Banana Fish

From Open Encyclopedia

Banana Fish is a classic shōjo manga by Akimi Yoshida which ran from 1985 to 1994 and spawned several mini-spin-offs: Private Opinion, Angel Eyes, and The Garden with Holy Light. (The characters of Eiji Okumura and Akira Ibe were introduced in the early short story Fly Boy, In the Sky.) The series was quite popular in Japan, cited for its hard-boiled nature as 'one of the few shōjo manga which a man could read unashamedly' by Frederik Schodt in his book Dreamland Japan.

The name is most likely inspired by the short story A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger.

There are nineteen Japanese tankōbon or eleven bunko reprints published by Shogakukan, an art book, Angel Eyes and Rebirth: The Banana Fish Official Guidebook. The spin-offs are collected in a single bunko titled Another Story. There was also a NHK radio drama, released in 1996 on CD as "BANANA FISH Part 1-3". Eiji was voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue and Ash Lynx was voiced by Toru Furusawa.

Banana Fish is published in English by VIZ Media. The first (now out-of-print) graphic novel edition spanned the first seven volumes and featured 'flipped' artwork, subsequent "shōjo" editions are in the original right-to-left format and released on a bi-monthly basis (it is of note that these new editions feature 'toned down' language and some translational differences). The series also ran in both of Viz's failed manga magazines, Pulp and Animerica Extra for several years.

The exact nature of the warm relationship between protagonist Ash Lynx and photographer's assistant Eiji Okumura is of great speculation to fans.

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Plot Summaries (Spoiler to follow)

In 1973, in Vietnam, an American soldier goes mad and guns down his buddies. Since then, the only words he has uttered are "Banana Fish"...

Vol 1: Twelve years later, in New York City, police investigate a series of puzzling suicides, and a dying man gives a handsome charismatic young gang leader named Ash a sample of a mysterious substance...

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Characters

Ash Lynx (Aslan Callenreese) The protagonist, a street-wise young gang leader with expert marksmanship
Eiji Okumura (奥村英二 Okumura Eiji) Japanese former athlete who, due to an injury, became a photographer's assistant.
Dino Golzine Ash's former patron, a mafioso kingpin with pedophiliac tastes
Shunichi Ibe Japanese photojournalist who brings Eiji to the U.S. to do a report on street gangs.
Max Lobo (Max Glenreed) A Vietnam vet and journalist, has trouble with his ex-wife, has a young son
Shorter Wong The gang leader who controls Chinatown, ally to Ash, who has been friends with him for a long time
Sing Soo-Ling A very young member of the Chinese gang. Attacks with the deadly "flying dragon fang." He, like Ash, is amazingly smart and calculated for his age. He is loyal to Shorter.