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Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane It's hard not to read parts of NANA as an object lesson in "if you become famous, the paparazzi will try to ruin your life". Some of the things the "reporters" in this series sink to, and the ways they try to shape--or create outright--the story they want to tell on Blast and Trapnest make them some of the most manipulative characters I've read about in quite a while. Witness the opening of vol. 15, when they send Nana O. a photo of Ren and Reira hugging each other and call it an "engagement present". That right there is a pretty sick piece of manipulation. The fallout from that one event is extensive. Takumi uses his own impressive powers of manipulation to keep the picture from going to press and salvage the situation as best he can, but for several characters it drives home how vulnerable their positions are. Since bands are a group effort, each individual's actions affects many people's futures, and some of the choices that result don't make anyone happy. Nana spends a lot of time in these two volumes trying to come to terms with herself and her goals, and trying to be honest about what it is she actually wants--from herself, from Ren, and from Hachi. While she works at figuring things out, Weekly Search magazine is busy digging deep into her past, and for readers who're rooting for her it's more than a bit nerve-wracking to see how many internal and external forces are conspiring against her. But to me, Hachi's the understated star of these two volumes. She's much more pragmatic than I ever would have expected after seeing how she starts out, and it's fascinating to see her handling her life. For all that she's presented as flighty and self-absorbed, her determination to make the best of things and do what she can for the people in her life is incredible. She knows that by accepting Takumi's offer to be a father to her child she's put herself in a gilded cage--and it's very shiny, no doubt about that--but while she's obviously enjoying the perks she's equally aware of the downsides, including the loss of her relationship with Nobu. But here she is, building a life for herself and her baby while simultaneously reaching out past the constraints that her new life tries to place on her. She's a joy to read, honestly, even though the way Takumi usually treats her--in this case, using their relationship as a bargaining tool to deal with Trapnest's impending scandal--frustrates me to no end. Yazawa continues to dole out glimpses into and hints about the future and how the characters get there, and that framework serves to guide readers' interpretation of the events in the "present". Most of the main supporting cast (...as opposed to the newer supporting cast) have their own moments to shine in these two volumes; I'm always glad to see that their own lives and worries aren't being neglected while they're facilitating the telling of the two Nanas' story. One of the treats about this series is that bonus stories don't replace part of a volume's usual length, resulting in an extra-long book as opposed to having the main story unexpectedly give way to the bonus material long before the book runs out of pages. (It's also nice that VIZ doesn't raise the cover price on these occasional hefty volumes.) Each volume of NANA is sold shrink-wrapped, and includes the bonus "Junko's Place" story as well as The Family Times, a "newspaper" devoted to upcoming (at the time of Japanese publication) books/CDs/movies based on Yazawa's work. Vol. 16 also includes a 52-page bonus story focusing on Nobu. Review copies provided by VIZ Media. Comment on this review of NANA v15-16 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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