History Manga / BananaFish

[[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-02-22/banana-fish-anime-reveals-cast-more-staff-1st-promo-video-modern-day-setting/.128049 It has been announced that an anime adaptation is in the works]], produced by Creator/{{MAPPA}} and airing for 12 episodes in the Summer 2018 season. The anime celebrates [[MilestoneCelebration the 40th anniversary of Yoshida's debut as a mangaka]]. It was brought over internationally via Website/{{Crunchyroll}}.

Creator/VizMedia originally published the English version under its ''Shoujo Beat'' label. Following the anime's broadcast, they decided to issue a reprint.

[[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-02-22/banana-fish-anime-reveals-cast-more-staff-1st-promo-video-modern-day-setting/.128049 It has been announced that an anime adaptation is in the works]], produced by Creator/{{MAPPA}} and airing for 12 episodes in the Summer 2018 season. The anime celebrates [[MilestoneCelebration the 40th anniversary of Yoshida's debut as a mangaka]].

[[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-02-22/banana-fish-anime-reveals-cast-more-staff-1st-promo-video-modern-day-setting/.128049 It has been announced that an anime adaptation is in the works]], which will be produced by Creator/{{MAPPA}} and will air in 2018. It will celebrate [[MilestoneCelebration the 40th anniversary of Yoshida's debut as a mangaka]].

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Several minor crimes, actually, all leading to the ''same'' plot. In 1973, a soldier in Vietnam goes crazy and attacks his own platoon, saying only the words "banana fish." In the present, Ash happens upon two of his own gang attacking a man in a suit, who hands Ash a mysterious vial and says "banana fish" before dying. And the police are investigating a string of mysterious suicides of fixers for various mafia groups.

[[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-10-22/free-hiroko-utsumi-directs-banana-fish-shojo-crime-action-tv-anime/.123045 It has been announced that an anime adaptation is in the works]], which will be produced by Creator/{{MAPPA}} and will air in 2018. It will celebrate [[MilestoneCelebration the 40th anniversary of Yoshida's debut as a mangaka]].

* SleightOfTongue: Ash uses an empty medicine capsule and a kiss to pass some important information to Eiji while in prison. It's implied to be Eiji's SacredFirstKiss, but he doesn't seem to mind ...

* TheStarscream: A couple examples. First, there's Arthur, Ash's nominal subordinate; when Golzine gets displeased with Ash, he uses Arthur to take over the gang. Later in the series, there's [[spoiler:Colonel Foxx, who is hired by Golzine along with his mercenaries to take down Ash's gang, but who quickly realizes the potential of Ash and the "banana fish" and decides to take over.]]

* AnimalThemeNaming: Ash ''Lynx'' and Max ''Lobo'' are major characters. Subverted in that their real names are Aslan Callenreese and Max Glenreed, respectively; they're both using fake names for various reasons. Could maybe still apply to Ash, though: Aslan ''is'' the name of a large cat in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''...

* TheEighties: The series is explicitly set in 1985, during the height (depth?) of New York City's gang problems.

* AnimalThemeNaming: Ash ''Lynx'' and Max ''Lobo'' are major characters. Subverted in that their real names are Aslan Callenreese and Max Glenreed, respectively; they're both using fake names for various reasons.
** Could maybe still apply to Ash: Aslan ''is'' the name of a large cat [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia in another series...]]

* [[spoiler:{{Brainwashed}}: The eponymous "banana fish" is actually a combination of LSD and a plant derivative that can be used to brainwash people into doing whatever you want. It's exactly as useful as it sounds, which is why everybody and their mother is trying to get their hands on it.]]
* [[spoiler:BrainwashedAndCrazy: The ultimate, unfortunate fate of Shorter Wong.]]

* CruelMercy: A defining trait of Dino Golzine, who almost always orders his men to take Ash alive. He's spent years raising and training Ash; he's not going to let his investment go to waste.
** Late in the series, he manages to [[spoiler:adopt Ash and force him to work for him. Ash comes up with several brilliant but extremely ruthless plans to expand the cocaine trade, at the expense of potentially hundreds of lives. He's horrified at having to be so merciless, and begs Golzine to simply let him be a SexSlave instead. Golzine replies that prostituting Ash's body is nothing new; he wants to utterly degrade and despoil his ''soul''.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: The more we find out about Ash's past, the more we wish we hadn't.

* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Ash isn't a villain, but otherwise fits this perfectly. Many times over the course of the series, someone makes the mistake of underestimating the 17-year-old who looks like a Calvin Klein model—and they end up paying for it, because behind those looks is the mind of a Napoleon and the ruthlessness of a, well, lynx.
** Borrowing from a different religion, Ibe compares Ash to an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asura asura]], from Buddhist mythology. He even notes that, in Japanese, you would pronounce it ''Ashura''.

