Type: TV

Episodes: 24

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 6, 2018 to Dec 21, 2018

Premiered: Summer 2018

Broadcast: Fridays at 00:55 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Dentsu, Movic, Fuji TV, Shogakukan

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: MAPPA

Source: Manga

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama

Theme: Delinquents

Demographic: Shoujo

Duration: 22 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Plot: Aslan Jade Callenreese, known as Ash Lynx, was a runaway picked off the streets of New York City and raised by the infamous godfather of the mafia, Dino Golzine. Now 17 years old and the boss of his own gang, Ash begins investigating the mysterious "Banana Fish"—the same two words his older brother, Griffin, has muttered since his return from the Iraq War. However, his inquiries are hindered when Dino sends his men after Ash at an underground bar he uses as a hideout.

At the bar, Skip, Ash's friend, introduces him to Shunichi Ibe and his assistant, Eiji Okumura, who are Japanese photographers reporting on American street gangs. However, their conversation is interrupted when Shorter Wong, one of Ash's allies, calls to warn him about Dino. Soon, Dino's men storm the bar, and in the ensuing chaos kidnap Skip and Eiji. Now, Ash must find a way to rescue them and continue his investigation into Banana Fish, but will his history with the mafia prevent him from succeeding?

User Review: Since its publication in a shoujo magazine in the 1980s, Banana Fish has received several labels such as boys’ love (BL), shounen-ai, and yaoi due to popular misconceptions. Not only are these terms incorrectly applied to the work, but they also do not cut at the meat of what Banana Fish is. And even its original shoujo demographic tag deeply misrepresents the content of this anime.

Drugs. Rape. Pedophilia. Gangs. PTSD. Violence. Corruption.

These are the terms at the core of Banana Fish. Though at the same time, the crime and gangster backdrop is not all the story is about and confining it within those boundaries massively undersells the broad scope of topics this anime covers. Because while Banana Fish's pragmatic and deplorable world is filled to the brim with death and sexual violence, the tale it tells of its main character, Ash Lynx, is a visceral story about life and love. And just as deliberate as its juxtaposition of death with life and lust with love, Banana Fish is a carefully woven story about dichotomies. Its two halves, like the darkness and light reflected in its two main protagonists, Ash and Eiji, permeate this character drama in numerous ways to paint a grounded tale about both the ugly and beautiful aspects that make us human.

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