Nana 2

Nana 2 is a japanese film directed by Kentarô Ôtani, and adapted from the manga series. It is also the sequel to Nana the movie.

Nana 2 mainly focuses on the friendship of Nana Osaki (Mika Nakashima) and Hachiko (Yui Ichikawa). Nana O is the vocalist and frontwoman of an underground rock band, Black Stones, while Hachiko is a regular office lady looking for love.

The story is told through a flashback from the start of the movie where Black Stones is performing onstage. Here the transition is not clearly made, and thus the flashback is not completely easily identified, as it should be.

As Nana O and her band strives to release their debut album, it is known to the audience that Hachiko feels overshadowed, and all the more she feels the desperation of experiencing the same kind of hype in her own life. She is enthralled by Takumi, a member of another famous band, Trapnest, who Nana O warns to be a playboy.

The characterisation of Hachiko is further made complex, when Nobu of Black Stones confesses his love, and Takumi proves himself to be a disappointment. Hachiko accepts Nobu and they share great chemistry, but then Takumi lingers and if you pay attention to his characterisation, he does seem to care for Hachiko after all.

As Hachiko later gets herself into a huge mess, Nana O strains herself and the band even harder, as she feels even more of the drive to fulfill her promise to Hachiko, probably because everything is so screwed up for Hachiko already.

The first part of the film is in serious need of a proper soundtrack. The development of the plot to the main conflict is too slow-moving and flat, and there isn't enough sensationalizing of drama.

Though the film is more on the complexity of Hachiko and her friendship with Nana O, as a movie that is set in the rock band culture, it failed to present the band's passion for music, as it should have. Also, the outfit and image of the members seem to be greatly deceiving as there really isn't much hype in this movie as it seems to have. Instead of a fun-filled series of misadventures complemented with good music, it's more of a unconvincing mellowdrama.

Another point of this movie which fustrated me is that Hachiko's love relationship was never resolved,as at the end, Takumi is still known as the "bad guy", but Hachiko is still kept in the dark. Or perhaps they're planning a Nana 3?

Also, i really didn't see how the revealing of the relationship of nana and her boyfriend, also a member of Trapnest, would cause such a huge impact on their fans and the members. Or perhaps i just failed to catch that Trapnest and the Black Stones are known to be rivals.

on a sidenote, underneath the awkward high-forehead-center-parting-no-eyebrows hairstyle of Nakashima as Nana, you'd notice that she's actually really pretty.

In conclusion, this movie should attract many rocker-wannabes, as well as fans of the manga, and if so, it's definitely going to be a disappointment.