As reported in late 2017, Akimi Yoshida’s seminal shoujo manga BANANA FISH will be getting an anime TV series adaption by Studio MAPPA. The show will begin airing on 5th July 2018 on Fuji TV’s Noitamina block in Japan, as well as Amazon Prime Video worldwide.
However, BANANA FISH will also be holding a special two-episode sneak peek on 30th June 2018 (ticketing details to be announced). The screening will feature a special appearance by cast leads Yuma Uchida and Kenji Nojima. In addition to the main cast announced previously, which also include Hiroaki Hirata and Unshou Ishizuka, additional cast members Makoto Furukawa, Yoshimasa Hosoya, Shinji Kawada, Jun Fukuyama, and Toshiyuki Morikawa were announced today.
The show’s staff list reads like a who’s who of the recent anime scene, with “Free!” director Hiroko Utsumi at the helm, and “Mob Psycho 100” screenwriter Hiroshi Seko in charge of the script. Studio MAPPA promises to be faithful in adapting the show from the manga, with the only change being a more contemporary setting compared to the original 80s-90s depiction in the original work.
BANANA FISH tells the story of two lives intertwined by both love and violence. Ash Lynx is the adopted heir to an Italian crime family, one of the gang’s most talented contract killers, and favourite plaything of his “father” and head of the family. Eiji Okamura is a naive young man and injured former athlete, who arrives in New York to apprentice with a photographer covering street gangs. Their fateful meeting and subsequent relationship becomes the pivot by which Ash’s former gang affiliations and Eiji’s once normal civilian life soon revolve around.
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