I know what I was going into when I popped in Nana on the tubes, and I got pretty much what I expected: a trashy shoujo romance story that reflects well with its audience while being glamorous and exciting. When the anime ended it didn’t really make any impact for some reason. I’m not sure why.

Earlier before I finished watching those illicit fansubs I was thinking about my own obsessions. I think it would be fair to say that anime and game takes up a large chunk of my “mindshare”–I think about anime and games often. Perhaps it’s because I do a fair amount of both, but I think it’s more because I’ve structured my life around these two things too much, in a way that’s unhealthy. I guess I believe there’s a thing as “too much anime.”

There’s not much similar between a boring otaku’s life and a slutty rock n’ roll lifestyle. They are thematically similar in that there is some kind of balance that’s at the core of it. Nana is a show with a lot of strong and passionate characters who go a little too far and suffer as a consequence. I guess I have nothing to say about that aside from it’s a fun take for a 21st century Japan’s view on glamor, while trying hard to not stray from the poetic, karmic expectation for Newton’s Second Law.

But are we so strained by this reoccurring force of nature that we cannot enjoy our fantasies outside of this expectation? When you realize you’re spending more time playing games and watching/writing/reading/surfing/talking about anime than the necessary and proper things you ought to be doing, it’s a sign that you’re doing it too much. But when you realize you’re obsessed with someone that you lose sight of what’s best for both of you, is it really okay, in a fantasy, to indulge that even at all? What if Nana wasn’t about friends and lovers, but about spending 14 hours in the office to make big bucks and be a power spender? Would it just be Speed Grapher without the LOL superpower nonsense? Isn’t Lucky Star just Nana with a fangirl?

Maybe I should watch less shows like Nana and do more important things.

Watching Nana is slowly becoming an exercise in farcical appreciation.

Finishing episode 29 was particularly LOL. It’s extremely amusing that during all the dramatic twists and turns, we get sideline dissection by impassioned yet objective third-parties that break all the plays down and hit that “common wisdom” answer like a retired professional NFL player during a post-game TV segment. The only things missing are Eurobeat, consecutive cliff hangers, and never-ending fillers.

Yes, it’s no coincidence that there are SEVEN DRAGON BALLS.

While you ponder this possible connection, give Patrick more of your attention by listening to him laying down the foundational perspective about anime today? It’s rather concise and quick.