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| How the FUCK does this have 8,3 on MAL? Because it's dark and "deep"? The same shitty story beats happen constantly and the villains are incompetent as hell. Honestly. Fujoshis and fangirls need to stick up to better shows than this. Also, people who rate crime dramas highly need better standards. This was worse than 91 Days, which was very mediocre anyway, but at least had stronger art direction and a competent ending. This was so average and meh. It had a good first half, but then it failed to break out of its chains to do something new and surprising. 5/10 |
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Malevolent-Fae said: Wow, your close mindedness and blanket judgement of assuming the high score must ONLY be because of fujoshis shows how "deep" and informed your level of thought is. Really thought provoking.How the FUCK does this have 8,3 on MAL? Because it's dark and "deep"? The same shitty story beats happen constantly and the villains are incompetent as hell. Honestly. Fujoshis and fangirls need to stick up to better shows than this. Also, people who rate crime dramas highly need better standards. This was worse than 91 Days, which was very mediocre anyway, but at least had stronger art direction and a competent ending. This was so average and meh. It had a good first half, but then it failed to break out of its chains to do something new and surprising. 5/10 /sarcasm |
| Well... Fuck You Lao!! but at least, Max is safe... But seriously, that stab was so unexpected... oh well, I guess I can be a bit happy because Ash will finally have the peace he deserved. All in all, the series was really interesting. It had some great eps. and others not so much and although I sometimes hated the moments they used comedy, it wasn't THAT annoying. Ash was a nice character, almost immortal and one of my favorites alongside Shorter and Blanca. I just wished the latter would have received more focus but that's just me. That said, it was a nice ride. 7/10 |
| What a sad ending :'( |
MetaKite said: Wow, your close mindedness and blanket judgement of assuming the high score must ONLY be because of fujoshis shows how "deep" and informed your level of thought is. Really thought provoking. /sarcasm "ONLY be because of fujoshis" Read again mother fucker. You have eyes EYE asume? And better writing is always welcome. |
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Malevolent-Fae said: Yeah because when you said "Fangirls" you meant that far removed from fujoshis, right? Shut the fuck up you dumb, salty whiner. Your mom was a lousy fuck BTW.MetaKite said: Wow, your close mindedness and blanket judgement of assuming the high score must ONLY be because of fujoshis shows how "deep" and informed your level of thought is. Really thought provoking. /sarcasm "ONLY be because of fujoshis" Read again mother fucker. You have eyes EYE asume? And better writing is always welcome. |
MetaKite said: Yeah because when you said "Fangirls" you meant that far removed from fujoshis, right? Shut the fuck up you dumb, salty whiner. Your mom was a lousy fuck BTW. "Also, people who rate crime dramas highly need better standards." Get an eyecheck. You bore me. |
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| Was a good show with a bad ending. Ash took the cowards way out in the end. How fucking hard is it to go to Japan and start again with the skills he has? |
Vindicater said: Was a good show with a bad ending. Ash took the cowards way out in the end. How fucking hard is it to go to Japan and start again with the skills he has? The point was that he could, but he chose not to. We're free to reason out why, but I personally think it's a combination of his self-loathing and a desire to protect Eiji (no longer involve him in violence) that stopped him from pursuing that dream. Lenaf_watching said: Am I the only one who is happy because MAPPA decided to not include "Garden of light"? It would have been even more depressing, by choosing to end it like that they at least give some hope (maybe? if you are quite optimistic ) to who didn't read the manga. So sad but overall I enjoyed it so much, such a good anime I think those who were optimistic decided to read Garden of Light to confirm anyway. I just think it's cruel to end on this because it's rather open and unsatisfying. Meanwhile, Garden of Light provides closure and healing. Nonetheless, people being split on whether including Garden of Light in the final episode would be better or worse is understandable. I think it all depends on perspective. |
| OK finale although I thought the need of a final showdown/boss quite weird in this kind of series. More importantly, what's the point of this final turnaround?? It's like it was just added after everything was thought just because there was some decision I have nothing against it, only against the way it was (not) implemented. 2/5 Basic "american story" with a super hero that sadly just lines up events like a thriller and neglects characters. You can sense a potentially interesting comics behind it. Sometimes tried to have good photography and "moody" moments. Score: 6.5-/10 |
Rei_IIINov 22, 2020 3:08 AM
| I don't know how to react... so much going on.. but.. did Ash really die?? I just can't... accept that.... |
