Nana didn’t start out as a worldwide phenomenon. It began simply, as a series running in the manga magazine Cookie. But there was something about the series, which focuses on the friendship between two girls with the same name and what happens when they meet in Tokyo chasing their dreams, that resonated with readers. The characters, the relationships, the interactions and the art connected with people and become something special.

The first volume of Nana is really divided into two segments. The first segment looks at Nana Komatsu, a middle child in a happy family who has had a number of failed romances. The most recent of said romances was with a married man, and ends just before her high school graduation. She’s obsessed with the idea of a fantastical demon lord that brings bad luck and punishment, just starting art school and not looking for love. Instead, she wants to recover from her former ways and make her first male friends instead…

In a surprising twist, likely inspired by Disney’s Alice in Wonderland movie, Tokyopop has chosen to pick up Alice in the Country of Hearts. Alice in the Country of Hearts is the manga equivalent of Quinrose’s PC, PS2 and PSP game Alice no Heart no Kuni, which in turn is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. There’s still an Alice, and she still finds her way to wonderland, but the character she meets there and world is entirely different. (And quite violent!)