The Crime-Drama ‘Banana Fish’ Anime Debuts this July ⋆ Anime & Manga

Banana Fish is one of the forgotten manga hits from the ’80s. Despite selling over 11 million copies, it never received an anime adaptation – until now. The Banana Fish Anime has just released it’s first trailer and the anime fandom has exploded with excitement for a decent looking crime filled anime.

Banana Fish Anime Release Date

Studio MAPPA (In This Corner of the World / Kakegurui / Yuri!!! on Ice) first announced the adaptation last year. Today, the anime’s official website updated with new info, including its July 5 debut date!

Banana Fish Anime Characters

The anime’s new trailer revealed that Survive Said The Prophet is the performing the opening theme, “found & lost.” New cast members were also revealed:

Makoto Furukawa as Shorter Wong
Yoshimasa Hosoya as Frederick Arthur
Shinji Kawada as Shunichi Ibe
Jun Fukuyama as Jusis
Toshiyuki Morikawa as Blanca

Banana Fish will air on Noitama and run for 25 episodes, which is rare for the programming black. Most Noitama shows only run for 11 episodes. It’s also been confirmed that the anime will adapt all 110 manga chapters while only changing the setting to modern day.

Banana Fish Anime main voice cast

Yuuma Uchida as Ash Lynx
Kenji Nojima as Eiji Okumura
Unshou Ishizuka as Dino Golzine
Hiroaki Hirata as Max Lobo

Banana Fish anime’s production staff includes:

Director: Hiroko Utsumi (Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club)
Chief Animation Directors: Ayumi Yamada (Seraph of the End chief animation director) and Shinpei Kamada (Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul animation director)
Scriptwriter: Hiroshi Seko (Mob Psycho 100)
Character Designer: Akemi Hayashi (Doukyusei -Classmates-)
Music Composition: Shinichi Osawa (Ninja Slayer from Animation)
Supervisor: Akitsugu Hisagi (Yuri!!! on Ice key animation)

Banana Fish is notable for being a cross-demographic hit despite being a shoujo manga. Fans of all ages and genders fell in love with the action-packed, dialogue-heavy series that is dripping with mature themes. In fact, many international licensors marketed it as a seinen title due to its themes.

Banana Fish Anime Synopsis

The story centers around Ash Lynx, a child runaway who is raised as a hitman and sex toy of the crime lord Dino Golzine. As a 17-year-old, Ash is ready to rebel against Dino and lead his own gang. While the streets are prepping for a turf war, the pure-hearted Eiji Okamura arrives from Japan, and he is pulled into a whirlwind of violence after meeting Ash.