Theme 1: The messiness of love & adulthood

How messy, confusing, and painful love can be when you’re young, vulnerable, and still figuring out who you are, as well as working through and understanding your own trauma. Everyone is chasing connection but often in the wrong ways by clinging too hard, running away, settling for what’s convenient, or mistaking passion for stability. Love alone isn’t always enough to make things work.

Theme 2: Loneliness & codependency

The cast fill their emptiness with relationships, sex, drugs, fame, or control. But almost every dynamic ends up being unhealthy to some degree.

Childhood trauma and its ripple effect

Nearly every character carries scars from their upbringing, and the series quietly shows how those early wounds shape the way they love, trust, and self-destruct, their childhood bleeds into every adult decision. Love, ambition, trust, and self-worth are all colored by what each character didn’t get as kid.

So if you zoom out, Nana can be read not just as a story about messy love in your twenties, but also as a meditation on how much of adulthood is really just trying to heal (or ignore) the wounds of your younger self.

On the dual perspective:
Having two protagonists with the same name, but opposite personalities and life goals, emphasizes contrast. One is chasing stability through romance. The other is chasing freedom and identity through music. They show two extremes of what young women can long for and how both come with sacrifices. The format makes us ask: who do we see ourselves in? Where do our choices overlap with theirs?

If there’s a “lesson,” it’s probably this: love and friendship don’t guarantee happy endings, but they’re still worth experiencing. Life is impermanent, relationships evolve, people drift apart, and sometimes you don’t get closure. But those bonds still shape who you become.

I’m assuming you’ve already heard the usual recommendations (Parakiss, etc). I’d like to recommend you try Koi wa Ameagari no You ni
(After the Rain). It’s similar to Nana in that it’s a romance that defies the romance genre, often painful and sometimes problematic 🫠 and with a bittersweet ending.

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What is supposed to be taken from Nana?

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