* GangBangers

* [[spoiler:PostClimaxConfrontation: After Golzine is killed and all the "banana fish" evidence destroyed, Eiji leaves for Japan. He sends a letter to Ash, asking him to come to Japan as well, and live out the rest of his days in peace. Ash agonizes over the decision, finally making up his mind to leave—and he's promptly stabbed by Sing's lieutenant, who never forgave Ash for killing Shorter Wong.]]

* TheTriadsAndTheTongs
* TruthInTelevision: [[spoiler:During [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar the Cold War]], the U.S. (and probably Russia, too) did indeed try to use LSD as a method of brainwashing. It was ultimately unsuccessful. For more information, read up on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra Project MKUltra]].]]
** Additionally, [[spoiler:[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_and_Contras_cocaine_trafficking_in_the_US the US government was willing to do remarkably unethical things in order to prevent the rise of communist governments in South America.]]]]

* UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar: Forms part of the backstory, and two major characters are veterans of the war.

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Averted. [[spoiler:"Banana fish"]] was a complete accident, which is why they're trying to figure out how to make more. It's taken years of experiments, analysis, and autopsies to get this far.

-->''"[[CulturedBadass Strength and intellect.]] Nerves of steel. [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Matchless grace and beauty.]] He has it all. He was to be the Prince of Darkness—that's what I groomed him for. Ash is my creation."''
-->--'''[[BigBad Dino "Papa" Golzine]]'''

NeedsWikiMagicLove.

* UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar: Forms part of the backstory, and two major characters are veterans of the war.

* AnimalMotifs: Limited mostly to Ash, whose given last name is "Lynx" and who is often compared to a predatory cat, like a leopard or lion.

* KeystoneArmy: [[spoiler:In the final arc, Ash's forces are made up of well-armed GangBangers with some street-level experience, but they're up against highly-trained mercenaries with superior equipment and intel. Ash's tactical smarts are the only reason they don't get stamped into paste immediately, so Ash himself is the keystone. Foxx's men go [[StraightForTheCommander straight for him]]. Ash manages to turn this to his advantage: he and a few men hole up in a building and let Foxx besiege them, giving the rest of his forces time to escape and regroup. The only reason this works is because Golzine wants Ash to be taken alive, so Foxx can't just fire an RPG into the building.]]

* ProfessionalKiller: [[spoiler:Blanca, the man who taught Ash most of his killin' skills. He's a RetiredBadass who gets hired by Golzine to help stop Ash. Interestingly, he's a combination of FriendlySniper and ColdSniper: he's quite personable, smiles often, and is overall quite affable, but he's also completely ruthless and seemingly has no qualms about killing the boy he once trained. In the end, though, he turns out to be a HitmanWithAHeart, joining Ash's side for the final fight.]]

* UnknownRival: Downplayed villainous example. [[spoiler:Yau-Si]] considers himself to be the EvilCounterpart to Ash, as they were both horribly abused children who learned to kill in order to survive, and he vows to kill Ash personally. Ash doesn't consider him a threat, at least not on the same level as Dino. [[spoiler:He isn't, in the end, and once he completes his revenge against his own family, he essentially retires.]]

* DudeLooksLikeALady: Yau-si.

* SleightOfTongue: Eiji uses an empty medicine capsule and a kiss to pass some important information to Eiji while in prison. It's implied to be Eiji's SacredFirstKiss, but he doesn't seem to mind ...

* HitmanWithAHeart: [[spoiler:Blanca, the man who taught Ash most of his skills, is extremely cold and calculating, but ultimately joins Ash's gang after working for Golzine.]]

* ProfessionalKiller: [[spoiler:Blanca, the man who taught Ash most of his killin' skills. He's a RetiredBadass who gets hired by Golzine to help stop Ash. Interestingly, he's a combination of FriendlySniper and ColdSniper: he's quite personable, smiles often, and is overall quite affable, but he's also completely ruthless and seemingly has no qualms about killing the boy he once trained.]]

* SexSlave: [[spoiler:Part of Ash's background. Dino has plenty more young boys in a private club on the docks.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: A particularly cruel weaponization of the trope. At one point, Dino has Ash totally cornered and with no hope of ever escaping Dino again. Dino offers Ash a deal: if Ash commits suicide right there, Dino will leave Eiji alone for the rest of his life. [[spoiler:Ash immediately takes the offered gun, puts it to his temple, and pulls the trigger. It's empty. When he realizes this, he asks for bullets. [[CruelMercy Dino has no intention of letting Ash slip through his fingers again.]]]]

** After Ibe hears about [[spoiler:Blanca]]'s ImprobableAimingSkills, Ibe says, "My God, it's just like ''Manga/Golgo13''."

* HitmanWithAHeart: Blanca, the man who taught Ash most of his skills, has a conscience. [[spoiler:He even joins Ash's gang after working for Golzine.]]

** Ash quotes Creator/ErnestHemingway's short story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," comparing himself to the leopard found frozen near the summit.

* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:Ash's young friend Skip takes a fatal bullet for Ash early in the series.]]