I don’t think any piece of media that I’ve consumed recently has affected me this much, and Nana will undoubtedly dictate my personality for at least the next 5 years…There wasn’t a single moment while watching where I wasn’t completely invested in the story, and that’s something that feels extremely rare to me now as I grind through seasonals and such. I went into it not expecting much, but this series was so much more than I could’ve ever imagined.

When I think of drama, this series will without a doubt be my golden standard. The amount of twists and conflicts were astounding, and I really couldn’t guess which way the story would go as I was watching. It was truly the purest definition of an emotional roller coaster, and not a single moment was dull. Every character had their unique motives so clearly laid out, yet the way that they clashed with each other still seemed surprising every time there was confrontation. Each character truly felt like someone that could exist in the real world, and I feel like that’s something that’s extremely rare nowadays as tropes and unrealistic situations run rampant in shows.

Hachi got on my nerves a lot of times, but that’s only a true show of how well written she is as a character. No corny sequences of how she suddenly bettered herself out of the blue, but instead, an extreme amount of scenarios where her character flaws are made apparent, only worsening as she gives into them more and more throughout the series. No character in a series has made me truly consider what love is really like as much as Hachi. I’m far from a love expert, and I’m lucky enough to not have any scarring encounters like her, but the situations that she kept finding herself getting caught up in while feeling powerless about being able to better herself as a person is something that hit me especially hard. No matter how much you want to be a better person, it’s never as easy as just telling yourself that you’ll do better tomorrow—a truly realistic rendition of maturing.

Nana Osaki has definitely made it into the top 5 of all time for me, if not higher. In a similar yet starkly different style than Hachi, Nana’s form of love is one of uneasiness and guilt instead of Hachi’s impulsiveness. Regarding Ren, she knows she loves him, yet their uninvolved relationship leads her to really question if she loves him at all or if she has simply relied on him to live for too long and is now unable to break off. Regarding her love for Hachi, it takes the form of manipulation in order to get what she really wants, which is a naïve fairy tale in essence. Nostalgia is a strong feeling, and Nana holds onto it to an extreme after Hachi breaks off from the group. She uses any means possible to return to the calm life they had, and her desperation only worsens as time passes and she realizes that it’s impossible—a truly realistic rendition of possessiveness.

I don’t think I will forget this series for the rest of my life, and I’m incredibly surprised at just how much it has affected me after watching it. Thank you to everyone that recommended it, and here’s to everyone I met along the way these past 4 months.

“Hey Hachi…No matter how much or how often people hurt each other, loving someone is never a waste.“