The Queering of Nana
Written by Daphne Bryant
I just finished Nana and wow — it’s been a long time since a piece of media has had such a profound effect on me, and four years since I’ve even watched an anime. This one just hit me so hard. I immediately felt the need to write an impassioned essay about it, so here we are. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Nana is a Japanese manga series written by Ai Yazawa, a manga artist and illustrator.In 1999, Nana was first published as a two-part prologue in Cookie, which is a shōjo manga (aka an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent girls and young adult women).The next year Nana was serialized in Cookie and ran for nine years before going on an indefinite hiatus. The premise of the series is super refreshing: it centers Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu, two women who move to Tokyo at the age of 20, with the story focused on Nana O.’s pursuit for fame, as well as Nana K.(or Hachi, as she is nicknamed in the show)and her pursuit for romance. The two Nanas do their best to maintain their friendship through all the chaos in their lives, but as luck would have it, their relationship sort of uh...falls apart...
While I haven’t read the manga, I did watch the 47-episode anime television series adaptation on Disney+.Nana has been recommended to me by so many people: my Issue 02 Video Editing intern, my friends from college, this girl I used to have a massive crush on, etc., I finally got to watching it this week, and let’s just say I binged the fuck out of it. There’s something so addictive about Nana: the writing is stellar, the animation is gorgeous, and the character design is so strong.Everything about it feels crazy real, probably because I’m a 20-something year old myself, dealing with a lot of the same things that the two Nanas are.
One thing I kept hearing about Nana prior to watching was that even though it wasn’t“ gay”, it was super gay. I wasn’t exactly sure what these people meant, until I watched the anime for myself. Nana and Hachi are, in my opinion, dealing with a classic case of compulsory heterosexuality. These polar opposites become roommates (can’t make this shit up), then best friends, but I think it’s safe to say that their relationship is way more intense than that of a typical friendship.
Before I start“ queering” their connection,I’d like to preface by declaring that the primary romances in this show are all heterosexual. Nana, an aspiring musician with a band of her own, and Hachi, a passionate boy-crazy girl who cooks just as much as she overthinks, both end up with men, despite their conflicting feelings for each other. So on the surface this isn’t a sapphic romance. And yet, in so many ways it totally is.
From the jump Hachi clearly admires Nana.When they meet on the train to Tokyo, she can’t stop gushing about how cool and beautiful she is, obsessed with everything from her facial features to her style. The more she gets to know her, the more Hachi depends on and craves Nana’s attention. She becomes obsessed with the idea of Nana getting famous, and totally fangirls whenever she gets to watch her sing, or see their band Blast perform.
One scene, where Hachi gets jealous about Nana’s closeness with a fan from home, Misato, really stuck out to me. I couldn’t believe it: Hachi literally lays there in bed fantasizing about Nana and pondering whether or not Nana would be the top during gay sex (answer: yes, Nana would totally be the top). My jaw dropped, because straight girls just don’t do that sort of thing.Hachi ultimately brushes her fantasies off, blaming them on the fact that she hasn’t gotten laid, and promising to herself that she’ll get a new boyfriend ASAP. Sounds like a girl in denial to me...
Then there’s Nana, who is pretty unconventional compared to the other women in the show, even Junko, Hachi’s no-nonsense childhood friend. What I mean to say is, Nana is teased for“ acting like a boy” by her friends and managers and Hachi jokingly refers to Nana as her boyfriend. Nana’s constantly being called out for her subversion of typical gender roles and presentation, which doesn’t necessarily mean she’s queer, but definitely means something. It really hits when Hachi says that if Nana was a boy, she’d be the love of her life. I’m sensing...gay.
Also, Misato believes that Hachi is secretly in love with Nana. She’s not the only one to assume that throughout the show, and I’m inclined to agree with the rumors; fuck these male love interests! The true love story is very obviously between Nana and Hachi, platonic or not.
There are multiple scenes when the two of them share the same bed or share a bath, and there are enough longing looks to drive any gay girl crazy. Even more so, in Episode 10 Nana literally kisses Hachi on the walk home. Sure, it’s mostly to rile her up and get Hachi all flustered, but I’ve only ever kissed friends that I’m attracted to. The queer subtext isn’t even subtext at this point; even if I was a completely straight person watching this, I’d think there was something going on between them. No queering necessary.
