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Title:  NANA Vol 17

Author:  Ai Yazawa

Publisher:  Viz

ISBN:  9781421523767

May Contain Spoilers

Life is so complicated in the world of NANA.  Hachi is living a dream come true; she’s engaged to rock star Takumi,  she’s got a ritzy apartment to call home, and she is surrounded by the rich and the glamorous.  She’s not happy, though, and she misses the humble apartment that she shared with Nana.  She misses Nana, too, and feels like their friendship is slipping further and further away.  When she learns that a tabloid is digging into her friend’s past, Hachi is determined to stop the story from going to press.  What she discovers is that life is much more complicated than she realized, and that there are some things that even power and money can’t fix.  Will Hachi be able to save her friendship with Nana?

With this volume, I am beginning to see that I have read Hachi all wrong.  Here I thought that she was a flake, someone who couldn’t be loyal to one person and who was out mainly for her own gratification.  She loved to be in love, and you only have to look at the Nobu and Takumi situation to understand what I’m talking about.  But I have been looking at her wrong, and now that it has dawned on me that the one she really loves is Nana, I have to say that she is fiercely devoted and single-mindedly determined to do what’s best for her friend.  Hachi, you have finally won me over.  Why it took me 17 volumes to accept that she could truly, truly love someone other than herself is a question for another day.

With that never-ending, steadily increasing drumbeat of doom playing in the background, the characters weave tangled webs that ensnare themselves and those around them, helpless to alter their path to destruction.  Ren and Reira have already caused a near disaster, yet they continue to tempt fate by spending time alone together, making themselves the perfect fodder for journalists in search of a story.  Reira isn’t content to play with fire with just Ren; oh, no, she has fallen for a minor, and if their story ever leaks into the public, both of their bands will be destroyed.  Like most of the relationships in NANA, Shin and Reira’s is a time bomb, one that ticks ever closer to disaster.  Nobody knows when it’s going to explode, but when it does, it’s going to be painful, and cleaning up the mess that’s left behind is going to be nearly impossible.

While everyone is worried about Nana in this volume, she doesn’t appear to be all that fazed by the discovery of her mother. She spends most of this volume hovering on the fringes of the action, only getting sucked in when another character propels her into the spotlight.  The real emotional turmoil happens with Hachi, as she begins to understand that she is now part of a world where individuals don’t mean all that much, and where the people in power are willing to sacrifice others to sell a few more records.  The stakes are high in the games she’s now playing, and once the hand is set in motion, there is no stopping until the last card is dealt.  People’s lives are bartered away, and she is helpless to change anything.

Though the pacing can be excruciatingly slow at times, NANA continues to captivate.  What  dreadful events lurk on the horizon?  You can bet I’ll be there to find out.

Grade: B+

Review copy provided by Viz