Banana Fish / バナナフィッシュ

[Ryuu_L]

A really interesting anime for me (so far). I think I HAVE to read manga too-

Anyways- I don't know what to think about the main character - Ash. Some of his features are unsympathetic, but I think I like him. Sometimes Ash reminds me of Shougo Makishima from Psycho-Pass, but I hope he will surprise me in other episodes

 

[0ddpill]

I never read the manga but, started watching the anime since I was seeing it literally everywhere especially on twitter. The first ep...I found it pretty confusing and boring but somehow I continued to watch it and...damn it got so much interesting! I would recommend it, especially for those who love fanservice and action including an anime which is mostly full of guys .

[KatieMH25!]

I also haven't read the manga but I love watching the anime and seeing the chemistry between Ash and Eiji. Hope they both win against the mafia and go home to Japan together

[Preeh]

OH, haven‘t read/watched this either. A friend of mine is going crazy about it though and has been pestering me to take this up. Well from what I hear it must be nice especially the fan service parts. And what Ryuu said Makishima :leaf15: I could use more characters like that.

[bunny-blu]

I read this manga!! years and years ago (maybe 7, 8?) and it tore me to pieces!

And then I found out about the anime I was both excited and scared cause I knew I'd have to live through the trauma all over again.

 

Honestly Banana Fish is a classic of the BL genre, a masterpiece. Ash and Eiji are in love, there's no doubt about that. The tragedy is they live in a world that won't let them be.

For me Banana Fish is in the same league as stories like Bronze 1989 and Ai no Kusabi, old school PAAAAIIIIN manga that marks your heart and never leaves you. Oh man...

 

Anyway, I finished watching the anime a few weeks ago and they did such a good job on it! They updated the story a bit to make it more relevant to the 21st century but otherwise it's pretty true to the manga.

 

Just let me tell you, once you finish Banana Fish, you will never be the same again. :'(

[Virdian*]

Haven't read the manga but I can recommend you to watch the anime.

[bondingboys]

The anime still hurts me with the ambiguous ending . . . It's so unfair . . .

 

And yes, I call it "ambiguous" since Mappa haven't confirm anything re: that certain heartbreaking scene in the end. Also, I believe Ash deserves better than that in anime version (I can accept the manga ending & forgive Yoshida-sensei) and Mappa should give us an ova with hopeful ending, please!

[Virdian*]

The anime still hurts me with the ambiguous ending . . . It's so unfair . . .

 

And yes, I call it "ambiguous" since Mappa haven't confirm anything re: that certain heartbreaking scene in the end. Also, I believe Ash deserves better than that in anime version (I can accept the manga ending & forgive Yoshida-sensei) and Mappa should give us an ova with hopeful ending, please!

 

I mean, the library scene at the end was pretty forward, wasn't it? Of course there could be a twist, but I doubt it tbh.

[bondingboys]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

, yes, but . . . Unless Mappa gives us an ova or something about "Garden of Light" from the manga, so nope,

Ash was still breathing. To me, someone other than that librarian noticed Ash' bleeding wound and immediately called the ambulance . . .

[Preeh]

So I watched the anime and quite like it. I‘m a big fan of salinger‘s ‚a catcher in the rye‘ and have read others of his works too. I enjoyed the references to his works and how it was taking up some tropes and contrasting them from his ‚a fine day for bananafish‘.

 

I haven‘t read the manga and from the previous posts I guess it had a different ending than the anime, I liked the anime ending. Due to Ryuu‘s description of Ash being similar to Makishima (Psycho-Pass) I expected him to be a badass psychopath, but turns out he wasn‘t that bad.

 

Can recomend this to anyone who doesn‘t mid a little gore and violence and rape in their stories. Otherwise you better stay away.

[Kuon]

I am a big fan of Banana Fish for about 10years now, and I really recommend reading the manga. There are several books connected to BF universe that can be found in online stores too (second hands of course) for better understanding the whole things XD

I am so grateful when I first found out about this series (thanks GACKT lol) At that time, I still able to get the manga completed until 19th vol (which was published in my country) and I keep them beside my bed until today along with Angel Eyes and Rebirth. They are like my bible, I love BF so much ;;-;;

Btw Ash may seem like a coldblooded, proud young gang boss at first but inside he's your regular teenage boy and with Eiji he can be a teenager as long as he wants it. The story is deep. If you're fine with violence and tragedy, I recommend this title A LOT.

I myself honestly didn't think this series would be made into anime because I was already hopeless finding someone who like this series haha (I have no friend who was into BF for years /sobs) I keep reading the manga again and again, while making sure I left the last vol away because I dont want to cry more than I already did haha

[Ryuu_L]

I am a big fan of Banana Fish for about 10years now, and I really recommend reading the manga. There are several books connected to BF universe that can be found in online stores too (second hands of course) for better understanding the whole things XD

I am so grateful when I first found out about this series (thanks GACKT lol) At that time, I still able to get the manga completed until 19th vol (which was published in my country) and I keep them beside my bed until today along with Angel Eyes and Rebirth. They are like my bible, I love BF so much ;;-;;

Btw Ash may seem like a coldblooded, proud young gang boss at first but inside he's your regular teenage boy and with Eiji he can be a teenager as long as he wants it. The story is deep. If you're fine with violence and tragedy, I recommend this title A LOT.

