Manga Banana Fish

[cancer]

Banana Fish is a manga series that started in the 80's. It is Gackt's favorite manga supposedly. I have never actually read this manga, but I'd love to. If anyone has read it or knows about it, please say all here.

[Dagger]

I worship at the altar of Banana Fish. (Well, sort of.)

Right now I'm up to volume 11 of Viz's un-flipped re-release. It's amazing how the story manages to stay fresh and suspenseful, and a lot happens in every installment. The artwork improves subtly in the later volumes, but it never loses its atypical look. And fantastic though the plot is, it would be worth reading for Ash alone--he's one of my favorite characters in any anime or manga.

Would you like a spoiler-free synposis or something? Do you want to know more about the framework of the series before you chance your money on it? I'd be happy to plug Banana Fish till the cows come home, but I was wondering if you were looking for something more specific.

~Dagger~

[bellpickle]

[quote name='xliquidousx']It is Gackt's favorite manga supposedly.[/quote]

[SIZE=1]Yes, I've heard that too. I also heard that the lyrics of Asrun Dream were written from the POV of one of the characters. (I think it was Ash, but I'm not quite sure.)

EDIT: Yup, it was Ash. I managed to find [URL=http://www.senshigakuen.com/translations/lyrics/gackt/asrun_dream.htm][U]the webpage that confirms it[/U][/URL].

I definitely wouldn't mind reading a spoiler-free summary.[/SIZE]

[Lindus]

[QUOTE=Dagger]

Would you like a spoiler-free synposis or something?
~Dagger~[/QUOTE]
Actually, I'd appreciate that very much, if you'd be so kind. ;)

I've heard the title thrown around sometimes, but I never thought to look into. Any info you have would be great.

[haru sakurai]

i own the first 3 or 4 volumes of Banana Fish translated as well as the art book. it's an excecllent series, however the first time it was translated they put it on hiatus (this was before the 'great manga influx' and i suppose it just wasn't doing well enough). i was so into it at the time that i actually e-mailed the guy that translated it and he said he hadn't been contacted to do more. it's an amazingly engaging story of a teenager named Ash who lives on the streets of New York, and how he gets caught up with an innocent Japanese teenager, Eiji, and the intrigue of a secret drug Ash gets ahold of by chance. there are hints of shounen ai, but my straight guy friends love it anyway.

it has a lot of great characters, however i've chosen not to keep reading it even though it seems they're being translated again. hungering to read anything else more about it, i searched fansites for anything Banana Fish and ran across a horrible spoiler that basically ruined the story for me. [spoiler]i found out Ash has to kill Shorter Wong because he's going mad from the Banana Fish drug, and at the end of the series Ash is killed on his way to the airport to say goodbye to Eiji, and my heart just can't take that. ;-;[/spoiler]

if you like something different, stylistically and story wise, and also want to see where plot-oriented shojo manga has its roots, i'd suggest Banana Fish.

[Dagger]

Yeah, the series is very respected in Japan. It's been voted the best manga of all time on more than one occasion, if I remember correctly. That's quite a title to live up to, of course, but it [i]is[/i] very good.

To elaborate on what haru sakurai said, Ash is a gang leader and the unwilling protégé of Dino Golzine, a crime boss with ties to the Corsican mafia. The setting is New York City in the 1980s--or, to be more precise, the NYC underworld. Eiji Okumura is older than Ash but infinitely less street-smart. His mentor, Shunichi Ibe, is a journalist/photographer; Eiji is his assistant, and they've come to New York from Japan to do a story on youth gangs. They manage to set up a meeting with Ash, but not everything goes according to plan.

The art is spare and functional, but it has its own sense of style. It can take some time to get used to; Ash is supposed to be this ridiculous uber-bishounen, but he isn't really... until you start looking at his character design in the context of the series. Admittedly, it's easier to perceive that when you're further along not just because you become used to the designs, but also because they do grow slightly prettier.

It's heavy on both text and action; a lot is packed into each volume, especially later on. The English adaptation reads very naturally, so I particularly love the dialogue (which is a good thing, because there's a lot of it). There's plenty of death, violence and sexuality of the most sordid kind (though the latter is nearly always off-camera, so to speak), but it never seems forced or gratuitous. It just suits the story, which is more than you can ask from most manga.

And volume 12 comes out on Valentine's Day! *twiddles thumbs*

~Dagger~

[cancer]

Thanks for the info. I think I am going to buy that manga now. It does seem worthy of my money ^__^

[Dagger]

Just got volume 12 (rather early, thanks to TRSI!). Ash is going to have to do some major leveling up in order to even dream of facing [spoiler]Blanca, who is considerably more formidable than the likes of Yau-Si.[/spoiler]

I don't really know what to make of [spoiler]Blanca...[/spoiler]

In truth, I want to like him. But I get the feeling that he's sublimating certain issues into his treatment of Ash that he, as an adult, should have been able to work out on his own. Their conversation toward the end basically amounted to: [spoiler]"I was doing what I thought was best for you, even though I had an inkling of how much you cared for Eiji. Now I see that you really are serious about him. So... um... good luck?"[/spoiler]

It'll be a huge milestone for Ash if he can [spoiler]take down Blanca, but at the same time, I'd hate to see him go through that. And his future prospects become increasingly grim with each new installment of the series.[/spoiler] I'll be shocked if Banana Fish doesn't end with [spoiler]either him dying, Eiji dying, or both.[/spoiler] I'd ask how many volumes it is in total, but I almost don't want to know. It could keep on going forever, and I'd be happy.

The plot twists in volume 12 served to hammer home the point that [spoiler]Ash values Eiji over everything. His almost-suicide scene was very shocking.[/spoiler] As if to make up for that, there was a lot of comedy earlier on, with some great snappy dialogue.

Depressingly, volume 13 won't be out till April. :(

~Dagger~