#waiting for the day yazawa sensei publishes the rest of the series and is like 'haha jk sorry for the big pain guys it was all just a dream

[to-star-lake]

ok guys, hear me out.

so i recently re-read Nana which was (and still is) one of my favorite series of all time. and since then i've been feeling the nostalgia (and PAIN) i've been finding kindred souls who are also holding out hope that yazawa ai will pick it back up at some point.

BUT in my journey of reconnecting with the series and characters, ive read a lot of things about nana and ren's relationship and i can't not weigh in. (nobody asked but here goes XD)

don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of things both of them could've done better in their relationship, and many people say that when ren left to join Trapnest that was the fatal turning point for them, but tbh i think their relationship was doomed from the beginning.

nana said herself when she first saw ren play the night they met; she felt something more like envy/jealousy than love. she always admired ren and idealized him, perhaps more than she loved him.

as a result (paired with nana's very painful history of being abandoned by her mother), ren was more of a savior in her eyes than a boyfriend.

he taught her to play guitar, encouraged her to sing and express herself, and gave her a home. and because she always looked up to him, she couldn't help but feel anxious and inferior in some way when she was with him. i don't think she ever thought she was good enough for him and unwittingly created a relationship that was more about competition (and proving herself) than love.

for ren; similarly to nana, he had a very painful past of being abandoned by his parents and grew up on the streets by himself. perhaps he saw in nana a kindred spirit, and wanted to take care of her (in his final moments, he literally mistook a stray cat for nana); he took her in.

throughout the series, we see him hoping for a family that is with him always, for nana to want to be with him of her own volition, and to have children with him. (but he knew that wasn't what nana wanted, and he struggled throughout their relationship after their reconciliation with this fact).

from nana's perspective, i think ren leaving was so much more than a betrayal of her band, and a boyfriend leaving her: i think when he left, it made her feel not only abandoned, but like he was throwing it in her face that she wasn't good enough (he went to join a better band, in a bigger city, with a more talented female singer).

and it made it worse for her that even after their reconciliation, ren continued to choose Trapnest over her (leaving her behind when the tabloids were publicizing gossip that would only harm her reputation, refusing to help nana out of pent up frustration and jealousy when shin was arrested, in the end prioritizing reira over her).

but when ren joined Trapnest, i think that he found in them an even greater family bond than what he had with Blast. back in his hometown, while he loved the Blast members, it isn't the same as when he joined Trapnest. with Blast, it was all a bit of fun, almost child's play for ren, but he could've accepted that as long as he and nana were happy.

when he joined Trapnest, i think that was when he started to feel the true weight of camaraderie; of having a group of people with a bond stronger than friends or colleagues; they were soldiers together (ren had literally referred to the employees of cookie music working with Trapnest as takumi's soldiers). here, there was a profound kind of devotion and mission that gave him a greater sense of purpose in life, so i can understand why he would make choices that placed Trapnest above nana.

again, this is not to say that at any given moment in the series, nana and ren couldn't have made better decisions or said or done something different. but i think due to the fact that nana's feelings towards ren were always that of an admiration kind of love (rooted in jealousy and feelings of inferiority) instead of pure, unconditional love (which is not her fault, because no one ever really taught her how to love unconditionally). and that ren was destined to discover and devote himself to something bigger than himself (and nana). and the fact that both of them were so young but the stakes were too high; their relationship was doomed from the beginning.

[officialotakudome]

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Sentai Announces Upcoming Titles

Sentai Filmworks have unveiled upcoming releases for April as well as new acquisitions:

HOUSTON, TX — February 11, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired rights to the suspense-filled thriller Babylon, the anime series based on Mado Nozaki’s popular light novels. Sentai plans to release the series on Blu-ray as well as digital sell-through via select outlets.

Zen Seizaki, dedicated prosecutor with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, is assigned a seemly cut-and-dry case of false advertisement on part of a pharmaceutical company. But what starts as a routine investigation soon turns into something much darker, the strange details of the case painting a portrait of corruption and deceit that permeates the mayoral election being run in the newly formed Shiniki District. Soon Seizaki discovers depravity that puts at risk the very fabric of the Japanese justice system — not to mention Seizaki’s own sense of right and wrong.

The anime is a production of studio Revoroot (FLCL Alternative) and directed by Kiyotaka Suzuki (Psycho-Pass 2); Yutaka Yamada (Vinland Saga) provided the series’ musical composition. Babylon features the vocal talents of Takahiro Sakurai (Psycho-Pass) as Shinobu Kujin, Satsuki Yukino (When They Cry) as Ai Magase and Yuichi Nakamura (Jujutsu Kaisen) as Zen Seizaki. The series will be released on home video, including Blu-ray and digital sell-through, in Spring 2021.

