Banana Fish First Impressions

“The guy you’re meeting today, Ash, he’s a pretty sharp one. In no time, he got the neighborhood gangs under control.”

Banana Fish is something of an odd duck particularly from an adaptation standpoint. The manga ran from 1985 through 1994, and while it isn’t necessarily the most prominent of manga titles in the west, I’ve at least heard of it, even if I was unfamiliar with the particular details of the narrative. So why is it getting an adaptation almost 25 years after it wrapped up? Frankly, I’m not positive. It was announced last year as part of a commemoration of 40 years of the mangaka Yoshida Akemi’s work. I would presume a number of factors led to this adaptation, some of which probably include the increased prominence and acceptance of yaoi in the larger anime community, the current wave of adaptations of older works, and the prominence of the adapted work itself. However, the first episode does suffer from a handful of significant, albeit non-crippling, problems that hold it back. The series make one noticeable alteration to the setting and the jumble of moving parts present in this first episode haven’t coalesced into a cohesive narrative yet.

The original story was set in 1985 New York. This adaptation is set also in 1985 New York, except it is supposed to be present day. This actually threw me for a loop, because I had just assumed from the sleezy but colorful presentation of the city that we were in a period piece. It wasn’t until one of the Japanese characters made a reference to how everything looked like CSI: New York that I realized it was set in the present day (though I had been scratching my head trying to figure out where the opening segment with American soldiers in a desert setting was supposed to take place, given I thought it was the 80’s). For the record, it looks nothing like CSI: New York. It looks like the New York of Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins by way of Rent. This may not be a significant barrier to Japanese audiences; I’m not in a position to make that call. However, it lends an odd sense of anachronism to the proceedings for anyone moderately familiar with western media. This is a shame, because there isn’t a single factor that called for the show to be updated, and it serves to distract more than it helps. Aside from this peculiar incongruity, the show has a decent amount of polish and style to it. MAPPA has had some decent series in recent years, but their animation had been prone to inconsistencies like in Yuri on Ice and Days… wait, a long blonde male pared with a guy with shorter black hair? There may be some repetition going on here. I could be reaching though. Still, MAPPA’s track record ensures I’d keep any eye out for potential inconsistencies moving forward.

The actual plot follows a 17 year-old gang leader named Ash, who is affiliated with the higher tiers of organized crime. I haven’t grasped the specifics of the relationship between the criminal organizations yet, but he appears to have a tenuous relationship with the mafia. He also seems to get on the bad side of the mafia when he starts digging into a drug either named “Banana Fish” or associated with the term. Meanwhile, a Japanese reporter and his assistant, Okumura Eiji, are visiting New York to… do a profile on gangs I think? This was a plot point that could have used a bit more clarification. The introduction of Eiji doesn’t mesh with the 80’s street gang backstabbing and drug trafficking plotline. However, now that his path and Ash’s have intersected maybe the show’s narrative will proceed a little more smoothly. Ash is an interesting character and skilled, but the nature of his operations and his ability to actually manage his gang could use more exploration, though I suspect we may not get it. He also comes off as a bit combative in instances that may not call for it, even going so far as to mock a character for their homosexuality. Again, this would have made more sense in the 1980’s, but it’s an oddly abrasive character trait for someone apparently in 2018’s New York. Eiji doesn’t get as much screen time, so he simply comes off as an overly-youthful and out of his depth college student. Thinking back, he doesn’t actually do much of anything in this first episode besides remind people he’s actually 19 and ask to see Ash’s gun. I’m mildly intrigued to see how these characters develop and work off of one another, but, for the time being, they feel less like fleshed out characters than they do potential filled archetypes.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• As the episode acknowledges, Banana Fish is an allusion to the J.D. Salinger short story A Perfect Day for Bananafish. While I’ve heard of the title, I wouldn’t have picked up on the allusion myself, as I’ve never read any of Salinger’s work myself, and personally find that he was a rather distasteful and self-obsessed individual.
• As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, this is a yaoi series, though the actual hints of romance are pretty minor in this first episode. As such, I don’t know how overt the subject matter will become.
• Seriously, I spent the first ten minutes of this episode wondering where that opening scene with the soldiers was supposed to take place given I thought the time period was the mid-eighties. Apparently, in the original manga they were in Vietnam in that scene.