Synopsis
Growing up can be painful - especially when you fall down a flight of stairs, suffer severe head trauma, and wake up with the mental capacity of a kindergartener. Ouch! Now 17-year-old Nanaka Kirisato has to grow up all over again. You see, Nanaka thinks she’s been through a magical transformation, and she just can’t wrap her head around the head trauma. But if she thought fitting in as an unpopular bookworm was hard, subtracting eleven years certainly won’t help. Throw in a mullet-headed boy bully, a karate-chopping girl bully, a bullheaded best friend, and a barrage of schoolyard battles, and Nanaka’s problems multiply exponentially! It all adds up to mayhem and mass hysteria in the first hysterical volume of Nanaka 6/17.

Review
Imagine yourself being seventeen years old one day and then after a freak accident, turning six the other. Of course, you most likely would not be able to remember that you have mentally gone back eleven years, but the thought of it is something that intrigues some people. I mean, you lose (forget) all that has happened in between those eleven years gap. Do you or can you imagine how painful it would be for those who care for you, that you forget? You probably cannot. And in Nanaka’s case, such grief was not necessary. The serious, Nanaka, who only cared about the future and exams did not have much friends… except a childhood one. And she did not have anybody else to care for her in her family other than a daughter obsessed father who depends on Nanaka’s childhood friend, Nenji.

“Raging Hair” Nenji Nagihara, as stated above is Nanaka’s only childhood friend of any significance shown at this point of the anime. The dude is like a version of Seiji ‘Maddog’ Sawamura from Midori Days. He fights not because he picks them, but because people just want to spar with him… on a daily routine. And on one rainy day as Nenji beats his opponents to a pulp, Nanaka questions if he would ever stop fighting, and if he would ever grow up for a change. Oh boy. What a turn of events eh? After one killer line from Nenji to Nanaka, Nanaka runs off on her own, only to wake up eleven years younger in her mind.

Is it a bad thing or a good thing? That was a thought that has gone through Nenji’s head. Thinking about it. Nanaka who was too mature for her age turns immature, and the usually immature Nenji who would punch first, talk never, now has to learn a bit of responsibility by taking care of the six year old Nanaka, who also thinks that she has grown physically because of some magic spell. Things seem fine at the moment right? You are following all this right? Now let us get down a little further. Add these elements to the story. Jealous classmates, a love rival and the fact that this whole debacle has to be kept secret. How do you keep a six year old from not acting like one? Answer. You cannot. And Nenji learns that when the school becomes suspicious of them going out, as Nanaka is always with Nenji and vice versa. Sigh… I sure feel for him.

Anyways, Nanaka 6/17 is a loose title. It does not require you to put your thinking caps on in order to comprehend the plot. Its simplicity is what really appealed to me. Sure you like the good animation, the nice soundtrack and a dose of interest factor in it. But I believe that actually understanding the whole situation with those added features is better than being lost with those same added features. This title certainly delivers when it comes to that department. It is also a joy to watch this show after Nanaka’s accident as cruel as that may sound. Why? Because the mature seventeen year old Nanaka is one boring bookworm :). I know, she will recover from amnesia and turn back to Nanaka 17, but I can only hope that there are a lot of cool and fun things that happen as we deal with Nanaka 6 hehe.

The Breakdown
Nanaka 6/17 feels like a Midori Days like title. The concepts are very similar. One guy fighting character, one female character and one love rival. Midori was a shy serious girl before she became Seiji’s right hand… the same happens to Nanaka when she turns six. So it is easy to say that if you enjoyed a title like Midori Days, you will most definitely enjoy Nanaka 6/17.