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Rating: 
Summary: It made me an addict
Review: "Banana Fish." A gritty crime drama set among the drug infestation and gang warfare of 1980's New York City. The story revolves around the recurring, mysterious name "Banana Fish," and a rash of murders and suicides that draws young gang leader Ash and a ragtag circle of aquaintances and villians into the crossfire.What can I say about "Banana Fish"? I absolutely LOVE it! Why do I love it? Well, for several reasons. One: I'm a fan of shounen ai (a genre of manga created for females, usually by females, that focuses on love and relationships between male characters). It's really difficult to get a hand on such manga here in the States for various reasons, such as marketability, prudishness, etc. Any such manga that do make it across the ocean are often bastardized through translation to tone down any homosexual references. But since "Banana Fish" is currently being serialized in "Pulp," an American magazine featuring manga along a more sophisticated vein, we avoid this problem. Two: Not only is it shuonen ai, but it's shounen ai with an edge. One the one hand you've got your moments of angst and emotional corkscrews as associated with girls' manga, and on the other you've got flying bullets and spraying blood galore. This sort of schizophrenic mix made this manga wildly popular with female as well as male readers when it was released in Japan. Three: Story, Story, Story. I've never been hooked so by ANY manga, EVER. There's the main plot of the elusive name "Banana Fish," and from that branch several subplots; Ash's dark, disturbing past, his burgeoning relationship with Japanese reporter Eiji, Vietnam vet Max Lobo's marital woes, tensions between mob boss Papa Dino's crew and the Chinese Mafia, you name it. It's complex, its intense, and its better than any Superman comic you'll ever read. Now, I've read a few comments on the web by people who say that the artwork in "Banana Fish" is lacking. Well, I have to say I agree. It's quite spare. The characters are drawn well, but the art consists of a rather stark contrast between black and white, with little gradation in between. Not necessarily a bad thing, but spare nonetheless. Whether this is an artistic choice by artist Akimi Yoshida, her individual style, or a question of skill, I can't say. But being an art student myself, I can be pretty critical of the the composition of a piece of work, and basically if a manga doesn't hook me visually, I might not pick it up at all. In other words, I wouldn't be reading "Banana Fish" if the story didn't grab me by the tail and drag me along with it. The story more than makes up for any shortcomings in the artwork. And who can say the look of "Banana Fish" won't change in future installments? Yoshida started the manga in the mid eighties, and ended it in 1994. That's almost a decade of storyline! It's one of the things that makes me so happy about picking up this manga. Not only is a story I love predestined to continue for a long while hence, but we get to see the development of the characters, the building of the plot, and the evolution of Yoshida as an artist. Who knows what'll happen, who'll win or lose, live or die. (Unless you speak Japanese and have access to the original manga, which I don't. *sob*) So here I sit, writing this review, waiting for "Banana Fish" volume 4 to be delivered to me and for volume five to be released. I can either subscribe to Pulp Magazine and get my monthly dose of "Banana Fish" for 60 bucks (ouch), or I can wait the six-to-eighteen months between the release of each graphic novel (double ouch). Either way, it's worth the money and the wait.
Rating:
Summary: Ko...koibito?
Review: Banana Fish. Though when one first reads this series, it seems like a incredible example straight-forward action. And let me remind you, in case the "girls' comic" threw you off; girls enjoy a good dramatic action series as much as boys. Perhaps even more. Having personally read most of it in Japanese, I can assure you that this is not the case, however disappointing it might be to some of you. The characters have layer upon layers of deep secrets and more. Once you begin, you'll find yourself reading not just to see how many people Ash can blow away with a machine gun, but you'll begin to wonder just WHAT his relationship with Eiji *is*. I'm not going to give anything *major* away here, but it should suffice to say that when asked, Shin explains that they are not "lovers", but "much more"...now the fun is watching their relationship bloom amid the squallor of mid-eighties New York City...But the body count helps too.
Rating:
Summary: Ko...koibito?
Review: Banana Fish. Though when one first reads this series, it seems like a incredible example straight-forward action. And let me remind you, in case the "girls' comic" threw you off; girls enjoy a good dramatic action series as much as boys. Perhaps even more. Having personally read most of it in Japanese, I can assure you that this is not the case, however disappointing it might be to some of you. The characters have layer upon layers of deep secrets and more. Once you begin, you'll find yourself reading not just to see how many people Ash can blow away with a machine gun, but you'll begin to wonder just WHAT his relationship with Eiji *is*. I'm not going to give anything *major* away here, but it should suffice to say that when asked, Shin explains that they are not "lovers", but "much more"...now the fun is watching their relationship bloom amid the squallor of mid-eighties New York City...But the body count helps too.
Rating: 
Summary: Did you know...?
Review: Did you know that Banana Fish is one of Camui Gackt's -- the disturbing, Japanese singing sensation -- favorite manga. Yes, it is a shoujo, but Gackt loves it -- he said so in an interview. So, in addition to Banana Fish I would reccommend "Under the Glass Moon" which features a cameo appearance by Gackt and his former bandmate, Mana, from Malice Mizer. Some great music that. Enjoy your manga! I liked this manga because I'm easily amused by the shounen-ai hints and this manga has a few. I reccommend this manga if you also like shounen-ai hints, or the humor of Americans to Japanese.
Rating:
Summary: Kinetic adventure
Review: In this first volume of the popular shojo manga (usually considered girls' comics) magazine, a young gang leader named Ash is given a sample of a mysterious substance by a dying man. Ash's mafia boss (who's gay) sends his goons to get the sample back, thereby involving the police when a couple of Japanese researchers are unintentionally caught in the ensuing violence. Ash is trying to solve the mystery of the drug sample, but his capture by the mafia lord's lackeys seems to have halted that. But can young Eiji get help to Ash in time to save him? Highly energetic and totally engrossing, the first volume of "Banana Fish" is certain to hook any reader.
Rating:
Summary: refreshingly serious and provactive material
Review: It's nice to see more mature, realistic, and subtle manga being imported. With such titles as Banana Fish on the shelves we just may keep the Sailor Moon hordes at bay. Banana Fish in particular is a solid read, (reminiscent of Akira but without the psychokinetic and apocalyptic underpinnings) and something I'll look forward to collecting in its entirety.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let the title fool you !
Review: Ok well, not only is the book not about a banana and a fish as one might expect, I hardly found the book's outside to depict the inside at all ! Yes it's called a shoujo , however I found it to read more like a shonen.. and although there is a few suggestive things within the first volume (just of a backround history of the main charecter being his boss's play thing) nothing is shown , not even a kiss, so don't worry yourself if the label shoujo is keeping you from reading this well written manga ^-^
Rating:
Summary: What is the Banana Fish?
Review: Volume 1 of Banana Fish is certainly an intriguing introduction to a series involving youth gangs, an all-but-comatose Vietnam vet, the NYPD, a pair of Japanese reporters, the mafia, and a series of mysterious suicides. What more could you want from your manga? This volume doesn't do anything in the way of answering questions, but it certainly does a good job of asking them. How is Papa Dino connected to what happened to Ash's brother in Vietnam? What's the deal with the mysterious suicides? What does Arthur think he's going to get out of all of this? What is Marvin's real interest in Ash? What is Eiji going to do now? Even though Banana Fish is technically a shojo manga (girls' comic), I don't see it. The themes are very masculine (street gangs, police, and the mafia), and there's certainly enough violence to keep any adolescent male happy. In addition to the rough-and-tumble world, however, there is a storyline with enough mystery to keep you wanting more. I am looking forward to Volume 2.
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