I myself honestly didn't think this series would be made into anime because I was already hopeless finding someone who like this series haha (I have no friend who was into BF for years /sobs) I keep reading the manga again and again, while making sure I left the last vol away because I dont want to cry more than I already did haha

 

I started reading manga recently and it's really amazing ! I'm excited about the story and the different types of characters. It's better than anime (of course) and I'll have to find all the stuff from the BF universe I'm glad when the story has a deep sense and all that is amazingly thoughtful.

[DateSana]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

 

Being a yaoi old-timer myself, I love the classic tragedy-esque yaoi genre like Banana Fish & I'm bit surprised that it's so popular with newer generation yaoi fans now?? I mean, the manga came out decades ago. I don't think I read Banana Fish because it came out when RL happening with me, but I've been a fan of Yoshida sensei's even older manga "California Monogatari" when I was still young. Very realistic-type tragic-type yaoi feels although NOT very descriptive sexual content. I liked that manga so much, I'm sure I'll love BF too yoyo2 (espeically with catcher in the rye refrences?)

 

I haven't watched anime either (when did it come out?), I should definitely check out, from all you guys' reviews of it

[bunny-blu]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

Wow, you are a big fan! What language are your volumes in? And how exactly did GACKT help you find out about BF? XD

I thought nobody else liked Banana Fish for years either, I'm so glad MAPPA decided to make the anime. And you mean you never read the last volume of the manga after the first time you read it? tbh I can understand that, I'm too scared to read the end again, my heart can't bear the pain. :'(

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

Ooh California Monogatari sounds interesting but I couldn't find much about it online? Did you read it in Japanese? what's it about?

The anime came out around October last year. They did a great job on it!

[bluetango]

The pacing of the last episode felt rather rushed. Sort of bummed, but oddly relieved (at the same time) about "Garden of Light" being left out of the anime adaptation.

 

I am now hoping for a different anime-only ending/epilogue (OVA?)--i.e. an ending where Ash was rushed to the hospital in time, and eventually makes it to Japan and reunites with Eiji.

[Little Hamster]

Banana Fish... TBH before the anime I didn't know a thing about it, but since I watch the anime I instantly fall in love and start to reading the manga and I more in love with the story, I love how the story goes, it heartbreaking but also so beautiful. When I read the Garden of Light for the first time I cried so hard for a good 2 hour or more :Sleepy:

 

even now 1 year after the anime, I still get sad to the point of almost crying or cried my heart out in the middle of night every time I saw anything related with Banana Fish (and my friend that keep posting Ash 'sleeping' in library at group didn't help at all!

even so I love to make banana fish art and post some at my IG >///

[Virdian*]

Love the anime, hate the ending. Perfect way to sum up this anime. They could have altered the ending in contrast to the manga in my opinion.

[_hina]

I remember when MAPPA released teasers for Banana Fish anime, it was at that time when Yuri on Ice had just finished and the studio had a big following from it. I was one of those people who was waiting for news about the continuation of yoi haha, but then they introduced bf as their upcoming project and the moment I saw the Ash and Eiji I was already invested. It wasn't until the end of my school semester that I started to read the manga and once I was reading it, I couldn't stop until I finished the whole story oh my goodness.

 

I think reading bf gave me a break from the other series that I've been catching up with, especially since I never strayed too far from what I know I will like. It was refreshing, reading a manga from the 1980s before the Boys Love genre was even a thing! (My understanding is that bl became popularised in the 1990s, through the form of doujinshi so that's probably why bf was tagged as shoujo and released in shoujo manga magazines.)

 

I loved the american setting and the way the plot was somehow something bigger than the characters, how despite their initial positions in life, they're somehow together to discover the truth and fuck with underhanded politics. How whatever the plot and situation that Eiji and Ash go through, they decided to stick it out to the end together. I loved reading how their relationship formed into something almost inseparable; from strangers, baggage (eiji deciding to stick with ash), friends, partners, soulmates.

 

And obviously that's how I thought the series would end, and the moment I read that last chapter I laid in bed crying for god how many hours because I wanted them to be together! The two of them smiling because they did it! They lived through all those hardships that we saw them go through! They deserved a happy ending! I'm sure that's what all of us wanted. (It would've been nice if Sing kept tabs with Lao but if I think about Sing regretting that he didn't, I get sad). I too would love to have that ending but alas, the ending made my heart ache. Heartbroken. And in a way, I guess I felt satisfied. It sure left me an impact.

 

(Garden of Light made me cry even more my goodness)

 

This series makes me feel grateful about having fanfiction as a form of escape lmao (if you have any alive!ash fic recs, pls send some!)

 

And then I watched the anime to cry about it all over again XD

I loved the OPs and EDs ugh they're just too good

 

(Oh god I didn't mean to make this post long;) )

[_hina]

After posting the post above, I can't believe that I didn't include Shorter! Writing here made me rekindle my interest to rewatch it again and I had forgotten how dark the whole series is overall (the fanarts really did a good job soothing the soul) and I didn't realise how early in the series that I had to grieve for Shorter.... He was the best friend and the one sole person who Ash could easily rely on, yet they really pushed him to his limits...