For better or for worse, Banana Fish takes this concept and dials it up to eleven. Characters SUFFER. People drop like flies in this anime, and if they don’t drop like flies, they get seriously wounded, physically or emotionally. They also never get a chance to heal, because the plot hits the ground running and never stops.
On one hand, this is great because it provides an exciting plot and forces you to invest yourself in the characters, even if it’s only because you desperately wish for the poor kids to catch a break for once. On the other hand, this results in an emotionally exhausting anime that is not for the faint of heart.
For me personally, the latter is not a problem. However, I have one related problem, and that is suspension of disbelief. The point of having characters suffer, at least from a writer’s perspective, is to show that they’re not overpowered. However, the main character, Ash Lynx, is one of the most overpowered characters to exist outside of the isekai genre. Yes, it’s repeatedly mentioned that he has an IQ above 180 and has been trained as an assassin from childhood. But still, he’s a seventeen-year-old who can hack like a pro, lead an entire gang in downtown New York, be the best shooter around, write research papers worthy of PhD students, and have time to keep up with all the newspaper columns in major NY papers. He also seems to have unlimited ammo (except in the final episode), be immune to drugs (or at least anesthetics), attract every homosexual pedophile to lay eyes on him (I don’t find his design remotely attractively, personally), withstand multiple gunshots (just because?), and run through fields of bullets without getting hit. For me, it’s hard to take a grittier anime like this seriously when the main character is so clearly unrealistic.
Another point which hampers suspension of disbelief is the setting. Banana Fish is adapted from a manga of the same name, which was released during the 80s. However, the anime adaptation chooses to move it to the present and gives everyone smartphones, etc. The change in time period also changes the political landscape, which in turn changes the story, which hinges on political power. To its credit, the anime’s version makes ends meet, but it still comes off awkwardly in a few places.
And the last thing which hampers suspension of disbelief (at least for me): the lack of an English dub. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching things in Japanese, and I think Banana Fish’s voice cast is great. But I struggle to suspend disbelief when everyone is speaking Japanese in the New York slums. The anime goes out of its way to have metro announcements and other mechanized voices in English, and one of the Chinese characters even speaks in Mandarin once. So how can I take it seriously when Ash says, in Japanese, that he’d like to learn Japanese one day? There’s even a scene where Ash is learning Japanese from the other main protagonist, Eiji, and they’re speaking to each other in English but writing things down in Japanese…? It’s meant to be an emotional scene, but my suspension of disbelief cracked and I just couldn’t take it seriously. And due to the points I’ve outlined, that’s how I felt about the anime as a whole. I just couldn’t take it as seriously as I wanted to.
There’s a lot to love about Banana Fish, though. Like I said before, the plot is fast-paced and captivating. The stakes are (generally) high; the feelings of grit and desperation are palpable. Most of the characters are very intriguing from a psychological perspective, and the relationship between Ash and Eiji is beautifully expressed. Although there are some annoyingly bland characters (cough, Arthur), there are also some excellent people in the cast, and excellent chemistry as well.
Visually, I think MAPPA did a good job. The character designs feel slightly retro, but have been updated from the manga designs to fit the current look of anime. The animation is solid throughout as well. And while I’m personally not a fan of the soundtrack, I think both OPs and EDs are great.
If Banana Fish had an English dub (and a good one, mind you), I’d give it a 9, but as it is, it stays in the high 8 range for me. It’s exciting and compelling, but the small stumbles concerning character and world-building prevent me from thinking of it as a true masterpiece. Still, I recommend you give it a watch—if you think you can survive the emotional trauma, that is.