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Malevolent-Fae said: Yes, like your mom is boring. I get it, you misogynist pig. I'm not here to entertain you but to tell you shut up with your delusional excuses (and call you out for how much of a pig your are). Everything you have said is total horseshit because users that love crime stories have been some of the TOUGHEST critics of Banana Fish since the second half tapers off from that plot quite a bit. You just hate women, "fangirls" as it were and are blaming them for the series high score. Stop frontin'.MetaKite said: Yeah because when you said "Fangirls" you meant that far removed from fujoshis, right? Shut the fuck up you dumb, salty whiner. Your mom was a lousy fuck BTW. "Also, people who rate crime dramas highly need better standards." Get an eyecheck. You bore me. |
| After Fox shot Golzine he could catch Ash, the institution’s front entrance got closed and the gang supporting Ash was surprised from behind. They managed to escape and to infiltrate into the building, so they saved their partners while Sing and Blanca were infiltrating to the floor where Ash was. The doctor with the information of banana fish encountered Ash, so he was going to use him as a hostage, but Fox’s people attacked them and killed the doctor in the act. Ash was surrounded by Fox and company, but Sing and Blanca (as a sniper) helped him getting rid of the other soldiers. In a fight one to one, Ash beated him while Sign got the doctor’s suitcase, but the explosions outside caused a strong movement in the building so Sing ended up hanging from a hand (hanging on one hand and the suitcase in the second one); Ash went to help him, Sing had to throw the suitcase, but Fox threatened Ash again from the back, fortunately Golzine wasn’t dead and shot Fox, finishing with his life and also, Golzine fell from the building. After some time, Sing went to see Yut-Lung, demostrating that he’s still loyal to him, despite the bitch he is. Ash talked a bit with Blanca on a bench about his future. Eiji is about to leave United States, so he sent a letter to Ash through Sing. The letter explained how important was Ash to Eiji’s self-development, and despite he doesn’t say anything about loving him, is portrayed how much Eiji cares about Ash. This letter made Ash wanted to see Eiji, but in the way he was stabbed by Lao, Lao received a shot from Ash and he went back to the library, where he died reading the letter. O got a bit confused here, I didn’t understand if Fox was the main villain, caused I thought that Golzine had that position, but he ended helping him, so he always loved him, despite the horrible things he did to Ash. The actions scenes were kind of convenient, the only thing that didn’t end in favor of our characters is the fact that they lost the information about banana fish that they were going to use in legal judgments. The bitch of Yut-Lung still can’t understand why Ash could be at least a little happy, so he’s mad. Is kind of heartbreaking that Ash didn’t want to see Eiji leave when we all knew that they were not going to see each other again, and man, when Ash finally used his balls to go there, he got stabbed by Lao, writing a final point in Ash’s life, dying while thinking in Eiji letter. Very sad. |
Atlas77Jun 25, 2019 9:42 PM
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| wait so Ash is actually dead wtf I though he was just wounded |
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| Depressing ending. Sad to see Ash go out like that after everything he's been through. He had such a shit life and I definitely wanted to see him happy. Wish he could have gone with Eiji somewhere. I appreciate Banana Fish tackling the subjects of rape and abuse towards men. It happens, it's certainly an uncomfortable subject, and it's just as horrible. Gotta say, though, it was extremely uncomfortable how so many characters kept trying to rape Ash throughout the series. It was a bit much at times. Great show, overall, and MAPPA continues to be one of the best. |
| Such a beautiful tragedy. Ash died happy you guys, I am proud of him. And Eiji was a cinnamon roll till the end. Sing grew on me as well. Interesting irony that the main villain saved the protagonist's life before dying, not sure if its fulfilling or regretful but strangely I didn't mind it. Anyways so many memories with this one. A memorable series for sure. Ah forget to say it, curse Lao. |
OrangeCloudsDec 29, 2018 8:26 AM
| I did not expect that ending even though it's not surprising. Even though I read some comments about Ash not being alive and the OVA for it, I'm still going to live in denial and still going to hope he is. Overall I loved the show except the ending. 10/10 |
| I can barely type this, the pain I felt during this episode comes right back to me now that I'm trying to write something about it. So unfair. Just so unfair. He could have... you can fill in multiple ways that would've... no, ways that could have, possibly, prevented Ash from dying. Shit. He was even closer than he'd ever been before to a life better than he had ever known before. But he didn't... make it... He had the ticket right with him. The ticket that would've taken him to Japan. The ticket that could've taken him out of the life he'd been living so far, shown him Eiji's world, could've let him spent his time with Eiji again... It could've shown him a world of which he'd never imagined it existed. Eiji was more important to him than anything, even more so than his own life. That's why he absolutely had to finish reading Eiji's letter after he got stabbed. But even if he had gone to the nearest