Banana Fish

Aslan Jade Callenreese, known as Ash Lynx, was a runaway picked off the streets of New York City and raised by the infamous godfather of the mafia, Dino Golzine. Now 17 years old and the boss of his own gang, Ash begins investigating the mysterious "Banana Fish"—the same two words his older brother, Griffin, has muttered since his return from the Iraq War. However, his inquiries are hindered when Dino sends his men after Ash at an underground bar he uses as a hideout.

At the bar, Skip, Ash's friend, introduces him to Shunichi Ibe and his assistant, Eiji Okumura, who are Japanese photographers reporting on American street gangs. However, their conversation is interrupted when Shorter Wong, one of Ash's allies, calls to warn him about Dino. Soon, Dino's men storm the bar, and in the ensuing chaos kidnap Skip and Eiji. Now, Ash must find a way to rescue them and continue his investigation into Banana Fish, but will his history with the mafia prevent him from succeeding?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Callenreese, Aslan Jade Main

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Okumura, Eiji Main

Nojima, Kenji Japanese

Wong, Shorter Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Lee, Yut-Lung Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Sing, Su Rin Supporting

Chiba, Shouya Japanese

Blanca Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Lobo, Max Supporting

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Bones Supporting

Niwa, Masato Japanese

Randy, Jessica Supporting

Fukami, Rica Japanese

Blood, Cain Supporting

Miyake, Kenta Japanese

Ootsuka, Manabu Producer

Uryuu, Kyouko Producer

Utsumi, Hiroko Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Animation Director, Key Animation

Yamada, Haru Sound Director

Reviews

Dec 16, 2024

Elj842

Recommended

Banana Fish is an experience of a lifetime. It's been days since I've watched it and I'm still affected by its last episode. Right off the bat, for people who come here expecting a typical BL story, this show is not that. Banana fish contains extremely triggering subject matters and traumatic moments, so it's not for everybody. There's a deep connection between two male characters that is the heart of the show, but the nature of this love is up to interpretation. But if you're looking for a soul-wrenching crime-drama thriller, this show is a really good one.

Without spoiling too much away, this series tells ... a story of two contrasting worlds that under normal circumstances should never have merged. It's a simple coincidence that lets two entirely different people meet under the most cruel circumstances. Our main character Ash is a heavily traumatized individual who finds hope in his life through a Japanese student named Eiji. Ash gets involved in a dangerous situation involving a drug called 'Banana fish' and the story is about his personal fight with the mafia boss who tormented him throughout his whole life. It's a tale full of suffering where a geuine humane relationship symbolizes the light in Ash's dark and corrupted world. While Ash's innocence was taken away from him at a young age, he desperately wants to protect Eiji's pure heart.

There are many stories of different people in this work. Most of them are dark and hopeless, and it never truly gets better. In contrast to the corrupted world Ash lives in, his mutual love with Eiji is a pure connection of two souls, no matter how you choose to interpret it. What you can take away from this work is that there are things that can be more important to us beyond our existence, like a bond we share with someone else and what it teaches us.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 4, 2024

Dompa112

Mixed Feelings

I was a bit hesitant to watch this at first since for me it looked like some boy love show. The manga was josei. But its made by MAPPA and then i saw several reviews saying the anime is more than just that and you dont need to be into that stuff. So i thought id give it a chance.

Turned out the reviews were wrong. Most likely these were reviews from people who hadnt fully embraced and understood their own sexuality yet. You absolutely need to be in on boy on boy love stuff. Theres just no other reason for this show. I can ... only say one good thing about it. The first OP. Survive said the Prophet never dissapoints. The rest is forgettable.

Story. Boring. Only used to drive the boy love stuff forward and keep it still being anime material. Theres some mysterious drug called Banana Fish. It seems interesting at first but its reveals and plot is so dull and uninteresting. Characters are boring as hell and again only there to look pretty for its intended audience. Constant flirting. Constant focus on gay rape. The author obviously had some sick fetishes here. Wheather its prison members or the ”adoptive father”.

Original score is dull. Animation is, well its MAPPA so no complaints there.

But yeah dont make the same mistake i did and listen to the confused people not realizing their sexuality yet. This show is only intended for people into boy on boy love. Theres no story or other reason for its existence. Which is why im still giving it a 6/10. Im sure for its intended audience it might be a good show so i dont want to be to hard on it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 16, 2025

scy318

Not Recommended

(vague-minor spoilers)

From what I’ve gathered, Banana Fish has something of a sacred reputation within the BL anime community. I guess there’s just something about overly melodramatic (implied) BL that’s so intoxicating to some people.

