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

Yamada, Haru Sound Director

Reviews

Nov 13, 2024

alexswrld

Recommended

Amazing, fantastic and tragic. Banana fish was the first anime that really had me full-blown sobbing. Ash Lynx is raised by an infamous gangster, Dino Golzine. When Ash grows up, he has his own gang and must stop Dino from catching hold of the Banana Fish, a mysterious drug that causes insanity. Ash is a victim of rape, sexual assault, child pornography and human trafficking and along the way of him searching for redemption he meets Eiji, an innocent assistant cameraman from Japan, him and Ash become extremely close and Eiji joins ash through his journey to stop Dino. People may argue over this being ... a BL or not but if you ask anyone who actually watches BL, we all can agree it is.

It's an absolute masterpiece of a story but I am a little bias, I mean I have a banana fish tattoo on me, but it truly is a beautiful story and I think anyone can truly love it if you watch it, even if you are not into BL.

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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Nov 13, 2024

momochi22

Not Recommended

If you like josei and want to read this then idk, sure it's interesting to see the perspective of a male abuse victim and it's cute how in love Ash and Eiji are...

BUT THAT IS IT! other than Ash's past and a few cute Eiji and Ash moments this anime has nothing. Everyone has plot armour, none of the stakes feel real, the world setting doesn't feel real at all despite being based in NY, there are no interesting dynamics between the gang members or the villains, they either hate ash or follow him blindly...

Bad characters, bad writing, bad plot.
Worth watching on 2x speed ... for Ash and Eiji only if you are a diehard fujoshi but you will get crumbs.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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