hospital first, there's no guarantee they could've saved him there... Then the woman in the library who tried to wake him up... I was talking to the tv through my tears saying "he's not sleeping! he is... he is dead" (I had to pause the episode there for a bit, I couldn't see a thing anymore.) (Oh right - I don't know why but my first reaction upon seeing who stabbed Ash was "Who the f*** is that?!" and I still don't know. I guess it's someone who appeared in one or more episodes before but I fail to remember anything about that guy or in what way he was related to Ash, and I don't really feel like looking it up. It feels rather stupid not knowing the name of the one who actually causes Ash's death, though. Did I miss something important somehow, or was it really someone who wasn't known as well as the characters with the bigger roles? Could anyone tell me: what was that all about?) Ash died a peaceful death. But knowing the whole story behind it, it's just so tragic and unfair... It breaks my heart over and over every time I think about it. I don't know what I wouldn't have given for him to finally, finally get to live a happier life. |
| I was waiting for this anime since it began airing in July. And boy, was it worth it. I gave it less than 2 days to complete it. I seriously did not hope it would end like this. There was a small hope it would be a happy end but no. It really got to me, when he got to the library and just sat there... Sa-yo-na-ra. |
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stand said: Thank you for putting to words what felt off for me about this series.This was a difficult series to get through. The second half being harder to digest than the first, and part of that I (personally) think was due to the soap opera level theatrics. Direction, sound, voice, etc. most of the time they left me with a feeling of lacking genuineness just to deliver you the next gut punch after the other. Frenzied pacing never helped either. I didn't think it was bad but it wasn't as impactful as it should have felt given the subject matter for me. Gangster series/movies are bottom of the barrel of my interests so I had a hard time starting but I kept going because I'd read some of this series in the past and the drama felt good then. The pacing was so fast that all the wounds and whatnot felt trifling at this point - all those times Ash's subordinates made him surrender lost their impact when I knew he'd probably get out anyway so I just ended up frustrated with how many times it happened. . .I was invested to know how it ends and that's about it. The ending just makes me mad. I'm sure it's supposed to be symbolic and I get the author's message but after everything that happened I feel it lost some power when some of the other antagonists got to live anyway. Also felt it was a bit underwhelming when they made a big deal about Banana Fish and the big plan for it but we only got one news report to tell us that yeah, the pedophilia got exposed so that's it. Case closed. Ash's death was spoiled for me thanks to Youtube but when it finally happened all I could think was "THAT'S how he died?" All this said I just read the last chapter with the epilogue and am on the verge of tears. Still mad and wished for a better ending but now I do hope they animate it. It adds closure to this series for sure. Overall bittersweet. 7/10 for me. Animation was ok hit or miss in some parts. Music was good but I didn't pay much attention honestly. Will be heading to Youtube to appreciate it more in a bit. Story was. . .soap-opera ish. If Eiji had been a woman this would definitely have come off as someone's fantasy of just showing up at a foreign country and having the big mafia guy with a dark past fall for them, then sacrifice themselves for them at the end. I've read both fanfiction and actual romance novels like that and honestly with Eiji getting targeted just because Ash was his weakness this definitely felt like one as well lol Half-way through the series I was just like goddammit Eiji just go back to Japan already. Might be a show of its time. Characters were the best part, honestly. Hated the villains, liked the protags. Can't get more clear-cut than that and I feel overall that's what this series felt like (with some exceptions). There wasn't much artistic direction in the animation that I felt added to the experience. |
VyudaliJan 5, 2019 7:22 PM
Jagh said: Damn, sad to see this show end. Such an amazing serious. Two nitpicks though: 1) Sing coulda just tossed the brief case forward. There was no need to lose the brief case aside from having a "moment." 2) Ash has survived way worse. But no one in front of New York's public library noticed the gun shot? And then no one noticed the limping dude dripping blood walking into the library? 1. Ash ordered him to drop it. Ash was already tired of the drama around the drug so he might be thinking it's better to get rid of the drug. It's shown on his face when he told Sing to drop the case. 2. People usually don't go to library, statistics say there's average of 1 visitor going inside out of library every half hour /s |
| He must be having a nice dream. wow I’m very sad |