Sentai announced today that it acquired NANA, the 47-episode anime series produced by Madhouse and based on the manga by Ai Yazawa (NEIGHBORHOOD STORY, TENSHI NANKA JA NAI) with 40+ million copies sold. The series has been upconverted from its original format to vivid high definition.    

Two twenty-somethings seemingly share nothing in common apart from their first name, but a chance meeting on a train bound for Tokyo sets Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki on a collision course with destiny. Nana Komatsu, a love-at-first-sight dreamer, aims to find enduring happiness in the big city. Nana Osaki, neo punk rock vocalist, pursues her burning ambitions of musical stardom and worldwide fame. As their fates increasingly intertwine, they each chase their dreams — until the harsh realities of life in big city Tokyo threaten to tear everything apart.

A production of studio Madhouse (No Game, No Life, Parasyte -the maxim-, DEATH NOTE), NANA is directed by Morio Asaka (Chihayafuru, MY Love STORY!!, Cardcaptor Sakura) with series composition by Tomoko Konparu (Blue Spring Ride, Sunday Without God, Glass Mask) and music by Tomoki Hasegawa (Mysterious Girlfriend X, D.N.Angel, Zan Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei). The series stars Romi Park (Land of the Lustrous, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Shaman King) as punk-rocker Nana Osaki and KAORI (Kaleido Star, Final Fantasy: Unlimited, Pokémon: Advanced Generation) as the cheerful Nana Komatsu.

Sentai is planning an HD version for release on digital outlets with an HD home video release to follow.

Sentai announced today that it acquired home video rights to the action thriller series HERO MASK, a Studio Pierrot (Tokyo Ghoul, Bleach) production, through a worldwide licensing arrangement (excluding Asia).

Detective James Blood, member of an elite police unit, pushes the edges of law enforcement to bring down the criminal threats and terrorist organizations plaguing a beautiful metropolitan city. When the murder of Crown Prosecutor Monica Campbell crosses his desk, Blood finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy involving LIVE, a two-faced corporate conglomerate with ties to the sordid underworld of human experimentation. With Sarah Sinclair — the only witness to Campbell’s death — at his side, Blood will have to face an army of mask-wearing superhumans to uncover the truth and stop LIVE before its plans can come to dark fruition…

HERO MASK stars Yasuyuki Kase (The Perfect Insider, 91 Days) as James Blood, Yuuko Kaida (The Promised Neverland, A Certain Scientific Railgun) as Sarah Sinclair, Kouki Uchiyama (Amagi Brilliant Park, Haikyuu!!) as Harry Creighton and Junpei Morita (Eureka Seven, Naruto: Shippuden) as Lennox Gallagher. Director Hiroyasu Aoki (assistant director Hunter x Hunter Movie 2: The Last Mission) provides series composition and the script.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentaifilmworks.com.

Coming April 2021

      Title:                 ELFEN LIED

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         350 min.

Street Date:      4/6/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $49.98

  SYNOPSIS:  Critics have described Elfen Lied as “weird,” (Anime Planet), “surprisingly sadistic,” (Gamers Edge), and “addictive”(Animesou).  No wonder, when you consider what makes this series hum!  Lucy,  a beautiful young mutant, is bred by the military to be the ultimate weapon. Now, with government killers on her trail, the disposition of a five year old, and a hair trigger for ultraviolence, Lucy and her young friends must unravel the dark secret of her legacy before it’s too late.

    Title:                 IRON GIRL: FINAL WARS

Published by:    Switchblade Pictures

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         90 min.

Street Date:      4/6/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $19.98

  SYNOPSIS:  Chris may have survived the Apocalypse, but there are still plenty of threats from the past lurking in the ruins of civilization… and now one of them is actively looking for her! At least, that’s how it seems when she encounters Joe, a member of the resistance who is trying to discover why the artificial intelligence known as JUDA has been sending out murderous cyborgs with a certain heroine as their target! Even more unnerving is the fact that a mysterious young girl Sara has been having dreams calling to Chris for help… even though the two of them have never met! And if killer cyborgs alone aren’t terrifying enough, JUDA has doubled their lethality by equipping their resurrected warriors with the latest in sword technology in IRON GIRL: FINAL WARS! 

    Title:                 SUNDAY WITHOUT GOD

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         325 min.

Street Date:      4/6/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $59.98

  SYNOPSIS:  In a world abandoned by God, the bodies of the dead will continue to walk unless they are buried by one of the mysterious Gravekeepers. Ai, one of the last children in a world where no more can be born, becomes her small village’s Gravekeeper when her mother, the previous Gravekeeper, passes on… but the arrival of a pale gun-wielding stranger destroys her village and what little remained of Ai’s old existence. Is this seemingly immortal man possibly an important figure from Ai’s past? Uncertain of what else to do, Ai finds herself compelled to set forth on a mission to learn the secrets of this strange world without proper death, unravel the mysteries of her own past, and, hopefully, find a way to put the dead permanently to rest in SUNDAY WITHOUT GOD!

