EVENT PROGRAM

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WHAT IS 707?

"707" is the commemoration of Ai Yazawa's famed series, NANA; it is the Philippine NANA Day. It is the Philippines ' contribution to a worldwide celebration of NANA with live performances of the brightest young Japanese rock inspired bands. It will be a congregation of NANA fans as well as fans of great music, fabulous fashion, riveting manga and anime.

707 will be held on July 7, 2007, at exactly 7:07 p.m. As "NANA" is the Japanese word for the number "seven" it has become a prominent element in the series, and an important number for all the fans celebrating their love for it. The venue information is listed on the above right.

Aside from live performances, a number of activities will be held simultaneously along side the great music. Clips of NANA the animated series and movies will be shown during band breaks, as well as fan videos entered for the competition. Cosplayers will be competing and strutting their NANA inspired garb during the performances as attendees vote for the best female, male and group ensemble. In a designated area, these cosplayers may have their pictures taken for the International NANA cosplay competition. Merchandise will also be sold in particular booths set up in the venue.

WHAT IS NANA?

NANA is a story of friendship, relationships, maturity, and music. Most of all, it is a story about putting meaning into one's life; how every little thing can mean so much and how the biggest things can end up to be those you rather would not have.

Nana Oosaki travels to Tokyo to re-invent her punk band, Black Stones (Blast), and penetrate the main stream music industry; and to compete with TrapNest, whose lead guitarist is Black Stone's former bassist and Nana Oosaki's ex-boyfriend.

Nana Komatsu travels to Tokyo to re-invent herself. She tries to shed her childlike and naïve personality to be more independent and to be with her boyfriend.

The two women meet by chance in a train to Tokyo where they try to live their own lives but were destined by fate to meet each other again as they try to rent the same apartment. They live together as good friends and share their dreams, hopes and happiness, as well as their saddest moments.

Nana is heavily influenced by western culture. The Sex Pistols were cited a number times in story itself, while the character Ren Honjo was modeled after Sid Vicious as a bassist, his style, even his chain and padlock necklace as well as his relationship with Nancy. Top fashion designer Vivienne Westwood was also cited throughout the story; her designer clothes used as Nana Oosaki's outfit and her trademark logo used in the art in different ways.

Nana, in turn, has become a big influence to so many people today, breaking barriers like age, race and culture.

NANA is an ongoing manga serialized in Cookie ( Japan ) and Shojo Beat ( North America ). Its first twelve compiled volumes have sold over 22 million copies worldwide. This manga series has been adapted into an ongoing anime by Madhouse Studios in NTV ( Japan ) and in MTV Italia ( Italy ). It also has two successful live action movies featuring multi-awarded singer Mika Nakashima in her first starring role as Nana Oosaki.

These incarnations of the manga series has featured a number of artists as singing voices of Nana Oosaki and Reira Serizawa of Trapnest. Mika Nakashima had her first number one spot in the Oricon chart with the first movie's theme song, Glamorous Sky (composed by HYDE of Larc~en~Ciel). Yuna Ito was launched as Reira Serizawa in the first movie; giving her a huge breakthrough as one of the few new artists who stayed on the top of the Oricon charts with their first single. Anna Tsuchiya (Nana Oosaki) and Olivia Lufkin (Reira Serizawa) had their solo careers catapulted by lending their singing voices to the characters of NANA and singing the theme songs for the anime.

Aside from the original soundtracks, the series also launched a couple of tribute albums with songs composed and performed by top bands in and out of Japan . "Nana's Song is My Song" was released on November 6, 2003 featuring artists such as Savage Genius , Chihiro Izu and RK Rosebud . Another tribute album, " LOVE for NANA ~Only 1 Tribute~ ", was also released on March 16, 2005. This time, the artists composed and sang songs inspired by the band of their choice, Black Stones versus TrapNest. This album featured more prestigious artists such as Do As Infinity , Tommy Heavenly 6 , Tetsu69 , Skye Sweetnam , Sex Machineguns and even Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols.

WHO IS AI YAZAWA?

Ai Yazawa is a successful comic book creator with 15 years of experience and a handful of hit series in her belt. Her works are well known as trendsetters in both the fashion and music industry.

Other than NANA, her works include hit series Ballad Made Soba ni Ite (1989), Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai ("I'm Not An Angel"; 1992-92), and Gokinjo Monogatari (1995-98). Kagen No Tsuki ("Last Quarter"; 1998-99) was also made into a successful movie starring Kill Bill's Chiaki Kuriyama (Gogo Yubari) and popular J-rock artist HYDE (former Larc~en~Ciel frontman). The fashion centered manga and anime series, Paradise Kiss (2000-03), is currently being shown in Animax Asia.

Yazawa-sensei's latest project was designing characters for the manga series "Princess Ai," penned by Courtney Love, loosely based on the punk icon's own life.