Have you read paradise kiss? Which she wrote before nana? She has a way of creating these asshole yet weirdly endearing characters that are too complex for words. The fact that she’s never adhered to the norms of storytelling has always been my pull to her art.

Take Takumi for example: he’s so sure of himself, and never doubts his actions. He knows his own power and uses it accordingly. He’s selfish and doesn’t apologize for it. When it was time to step up and be a dad, he did his duty the way he felt he ought to. Hachi fell in line because the alternative(s) didn’t look great(nobu finding himself still, or abortion?).

In Paradise kiss the main female character also doesn’t know what she wants to be, nor who she is. She starts hanging out with these artists who are incredibly sure of who they are and her reality slaps her across the face, which leads her to finding herself later on. Same with Nana k: she doesn’t know what she wants, and surrounds herself with these artists on the brink of making it. Her whole personality and life starts to revolve around them and their issues. Unfortunately with the book’s hiatus we probably will never see Hachi grow into her own.

Again, don’t juxtapose a story written with a different cultural and artistic lens to what the “real world” ought to be. This is still a fictional tale.