Set in the early 2000’s, Nana is a anime drama based on the manga by Ai Yazawa. Nana Komatsu (NK) is on the train heading to Tokyo to live closer to her boyfriend. She has a cute and bubbly personality, often enthusiastic and easily excited. She ends up sitting next to a woman who gives off a rocker vibe. Nana happily chats away during the ride, being very open and curious during the conversation. Her fellow passenger, eventually reveals her name is also Nana, Nana Osaki (NO).
Their lives begin to intertwine despite their different personalities, history and situations. NK really was looking to settle down with her boyfriend and find a traditional style life, while NO’s sole purpose was to make her way in the music world as a rock musician
The story follows them along, shifting focus between the two women, but centering around the creation of the rock band called Black Stones. The demands of performing, being controlled by music executives and the restraints of public life begin to orchestrate their lives. NK finds the excitement she is wants in the rock world of NO and she has her interests settling on more than one musician. NO has a tough, confident and edgy personality. Yet, she heavily relies on NK for stability and a sense of family that she never had.
Life gets complicated when the Nanas have relationships with guys, whether it is short term, looking back to old loves or just casual for benefits. Their friendship is tested. Are they chosen family or just a moment in each other’s lives?
Commentary:
I found Nana an interesting drama, although it’s not typical for what I am looking to find in anime, which is something different from Western storytelling. It’s a story you could get caught up in. So, in a way, it doesn’t really feel like anime. It could just as successfully been a live action series (there are live action Nana movies). Although the storytelling was similar to Western style stories, there are some elements that are Japanese specific.
The characters of the two Nanas is what I appreciate most of this series. Their designs visually embody and emulate their personalities really well. From the voices, character appearance and expressions, the character design does a good job visually illustrating the personalities of the characters. A contrast between the soft and edgy, still finding common ground. The English voice actors were also well chosen and performed the characters richly.
Nana is made for an older viewer, with the situations, activities and language. As a drama, I suppose the events and reactions are what should be driving the narrative. But again, I think Nana did the best with characters and the bonds that developed between. There were two instances where I think the characters really give insight to this. First, in her own words, NK says she is looking not for a boyfriend but a knight in shining armor. Second, during a conversation, NO says: “I’m not your boyfriend Nana.” Then NK responds with energy, “No, you’re way more important than that!”
With this blu-ray release there is and English Dub or Japanese audio with English subtitles. If you are wondering why the package says there are 50 episodes, yet the discs only go through episode 47, you’ll find there are some recap episodes sprinkled in there called Junko’s Room that make up the missing 3.
I found the ending satisfactory enough, yet it is not actually finished. However, they were doing a back and forth between the current and future so we get a sense of how things turn out.
Title: Waiting in the Summer Complete Collection on Blu-ray
Directed By: Tatsuyuki Nagai
Written By: Yōsuke Kuroda
Studio: J. C. Staff
U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23
U. S. Release Date: March 15th, 2016
Format: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes + OVA / 325 Minutes
Genre: Harem, Slice of Life, Fan Service, Romance, Sci Fi
Age Rating: TV 14
Overall Personal Rating: A-
Synopsis:
When a group of friends decide to make a movie over a long summer holiday, they end up learning a little about film-making and a lot more about each other and themselves. What begins as a simple way to avoid the summer doldrums quickly turns into something much more complex, intimate, and downright revealing.
As the summer heats up, so do the maturing relationships between the young cast members, taking some new, and sometimes unexpected, turns. Get ready for a whole new look at summer romance as hidden emotions get captured and secrets meant to be kept hidden inside young hearts instead spill off the screen for your viewing pleasure in Waiting in the Summer!
Commentary:
Thank you Sentai Filmworks for going back into the vault and bringing this wonderful anime back to life. The english dub should help bring a larger audience to it. As for the dub, because I an so familiar with the original release, I didn’t find it as attractive as the 2016 release.
Waiting in the Summeris one of the sleeper anime that few people have seen. It has a rather straight forward plot and a simplistic romance structure, yet it catches your attentions and makes you really like these high school students on summer break and wish you could hang out with them and make a move too.
