I recently finished watched the first 34 episodes of the anime Nana in English. I have read the manga as well up until book 20, so I will do a little comparison.  I will follow my usual breakdown.

Story: 9/10

I really love the story of the anime and manga, since they are almost identical. The anime follows the story of the manga perfectly. I can’t imagine many guys being into the story, but I suppose it’s possible. From a girl’s perspective it is addictive. It’s everything a girl would want in an anime: love, rock n roll, drama, and a great friendship. Since I haven’t finished the manga or anime yet, I can’t say how well everything wraps up, but as of yet, it’s great. If you aren’t into love stories, this is probably not for you. It can be a bit mellow dramatic at times, but you feel for the characters, so it works. (unlike a lot of other anime).

Animation: 7/10

I almost gave the animation less than a 7 because it can get a little weird, but it is also very stylized, so it is forgivable. It matches the style of the manga.

Voices: (English) 8/10

I felt the voice actors matched the characters well, and yes the voicing can get a bit cheesy, but since the story is cheesy it’s understandable. Some of the voices are hard to get use to, but they grow on you.

Music and Singing: 5/10

The reason I gave the music and singing such a low rating was because the music is such a big part of the manga, it was a let down to hear what the director chose. The singers are annoying, and in the first 34 episodes there are only 3 songs! In an anime about two bands, that was unusual. The music is weak, and reminds me of pop singers rather than punk bands. Didn’t fit at all!

Re-watch Value: 8/10

I think if you like this anime, it has a lot of re-watch value. I can see myself going back and watching it a lot.

Overall: 8.5/10

Great show if you are into girly animes. Perfect for when you just want to cuddle up and watch something you don’t mind get teary eyed about.

Random side notes:

This has nothing to do with the rating, but I felt like pointing somethings out.

1. It was weird to see the episode when Nana and Hachi go to the Trapnest concert in her hometown. Japanese concerts are so different than American ones, at least the ones I’ve been to. I’ve never been to a concert where you sit down. It was so organized!

2. My first anime review was of Gantz, which I bashed for it’s awkward sex scenes. Nana is a good example of sex scenes that are realistic! They show the character’s personality and humanity without trying so hard to be a sex scene. I guess that’s the difference between girl shows and guy shows. lol

3. I was so glad that the anime still had that Nana feel.

Tags: anime, dub, dubs, english, good, great, nana, rating, review, show

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Anime Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.