Banana Fish

Description

From Viz:
Vice City: New York in the 80s. Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold, ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of "Papa" Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash's older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa's insatiably ambitious hands and it's exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx's acquaintance.

Note: Vol 19 includes the oneshots "Angel Eyes" and "Garden of Light", later reprinted in Banana Fish another story.

Original Japanese: Comico, Flower Comics, Piccoma, Shogakukan

Official Translations:
English, Korean (Kakao Page, Manyeo Comics, MrBlue, Naver Series, RIDI)

Type

Manga

Related Series

Banana Fish another story (Side Story)

Associated Names

Банановая рыба

Рыбка-бананка

バナナフィッシュ

Groups Scanlating

Asphodel's haven

Latest Release(s)

v.Artbook Angel Eyes c.Cape Cod, 1985 by Asphodel's haven 18 years ago

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Status in Country of Origin

19 Volumes (Complete)
11 Bunkoban Volumes + 1 Gaiden Volume ( Complete)

The 2018 box-set and digital release counts Private Opinion: Banana Fish Another Story as Vol 20.

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1

Ends at Vol 19, Chap 47 Heavily abridged with a 2010s setting, Skips Vol 19 oneshots and Vol 20

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

4 topics, 11 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8.7 / 10.0 (397 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.53 / 10.0

45%

22%

16%

Last Updated

December 25th, 2025 4:07am PST - 3 weeks ago

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Genre

Action Drama Mature Mystery Psychological Shoujo Tragedy
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Categories

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Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Shogakukan

Serialized In (magazine)

Betsucomi (Shogakukan)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Viz (19 Vols - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #489 (-270)

Monthly Pos #1369 (-27)

3 Month Pos #1987 (-396)

6 Month Pos #2726 (-145)

Year Pos #2849 (-599)

List Stats

On 514 reading lists

On 1332 wish lists

On 720 completed lists

On 80 unfinished lists

On 549 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Banana Fish manga chapter count

3 weeks ago

Hiroko Utsumi Directs Banana Fish TV Anime

8 years ago

Banana Fish (Akimi Yoshida)

15 years ago

Really hardcore?

16 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

My kind of Classic...I will never forget it.

by AresAres
14 years ago

Rating: 9.4 / 10.0

I've heard of this title before, way back when I first started reading seinen and josei, and I straight out ignored it simply because of the ridiculous title. But then..man was I smacked in the face when I decided to read it years later. BF got me hooked in the later chapters when I realized that this is no mere manga about NY inner-cities gang conflicts. It's about sacrifice, relationships, love, danger, dignity, shame, and so much more that this 19 volume series contains. Other being super violent and action packed, it's also about the impenetrable bond between two boys who are polar opposites of each other.

However, it really isn't for every body. If you are looking for a steamy yaoi smut, or any kind of shonen-ai action, THIS IS NOT IT. The relationship between the two main protagonists is up to the reader to decide because the author has made it so. Also, don't be too turned off by the art at first if you really do want to give it a try. I wasn't too put off by it..and it gets better later.

Overall, I seriously love this manga to death. I finished the ending a few days ago and I still can't stop thinking about it. It will always be in my heart. Yoshida Akimi is brilliant and the translations for the English publications is astounding. I almost forgot it was a Japanese author that wrote it. Wow. Thanks for reading this long ass review.

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hate it !

by GOKI408
14 years ago

Rating: N/A

I start it, but could even do a chapiter ! maybe the story is good after, but the art is really really horrible ! the art is Horrible, i really don't like the charactere they are uglu ! i really can't read this things " sorry for the fan " but, every body has his own tast, so maybe you could like it ? :/

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This series is so horrible

by zombiefetishlove
14 years ago

Rating: N/A

it was very, very good in the beginning, but then it went downhill. the ending was the worse ending i've ever read and even though its sad it didnt make me cry. the ending was pointless. it made no sense whatsoever and it was like the author just crapped out the ending because they didnt care about the story anymore.

ash just gets knifed randomly...and bleeds to death in the library...and doesnt call for help...

to those of you who were wondering, there is no shonen ai in here. there is, however,

gay/ and straight rape (not graphic, they only say it happened) and a kiss between two males but that was only so one of them could pass a hidden message to the other. you could interpret things in a shonen ai way, but really if you're reading just for that you will be disappointed.

this series was horrible because it started off amazingly, and then went to the pits. it would have been better if the author didn't write an ending at all.

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really good classic

by jjchan
14 years ago

Rating: N/A

please don't be put off by the art, the story more than makes up for it. (plus i like the art--at least towards the later volumes anyway)

but: this is SHOUJO. it ran in a SHOUJO MAGAZINE and it was written primarily FOR GIRLS. of course guys can enjoy it too and i highly recommend it to everyone regardless of gender, but please give shoujo manga some credit, they're a diverse bunch--much more than just flowers and high school romance.