With this being a re-release and adding the OVA I am curious why there wasn’t a English dub. I understand that there is a large cost to doing that. I just think that a English dub would have brought another layer of fans to the series and proved to be profitable.
Overall Grade: A-
I is nice to see Waiting in the Summer re-released with the OVA and forcing me to take another look at it. One one level there is a warn innocence that flows though it and on the other hand a sad reality to some things just can’t be. With all that is going on with the film mirroring the plot line and the hidden specter of the men in black makes it hard to stop watching.
The animation is a smooth easy touch that is very typical for anime of this type and the attention to detail done with such a soft touch that things flow together with the plot perfectly. I can’t think of any other style that would have helped tell the story any better. The only detractor I have is that it does drag a bit in the middle and leave the viewer a tad frustrated with what is going on. I still find the series strong and with the added OVA it is just that much better.
If you haven’t had a chance to see Waiting in the Summerthen I think that this is the time to discover a series that is warm and friendly with layers of strange goings on. If you are in the mood for a easy going anime that has plenty of fun and oddities in it then Waiting in the Summer is for you.
Tomoko Sakai has loved the sport of diving since he was a child, and there’s no place he’d rather be than the high board at the Mizuki Diving Club. Unfortunately, the MDC’s having hard time staying afloat financially and there’s a sinking certainty that the club is about to drown in a sea of its own debt. Fiery female coach Kayoko Asaki has a bold plan to throw the club a lifeline, but it’s going to require achieving something that’s almost impossible: get one of the club’s members on the National team for the next Olympics! Can this struggling group of young athletes pool their talents in time to resuscitate their club, or will they make the ultimate belly flop? It’s time to sink or swim as the whole team leaps for the gold!
Commentary:
Dive!! jumps into the deep end of the many sports and swimming anime that have littered the screen over the last few years thanks to the popularity series like Free and Haikyu!!. Most of the series that come out tend to be heavy on sports and drama and light on character development and substance. Dive!! on the other hand play lightly with the sport and focuses on the character development. This helps the short series rise to a level most don’t manage to find.
Being a serious fan of Haikyu!! I expect a sports anime to give me more that just cheesecake I want to care about these young athletes and really want to see then succeed. Dive!! manages to provide me with 3 characters that each have their own reason to compete and also have good reason to become friends. The fact that we don’t have the revenge rivalry amounts these 3 is great. They have their reasons to compete and go for the top, but they also see the best in each other. Often you find a team spirit that is only at the surface with some other deep seeded envy or unhealthy competitive nature lurking in the dark areas of the characters existence. Dive!! makes these young athletes friends before they become true competitors which helps them root for each other in a very natural way. That in itself would make the series work watching, but add that to full character development and you have a solid series that makes you smile more often than not.
Overall Garde: B+
I know you are asking why is it that I praised the series so highly and only give it a B+. The answer is simple, there series is just way too short. Everything seems to flow naturally through the first 10 episodes then like a flurry the story is wrapped up. There is a rush to complete that both disappoints and also lets these wonderful characters down. I wanted to learn more about all three of these main characters and get a better feeling of the struggles they each have to go through. In other words the series let itself down by being so short.
The rest of the production was solid from the animation to the voice acting. There were a few moments that I felt a softer tough with cell shading would have worked better, but they are not paying me to be a technical advisor so I guess that is just a personal issue.
If you enjoy sports anime and are looking for a quick fix then all I can say if Dive!! into it, you will walk away with a smile.
Animeggroll is a retail store specializing in products related to Anime, Manga and other Japanese pop culture. The store has been family owned and operated since it was established in October 2010.
We carry a wide variety of anime related products including anime, manga, Gundam models, other Japanese model kits, figures, wall scrolls, plush, bento boxes and supplies, key chains, necklaces, pins, playmats/desk mats, T-shirts, and much more!
For a greater product variety we do sell both new and used items. This means that we do buy or offer store credit for anime related products. If you are interested in selling or trading with us, check out Buying/Selling/Trading page for details on our store policies.
Title: Dive!! The Complete Collection
