Ai Yazawa's thoughts on NANA's main characters
These are some comments by Ai Yazawa in the recently released book The World of NANA. My friend got ahold of photos of the pages with the comments, which was exactly what I wanted to see, so I could post this thanks to her. My other friend who’s fluent in Japanese helped me to translate some parts, so thanks to her too ~ ♡
If you repost this translation please give due credit.
[1] Nana Komatsu: At first, Hachi was conceived as an ordinary girl you could find anywhere both in appearance and personality. But perhaps because I emphasized the contrast with Nana, she ended up with a considerably more striking personality. After all, in the real world, there really isn’t such a thing as an ordinary girl. When I draw manga, I don’t think the story necessarily has to be realistic, but for me, the characters need to have a truly human feel, or I don’t enjoy it. That’s why Hachi, who is honest with herself and has many flaws, is a character worth drawing. And that is exactly what makes her dear to me. That said, in terms of art, she can sometimes be a little difficult to work with. Hachi is a girl who likes to dress well, but she doesn’t go as far as wearing clothes that would make guys stay away, so she tends to stick to a safer style. Even so, this pursuit of the limit might make her clever than she appears (laughs).
[2] Nana Osaki: Before the serialization of NANA, in the standalone long story (included in volume 1) that contained Hachi’s and Nana’s chapters, the image of Nana came to my mind before Hachi’s. But I thought Hachi might be easier for readers to connect with, so I left her for later. Hachi was born as a contrast to Nana, but Nana was a character I wanted to draw from the very beginning. The 70 pages were physically exhausting, but in terms of the story, it was a smooth delivery. Even later, during serialization, Nana never gave me major difficulties; perhaps she is the easiest heroine to draw in my entire career (laughs). Visually, she also has many standout elements, so drawing her is easy and simply fun.
[3] Ren Honjo: In the story, Ren is technically the lead male, but in the most important scenes, he doesn’t really do much, you know? The other characters end up taking the coolest moments. For me, as the author, he’s always been kind of a troubled character. I tend to respect my characters will more than strictly following the story, so I eventually gave up and let him act as he wanted. From the beginning, I had already decided he would have an accident, so while I was drawing, I sometimes felt a bit sad… And thinking about it now, maybe that helped create that unique atmosphere around him. A lot of people say his look reminds them of Sid from the Sex Pistols, but I think he’s more like those punk guys from later generations who imitated the Pistols’ style. I guess, to fit into the world, Ren armed himself in his own way. He’s super clumsy, but you can’t help loving him.
[4] Nobuo Terashima: Nobu ended up becoming a much more active character than I had imagined at first, and that really took me by surprise. I never thought he would reach the position of lead male! But, looking back, he’s sociable, proactive, and above all, very transparent and devoted to the heroine, so maybe it was inevitable that he would start standing out. In the second half of the story, readers ended up splitting into Team Nobu and Team Takumi. I was on Team Takumi (laughs), but I also rooted for Nobu, and I thought Hachi would be happier with him. So when their relationship ended, it was truly painful for me. Visually, Nobu is a character influenced by the Pistols, so he imitates a lot of Johnny Rotten. Of course, he can’t have the same presence as Johnny, but even so, he’s really fun to draw.
[5] Yasushi Takagi: Both in the story and in real life, I’ve hardly ever met anyone who doesn’t like Yasu. I like him too. But, to be honest, I don’t really know why he’s so popular. Yasu doesn’t talk much about himself, and there’s still a lot about him that I haven’t shown. Don’t you also get that feeling of not really knowing Yasu? (laughs). Even without me drawing everything explicitly, if he manages to convey who he is and be loved for it, as the author, that makes me really happy. But I also want to one day do a one-shot just to explore Yasu more deeply. Ah, and his shaved head… for me, it’s one of the top three coolest hairstyles (does that even count as a hairstyle?). But if the circle is too perfect, it doesn’t look natural, so you can’t use a ruler (laughs). When I draw it, I have to hold my breath and really focus.
[6] Shinichi Okazaki: Of all the characters in NANA, Shin is the one I had the most fun creating. More than his appearance, I feel that his expressions are surprisingly rich. He pretends to be cold, but he always seems on the verge of overflowing, holding back, as if his emotions are about to explode. I love portraying complicated emotions that cannot be explained by human logic, and I think that's what I want to depict in my manga, so I’m always striving to convey his feelings through his expressions and gestures. It’s not easy, but I feel like I’m getting there with Shin. By the way, Shin always seems to be wearing Nobu’s clothes without permission, but that’s better because they suit him better than Nobu (laughs). He’s also the type to arm himself, just like Ren, but in a different way, so I’m sure he’s learning by observing the people around him.
[7] Takumi Ichinose: Among the lead males, he’s the easiest character for me to draw. In terms of communication, he has certain flaws as a person, but when it comes to how he approaches his work, I can relate to him a lot. Like Yasu, I like the fact that he always observes things broadly and from different angles. But of course, readers often say things like, What a terrible man! about him. Well, I guess that’s part of his charm too. When I listen to music, for some reason I get especially interested in the arrangements, and that makes me tend to admire people who excel in that area. Takumi doesn’t have a specific model, but I imagined a talented musician of that kind. It would have been nice if I’d been able to highlight that side more in the story, but in the end he just ended up with the image of an intelligent, calculating producer (laughs). It’s a bit of a shame, actually.
That's it! These were the 7 main characters who got some spotlight in the book. Btw, if you haven’t bought the book, or if you have and are still waiting for it to arrive, I recommend reading the articles being published on Web Taiyo! They’re texts that weren’t included in the book, so check them out!
