Banana Fish 1
Posted: January 24, 2009 Filed under: Banana Fish 13 Comments »I’ve actively resisted this series for years. I have zero interest in a story about gangs, and to add insult to injury, it was added to my beloved Animerica Extra mid-series. Do you know how many new series got added to AE while I was reading it? Not many, and I wasn’t all that inclined to read a story about gangs from the middle. I hold long grudges. But I’ve also been hearing praise about it for years and years, and there’s only so much hype I can take before I cave and buy something. So here we are.
Banana Fish blew me away in less than one volume. I was pretty much convinced I was going to have to consume the entire series quickly by page 50 or so. It’s the dialogue that did it for me. The way the characters talk to one another is fantastic and extremely amusing. It’s literally the best translation/adaptation I’ve ever seen. Since Banana Fish consists entirely of characters talking to one another for most of the volume, that sort of thing can make or break it. I probably wouldn’t have liked it nearly as much with a straight translation, but I became sort of attached to the characters as they shared brutal quips with one another. It’s really the best.
Like I said, most of the volume is setup with little action. We get the story of Ash Lynx and we learn his place as a sort of leader of youth gangs in New York, and why it is that everyone follows him. We also learn of his connections with organized crime, and we start to see the beginnings of some huge conspiracy involving something called “Banana Fish,” which at this point looks like a drug. That’s lots and lots of story, but as I said, the characters are so entertaining as things are laid out that it makes it a pleasure to read.
There’s a little action towards the end, as one of the mob bosses figures Ash is hiding something important and has a few people beat him up and take some hostages in order to get the information. These scenes spare the reader the brutality (unlike in Let Dai), and Ash usually just talks back and takes his beatings pretty lightly… it’s actually kind of amusing to see the other guys get so worked up over him.
There’s two reporters from Japan that come to do a feature on youth gangs in New York. They get involved right when Ash’s hideout gets busted, and one of them gets kidnapped. That two reporters can waltz into a gang hideout and ask the leader questions about what he does is kind of hilarious, but I liked the detail since it made Ash and company a little more human and less the sort of punks you would expect.
Also, when was the last time anyone brought up Kojack? Like, 20 years ago? Of course, it would take a manga to once again ask the all-important question “Who loves ya, baby?”
Ash has sort of stumbled onto the Banana Fish drug, and it’s got something to do with his brother snapping in Vietnam a few years ago, but that’s pretty much the only solid direction as of yet. I love the way the plot is building, though, and I don’t see this getting old any time soon. I’m very much looking forward to running through this series very quickly.
Woot! I read this first volume and then got distracted by other stuff, mostly for Manga Recon, but I have the rest so I’ll definitely be reading it all.
Out of all of the manga I’ve ever read, this was one of the hardest to put down. I think it goes a bit downhill starting around Volume 12, though it picks up for the final volume, but that might be my personal tastes more than the actual quality of the latter volumes. Still, I think the plot of the last seven volumes could have easily been covered in three.
Hi Connie, I don’t think we’ve ever spoken, but Michelle Smith pointed me over here because she knows what a big fan I am of Banana Fish, and thought I’d enjoy your review. She was right! I’m so pleased that you’ve gotten caught up so quickly! I look forward to seeing what you think of the series as it goes on!
Dude!!
I bought this entire series all at once a few months back without once reading it. I just KNEW that I would love it (I like gang and cop manga).
I love the retro-ness of it and the old slang. Someone calls a guy a “honky” which blew my mind. It is such an amazing manga and I really wish that more of the author’s work was published in America.
Honestly, this–I don’t even know what to say besides this manga is the concentration of awesomeness. And Ash is the coolest dude ever. On the face of whole planet, he is is cool.
(And the references are amazing, ^___^.)
jun: I love it. As long as it doesn’t take forever for the next volumes to come in, I may have the entire thing polished off by mid-February if the series keeps up steam.
Sara K: Eh, that seems to be a symptom of a lot of really long, popular shoujo series, unfortunately. I still haven’t finished Hana-Kimi, because I suspect the quality probably levels off or declines at some point. I’m glad to hear that Banana Fish’s finale is epic, though. Now I have that to look forward to.
Melinda: Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed the review. I am really surprised how much I liked it after resisting for so long. I anticipate getting through it insanely fast, it seems like it’ll be a quick and addictive read.
Sarah: This series seems way more popular than I first thought, I guess I didn’t realize how good it was after passing over it all these years. I actually don’t like the gang-type manga series that much, or didn’t until recently. Between this, Let Dai, and Human Club, I’m starting to get a taste for them, and may go back for a few more. Shoujo action series in particular, I kind of like this weird sub-genre.
The old slang and the quips in here are to die for. I was amazed the slang didn’t seem more dated than it was, but it was all used so naturally nothing stuck out. I think my favorite quip was when Ash told that doctor not to be haunted by the ghosts of tiny babies, or something along those lines. I get a kick out of most of his comebacks, but that one killed me.
Well, the finale is not so much epic as, um, you’ll see. The reason why I don’t like the later volumes as much is that a) Banana Fish hardly appears at all (it’s called BANANA FISH for a reason, and it suffers when Banana Fish isn’t involved) b) there is less exploration of the characters. Therefore, in the later volumes, it’s repetitive violence, and while it still kept me on the edge of my seat, I just wanted it to end. However, in the last volume and a half, it becomes more about the characters again, which improved my enjoyment considerably.
Hm. I’ll probably need to read a little more to get more about what the Banana Fish is. I sort of forgot about it since I like the character interaction so much. I don’t mind repetitive violence, but I may mind it that late in the story when I’m dying for more hints between the characters or something. I intend to find out.
[...] new cooking manga Oishinbo. Connie has quite a mix going at Slightly Biased Manga, with reviews of vol. 1 of Banana Fish, vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys, vol. 11 of Monster, and vols. 9 and 10 of After School Nightmare. [...]
Welcome to the wave. ^_^ There’s a reason Banana Fish is still considered the best shoujo of all time in Japan–it kicks major, major ass.
Lianne: Yeah, I didn’t realize it was so popular. I’m sort of going back and hitting all the classics now, too. Basara and Red River are also on my list of old, popular shoujo I didn’t read but should have.