Okumura Eiji, a naive Japanese photographer’s assistant comes to New York, meets a gang leader in a bar and immediately gets to touch his gun.
Which is not exactly subtle, but does symbolise what Banana Fish is all about. This is a classic eighties shoujo romance manga, slightly updated for modern times, an adaptation a lot of fans of the manga have been waiting on. I only know of it by reputation myself, so if you want a review from a proper fan, try Anime Feminist. As for me, judging on the first episode only, this is going to be one of the best series this season. Just seeing those eighties character designs with real noses is a win for me. It makes it stand out from every other anime this season, just like Megalo Box did last season.
Most of the focus in this episode is on Ash, the blonde gang leader, who stumbles across a murder done by his own men. Just before he dies, their victim hands Ash something and mumbles two words: Banana Fish. Which are the last words Ash’s older brother said when he seemingly went mad and attacked his squad in Iraq. It’s this that drives the plot of the series and this first episode is mostly setup, getting all the pieces in place for the story to start in earnest. There’s a lot happening this episode but it never felt rushed. Similarly, though about a dozen new characters are introduced, it was easy enough to keep track of who was who and what their role in the story was. It makes such a difference to have a good team working on this
There are some nasty undercurrents in this episode, revolving around the relationship between Ash and mafia boss “Papa” Dino Golzine, here doing his best to come across as a paedophile. Combine that with his henchman being a “fan” of the videos of Ash used to make and some very nasty things are insinuated here. How these insinuations, as well as Ash and Eiji’s relationship will be treated is what’ll make or break Banana Fish. The original manga is very much a product of its time and the way we talk about queerness, about being gay, about child abuse, has changed. Banana Fish can be a bit problematic and the anime has to be careful in how it deals with these elements, finding that balance of being true to the original and not causing harm by doing so.
The same duty falls on Amazon’s translators and they already failed, by translating a non-homophobic insult with a gay slur. The first hurdle and the translation failed. Disappointing. Hopefully this will improve with later episodes and corrected in this one.
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