Nana, Honey and Clover Anime Available Free on iTunes

It's been a while in the making, but the anime versions of Nana and Honey and Clover are now available to U.S. viewers exclusively through iTunes.

Just to make it extra enticing, the first episodes of both series are available for free download between now and August 31, 2009. Each episode of Nana or Honey and Clover costs $1.99, or get the whole first season of Nana plus the bonus "episode 11.5" or the whole first season of Honey and Clover plus bonus "episode L" for $19.99. These bonus episodes aren't available if you only buy the episodes one singly. You can visit the iTunes Honey and Clover shop at www.itunes.com/tv/honeyandclover. or the iTunes Nana shop at www.itunes.com/tv/nana to download and watch now, or to get more details.

If you're more inclined to buy the DVD boxed sets of either series, those are on the way too. The first DVD boxed set of Nana will be out on September 8, 2009. The Honey and Clover anime DVD boxed set will follow on Septmber 22, 2009. Both sets are listed at $59.98.

To commemorate the occasion, VIZ Media recently launched two new websites for all things Nana at nana.viz.com and honeyandclover.viz.com for your Honey and Clover fix. Right now, you check out trailers of the anime and see profiles of the characters. Eventually, you'll be able to download free goodies like screensavers and other as-yet-undetermined extras.

If you've a shojo manga fan and never read Honey and Clover by Chica Umino or Nana by Ai Yazawa, you're definitely missing out. Honey and Clover follows the adventures of several art college students who try to balance creating their next masterpiece, figuring out what to do with their lives and getting a handle on their love lives. And because they're starving art students, they also spenda fair amount of time wondering where they'll get their next meal.

Nana is one of the most popular shojo manga series in Japan, mostly due to its addictive storyline that mixes romance and drama with rock and roll glamour and fashion. It follows the adventures of two very different girls named Nana. Nana K. is a gal from a small town who wants nothing more than to be in love. Nana O. is a rock diva who has moved to Tokyo to find fame and acclaim as the lead singer of her band, the Black Stones. Although each girl is very different, they eventually become fast friends whose fates are interwined in unexpected ways.

Find out more about each series at nana.viz.com and honeyandclover.viz.com.

Image credits: © Yazawa Manga Seisakusho / Shueisha, © NTV/VAP/Shueisha/Madhouse, © 2005 CHICA UMINO/SHUEISHA, Honey and Clover committee