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| You must be kidding me! Everything was going just fine, and then they had to throw that at us? I'm calling this bullshit, but then again, as hard as it is to say, it was probably the best thing to do. Knowing Ash, I would only suggest that he still has a lot of enemies that might come after him, especially from the government's side seeing how he was the reason for a lot of corruption exposition. I could see something in the eyes of Papa Dino when he was dying, I would never forgive what he did, never. Even after the hell, he caused to Ash, it was like he was wishing the best for him as he was going down with that smug smile. Oh come on, Sing could have easily dropped that suitcase to a lower level, that was some basic thinking to do, so much for Ashlan's IQ that's supposedly over 200. Eventually, the news would break out that Ash was assassinated, Sing especially would be very broken if he knew it was his big brother, I wonder what Yut-Lung would feel about it. But I guess, the ending was left sort of open, and I must admit, I hate it. I feel so lazy from the author to just leave it at that, and again, I did not read the source material, so I don't know if it was the same way it ended in the Manga. Look for the review on the front page of the Anime. Review: https://myanimelist.net/myreviews.php?reviewid=299565 |
EoussamaJan 20, 2019 8:27 AM
| I had always thought he would end up dead before the show was over to begin with so the last few minutes came as no surprise to me. But this was really good...the first half was a bit on the super slow side and i really enjoyed the second half far more. For anyone reading this and might be looking for something similar to watch after finishing this, Boardwalk Empire (the HBO live action series) and Banana Fish have a ton of parallels between backgrounds of characters. The Commodore = Dino Golzine essentially. |
 "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment" |
| I feel so conflicted. The characters were great, the ending was moving, the setting of NYC, USA felt unique for anime, the opening and ending songs were amazing (the second opening in particular along with the beautiful shots of the city), and it was honestly a perfect representation of a yaoi relationship done right. But I can't bring myself to love it as so many others. I guess I just didn't feel as invested in the story, and often times alot of the plot points seemed a bit repetitive. I honestly enjoyed 91 days more as I found the story in that and the relationship between the two main characters to be alot more intriguing. I still enjoyed it though, and it's not every day we get an anime set in the U.S.. Solid 7/10 from me. There's a good chance I might change it to an 8/10 though in the future. |
shikinoutaFeb 22, 2019 4:02 PM
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| Same exact thoughts as @sunsetbridge Just not as invested as others. The overall story does not really grab me like other stories do. I don't really like action or mafia so that doesn't help. |
| Holy crap. I've just watched the finale and now I'm broken. This anime left such a strong impact on me that even considering how I was rooting for a "good" ending I can't say I'm disappointed. Just...sad. I don't remember the last time I wanted so much for the main couple to be together and seeing this ending just left me in pieces. Even so, this anime doesn't deserve less than 10/10 for me. And it will even go to my favorites list. It's just a shame. 25 years have passed since the end of the manga and so far I haven't seen or heard about any story as unique as this one. It's really a shame. I need more. |
| Friend Code 3DS: 4914-3165-5517 |
| Deep episode. I'm just laying in bed now. All depressed haha. Rip bro. U were a true G. ๐ |
greymood said: Was pretty involved with the finale until he got stabed and all my immersion went to hell. Talk about overkill I never got over the fact that Eiji x Ash was very cringy to watch, I can understand why people may hate this anime for that regard.´ The mangaka was bold to give it those vibes, and later on confirm they felt for eachother, but was never bold enough to make the jump and have that showing clearing on the manga. I may be contradicting myself, but that just made it worst, it is cringy as fuck to me this having this much yaoi, but it doesnt help it prefers to be subtle. I would bitch either way, rather than faking it, I dont care what the LGBT thinks, the relation between Eiji and Ash, was cringe to upmost I have ever even seen in anime, if they had remained friends, and there was none of this sexual tension between them, I would have liked the series more. I see people here comenting on how it is fine, but I want every man here to be one, are you straight? If so, were you perfectly confortable with how their relationship was done? Be real about, dont try to play polite and lie. I have seen gay movies before, just one, Brokeback Mountain, it was great, well done, I have nothing wrong with it, but I just couldnt take it here. Maybe cuz this anime can mislead you early on, or maybe cuz they just did those scenes poorly?! Every main villain wanted to rape Ash, 50% of the important cast where males that enjoyed other males, if it was just Ash and Eiji it may have annoyed me less but damm, I was happy that Blanka for once was going against the flow. I m going to be crude now, but, this anime had too many freaking sissy man behaving and crying like little bitches, and Eiji was for most part a gay version of princess Peach! That is about for that, now the problems that many can agree with, the first episodes were great but the more I watched, the more if felt like the pacing was going too quickly and I just coulnt care for what was