Morgane's presentation of Ai Yazawa and « Nana »

I am going to talk about Ai Yazawa a world famous manga Japanese author and especially of her Manga « Nana »

Ai Yazawa was born the 7 March 1967 at Hyogo District in Japan. She invented her pen name with the name of her favorite Japanese singer  Eikishi Yazawa, and   her real first name « Ai » what means love. 

 Ai Yazawa published her first Manga in 1985, in the magazines “Ribon”, which cold  « fifteen years », she was eighteen years old. Butshe became famous in Japan with « I’m not an angel ».  In 1999 she published « Nana », in the magazine “Cookie”, then she became famous in France then world whole.

 Ai Yazawa really loves fashion too. She studied at the fashion designer’s school of Osaka. But  she preferred drawing so she stopped her studies. We can see her hobbies, fashion and music, in her Mangas. Indeed her characters wear her favorite bands (such as Vivienne Westwood in « Nana ») or with the bands that she invented (such as Happy Berry in “Neighborhood Story”), Moreover Nana, one of the main characters of the series, is a singer.

 Yazawa's most famous Mangas are " I'm Not an Angel " (1992–1995); " Neighborhood Story "(1995–1998) ; " Paradise Kiss " (2000–2004) ; and " Nana "( start in 2000).

 Nana is her most successful Manga.

 This is the story of Nana Osaki, a singer who sings with her band, Black Stones (Blast), composed of Ren (her boyfriend), yasu and Nobu. When Ren leaves for Tokyo to become a member of the famous band, Trapnest, however she decides to rest in their little village. She leaves for Tokyo at the age of twenty, to start her musical career with the Black Stones.

Nana Komatsu, the second Nana, is called Hachi or Hachiko by  Nana Osaki. She is very sentimental and she falls in love all the time, so she always need the help of her friends. When all her friends and her boyfriend left for Tokyo, she rests alone. But she decides to join them a year later, as she is having saved enough money, at the age of 20.

Nana meets Hachi in the train by chance, on their way to Tokyo. After a lot of  twist and turns, they come to live together in apartment 707. They have very different personalities and ideals, but they become best friend.

This is the beginning of their life in Tokyo.

 Nana was made into two films, Nana (2005) and Nana 2 (2006) directed by Kentaro Otani, starring for Nana Osaki : Mika Nakashima and for Nana komatsu : Aoi Miyazaki(in Nana)

And Yui Ichikawa (in Nana 2). Yuna Ito ( Reira Serizawa the singer of Trapnest in the movie ) and Mika Nakashima created the songs for their two characters’ group in the movie.

 It has been adapted into an animated series too, directed by Morio Asaka, with the songs of Anna Tsuchiya and Olivia.

 Three video games of Nana were released one for Nintendo DS and two for Play station two.

 I really enjoy this Manga because the drawings are very beautiful, and the story thrilling. I like the others Mangas by Ai yazawa too.