Nana Characters

The lead singer of the punk band Black Stones, who arrives in Tokyo at 20 determined to make it in music on her own terms. Her mother left when she was four and her grandmother raised her; at school she was a loner until Nobu introduced her to punk. She dresses in punk and Vivienne Westwood and has a lotus tattoo that she insists is a "Ren flower", after her ex-boyfriend. Proud and sharp-tongued, she is fiercely protective of Hachi, and afraid of losing her.

A cheerful, impulsive 20-year-old from a large, happy family, who follows her boyfriend Shoji to Tokyo and ends up sharing room 707 with Nana Osaki. Nana nicknames her Hachi, after the faithful dog Hachikō, and she narrates the story. She falls in love easily, drifts from job to job, and blames her bad luck on "the demon lord". After Shoji leaves her she is torn between Nobu and Trapnest's Takumi; when she finds she is pregnant she chooses Takumi and moves out of 707.

Trapnest's guitarist and Nana Osaki's first love. He grew up in an orphanage alongside Yasu and was Black Stones' original bassist, until he left for Tokyo to join Trapnest; Nana refused to follow him, and they split. He still wears the Sid Vicious-style padlock necklace she locked around his neck, and when Hachi takes Nana to a Trapnest concert in her hometown, the two get back together. Laid-back on the surface and far more sensitive underneath, he proposes to Nana near the end of the anime.

Black Stones' guitarist and Nana's best friend since high school. His family runs a traditional inn and expects him to inherit it; instead he runs away to Tokyo to restart the band, and they disown him. Warm, romantic and easy to like, he also writes songs for the band. He falls for Hachi, and the two date briefly before she chooses Takumi.

Black Stones' bassist, a 15-year-old who claims to be 18 when he answers the band's flyer. Nana sees through the lie and takes him anyway, because his playing reminds her of Ren's; Ren happens to be Shin's favourite bassist. Born and raised in Sweden, he is new to Japanese ways but mature beyond his years, a confidant to Nobu and someone who looks on Hachi almost as a mother. He grows close to Trapnest's singer, Reira, in secret.

Black Stones' drummer and unofficial leader: a shaven-headed trainee lawyer in dark glasses who handles the band's business and money. He grew up in the same orphanage as Ren, went to junior high with Takumi and dated Reira for two years in high school. Calm and dependable, he is the one everyone calls in a crisis, Nana above all. When the band signs with Gaia Records, he gives up his legal apprenticeship to stay with them.

Trapnest's leader and bassist, ambitious, controlling and a workaholic, with a reputation as a womaniser. Hachi idolises him long before she meets him, which happens when he turns up at a mahjong night in room 707. He puts Trapnest, and Reira as its voice, ahead of almost everything else. When Hachi becomes pregnant he offers to raise the child as his own and suggests they marry, and she moves with him into a penthouse in Shirokane.

Trapnest's singer and lyricist, half-American and half-Japanese, and the band's public face. She has been in love with Takumi since they were children, but he treats her as his muse rather than his partner. She dated Yasu for two years in high school and, years later, grows close to Black Stones' young bassist, Shin, in secret. In the anime her singing voice belongs to Olivia Lufkin.

Trapnest's drummer, a sociable, sharp-tongued blond who loves being the centre of attention. Takumi got him into music in middle school and later recruited him into Trapnest. Often the last to be told anything, he first meets Hachi only after she has moved in with Takumi, and the two become friends. In the third Junko's Room recap he joins Junko and her friends, who point out that he has no real connection to the main characters.

Hachi's best friend from her hometown: level-headed, blunt and serious about art. She and her boyfriend Kyosuke study at an art college in Tokyo and live together, and they are usually the first people Hachi runs to for advice. Junko tends to tell her what she needs to hear rather than what she wants to hear. She hosts the anime's three Junko's Room recaps, and in the manga a bonus comic of the same name casts her as a bar owner.

Hachi's boyfriend at the start of the story, an art student who works as a waiter. When he passes his university entrance exams in Tokyo, Hachi moves there to be near him. As she throws herself into life at room 707, he grows close to Sachiko, a co-worker, and he leaves Hachi for her in episode 14. They meet again by chance at Jackson Hole near the end of the anime and agree that they both have to move on.

A devoted Black Stones fan from Nana's hometown, who travels to Tokyo for the band's first show there and wins over a lukewarm crowd. Nana adores her, which makes Hachi jealous at first. Yasu realises that "Misato Uehara" is not her real name: in the manga she turns out to be Mai Tsuzuki, and she goes on to work for the band behind the scenes.