Ai Yazawa's Nana

For the past few days, I've been reading Ai Yazawa's manga Nana. It's very awesome. In fact, it's one of the best comics I've ever read. It's about 2 young women, Nana Komatsu and Nana Okami, who on the surface are just about as different as they come but forge a deep friendship over the course of the story.

Nana Komatsu's a bit of a ditz, always falling in love with guys and having transient relationships while hoping for something more, she finally makes the decision to move to Tokyo to make something of herself and find out what she wants from life.

Nana Okami's a tough punk rocker girl with a tumultuous past who goes to Tokyo with the dream of becoming a rockstar.

What makes this series so cool are the spot-on characterizations, sparkling dialogue (even in the English translation!) and the natural relationships the characters have with their friends (who play a big role in this manga). It's about relationships, punk rock, sex, love, and life as a 20-something. Oh and the art is absolutely amazing. Ai Yazawa is a master of her craft. Her drawings are exquisite and she has a real eye for fashion.

Nana's going to be published in English by Viz Media and the 1st volume will come out in November. But if you're impatient, you can do what I did and download scanlations- the term for manga that's been scanned and translated by fans- on this cool Nana forum here. You'll need to register on the forum to access the download links but it's completely worth it. BTW they'll take down the download links for each volume as it's released by Viz. Besides, you'll want to buy it anyway. It's my most anticipated release for this November.