Note: Unmarked spoilers abound. Spoilers go up to current manga chapters, the most recent one being 52. Since the Nana manga is just now beginning to be released in the United States by Viz, proceed carefully if you wish to remain blissfully ignorant of what happens in later chapters/volumes.
Oosaki Nana ~ the singer with ambition  
Oosaki Nana is one of the main title characters in Nana. She's twenty years old (eighteen when we first meet her) and is the lead singer of the punk-rock band Black Stones (know as Blast for short). Besides singing, she also plays guitar (Ren taught her) and the drums. She was a high school drop out (she was expelled for charges of prostitution, which she didn't fight even though they were false) and smokes heavily (she also drinks). She lived with her grandmother from the age of four until fifteen when she died (possibly due to the shock of Nana being expelled).
Her biggest downfall is probably her pride. She's strongly determined and hates to think of herself as dependant on anyone (even Ren). That fact might seem a bit odd considering she is in actuallity extremely dependant on both Ren and Yasu (and Hachi in certain ways as well). She has an addictive bend to her personality and nature and is extemeley possesive of the people around her she cares for (evidenced by her actions when Ren, Hachi, and Yasu are concerned). She is very close to Yasu (Blast's drum player), who is like a confidant to her (and the person she calls when she has any kind of major (or sometimes minor) problem. Yasu has feelings for Nana that are more than simply friendly in nature, but because he loves her he wants to see her happy more than he wants to secure his own happiness - he knows that her heart lays with Ren (he seems to have developed feelings for Miu and I'd personally love to see them together. I think they'd be a lovely couple). Her best and closest friend is Komatsu Nana (nicknamed Hachi by Nana O.) despite their completely different personalities. Nana is also close to Nobu (Blast's guitar player) who she attended high school with and is the person who introduced her to Ren! Nana also has a good relationship with Shin, Blast's current bass player. I'll also mention that Nana strongly dislikes (er, hates?) Takumi (from Trapnest). Of course Nana has a very complicated mentality where Trapnest and it's members are concerned since she considers them her musical revials and wants to surpass them, but at the same time is close/friendly to several of it's members (namely Ren). Nana is not the most mentally stable character in this series. A prime example is the scene where she drops the two strawberry glasses because she is upset Hachi is with Takumi. The look and reaction she had is not one someone with a firm grasp on mental stability would have. She also has blackouts. There are several times where she'll not remember what she's doing or will find herself at Ren's appartment and not remember going there. These blacks outs have become more severe and frequent lately. Evidence seems to point to a possible eventual mental breakdown. We know because of the flashback chapter that Nana for some reason is not in the picture, but the way she is talked about doesn't seem to support theories that she's dead. Hachi's tone seems too hopeful that Nana will return one day.
Honjo Ren ~ the guitarist of lone and ardent  
Honjo Ren is twenty two years old. He's the guitar player for the band Trapnest (Black Stones' prominant rival in the music scene) and was the former bass player for Black Stones. He was an orphan; abanded when he was a baby in a warhouse. It even made the news, a fact which he is proud of (since not many people can say they were a celebraty from birth). Ren also has a rather addictive (and possesive at least in terms of Nana) bend to his personality. Like her, he also can let his pride get in the way of his well being. He smokes (and drinks) alot. Ren also has a drug problem (I'd say a serious one based on the frequencey with which we see him having/taking coke lately). Despite how much he loves Nana, he realizes she needs to make it on her own before she can be content being with him completely (part of the reason she stayed behind when he went to Tokyo). He had wanted Nana to come with him to Tokyo originally, and he also wanted/asked her to move in with him several times once they are reunited. Several times he's said he wouldn't mind kids and a family, but Nana has said she isn't ready for kids (I assume she wants to 'make it' in Blast before she'd consider having kids and settling down). He recenetly asked Nana to marry him, though it seems as if this was done more out a sense of desperation than anything else (as evidenced by the conversation he has with Layla in chapter 51 that I'll bring up again in a minute).
