Banana no Nana

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-Review edit due to cancellation.-

It was awesome. Could have picked up such dirty amounts of money it is almost an embarrassment. It could have been a hit.

Alas... it should have been one.

The premise involves freakin' bananas and a girl who can wield them without making it sexual. What the fuck more could you possibly ask for? It is definitely interesting with its strange premise. It is wonderfully cliched (and I mean positively), and I dare to say it is much like One Piece in quite a few ways, with not annoying but fine ecchi and many cute chicks. Tthere are strong themes of friendship, loyalty ... and courage, there is a big adventure ahead, and Nana is even gathering a crew who happens to have some sad past behind them.
It is positively addicting and so original it's hard to resist.

Characters are somewhat typical, and yet they manage to offer a fresh breath of conversation and developments that rely on logic rather than unnecessary drama.

Enjoyable adventuring!

Cuteness abound!

Weird ass abilities!

Oh but yeah then it got cancelled.

Fuck everything.

This should be my favorite manga of all time. It features a pair of badass female protagonists (a personal favorite character type of mine) and keeps you guessing whether or not Nana is actually as dumb as she seems. Ringo is an enjoyable straight (wo)man to Nana's weirdness, and I found them super enjoyable. The artwork and setting are both fantastic, and it had the makings of becoming a One Piece tailor-made for people who, like me, can't get into One Piece for one reason or another.

Then it ended.

The ending ruined the whole experience for me. It was rushed, went nowhere, left plot ... threads hanging, and destroyed what should've been a fun, quirky, and cute series.

Again, I liked almost everything else. Nana and Ringo in particular were excellent characters, and Hoshi was shaping up to be a fun addition. The villains had cool powers, the world struck me as a sort of ecchi One Piece scenario, and everything about it was poised to succeed.

Overall, I can't hate on this series too much. I'm glad I read it, and Nana has gone on to be one of my favorite characters ever. But... I can't in good conscious rate it above a 5 with how it ended.