Sing Soo-Ling

Banana Fish is a 24-episode crime drama that the studio MAPPA made in 2018. It was directed by Hiroko Utsumi and aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina slot from July to December 2018. It is based on a classic manga by Akimi Yoshida that ran in the magazine Bessatsu Shojo Comic from 1985 to 1994. That magazine was mainly for girls, but the story became famous with all kinds of readers, and it was one of the first manga to find a wide audience in the United States. The original story took place in the 1980s. For the anime, the team moved it to the present day. The characters use smartphones, and the war in the background is the Iraq War instead of the Vietnam War. Each episode is named after a famous book or story, such as J. D. Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," which gives the show a quiet literary feeling. The setting is New York City, full of street gangs, dirty back alleys and powerful men in expensive offices. The main character is Ash Lynx, a seventeen-year-old gang leader. He is very smart, a great shot with a gun, and very good-looking. But his life has been full of abuse. As a boy, he was taken in by Dino Golzine, a rich and cruel mafia boss who wants to control him. Now Ash wants to break free. The mystery begins with two strange words, "banana fish." Ash's older brother Griffin came back from the war badly damaged in mind. He repeats these words but cannot explain them. When a dying man says the same words to Ash, Ash starts to dig. He soon learns that "banana fish" is connected to something dangerous, and that Golzine and other powerful people will kill to keep it secret. At the same time, a young man from Japan named Eiji Okumura arrives in the city. He is a former pole vaulter who is helping a photographer, Shunichi Ibe, write a story about the city's gangs. Eiji is gentle, honest and not at all used to violence. When he meets Ash, the two form a close bond almost at once. Ash sees in Eiji a kind of peace and safety he has never had. Eiji sees the lonely, kind person hidden behind Ash's cold face. The relationship between Ash and Eiji is the heart of the series. It is tender and very deep, and many fans see it as one of the most moving bonds in anime. Around it, the show is a fast thriller with gunfights, kidnappings, prison scenes and political plots. It also deals with hard subjects, including drug use, sexual abuse of children, and violence. Because of this, it is for older viewers. MAPPA's version was praised for bringing an old but important manga to a new generation. The manga itself had a big influence on later stories about love between men. If you like dark crime stories with strong emotions and a slowly revealed mystery, Banana Fish is a powerful and memorable watch.