NANA

While on board a train to Tōkyō to meet up with her boyfriend Shōji after a long time apart, 20 year old Nana Kōmatsu (A.K.A. Hachi) happened to sit beside 20 year old Nana Ōsaki, who was traveling to Tokyo to fulfill her dreams of becoming a musician. The vocalist for her punk band "Blast", Nana’s goal is the debut for "Blast" in Tōkyō where her ex-boyfriend, Ren, is the guitarist for the popular band "Trapnest". Sharing the same name and age, both girls quickly form a bond of friendship. In addition, fate seems to play a part, as they both end up looking for the same apartment at the same time, and soon move in together. Together, the two go through their love lives and peruse their careers in the city of Tōkyō.

NANA started off as a Shōjo Manga, 少女漫画, by Manga-Ka, 漫画家, Ai Yazawa, serialized in Cookie Magazine and published by Shueisha. The first twelve volumes of the series have together, so far, sold 22 million copies. In North America, Viz Media currently runs NANA in their Shōjo Beat Magazine.

In addition to having a copious amount of merchandise spawned from it, the manga has also been adapted into a highly successful live-action movie and the recent anime series, both of the same name. The movie was released on September 3rd, 2005, in Japan, with a DVD edition released on March 3rd, 2006. The movie stared Japanese singer/actress Mika Nakashima as Nana Ōsaki and Japanese actress Aoi Miyazaki as Nana Kōmatsu. The movie did so well, that a sequel has already been planned. A "Tribute Album" named LOVE for NANA ~Only 1 Tribute~ was also released. Lastly, the anime premiered on April 5, 2006 and is slated to last 50 episodes.