Here's How Nana and Ren Met...

The Nana anime is a very faithful adaptation of the comic. The character designs are dead-on matches for Yazawa Ai's elegantly angular, fashion-inspired artwork. These are people about whom their clothes say as much as their dialogue and actions. The red dress Nana buys is probably an actual dress available at the time.

Although the conversation beginning at 3:15 tells us quite a bit about how Nana's priorities differ from Ren's, at least during that stage of their relationship. Along those lines, I really wanted to post the clip where Nana tells Ren it's a good thing she didn't have an orgasm on stage during their last show. Or "live," as it's called here in Japan. Now that's a woman who loves singing in front of a crowd. I can't remember if Yazawa Ai included that little detail in her comic; it's been over a year since I read this "flashback" story about how Nana and Ren met, fell in love, then split.

It's funny, but it also illuminates Nana's desperate need to perform. Because the thrill of it is so close to having sex. Or better. Perhaps she likens the emotional exhibitionism and rawness in front of so many people to the more private kind. For someone so guarded and self-protective as Nana, this might be her purest form of release. Just like Yazawa Ai to make her pretty, pretty characters so complex.