happening. Banana Fish had great budget values, cant complain with the presentation or tracks. I was even starting to really love the conclusion, taking Eiji out of the equation, ep23 ending was setting things in an exciting light IMO. And the first 20 minutes were fitting, but Ash dying like that was just too much for me, I just dont click with that no matter how poetic it was, it just felt wrong, it may had work if I was more invested in the cast or if the pacing was much better. As it is, a damm asspull, Ash should have died on the first 20 minutes, people say he just let himself die of bloodloss, to keep his loved out of his way of life, even if I cringe on their relationship... just doesnt feel right. It managed to move me a bit though, since what least I can say that Ash was an likeable bunch, aside many of his more sissy interactions with Eiji. Also Gonzine going like that felt really fitting. This anime had potential for more, ignoring the orignal plot that they had to follow, yes ignoring all the things that triggered me alot, I think with a better pace, it would have been a different story... Noneless this is far from trash, far from that, I just pity it could have been something even more with Mappa doing it. 8.4/10 = 8 May read this Light Garden thing later someday. Or just watch, if they adapt it as an OVA to troll some fans. m0llerz said: Sing should’ve tossed the brief case onto the platform below him and Ash instead of letting it dramatically fall to flames... I was so hung up on that scene. Also the ending was such a let down, you go 24 episodes avoiding snipers, machine guns and then that’s how it ends. OK. True there, plot armor was soo THICK, then crumbles so easily like that. |
PlaycoolMar 15, 2019 3:13 PM
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| I didn't read the manga yet but I'm not sure if I could. First of all, I'm so glad that Sing and Yut Lung finally talked and I'm very shocked to see Golzine saved Ash in the end. That Fox bastard deserve to die. Secondly, I love how the events laid out aside from the last scene And speaking of the last scene, lastly, since I didn't read the manga yet, it was really surprising and I got feel very dejected right now. I almost drop this series after a few episodes because it is too stressful to watch but I'm kinda satisfied I finished it. I think this is another memorable anime and my feelings got invested here. I will not be able to forget this for few days seriously because sobbbbbbbbbbb when Ash finally got more open about Eiji to Blanca. Nevertheless, I'm also glad nothing bad happened to Blanca, Sing, Cain, Ibe, Max, Jessica and the 3 Ash's troops. And yeah, I feel extreme hatred for Lao but I hope Sing was able to make some things clear with him instead of having this last scene but yeah, I think this needs to happen sobsobsob |
  โ โโโ ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต? ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ? |
| Can't stop crying. :'( I don't cry like this since I watched Dancer in the Dark (a movie with Björk). |
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| If there hadn't been others in the house, I would have screamed when Ash was stabbed. They could have been happy. He could have got on that plane and they could have been happy. |
90s J-rock was our aesthetic peak. |
| I need to sit down and calm myself. Painful. How painful. I'm a person who is very nitpicky about the anime I watch; I live mostly in the real world and deals with social issues concerning children and women as my daily job. I love people in general, I have a family I care about and a person truly special to me whom I (guess) I can barely live without. And that makes me sympathize with Ash's decision to bleed himself to death. I understand, I understand. He gets his peace, by doing so he is protecting Eiji, and he atones for what he did. But if I try to imagine Eiji's reaction after hearing the news my tears will fall again, so I'll just sit down here calmly and type. I can't image losing a soulmate like that. And I thought I'm past the concept of soulmates. On another note, one, I think it is confirmed Golzine genuinely loved Ash though in a freakish, twisted manner. He deserved the ending. Two, though I hate Yut Lung for what he did, I'm glad he got the chance to repent. I guess after I calmed myself down I'll go for the manga. Doesn't make Ash less dead but I can savor more details of the two's story and it will be a richer experience I suppose. |
fianeJun 2, 2019 12:53 AM
| Yeah okay I cried. I knew he had to die and I still cried, probably more than I have in many years from an anime. There are things that have hit me on a deeper level than this but this one really grabbed ahold of my heart like not much does. I could tell it was kind of rushed at times with how fast the plot went but this was really impressive for a 24 episode adaptation of a 19 volume manga. Theres no doubt I'm going to read that in its entirety as well, hell I'll probably even buy it it's not that much on Amazon. I almost never end up doing that. So yeah I guess you could say I liked it. |
ChromephoneJul 18, 2019 4:18 PM
| Just what the hell is this ending? He went through so much. So much..o my god I can't even imagine his life. Rape, Torture, gun fights.. There was not a day without him hurting. I can't. I am depressed. |
~~ofcourse I talk to myself, sometimes I need expert advice~~ |
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