Nanaka 6/17



''Majikaru, Domikaru ! Transform me into an adult !''

Nanaka is a 17-year-old high-school student who's completely obsessed with preparing her college exams, to the point of being looked down upon by her classmates. She's extremely frustrated by her childhood friend Nenji, an immature punk who keeps getting into fights with the local bullies. On a fateful day, Nenji decides he's had enough with Nanaka's nagging, and tells her to sod off.

She doesn't take the news well.

After Fainting dramatically, she hits her head violently on the pavement and has to be taken to the hospital. There, it appears that she has complete amnesia from age 6 and upwards, ending up with the personality she had when she was 6. There's no telling when she will be back to normal, if ever. Nanaka's father urges Nenji to help her recover, and to protect her in the meantime. Nenji manages to cook up an acceptable explanation to Nanaka : they both "magically" grew up from 6 to 17, which is a game they used to play at that age in imitation of her favorite Anime, Magical Domiko. But they still have to grow up mentally.

Hilarity Ensues when she has to go back to school. Most of her classmates misinterpret her childish behaviour as flirtiness and hate her even more. Nenji has great trouble trying to prevent her from perpetually humiliating herself. But the most surprising part is that, however tiresome she can sometimes be, the 6-year-old Nanaka is sweet, cheerful, earnest and as a whole much more loveable than her 17-year-old self. One wonders what the heck went wrong with her growing up. Should Nenji really try to bring her back to normal ?

Nanaka 6/17 is a fun light-hearted (if sometimes bittersweet) comedy about growing up and how much one should change between childhood and adulthood. There's no easy answer though, and it does not end with a forced Happy Ending.

This story was originally published as a 12-volume Manga from 2000 to 2003 before being adapted as a Thirteen Episode Anime in 2003. All thirteen episodes of the English dub are available on YouTube, though the last five episodes are mislabeled.