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good manga for boys ^_^

by tekiteki
15 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

I heard about "Banana Fish" after reading "Let Dai" and was expecting some... you know... "shounen ai" ^_~. It's not a "shounen ai", but imho even the bonds of friendship between boys weren't described well enough.
For me it is a shounen manga, mostly dedicated to Ash's coolness (in a kitsch way), politics and mafia. It lacks senses and depth in describing of friendship, love, inner worlds of protagonists, motives. It looks for me like all guys there are just playing "aren't we cool men" games, letting their enemies go, when it's better to kill them, taking elegant revenges.
After all the good comments about "Banana fish", I was reading it attentively till volume 5 and then I just began to read only the manga parts with Ash or Eiji being involved - I was trying to find the reason for all these pathetic comments. Till the end, these parts of a manga were not deep enough for me.
"Let Dai" is much more touching and deep and realistic, makes you feel terrible and shiver and scared of this dark world of street gangs's violence, and at the same time makes you feel attracted to it and to not-always-cool-and-right protagonists. For me, there was no such a thing in Banana Fish.
Oddly enough (for mangaka-woman), it's a good shounen manga (especially for not very mature readers). From the ~13volume began a real good action 🙂 The specials were good too. Just because of that, I'm giving it 7/10.

... Last updated 15 years ago

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Gotta say...

by 1ella2
15 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

One of the best series iv read.... but man did it take me a long time to get over the ending!!! It hurt soo much..... he deserved to be happy after all he went through.
I bawled at the end.
Still angry with the author for doing that 🙁

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My baby

by shakiya
15 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Again, when I see such a masterpiece fall under the radar because "the art sucks" I always tear up because this deserves more credit! Yes, the drawing may not be "up to the standard' as present drawings but who cares when it has hearts.

Also to make things clear, it's NOT SHOUNEN AI!!!There is no upfront kissing between 2 guys( ok TWICE but not for what ppl are thinking) Why can't ppl just believe that a deep frdship can happen between 2 guys? I like yaoi, shounenai as much as the next fangirl but when it's obviously not, it is false advertisement. 🙁

Every time I reread this I always laugh that this was categorized as "shojo" 😛 because it is 100% obvious that its shonen/seinen in every aspect. This manga is truly my heart of hearts....EXCEPT THE LAST VOLUME!!!! This manga was so beautiful before THAT happened and when the tag says tragedy believe me when it happens..it hits HARD. But for newbies, don't let this scare you away-read up to the middle of last volume and stop right there and you'll leave with a smile XD It had gunfights, betrayal, death, and beautiful friendship( in fact, the most beautiful I have seen) Poor Ash, the Shiva, compared to the innocent Eiji and the things they gone through together. When you finish the manga, it will be hard to believe that only 1 year went by but when you see the personal growth amongst the main characters-you realize that 1 year alone is enough to change a person.

I will give this a 9/10 because the editor apparently just force fed the whole bs about adding THAT at the end to the mangaka and totally just killed the happiness I longed for -_- But overall, I can't recommend this enough!! It deserved the award it was given!!!

... Last updated 15 years ago

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all in all great

by Yumemi
15 years ago

Rating: N/A

It has been way too much time since I originally read this so i can't really give my first impressions as I don't remember them lol, I don't think I ever had a problem with the art tough.
What can I say that hasn't been before well the art is actually god (at least I liked it).
The characters, the story, they're so human, so sad, so funny, so powerful, so deep, so twisted, so beautiful..... so great.

I've read it 4 times already, and I’ve cried every single time, when I begin it, I have trouble putting my mind off everything that will happen trough the story. And half way through it, I struggle to stop thinking about the ending, to keep on reading, just to be left crying my heart out in the end lol.
That’s how much I love it, I just can't help myself from rereading it, with enough time between reads to emotionally recover, to gather the courage, and to prepare myself for it, granted I’ll always end up in crumbles by the end but.....

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Awesome

by eatthetrees
15 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

If you don't like the art and deem it to be too wordy, what are you, five? Go look at a picture book instead if your brain can't keep up.

Seriously, this story cuts so deep. Though I hate tragedies (I hate crying when I read) it made me FEEL. I absolutely loved it.

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Original

by PepperPia
15 years ago

Rating: N/A

Don't be put of by the art, the art isn't good but the story makes up for it a hundred times over. The story get's complicated but not ridiculously complicated that you have no idea what's going on. It also keeps the characters, not killing them off one second then bringing in a replacement but rather when they are killed they stay dead and no new character comes in illogically. It's realistic as in it doesn't make out to be what it's not. It's taking me ages to read but it's worth it and you can't really rush it, it's not a quick read.

... Last updated 15 years ago

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