He gets easily jealous where Nana is concerned and is increasingly jealous and worried by Yasu (though I doubt he thinks Yasu would ever make a real play for Nana). Despite all of that Yasu was and continues to be Ren's best friend. Reira (Layla), the lead singer of Trapnest, is a confident to Ren much like Yasu is to Nana. He had a recent discussion with Layla about wanting to kill Nana so that no one else can have her. I'll note that I don't take Ren literally there (and that flashback chapter I mentioned before supports me in believing he won't kill Nana). Despite that fact it was still a very upsetting and disturbing scene to witness. He also tells Layla during the conversation that he felt he has to marry Nana so he can remove Yasu from Nana's heart. Ren x Nana   The image choice here may seem a bit odd and random, but it actually isn't (it isn't even only because that's my favorite scene ;P)
The scene they're from is when we learn about how Nana and Ren met for the first time. Nana had gone to a concert with Nobu (she was in this frilly red dress, because she was never allowed to wear that kind of thing since her grandmother said they seduced men). Ren was performing at the concert and Nobu took Nana to meet him after the show. It seems pretty obvious as one reads this part of the chapter that Nobu was planning to try and hook them up. He tells Nana on the way to the show how great Ren is and that she'd probably like him alot (aww). Ren was intrigued by Nana because she seemed so uninterested in him and the performance (Ren loved a challenge I guess xD). Nana was't actually uninterested though. As she put it, "What came over me that night...I don't know how to say it. It wasn't as simple as 'love' or 'desire.' More like jealousy, envy, a sense of uneasiness." Nana's grandmother was apparently right, red dresses do seduce men, at least the one she wore seduced Ren ~_^ (or so he teased her by saying). A while after that she met him again at Nobu's apartment (Yasu, Ren and Nobu were deciding to start a band at the time). Nana left quickly and Ren chased after her, asking if she wanted to sing in their band. Ren and Nana were not 'together' again for a little while. It was approximately a year after the first time she'd met him at the concert that they official got together.
I'm going to quote here now a conversation Nobu has with Shin in chapter 24. I like the way Shin observes Nana/Ren's relationship:
Despite all the problems their relationship may have, no one can deny they love each other deeply. In fact I'd say they have the type of love that is unforgetable and meant to be even. Sadly, Yazawa Ai has been dropping hints almost since the get-go that their love story is destined to have a tragic end. Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I'm still hoping that somehow they'll pull out a happy ending, but it seems extremely doubtful. <- Back
|
The above mentioned scene is also when Ren tells Nana that he's leaving for Tokyo. As I mentioned, Ren wanted Nana to come with him, but she stayed behind. She planned to take singing lessons and practice so she could learn to sing on her own without Ren. Then she could move to Tokyo (Told you she's extremely proud). Fast foward two years. It's Nana's twentieth birthday and as a present to herself she's going to Tokyo. On the train ride there she meets Hachi. Both are amused they have the same name and they talk and enjoy themselves until they arrive (which was good since the train got delayed because of the weather). A bit later they meet again when both are interested in the same apartment. It's decided they'll live together (and thus we have the groundwork for the crux of Nana, just add in much angst and the story of two girls with the same name and how they live and love in Tokyo is set). You may be wondering why I digressed to discuss Hachi here. Nana sees Ren again for the first time because Hachi drags her along to a Trapnest concert. Ren seeing her in the audience calls Yasu right away for advice. Knowing Ren won't take his advice to call Nana, he gets Nana to call him (and go to) him. Thus they are reunited. I'm over simplifying here. Nana in fact at first did not want to get back with Ren, but honestly everyone knew that they couldn't resist each other if thrown together - and indeed, they couldn't. Both missed and still loved the other too much. At the current time they're engaged, but Ren's proposal, as I said earlier, seems made more out of desperation and a need to make Nana more his than anything else. This is of course rather sad. Plus the conversation about pondering her death was none too cheery.
It may be starting to get obvious that they don't have the most healthy relationship. Their personal issues (faults?) spill over into their relationship and it's a very possesive and consuming one. They also have serious communication issues (as in, they don't communicate at all really). They'd be much better off if they ran to each other when they were having worries/problems/concerns with each other and their relationship instead of Yasu or Layla. S&M also came up a bit when Ren started choking Nana at the end of a chapter during sex (which seems to have worried several fans of the series). I wasn't too concerned by this. I didn't read it as proof of Ren's desire to seriously harm Nana. Plus, Nana tells him if he killed her she'd wait for him at the River Spinx, so yeah don't think a bit of kinky sex is their ultimate problem.