This show provides examples of:
 * Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male: Poor Arashiyima, and sometimes Nenji.
 * Adults Are Useless: Nanaka's dad is nice, but entirely clueless.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: averted for Nenji : Nanaka is fed up by his attitude, and Amemiya only starts being interested in him when the plot has him become gentler. But inverted with Nanaka, who suddenly becomes popular with boys because of her "bold" and "shameless" behaviour.
 * Amemiya is an interesting case : she was actually interested in Nenji ever since in her childhood when he defended her from bad kids, but when meeting him again in High School, she was frightened by him as he has become a violent Delinquent. And then, as said above, her interest kicked back in when he started to mellow out.
 * Alpha Bitch: Amemiya starts as this before mellowing out; Chie Kazamatsuri later on.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love:  to , under the rain to boot, in Volume 8, Chapter 64 of the manga ;.
 * Anime Hair: Nenji's wild haircut is lampshaded heavily.
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Amemiya gives one to Nenji in episode 8 when she walks in on Nanaka forcefully trying to give him a sponge bath.
 * Baker's Dozen: Takes place between episodes 8 and 9; doubles as a Day in The Limelight.
 * Barehanded Blade Block: Nenji fails pulling it off in episode 3 due to Nanaka's interference.
 * Bittersweet Ending
 * Your Mileage May Vary in the manga version's case : . Looks more like a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and a Happy Ending here.
 * Butt Monkey: Arashiyima to his sister, Nanaka's dad to Nanaka.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Yoshida makes minor appearances in episodes 6 and 7 before before his actual introduction in episode 8.
 * The Chew Toy: Arashiyima. The poor guy gets effortlessly beaten up by Nenji repeatedly, his little sister keeps hitting him with a stick, and more generally he suffers complete humiliation every time he appears on screen.
 * Amemiya too, as her repeated attempts at getting Nenji's favours get systematically foiled, and, in the manga's New Year chapter, she even get a "Daikyou" ("Worst Luck") mikuji which advises her to give up on unrequited love..
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Nanaka isn't too fond of Kuriko, especially after she spends too much time with Nenji in episode 5. The feeling is mutual with Kuriko towards Nanaka.
 * Color Failure: After Nanaka has a fight with Nenji, she angrily brushes off her dad's attempt to spend more time with her. It affects him so much that he stays in that same exact position till the end of the episode.
 * Happens to Nenji in episode 8 while sick.
 * Coming of Age Story: Nenji ; also, this is the manga's Myth Arc regarding Nanaka.
 * Cranial Eruption Arashiyima.
 * Day in The Limelight: The Bonus Episode is centered around a day in the life of Amemiya rather than on Nanaka or Nenji.
 * Delinquents: Nenji and Arashiyama.
 * Disappeared Dad: Nenji lost his father when he was 8. It's a plot point at least two times in the manga : it's his Freudian Excuse for becoming a violent Deliquent, and it helps him.
 * Dojikko: 6-year-old Nanaka.
 * Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: 17 year old Nanaka has them on the school trip to Kyoto.
 * Eighties Hair: Arashiyima's mullet is mocked by Nenji, of all people.
 * Episode On a Plane Manga-only, volume 8, chapter 70 : Nanaka goes to USA for a while to take her mind off things,.
 * Exact Eavesdropping
 * Eyes Always Shut: Nanaka's dad.
 * Failure Is the Only Option: Obviously, Nanaka can't go permanently back to normal before the last episode.
 * Forgot the Call: Nanaka.
 * Genki Girl: Nanaka as a 6 year old.
 * Girl Posse: All much worse than the actual Alpha Bitch.
 * Growing Up Sucks: Nanaka and Amemiya.
 * Heir to The Dojo: Arashiyima, who has no fighting skills and couldn't care less, to his sister's distress.
 * Hopeless Suitor: Amemiya probably feels this way through most of the series. Doesn't help that 17 year old Nanaka rubs it in with Nenji being the "most precious thing to her in the world." in one episode.
 * I Let You Win: Manga-only..
 * Imagine Spot: Amemiya has one of Nenji in episode 8.
 * Important Haircut:, near the end of the manga.
 * Innocent Innuendo: Nanaka.
 * It Got Worse: Poor Nenji in episode 8. He catches a cold, and Kuriko, Nanaka, and Amemiya all make it a point to take care of him. Hilarity Ensues as the first two girls make a mess of things as they continually try to one up each other, with Amemiya largely being caught in the middle.
 * I Will Wait for You: At the end of the manga, invoked by, who, in   thoughts, ask for.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Nenji, though he quickly loses the "jerk" part.
 * Kabuki Sounds: Whenever Satsuki Arashiyima talks, as part of the joke.
 * Kick the Dog: Nanaka, most notably in episode 7 when she
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia => Split Personality: Nanaka's mental condition, which started as the former, and evolved as the latter when the 17-year, aka the original, personality re-emerged ; and in the manga,.
 * Last Episode New Character: In the anime, Rinko "Orin" Yuudate makes only one short appearance near the very end of the final episode.
 * Lethal Chef: 6 year old Nanaka and Kuriko.
 * Lightning Glare: Kuriko and Nanaka.
 * Lover Tug of War: Happens to Nenji between Kuriko and Nanaka in episode 5 when they both want Nenji to go with them to the theme park.
 * Happens again in episode 8, this time with a sick Nenji in Color Failure mode.
 * Love Triangle: Turns into a Love Dodecahedron as the series progresses though.
 * Magical Girl: In the Show Within a Show Magical Domiko.
 * Meganekko: Nanaka.
 * Memento MacGuffin: Nenji's kindergarten badge for Amemiya, which she got in her childhood after Nenji lost it when he defended her from bad kids who picked her on.
 * Missing Mom: Nanaka's died just before she was 6.
 * Older Alter Ego: Magical Domiko is one of these series and Nanaka thinks she is subject to the trope (but stuck).
 * Otaku: Yoshida.
 * Overnight Age Up: Subverted. Nanaka believes this is what happened to Nenji, her dad and herself, but she just has amnesia.
 * Parental Abandonment: An important theme of the manga, as the loss of one of their parents is how Nanaka and Nenji ended so screwed up.
 * Pet the Dog: Amemiya, repeatedly)
 * Precocious Crush: Kuriko for Nenji.
 * Promotion to Parent: Nenji.
 * Rerun: Magical Domiko.
 * The Rival: Chemical Kemiko to Domiko in the Show Within a Show.
 * Rose-Haired Girl: Amemiya.
 * Running Gag: Arashiyima constantly getting beat on by his sister, who always says he's wide open to an attack, and then hits him on the head.
 * Show Within a Show: Magical Domiko.
 * Squeaky Eyes
 * Stalker With a Crush: Arashiyima, played for laughs.
 * Take a Third Option: When Kuriko and Nanaka force Nenji to take one of them to the Pop'N Land theme park in episode 5, he decides to take both of them, or else he won't go. Both girls reluctantly agree.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Nenji pretty much lays it out to Nanaka while back in her 17 year old state of mind on the school trip. She responds by giving him repeated slaps.
 * Time Compression Montage: The Magical Domiko play.
 * Token Mini-Moe: Kuriko.
 * Training Montage: Nanaka learning to play the piano.
 * Trauma Induced Amnesia: The premise of the series.
 * Verbal Tic: 6-year-old Nanaka -- "A-wa-wa!"
 * Unwanted Harem: Nenji's got at least 3 girls who want him, a 6 year old, a 17 year old who thinks she's 6 years old, and regular high school girl who's the sanest of the bunch.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: In the manga, . See the trope below
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: In the manga,  scores Nenji, even though it's implied it'll only be completely set in stone when.
 * We Want Our Jerk Back (Don't We?): Nanaka, who at 17 is very much a jerk, unlike 6-year-old Nanaka.
 * Who Is This Guy Again?: Yoshida falls victim to this.