My thoughts on their sexualities? Everything is fluid as fuck, but Nana is probably bisexual. She feels very strong, real and intimate feelings for her first love Ren Honjo, who is the bassist in fellow band Trapnest. This is obvious, no matter how much she fights him and their connection. However,Nana has similar, if not deeper feelings for Hachi. She feels strangely protective over her, puts her on a pedestal, and tries to manipulate Hachi’s romantic situations so that she’s as close to Nana as possible. When Nana attempts to confide in Ren about her feelings for Hachi, all he asks is if she wants to sleep with her, an assumption of which Nana actively denies. Throughout the show, Nana also makes a ton of comments that lean on the side of lesbophobia, becoming incredibly distressed whenever Hachi (or anyone) hints at her potentially swinging that way. She’s constantly saying she doesn’t“ sleep with chicks” or desire women in that way, but Hachi is very much so a woman, and the desire Nana feels for her is anything but ordinary.
I don’t mean to say that Nana’s feelings are only sexual, and that’s why she’s in denial. Hell, I don’t know if they’re sexual at all (even if she does say watching Hachi dance feels like being a teenage boy falling in love for the first time #yes #thathappened). Nana and Hachi’s feelings for each other obviously transcend all the physical stuff that is so prominent in their relationships with men; it’s the emotional connection and constant yearning that’s truly powerful and unlike any other.
As far as Hachi is concerned, I suspect she’s a lesbian struggling with heteronormative constructs. I know I know: Hachi is so boy crazy, so how could she possibly be a lesbian? Well, I was boy crazy too when I was younger; I’ve had three boyfriends and way more situationships and flings, all with men who I quickly became infatuated with. I was obsessed with the idea of them, with the societal promise of what they could give me. I believe Hachi is going through the same thing. She is obsessed with being the perfect housewife, obsessed with meeting the perfect man, and obsessed with having the perfect family and being the perfect mother. There’s nothing wrong with this of course, but I think (for cultural and personal reasons) it’s hard for Hachi to picture a life like that with a woman. This is probably because our whole lives we’re told that men are the only people who can provide for us in that way, but that’s not true. There are plenty of queer women who would love to care for their partner in a domestic sense. Hell, Nana spends the last string of episodes vowing to win Hachi back, swearing to herself that she’ll care for Hachi and the kid she’s having (yes Hachi gets pregnant...), essentially offering herself up as that domestic partner Hachi so desperately craves.
In a perfect world, I can totally see Nana and Hachi living together, raising kids and being together. I don’t think either of them had the language or courage for it at the time of the anime/manga, but that’s totally where I see this story heading. Since Nana remains unfinished, the readers and viewers never get to see an endgame romance. These two don’t end up together, but there’s still something about their relationship that’s very fulfilling. As Kris Busch puts it,“ Nana and Hachi’s undying love for each other [transcends] time and circumstance.”
Naturally, I want more of their love story. I want to see a continuation because I adore these characters, and I adore their love. However, I actually don’t completely mind the story being left where it is. There’s something raw and honest and vulnerable about the way Nana suspends us in this“ what if” scenario, leaving the true nature of Nana and Hachi’s relationship up for interpretation.
I can recall a friendship similar to that of Nana and Hachi’s. Throughout middle and high school, I felt this undeniable pull to one of my childhood friends. They were kind of tomboyish, like Nana, and so cool and clever and funny. We ended up getting really close, but every couple of years something would happen and tear us apart. We’d cut each other off, not talk for a while, and then go right back to being friends like it was nothing. Our senior year this friend of mine came out as nonbinary and got their first public girlfriend, and I had such warring emotions about it. I was happy that they were out as queer, but jealous at the same time. Eventually I confessed my feelings, but in the end nothing happened between us. I don’t want to imply that this childhood friend is in love with me or that I’m in love with them, because that’s not the case. But, in retrospect, I can recognize that friendship for what it was, an intense crush that was plagued by homophobic fear and doubt. If there were ever to be more parts to Nana, I’d want both women to come to this conclusion, no matter how long it takes. I’d want them to confront each other about their love in a big dramatic moment, and I’d want them to kiss, this time for real, like they really, really meant it, because they definitely do.
