Nana : 5 of 5

During my 2005 trip to Japan, I saw lots of posters advertising this movie, and I had only just read about the popularity of this story (which was originally a hit manga). Since then, I've been reading the manga in Shojo Beat every month, and since I enjoy it so much, I decided to break down and buy the DVD of the movie - my first Japanese movie purchase without English subtitles! Since I already know the plot, it wasn't difficult to follow the movie at all, and I could actually understand a good bit of the dialogue, so it was a ton of fun to watch. This is a really well-made movie with great acting, awesome music, and of course, a wonderful story. It's about two girls both named Nana, who happen to meet on the train when they're both moving to Tokyo. One is a cute, dreamy-eyed, emotional girl, and the other is a hardcore rocker, but they become the closest of friends when they end up as apartment roommates. The movie is really faithful to the manga, although some of the characters are kept in the background to keep the plot flowing smoothly. I though it was great how the Nana/Ren relationship was told completely via flashback (unlike the manga), and they picked a nice place to end the movie (even though the manga keeps going). I decided to get the special edition DVD (since I can't resist!), which has a bonus disc of behind the scenes clips, plus a cool mini-photobook. I really enjoyed watching a Japanese movie completely in Japanese!