This is one of those reviews where I recognize the flaws in the series but can't help but ignore them for the outshining aspects of other qualities. Much like others, the anime that's airing in 2018 helped spark this manga's popularity. In actuality, I was going to skip the anime last season but I watched the first few episodes and it led me here. What a shame that I didn't know about this manga sooner!
DISCLAIMER: This manga/series in general isn't yaoi or even romantically driven. If that was your main concern, then you should be relieved. HOWEVER, know that this series does mention a lot of SERIOUS issues such as rape, child molestation, gang/government entanglements, and much more.
STORY: 8/10
The story starts off strong in terms of its foundation, "Banana fish." Pondering what that is and how it's much more trouble than it's worth. The first few volumes are heavily focused on that but slowly drift off into other subplots and arcs that have "banana fish" as a drifting concept. It slowly becomes more of a character driven story in my opinion. But not in anyway like a slice of life. There's still heavy themes of the things mentioned in my disclaimer. This is not for the faint of heart. Especially with the rising mention of rape in modern media and organizations like THORN that are trying to safe/prevent child sex trafficking. Lighthearted moments exist of course. Some are pretty funny or heartwarming. But the story is written to always juxtapose that happy narrative with the harsh reality that is Ash Lynx's life.
I'd also like the comment on how well written the series is wrote as a whole. I tried to do research on the Mangaka but unfortunately I haven't found much of anything that's in English. She captured 80s America pretty well. The Mafia and gangs were a huge thing. She seems well educated as an American myself. I love that the settings takes place somewhere else other than Japan. And my god, I don't know if it was the translator, but some of the symbolism and foreshadowing that's expressed throughout among characters is so beautifully written. I adore it so much. Despite this however, like I mentioned, she does trail off onto other subjects. By the end the reader forgets it was about Banana fish to begin with.
ART: 7/10
I grew to really love the style (and frankly I like 80s style), but it is not the best in the beginning but gradually develops over the course of the manga. Not too much to say here. I liked it and the art got better.
CHARACTER: 10/10
This is the main reason why I ignore all the flaws in writing and art style. The characters. I absolutely adore all of them or hate the ones you're supposed to hate. We have true villains in this story. I have no empathy for some of them. I'll try to express how well these characters are written without spoilers to the best of my ability.
Eiji and Ash. These two single handily are the greatest contrast but perfect match. They both come from different worlds. Eiji is from a good family in Japan and Ash is from America but doesn't come from good graces. Somehow they're always sticking together and developing more and more. They both bring the best out of each other. Honestly, their moments in the manga are some of the purest and raw with helps juxtapose the extremely dark narrative. It makes their moments precious. I think that's what she was going for with her writing. I can't say too much more, but I promise they're the icing on the cake or your favorite book at the library.
As for the rest of the cast, Yau-Si is another well written character. You just want to hate him but somehow you can't truly. He's done terrible things but he has had terrible things happen to him. He's very much like Ash in that emotional travesty part, but this helps pan an interesting dynamic between the two and the rest of the cast. There's a lot of characters and I couldn't possibly comment on all of them but damn, they're great. Never forget our man Shorter <3 He's the best friend to Ash and that's all I'm going to say haha
ENJOYMENT & OVERALL: 10/10
I really want to convince more people to read the manga. I can't stress how much I underestimated this series. I didn't think I'd feel so shattered after finishing. I never thought this manga with a silly title and odd presence would make me read for hours. I didn't think I'd love these characters so much. Please give it a try, ESPECIALLY if you were like and were drawn in from the anime. There's so much greatness in this series and it will forever be one of my favorites. Don't be fooled !
