Banana Fish

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Japanese: BANANA FISH

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 19

Chapters: 110

Status: Finished

Published: Apr 13, 1985 to Mar 12, 1994

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Suspense

Themes: Delinquents, Organized Crime, Psychological

Demographic: Shoujo

Serialization: Betsucomi

Authors: Yoshida, Akimi (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.59¹ (scored by 16,686 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #108²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #282

Members: 64,729

Favorites: 2,535

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8.59

Ranked #108Popularity #282Members 64,729

MangaBetsucomiYoshida, Akimi (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /19

Chapters: /110

Banana Fish

Vol. 1
$6.99

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Synopsis

Ash Lynx is a beauty, a genius—and a murderer. Since childhood, he had been in the care of Dino "Papa" Golzine, the mafia boss who turned him into the ruthless killer he is now. At first, Ash was just a pretty face for Golzine's pleasure, but now estranged from him, a 17-year-old Ash runs his own gang with an iron fist.

Eiji Okumura is a young Japanese photographer. Traveling to New York as an assistant, Eiji is set to work on a report about kids living in the streets. There, he meets teenage gang leader Ash and is mesmerized by the boy—who in turn is curious about Eiji's different lifestyle.

But this is the dark underground of New York, and recently a series of murders has surfaced in the city, connected only by the words "Banana Fish." With personal stakes in this mysterious battle, it is up to Ash, Eiji and their allies to discover what exactly "Banana Fish" is, where it came from and how to get rid of it—before the world as they know it descends into chaos.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

The first seven volumes of Banana Fish were initially published in English by VIZ Media under the Pulp Graphic Novel imprint with flipped pages from January 8, 1999, to November 13, 2002. The publisher later completely released the series under the VIZ Shojo label from March 3, 2004, to April 10, 2007. For several years, the series also ran in both of VIZ's now-defunct manga magazines, Pulp and Animerica Extra. The manga was also published in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics in 10 omnibus volumes from July 17, 2020, to January 7, 2022.

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Reviews

Oct 18, 2024

NapoTheGuy

Recommended

The following review is in English and Spanish (translated with the support of DeepL)

The version read is the Spanish translation by Deco Woo and Lyrica-chan of “Heart of Gold”

While quickly assumed, the viewer should think more about the interesting decision to set the story in New York. The author, Akimi Yoshida, did a great job in depicting the location, to the point that it doesn't even seem foreign or exotic to the reader, that's how natural the narrative feels. Beyond being part of a Japanese fascination with the United States characteristic of that time, well demonstrated in the cartoonist's interests, for example in her first ...

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Oct 27, 2019

BuchBehandlung

Mixed Feelings

This is a very uncommon shoujo manga, full of action, violence and almost no woman.
Social justice warrior in our current political climate often complain about lack of representation of nonwhite nonmales. Therefore its funny that this manga which i assume targets young females has almost no important female character. Some people might argue that this is no shoujo manga but they would be wrong, the portagonist Ash is written to be the crush of most young girls.His IQ is 200, he sacrifices himself for his loveinterest, he is acknowledged by every other character to be stunningly beautiful (also i find most characters look very much ...

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Aug 9, 2022

abystoma2

Not Recommended

Banana Fish is a work that gets better the closer you are to “I basically only read shoujo manga”. It is certainly more unusual in its genre, but it’s an “uniqueness” that starts to pale once it’s being compared to more varied works.

First thing that is obviously different from a regular shoujo manga is the artstyle. It’s not frilly and sparkly, it’s clean and readable, overall looking more “mature”. Well, “mature” being a double-edged sword as it also ends up looking as some BL works. That said, it is certainly a change for better over the standard. Both at that time and the current. Still, ... it does get a bit stale and uninteresting, there are some panels that are nice but there isn’t a single panel or page that will make you go “wow”. Being a dialogue heavy piece it doesn’t waste that much resources on the illustrations which is a pity.

Now for the story itself, I can’t really say there was a part that piqued my interest. In a core, it’s just a basic “you took something important from a mafia, now you become an outlaw as they try to get it from you and get their revenge". In a fact, it’s exactly that, but also most of the cast is gay. Not explicitly *shown*, but the dialogue makes sure to mention it. Or at least allude to it, in cases of more minor (pun not intended) characters. Anyway, it drags on way too long with little points of interest, would I not have a no drop policy I would have long dropped this before getting in the half of the manga. Sure, it does have themes usually not seen in shoujo manga such as drugs, prostitution/sex trafficking or actual murders, but that those themes alone does not make it good. It’s how those themes are treated that decides it. It also isn’t “mature” just because of those themes. At first I wanted to at least commend it for not fetishizing the rape (that much) and for a more serious portrayal of it. That was until the “I just got gangbanged, come here my ex-husband, let’s make out” scene. Also, the Dino ex machina in the final fight and the finale after that felt really underwhelming.

One of the main reasons why the story is not entertaining is because the protagonist just isn’t interesting. Sure, he has some childhood trauma, but other than being raped he’s pretty much a Gary Stu. Stunning looks, charismatic personality, great combat ability both hand-to-hand and armed and most of all, a fucking genius. Literally. Dude has an IQ over 180, which is something very few people have. Does it actually have an impact on the story though? No, not really. It’s just the author flexing on the reader with this random revelation, but nowhere in the story Ash feels as an actually genius. Not dumb? Sure. Clever? I guess. But he is simply not written as a genius. And no, “but it gets cancelled out by his personality” doesn’t count as an explanation.

Overall, I would recommend just watching the anime instead as it has better pacing and cuts out some parts (which is actually an improvement in this case) and the MAPPA animation does great service to the watchability of it.

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Manga 'Banana Fish' Receives TV Anime

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of mangaka Akimi Yoshida's debut, it has been announced that her manga Banana Fish will get a TV anime broadcasting on Fuji ...read more

Oct 22, 2017 8:20 AM by tsubasalover | Discuss (68 comments)

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To be a yaoi, or not to be--that is the question. Jasonbear - Mar 18, 2010	17 replies	by aedeann »» Feb 24, 2024 3:31 PM
Poll: Banana Fish Chapter 110 Discussion Pirating_Ninja - Jul 17, 2013	22 replies	by Old_School_Akira »» Aug 12, 2022 7:30 PM
Akimi Yoshida fanmail? NYC1985 - Jan 22, 2020	0 replies	by NYC1985 »» Jan 22, 2020 8:34 AM
110 chapters? DDcreature - Sep 2, 2019	1 replies	by Iddea »» Sep 18, 2019 10:30 PM
Dawn removed-user - Mar 4, 2019	1 replies	by rogueslayer »» Mar 9, 2019 4:19 AM

Banana Fish
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