Bananya

Above a nondescript kitchen counter quietly hangs a bunch of ripe, yellow bananas. Suddenly, one of the slender fruits begins to shake, gently at first but slowly increasing in ferocity until it tears itself away from the rest. With a graceful landing, the long and curvy edible gradually rolls back its golden peels, revealing what lies beneath its firm covering to be something unexpected: a cat!

This mysterious feline-fruit hybrid is named Bananya. Carefree and gentle, the adorable creature dreams of one day becoming a luscious bananya bathed in chocolate. Together with his fellow bananya, this kitten cloaked in yellow passes its days without a care in the world, enjoying a rather calm and peaceful existence as it experiences what the world has to offer.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Bananya Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Tora Bananya Main

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Kuro Bananya Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Baby Bananya Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Kenaga Bananya Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Bananya-ko Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Oyaji Bananya Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Mike Bananya Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Sabatora Bananya Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Namaste Bananya Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Shimizu, Kanako Producer

Hasegawa, Kazuhiko Producer

Hayashi, Ikumi Producer

Yatate, Kyou Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 31, 2024

TheCompletionist

Recommended

Do you love cats. I certainly love cats. As a cat owner of two adorable kitties that mean the world to me - I've actually been fortunate enough to own as many 5 cats in my household between my wife and I so anytime I get to experience an anime that has kitty cats I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy it even if the kitty is living inside a banana.

Bananya is a 13 episode series in which every episode is only 3 minutes long that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It is a series that is mainly directed towards pre-schoolers ... but I assure you that if you love cats or if you love things that are obnoxiously cute you'll definitely get your enjoyment out of it.

You can't really expect the most in depth story especially when each episode is only 3 minutes long but the allure of this anime is you get to see Bananya and his friends get up to mischief in various ways. I guarantee by the end your going to have a favourite bananya character. Even though it's an anime directed towards a very young audience there are actually some pretty good laugh out moments throughout the entire anime. I do have a lot of fondness for the episode where Bananya gets to interact with a mouse, and where him and his friends get to interact with a balloon.

None of the Bananya characters actually talk, but each episode is explained by a narrator that gives a very detailed description of the mischief Bananya and the rest of his friends are up to in each episode. At the end of every episode the character gives us a quick and detailed description of each of Bananya's friends.

I assure you that each episode will make you smile ear to ear, and some will even give you pretty epic laugh out loud moments. It even has a really adorable ending song. The series is pretty much animated with adobe flash with very minimal effort. I don't necessarily think it's to the anime's detriment though. The main allure to this anime is that it's incredibly adorable and it can make you laugh.
I think one thing we can learn out of an anime like this is sometimes a minimal effort can be enjoyable if you focus on being funny and being adorable. Deep down it's a quick enjoyable watch that will be sure to cheer you up. It's a sure fire way to cure depression and add a bright side to an otherwise miserable day.

With every episode only being three episodes long, it never overstays it's welcome and gives you the perfect amount of cuteness and hilarity without being too overbearing. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it's still an enjoyable watch all the same. I'll be the first to admit, I even own a Bananya Coffee Mug.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 4, 2017

lilacs

Mixed Feelings

Funny

I just watched all 13 episodes of the anime called "Bananya".

A few points I would like to raise (spoilers ahead):

Like pupating moths, the cats live inside these banana skins inside the house of the rarely seen human family. All the Bananyas supposedly have their own personalities: for example, Black Bananya has a bowtie.

What intrigued me early on was Bananya’s ambition to become a chocolate covered Bananya – one that was, to say the least, entirely perplexing. Does Bananya want to be eaten? Does he just enjoy it aesthetically? If, like me, you go into the show wanting an answer to this, you will ... be disappointed. In fact, for the rest of the series I found Bananya’s work ethic intolerable. Instead of pursuing his ambitions, he spends most of his time asleep and eating sweets. Why, at the supermarket, did he not find the isle with chocolate sauce? How much knowledge does Bananya have of the world and its workings anyway? I was left wanting for so much more.

Another aspect of Bananya’s character I found unpalatable was his betrayal in “Bananya and the Mouse Nya”. After breaking bread with Bananya, and sharing starkly honest and genuine moments of friendship and connection, Bananya turns on the mouse and tries to kill him. This is when his character arc, for me, went too far. For the people that believe he is redeemable after this, I wonder how much you truly value mouses’ life.

In "Bananya and the Balloon Nya" Bananya and co. are trying to grab the balloon for an unknown purpose. They try to jump for the balloon string, but cannot reach, until girl bananya manages to grab and tie it to a cup. Next thing we know, Bananya is atop the balloon, after jumping up there.

The physics are ludicrous and inconsistent. One minute, Bananya jumps like he's in zero-gravity, shooting up as high as the story requires. The next he can't reach the string. Similar inconsistencies are shown in "Bananya and the Stray Cat Nya" where he can't reach the window lock, after jumping to much higher places in other scenes. Does Bananya perhaps have jumping powers that easily deplete? If so, the story should have made this more clear.

I hate baby Bananya.

A few more points: the racial insensitivity of “Bananya Goes Out Nya”, the mysterious and underdeveloped narcissism of Long Hair Bananya (for me, one of the most compelling and open ended characters in the series), loose ended depictions of famine and child neglect.

While Bananya has some positive aspects, I couldn’t ignore these glaring problems that, once fixed, I think would make for a very compelling and fascinating programme.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 21, 2017

Stairfall

Not Recommended

Okay, I'm going to be real. I couldn't even ironically like this.

This anime is a complete waste of time, which is saying a lot since each episode has about 2 minutes worth of content. The entire time, I was bored shitless. My eyes kind of glazed over while watching this. I think the only reason I finished was because it was so short, and because i was hoping that I could find some kind of enjoyment in some other random aspect. Alas, I found none. I couldn't even laugh at the bad flash animation because it was so minimal.

Heck this anime doesn't look like ... it was made to be enjoyed even. Its probably was just a timeslot that needed to be filled, a paycheck that needed to be written, and a glorified toy commercial.

If you like bananya or are interested in it, that's cool, I kinda get it. The cats are really cute and the premise is silly and fun. All I'm saying is that I think you'll get a much better experience googling "bananya" and scrolling down for 30 minutes than watching the actual show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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