Is nana gay
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Nana and Nana: A Queer Critical Examination
Sydney N. Sweeney
In the late 2000s, "NANA," a television anime adaptation of Japanese artist Ai Yazawa's manga series of the same name (published from 2000 to 2009) was licensed for distribution in North America by Viz Media. Currently, "NANA" is available for streaming on numerous platforms, including Netflix and Hulu, but complete episodes can be sourced on bootleg anime websites and YouTube. In this way, the program is remarkably accessible, rendering it among the more well-liked drama anime geared towards a mature audience. More significantly, "NANA" is a heterosexist program wherein queerness is a subversive element, but as a subtext instead of a straightforward theme – within the series, all romantic or sexual relationships (and there are many) occur between a male and a female, resulting in an absence of LGBT representation or relationships among any gender identity, despite the fact that the bond between the two best friend roommates often approaches a romantic nature, particularly during times of heterosexual difficulties. This connection is what bestows significance upon the series, regardless of its shortcomings in underrepresenting the reality of Japan's LGBT oppression and misrepresentation, which arguably mirrors the United States' experiences.Plot Summary of "NANA"
The show – a "slice of life" style television drama aimed at young adults and older women – was unique in terms of content, and the anime adaptation proved to be just as successful as the original manga, which is currently on an indefinite hiatus. "NANA" functions as a soap opera in a manner, that chronicles two twenty-year-old women – both bearing the name Nana – throughout their new lives in Tokyo, Japan, where both women aspire to realize their respective dreams. It's essential to mention that their ambitions are, indeed, distinct: Nana Osaki embodies a determined, rebellious, self-reliant punk rocker desiring musical triumph, while Nana Komatsu personifies the quintessential girl-next-door archetype of traditionalism that is not exclusive to American culture – she seeks to find a husband and get married, despite her awareness that she ought to continue her education and become less reliant on male figures (a predicament she's faced since her high school years). Notwithstanding their distinctions, both Komatsu and Osaki forge a deep friendship after encountering each other "by fate" during the series' initial episode, and throughout the series and its multitude of heterosexual relationships involving the two Nana characters, their acquaintances, and family members, "NANA," similar to other elements of the Japanese anime canon, stands as a queer text in need of deconstruction.
All Considerations: The Cultural Context of "NANA"
On Jezebel's "ROYGBIV" subsite, yuri anime is explicated as lesbian-themed Japanese media. There's insufficient relational proof to justify "NANA" as yuri, in the same manner that a vast number of anime can be categorized, but the criticality of examining Japanese media and society is incalculable, given that homosexuality – and even homoeroticism – in print and broadcast media runs in opposition to America's conventional relationship with LGBT representation. Admittedly, there are more male-centric homoerotic anime series in circulation (termed yaoi, or boy's love, as a direct antithesis of yuri), as Japan, similarly to America, functions as a vast patriarchy, and, relative to lesbian women, gay men are overrepresented. Furthermore, Erica Friedman from Quora.com and Slate has noted that Japanese individuals are still hesitant to fully embrace queer people, mirroring the sentiment among Americans – for example, there exists no federal-level legislation that grants marriage certificates to same-sex partners. Nevertheless, animated Japanese homosexuality has gained prominence in some of the most successful anime series of all time, encompassing "Sailor Moon" and "Cardcaptor Sakura," both debuting in the 20th century to widespread acclaim and without censorship. The concepts of yuri and yaoi are not covert within Japan, but are rather mainstream and broadly acknowledged, if not uniformly celebrated.
Lesbianism – Without Excessive Lust (or the Hegemony)
As lesbian implications act as another aspect of the melodramatic "NANA" plotline, the notion of lesbianism as an independent concept – meaning, a sexuality theoretically separate from the male gaze – diverges significantly from what the media typically presents. In the scholarly work The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media by Karen Ross, it's noted that a 1993 study by Kitzinger and Kitzinger asserted that "lesbianism frequently transforms into the 'object of heterosexual male desire,'" further emphasizing that heterosexual male pornography exemplifies this commodification of female homosexuality, and that all female viewers have been conditioned to consume this portrayal of lesbianism in a manner that aligns with men – voyeuristically. Nonetheless, "NANA" disregards this cisheteropatriarchal depiction of women's sexual relationships with other women, largely because the relationship between Komatsu and Osaki isn't sexual in nature.
The women embrace, exchange brief kisses, and maintain sustained eye contact with some regularity, especially when Osaki's unstable relationship with her boyfriend Ren Honjo starts to deteriorate, yet the (sadly) groundbreaking aspect of "NANA" is that it portrays the potential of gay female relationships realistically and authentically. This isn't to imply that sexual lesbian relationships are universally misrepresented – Netflix's "Orange is the New Black" has effectively and accurately showcased lesbian sexuality distanced from the male gaze – but "NANA," a program with a target audience of adult women, and that audience undeniably shapes how Komatsu and Osaki's relationship develops. Returning to the concept that lesbian implications become more evident as heterosexual connections falter, "NANA" serves as a prime instance of how lesbianism seems to be articulated in the absence, or uselessness, of men. In conclusion, "NANA" is mostly a heterosexual program with queer connotations serving as an underlying theme, and this queerness is anchored in the relationship between its two lead characters, Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki.
References
Anime News Network. NANA (TV) Encyclopedia. Retrieved April seventeenth, two thousand seventeen, from http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6115
Callahan, K. (2014, September fifteenth). These Are The Seven Finest Lesbian Anime Series Ever Produced. Retrieved April seventeenth, two thousand seventeen, from http://roygbiv.jezebel.com/these-are-the-seven-best-lesbian-anime-series-ever-made-1634542445
Friedman, E. (2015, May twenty-eighth). How Does Japan Treat Gay People? Retrieved April fourteenth, two thousand seventeen, from http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2015/05/28/how_does_japan_treat_gay_people.html
Nana Wikia. List of Nana Episodes. Retrieved April sixteenth, two thousand seventeen, from http://nana.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Nana_episodes
Ronzi, K. (2014, December nineteenth). Japanese Sexism and the Ideal Woman. Retrieved April sixteenth, from https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/posts/japanese-sexism-and-the-ideal-woman
Ross. The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media. (2012). Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.