Banana Fish follows gang leader “Ash Lynx” as he investigates his brother’s death, which is inexplicably linked to an enigmatic “Banana Fish”. The first quarter of the anime introduces this concept and reveals that Banana Fish is actually an extremely dangerous drug.

Right from the first episode, you’re dumped into grimy, dirty 1980s New York, and heaps of intrigue and mystery are unloaded everywhere for you to digest. It was ... this gritty, atmospheric tension that got me hooked on this anime instantly.

Then, Ash meets this Japanese guy who’s with the police and they become friends. The two of them get entangled in a gang war and the rest of the show is Ash and friends on the run like fugitives.

After what seems like the 10th episode, the whole Banana Fish substance plot that is supposed to be the foundation of this anime is just gone. Vanished, just like Ash’s brother. All the effort that went into producing an interesting concept and executing it fairly well went down the drain just like that.

And for what? So the remaining ten episodes can consist of fake kidnappings and assassinations happening every five minutes? But actually, there is a goal with the cliched action sequences where Ash flies in, guns blazing, going 30-to-1 with his awesome superhuman reflexes.

The rival gang leaders are hellbent on denying Ash his happy BL ending, so they pursue his friend to the ends of the Earth, prompting Ash to drop everything to save him. Banana Fish spams this one signature move to shamelessly skyrocket Ash’s gap moe to insufferable levels. It’s ridiculous, but apparently people can't get enough of it.

Sexual harassment and rape is a reoccurring thing in Banana Fish, and they handle it like a wet brick to the face. Banana Fish takes the approach where every single character is gay and thirsting for little old Ash. Bro can’t even get a break, like let the man kiss his boyfriend, people??

Banana Fish will beat into you with the delicacy of a meat pulverizer, how gorgeous, powerful, and lonely Ash is. Villains whose sole defining characteristic is their lust for Ash will throw themselves at him just to get a taste of this twink.

I hate to say it like this, but there is no other way to put it: Banana Fish is romanticizing trauma. Ash is beaten down, humiliated, and glorified in an obscene way meant to make you gasp, but secretly think “I can fix him”.

And then the boyfriend shows up (whose name I can’t be bothered to remember), and is just a stereotypical nice guy. Perfect for Ash, right? Nothing like a cinnamon roll to heal a childhood’s worth of sexual trauma.

We know a grand total of 3 things about the friend: he’s 19, he used to be a pole jumper, and that he has a sister. That should also tell you how capable he is. Like guys, what is this obsession we have with hot men rescuing completely useless love interests??

Ash is like the smurf jungler with god-tier reflexes boosting and babysitting his gold laner. The gold laner (the friend) is always getting ganked by the enemy mid trio, so Ash has to save his oblivious ass with bullshit abilities.

Ash is not only a prodigy with 180 iq, but can hack through world class bank encryption, shoot from the top of a moving truck, prepare a 10 page toxicology report, come up with military-level strategic maneuvers mid-fight, and about a dozen other things. At first he was introduced as just a guy with street smarts, but then somehow morphed into this tall, angsty, tortured genius.

The only other characters of note are this Chinese mafia guy, and Papa Dino, Ash’s abusive father figure. The Chinese mafia guy is also another genius strategist involved in the war to get back Ash. Except he has a more personal issue against the boyfriend. Bro is mad he can’t pull, so he has a crash out and whines about his trauma every time he's on screen. Out of all the characters, he had some potential, but his character arc was so convoluted, I could barely figure out why he even existed. A counterpart to Ash, but manless perhaps?

Papa Dino is the pervert who raped Ash as a child, and has no other skills or motivation other than having Ash to himself. Banana Fish makes a laughable attempt to redeem him. Like, you cannot convince me that this man has any shred of true fatherly love for Ash.

Fans will say the ending is horrible and cry about it, but it’s like your aunt chiding you. It’s bad but it pushes the moe even higher, so the fans eat it up. Never mind that the ending contradicts everything we’ve ever known about Ash. It’s okay that the ending managed to undo ALL of the plot progression, leaving this half assed resolution that's supposed to be tragic. It’s like loading to 99.8% and then crashing. If you were like me, the only reaction you had with the ending was a scoff. When it happened, I was literally like, “um… okay…?” I didn’t throw my phone away out of rage and despair like some fans would have you believe they did.

Banana Fish is like a lot of anime I’ve seen these days. Good concept, but ended up losing it one way or another. In this case, it was the gooners (why else would there be Ash tied-up and partially stripped in gratuitous detail every time a villain caught him?). The shoujo girlies love their tragic BL… and I’m sure they weren’t disappointed with Banana Fish. If you’re coming here looking for a mature romance with an intriguing setting and compelling mystery, go no further.

That said, Prayer X is an absolute banger ending theme.

Final Rating: 4

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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