It's Fishnet Friday!

This is the title that hooked me into reading manga, Nana. I had been watching anime and attending anime club showings for years. When I lived in China I improved my Chinese language skills by watching some of the animes like Conan (here in the US called Case Closed) which had an easy to understand Chinese dub. When it came to reading manga, however, I could never get into a story enough to really want to keep reading.

That all changed when I saw a curious sample magazine at Barnes and Noble called Shojo Beat. It was the free issuse 0 and I loved it enough to subscribe right then.

Nana was serialized in the magazine and then I started buying the graphic novels themselves. It's the story of two young women who share the same name and move to Tokyo on the same day. They meet on the train and then part ways, but collide together again when looking for an apartment to rent. The two become roommates and from there we experience a really amazingly told tale that falls under the realm of "everyday life" comics or "slice of life", but is always captivating to read.

Ok, so what about the fishnets! Nana Osaki is the dark haired one and she lives a very punk-rock life. She's often clad in fishnets like the ones to the right, or ripped up tights. Nana is a singer and part of her reason to move to Tokyo is musical, but the other part, the part hidden from Nana Komatsu (the second Nana), connects the two together.

Nana is also available in the US as an anime and has two live-action movie adaptations. In Japan this series is tremendously popular and has everything from a theme cafe where you can see Nana Osaki's dressing room to video games!

Here's the opening of the anime: