As anyone who’s seen Batman Begins or Spiderman can attest, adapting a long-running comic for the silver screen is an art in itself. Done poorly, such films alienate devoted fans with the omission of favorite characters and glossing of seminal plotlines, or confuse newcomers with their in-jokes and choppy storytelling. Done well, however, comic book movies bring a fresh perspective to the material—adding shades of nuance to a principal character, perhaps, or fleshing out an element of the story that had previously been left to the imagination—while hooking a new audience. VIZ Pictures has begun licensing such manga-cum-movies, including adaptations of two popular titles from their Shojo Beat imprint: Aya Nakahara’s Love*Com and Ai Yazawa’s NANA. These two films make an instructive case study, as they illustrate the pitfalls and potentials of bridging the gap between page and screen.

Love*Com (Lovely Complex)

Distributed by Viz Pictures
Running time: 100 minutes

Love*Com is the weaker of the two adaptations. The premise remains intact: Risa, the tallest girl in the seventh grade, develops a crush on Otani, the shortest boy in her class. Though superficial opposites, the two are really kindred spirits, sharing an enthusiasm for Umibozu (a Japanese rap artist that their classmates detest), swapping good-natured insults, and bonding over memories of rejection for being too tall and too short, respectively.

The movie’s problems begin as soon as the story calls for obstacles to prevent Risa and Otani from making a love connection. The scriptwriter conjures two romantic rivals—Otani’s ex-girlfriend and Risa’s handsome homeroom teacher—from different volumes in the series’ run, but only succeeds in making the homeroom hottie an integral part of the story. Even then, Mr. “Mighty” Maitake’s arrival is a bolt from the blue, and is never satisfactorily explained; he’s simply inserted into the final act of the story so that he and Otani can compete for Risa’s affections—literally . (The two play a pick-up basketball game in front of the entire school.) The other major drawback to Love*Com is its superficial treatment of the principal characters. Though Aya Nakahara’s manga charts the ups and downs of Risa and Otani’s friendship in minute detail, the movie’s frantic pace never allows us to get to know the characters or understand why they’re drawn to each other; we simply see them walk through a variety of stock scenes—cultural festivals, school trips—without actually seeing the evolution of their feelings dramatized.

It’s a pity that the Love*Com script feels so hastily assembled, as the film has the potential to appeal to both long-time fans and newcomers. The button-cute leads have some chemistry, even if the script doesn’t give them much to do. And the script shows flashes of inspiration; a “director” surrogate periodically interrupts the proceedings to explain certain peculiar-to-manga conventions (most notably the nosebleed-as-sign-of-arousal), intoning this information over strains of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. These digressions occur just a few times, but add some much-needed humor to a generally lackluster film.

NANA

Distributed by Viz Pictures
Running time: 113 minutes

The NANA movie, on the other hand, is proof that one can adhere faithfully to the source material and still produce something fresh and original. The movie offers a somewhat streamlined account of the series’ first five volumes, beginning with the two Nanas’ fateful encounter on a Tokyo-bound train and ending with Trapnest’s first visit to the girls’ apartment. Most of the dramatic juice is supplied by Hachi’s relationship with the feckless art student Shoji, and by Nana O.’s relationship with Trapnest bassist Ren.

Though I’ve enjoyed the manga immensely, I always found Hachi’s relentless enthusiasm and boy-crazy antics rather irritating and couldn’t imagine why Nana O. didn’t feel the same way about her. As portrayed by Aoi Miyazaki, however, the character made more sense. Miyazaki does a superb job of showing us why Nana O. takes a shine to someone who seems too ditzy, too dependent, and too femme to hang with an up-and-coming punk act, revealing Hachi’s inherent sweetness and decency as well as her fragility, her immaturity, and her selfishness. Mika Nakashima, as Nana O., also turns in a solid performance, playing her character as a believable mixture of belligerence, determination, and vulnerability.

The other great advantage of the movie is its soundtrack. All of the rock-n-roll shoptalk and song lyrics seemed a little preposterous on the page; I had a hard time imaging why Trapnest or Black Stones commanded loyal followings. Seeing and hearing these acts in the film, however, transported me back to my college years, reminding me how passionately I felt about certain musicians, and how much their songs felt like an expression of my own identity. (Or, in the immortal words of Roberta Flack, “He was strumming my pain with his fingers/singing my words with his song.”) The film’s two lengthy concert scenes are highpoints of the film, offering us a window into both girls’ complicated emotional lives—their dreams, their disappointments, their improbably close relationship.

I had a few small bones to pick with the scriptwriters—what happened to Junko and Kyosuke?—but on the whole, I found NANA immensely entertaining. The true measure of the film’s appeal, however, is that my sister, who isn’t a manga maven, loved it too, and wanted to know if there was a sequel. Thank goodness the answer is yes—and VIZ Pictures will release NANA II in July.

A viewing tip: if you enjoyed NANA, you might want to rent Hula Girls, a heartwarming comedy that may remind you of The Full Monty (with no naked middle-aged British men, thankfully); Kamikaze Girls, an adaptation of Novala Takemoto’s bitingly funny novel; and Ping Pong, a manga-cum-movie based on a five-volume series by Taiyo “Tekkonkinkreet” Masamoto. All are available through VIZ Pictures.