Two of my favourite manga are Paradise Love and Nana, stories by the amazing Yazawa Ai-san. Drawn in her distinctive Gothic Lolita style, they are both tales about love, friendship and dreams.
Paradise Kiss is heaven for the fashion lover. The story follows an ordinary girl who becomes muse and model to an eccentric group of college students as they set up their own clothing label. If Yazawa-san was a designer...!
Nana is a tale of two young women with the same name who meet on a train to Tokyo. They become best friends and go through the trials of following their dreams in the big city together.
As one of the girls is a member of an up and coming band, there's plenty of music and passion, and some Vivienne Westwood thrown in for good measure too.
Nana has spawned an anime series and live action movies, with music written for them by big name J-rock and J-pop singers, some in character no less!
Anna Tsuchiya as Nana Oosaki of Blast (L) and Olivia Lufkin as Reira of Trapnest (R)
Sadly, the story remains unfinished as Yazawa-san has been ill and Nana is on hold...
Both the Paradise Kiss and Nana manga series are available in English, licensed by Tokyopop and Viz Media respectively.
Manga images © Yazawa Ai
Beautiful illustrations, so lovely to have met you through your Blog :) Happy New Year! Catherine x
ReplyDeleteSo lovely to have met you too! =D
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