Facts Archive >> NANA's Strawberry Glasses

Komatsu Nana & Oosaki Nana's Strawberry Glasses

Strawberry Glasses
The "Hidden" Importance
Written by Ai Ai

Noticed the hype that’s been going around about buying “authentic” NANA strawberry glasses? What’s the story behind those? It’s probably just crazy obssessive fans wanting to get their hands on any NANA memorabilia there is, right? I’ve got to disagree with those thinking that for this one. It was brilliant on Ai Yazawa’s part to make a whole metaphor out of two strawberry patterned glasses.

Well, the strawberry glasses first make their debut in Chapter 3 of Volume 2. Hachi (then known as Komatsu Nana), follows (Ōosaki) Nana into the 100-Yen Store (Hachi initially wanted to go into a nicer store but Nana insisted in entering or else they split up to do the shopping) where Hachi lays her eyes on these adorable strawberry patterned glasses. Hachi then asks Nana for approval and at first, Nana ridicules the idea of buying strawberry patterned glasses.

Hachi and Strawberry Glasses in "NANA" Anime.

She tells Hachi to buy them if she wanted to but Hachi only wanted to buy glasses that both of them would like and so, Nana tells her that she does like *edible* strawberries and Hachi happily puts a pair into the shopping basket. It is at this point, after the strawberry glass incident, that Nana compares Hachi to a dog and gives her the nickname “Hachi” after the famous “Hachiko.”

Ok…so the glasses INDIRECTLY led to Hachi’s nickname... So what...? That’s not the end of the story!!! They make a very important appearance later on in the story. Anyway, throughout the story, they make their appearances…whether it’s just Nana and Hachi in Room 707, or all the members of Blast having a party there, the strawberry glasses are what Nana and Hachi usually drink out of. Then, Ai Yazawa drops the bombshell on us... Hachi is pregnant, probably with Takumi’s child, and Takumi has convinced her to move out of Room 707 to live with him since Room 707 is “not the best place for a pregnant woman to live in,” as Takumi puts it. This is just as much of a bombshell to us as it is to Nana. She feels so betrayed that Hachi would put Takumi over her and felt that Hachi lied about being deeply in love with Nobu. Their relationship was falling apart before Nana’s eyes (Hachi didn’t even tell Nana about the pregnancy... This was all announced by Takumi) and now Hachi was moving out and telling her to find a new roommate. Nana was so affected that she accidentally knocked over one of the strawberry glasses, which rolled off the table and smashed onto the floor into pieces.

Strawberry Glasses shattered in "NANA 2."

Here, Ai Yazawa reveals to us through Nana’s memories that Hachi had refused to buy spare glasses because she wanted this pair of strawberry glasses to be special: Irreplaceable. Hachi had been mightily afraid of damaging the glasses but Nana felt that the glasses would lose their purpose left sitting on the shelf. This pair of glasses suddenly came to symbolize Nana and Hachi and their friendship. A distraught Nana, too heartbroken in seeing a pair separated, felt that the remaining glass would feel lonely and out of place. With this, she smashed the remaining glass so that the two glasses could be together in a pile of shattered debris. And when Hachi came out of her room and saw the shattered strawberry glasses, she cried…because it signified a negative change in the friendship between Nana and herself. This was a pretty dark moment in the manga.

Afterwards, in Volume 10, Nana does try to rekindle their much treasured friendship by buying replacement glasses at the 100-Yen Store, and taking the initiative to visit Hachi at her new apartment by getting the address from Ren. However, Takumi, being the conniving manipulative jerk that he is (that’s another story) as well as other circumstances, prevents Nana from successfully seeing Hachi and delivering the new strawberry glasses to her. I’m not sure where the story progresses from here as I have been unable to get my hands on complete and consecutive chapters of the manga, but I do believe that Nana might have finally given the new glasses to Hachi sometime after as they start talking to one another again. ^_^

So, that’s the really unique “hidden” importance of the strawberry glasses. I feel that although they’re just glasses, they represent one of the most important things in the manga... Which is Nana and Hachi’s special bond. Please pay attention to any new sightings of the famous strawberry glasses in future volumes...!