Also known as, my dorkiness grows with each day. This is not one of my...more organized (or well-edited) metas, especially since I have a much bigger one on the way (compare/contrast of the subtext in House, Buffy, Nip/Tuck, and Torchwood, woohoo!) and I'm suffering massive shock from Torchwood S2 possibly being good.

Anyway.



Yes. I found a connection between House, MD and Ai Yazawa's Nana (fantastic comic; read it if you can). Being an obsessive House/Wilson fangirl, I'm always mentally comparing their relationship to pairings in other stories, but Nana and Hachi are an eerily good reflection, and they're blatantly canon without actually being so. If that makes any sense.

When I first starting reading the series, Nana and Hachi actually reminded me vaguely of Katchoo and Francine of Strangers in Paradise - who were another pairing I entertained some comparisons to House and Wilson, as well (especially the Katchoo-Francine-David dynamic to House-Wilson-Cuddy). But volumes 7 and 8 really started beating me over the head with House/Wilson parallels.

House-Nana
Nana Osaki, like House, is clearly meant to be the "cool" character that (at least most of) the audience will love and adore, but is massively screwed up - each in their own ways. They both have shoddy relationships with their parents (Nana's mother up and abandoning her), have no siblings, and are musicians (both play guitar).

House had Stacy; Nana had Ren. Five years after House and Stacy broke up, they both were still way into each other and almost get back together, but House sends Stacy away. Nana and Ren are way into each other two years after breaking up, and they actually get back together; however, Nana isn't entirely happy about that.

Hachi-Wilson
Hachi, Nana Komatsu, has a track record with men as bad as Wilson's with women. They both go through SO's like water – Wilson sprinted through three marriages with an affair or so thrown in, and Hachi has gone through three boyfriends in the course of six months. They both also have two siblings of the same sex. They both love to cook, too – and they're good at it.

Hachi's relationship with Shoji reminds me of what's implied about Wilson's relationship with his wives, in some ways – the difference being that Hachi is the needy one, rather than the support. Shoji even cheats on her on the end, but has a lot of guilt. Junko points out that Hachi only seems to think about herself in relationships, while Wilson seems to only think about House.

House/Wilson vs Nana/Hachi
Nana and Hachi are extremely close friends of the same sex, just like House and Wilson (no shit!). There are blatant romantic overtones in Nana: Nana and Hachi both reference their feelings to the other as being “in love” or “first love” in the narration. While they're not as obvious on House, the subtext is getting less...subtextual with each season.

There's actually a scene in Vol.8 that made me think of a scene from “Housetraining” (obviously paraphased. A lot.)

Nana: Hachiko's not enough for a man like you?
Nobu: Au contraire...
Nana: What!? Is she hot in the sack!? (How!?)

Bonnie: WILSON'S GREAT IN BED LOL.
House: ..............
Bonnie: Four burners.
House: Whut?

Hachi tries to hide her relationship with Takumi from Nana. Wilson tries to hide his relationship with Grace from House. Both fail miserably.

Hachi goes into a raging jealousy when Nana talks to Misato (Nana's personal fangirl), pretty much. Every. Single. Time. In Volume 7, she actually becomes so upset and runs off to have sex Takumi after this happens. Wilson gives Robin a call, conveniently when House is out of town, and also seems a bit jealous when Crandall shows up. However, despite fits of jealousy, Hachi tries to play matchmaker for Nana with good intentions – when she thinks Nana's into Yasu, Hachi let's go of her crush on him and tries to push Nana towards him; when she finds out about Ren, Hachi invites Nana to the Trapnest concert to see him (which leads to Nana and Ren getting back together).

Nana manipulates Nobu and Hachi into a relationship, and explicitly tells Nobu that she used him so she can “keep” Hachi. Nana actually becomes upset to the point of tears when Hachi goes back to Takumi, throwing a wrench in her plans. Sounds eerily like House, really: he hasn't manipulated Wilson into any relationships (yet?), but does manipulate them by running women off or monopolizing Wilson's time. House also seems to think of Wilson (and Cuddy) as "his," much like Nana thinks of Hachi as "hers."

For the Lulz
Yasu is so the Cuddy of Nana (but, you know, cooler). Blast calls Nana the leader, but Yasu is the one who pretty much runs everything. And he apparently has the hots for Nana, and he definitely has a special place in Nana's heart. (That pairing would be made of sex. Cough.) And Hachi even had a crush on him (the Nana equivalent of Wilson-Cuddy dates?). It's too perfect.

Quotes
Just a few quotes that jumped out at me...

"I didn't want to make you all mine. I just wanted you to need me, Nana." (Vol.7)
Hachi (Wilson) wants to be needed by Nana (House)?

"I didn't really understand myself...why I wanted Hachi so much..." (Vol.8)
I just think the repeated, ambiguous use of "want" is interesting.

Narration (Nana): I guess you don't know that everything you do blows me away. I feel like a teenage boy falling in love for the first time. I can't fight this feeling anymore. I think I'm going to burst.
Ren: So you want to do Hachiko?
Nana: That's not what I mean! All you ever think about is sex!
Ren: Well, that's all teenage boys think about, by the way.
Nana: I'm fighting it. But it's not sexual desire.
Coupled with Nana's "I don't do girls!" in a much earlier volume. I could write something just on this. Even if one doesn't see any type of sexual or romantic feelings between House and Wilson, I do think that, not only is sexuality fluid, but emotional connection, intimacy, and sexual attraction all can blur together. 'Cause the world likes to be complicated like that.

DISCUSS? (Even if you've never read Nana; feel free to go on a tangent.)