    Title:                 KIDS ON THE SLOPE

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         300 min.

Street Date:      4/13/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $59.98

  SYNOPSIS:  Kaoru Nishimi has spent his life on the move, always struggling to fit in to new schools and having to push on just when he’d started to set down roots. But when he comes to stay with his extended family in seaside Kyushu, things will be different. Kaoru wanders through high school, meeting friends who change his life forever, and discovers a new kind of music that affects him like nothing ever has before.Ritsuko, the girl whose family owns the music store, and Sentaro, the high school delinquent, both set in motion Kaoru’s fascination with this amazing thing called Jazz. Fashions may change and fads come and go, but when you put a couple of musically obsessed teens together and let them follow their muse, magic is sure to happen in THE KIDS ON THE SLOPE!

    Title:                 LAIDBACKERS

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         60 min.

Street Date:      4/13/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $29.98

  SYNOPSIS:  A funny thing happened to Kumi when she moved to Kyoto to take over her grandmother’s sweet shop. While she does find a store that sells cheap snacks, the supposedly empty adjoining residence is instead inhabited by three other girls: Harami, Mai, and K, plus a dog, who claim to be legendary heroes reincarnated into our world! However, that’s not as exciting as it sounds, as the Demon Lord they were seeking never showed up, so they’ve just been hanging out, waiting for something interesting to happen. That’s when ANOTHER cute young girl, Ran, shows up, and it seems that she WAS the Demon Lord, but botched up her own resurrection and now wants to make amends for the things that she did in the past. But in order to do that, she’s going to need a little demon-hunting help from the LAIDBACKERS!            

    Title:                 KAIJI

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         1250 min.

Street Date:      4/20/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $99.98

  SYNOPSIS:  Unemployed degenerate Kaiji Ito spent his time drinking, gambling, and racking up bills, and was sure that his life had hit rock bottom. Then that bottom fell out when Endo the Loan Shark arrived to inform him of a friend’s default on a loan that Kaiji foolishly co-signed, making Kaiji responsible for a soul crushing 3,000,000 yen! But there is one possible way out; if Kaiji goes to a secret gambling ship and plays successfully for one night, his debt could be absolved. It’s a trick, of course, but what choice does Kaiji have? Trapped into playing a series of increasingly ruthless contests that are hopelessly rigged against the players, Kaiji finds himself a pawn in a competition where the game pieces aren’t expected to survive… and the real players are all actively betting against KAIJI!

    Title:                 ASSASSINS PRIDE STEELBOOK

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         300 min.

Street Date:      4/27/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $99.98

  SYNOPSIS:  Against the savage monsters that lurk outside the glass walls of Flandore, the last remnants of humanity have only one defense: the mana magic wielded only by members of the Noble class. When Melida, heiress to House of Angel, fails to manifest her magic upon reaching majority, the half-vampire Kufa is sent with orders from her own Grandfather to resolve the issue… and if Melida cannot manifest mana, Kufa is to execute her for the crime of impure blood. But when Melida fails the test, Kufa can’t bring himself to kill the spirited young woman whose only fault was to have an adulterous mother. And so, instead, he commits the crime of giving Melida some of his own mana. Now, bound by magic and a deadly secret, the two must work together in order to stay alive in ASSASSINS PRIDE!

    Title:                 HERO MASK

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         600 min.

Street Date:      4/27/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $89.98

  SYNOPSIS:  Are a series of bombings and the murder of a high-ranking government official linked to the actions of the huge international pharmaceutical company LIVE? Ordered to investigate, Detective James Blood of the Special Service of Crime quickly discovers far more than just a conspiracy. There’s a new technology on the street: masks as thin as paper that completely alter the appearance of the wearer’s face while also granting amazing strength and agility… at the cost of years off their users’ lives! Together with assistant attorney/murder witness Sarah Sinclair, Blood must unearth the secrets behind the masks and their connection to LIVE’s mysterious founder. But the clock is ticking down and James and Sarah may already be living on borrowed time. Because when the ultimate disguise powers the ultimate human killing machines, death can be lurking anywhere in HERO=MASK!

      About Section23 Films:

Section23 Films provides home video marketing and distribution services for a variety of companies, including Sentai Filmworks, Switchblade Pictures, Maiden Japan, Kraken Releasing and AEsir Holdings.  With its special focus on genre entertainment, Section23 Films distributes some of the very best anime, martial arts, and horror titles on the market today.