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NEWS: Free's Hiroko Utsumi Directs Banana Fish TV Shōjo Crime Action Anime


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Яeverse



Joined: 16 Jun 2014
Posts: 1135
Location: Indianapolis
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 10:29 am Reply with quote
Well the challenge will be, how to adapt a 19 volume series, since the people involved are tied to only anime original things.
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Animechic420



Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 1724
Location: A Cave Filled With Riches
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 10:29 am Reply with quote
Holy shit..... I haven't thought about this manga in years. It's kinda old school.
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lebrel



Joined: 16 Oct 2009
Posts: 374
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 10:51 am Reply with quote
Well, "big plotty almost-BL" has proven market value, and it's a well-regarded nostalgia property, so this is a safe bet financially. I guess they're going to have to pick out one story arc, or really cut everything around the main relationship, to make it fit one season. Whatever they end up doing, I hope it's good... Although the soundtrack of the promo makes it seem like it's going to be Very 80's, which I could live without...
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 10:53 am Reply with quote
OH ARCEUS, YES! Banana Fish is my favorite manga of all time (and I've read quite a lot in 15 or so years) and I am very much excited for this! I would think maybe stopping after the battle with Arthur might work (that's about 7 volumes in?) if the series is short, though there would be more material to adapt later if this season does well.

Given how 80s nostalgia has been in the US lately, maybe Japan is getting in on it too then?

Also, while updating things to be in a modern setting is good and all, it really cannot work for Banana Fish. It has to take place in the 80s, it wouldn't and couldn't work in modern times with the existence of the internet and things like that. Parasyte was able to update pretty smoothly and I'm glad it worked out, but it would ruin Banana Fish without question.

Also, if it gets dubbed, they would really need to get an actor from Japan who speaks English with an accent for Eiji (it's how Viz translated him in the manga and I think it worked fantastic, he is just a teen spending some time in the US, after all)

Also, if nothing else, I really hope this prompt Viz to re-release the series in like a super duper omnibus format or something. Because yes, I will totally buy it all over again! Maybe hand some copies out like a crazed evangelist too.


Last edited by zawa113 on Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:09 am; edited 2 times in total
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musouka



Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 705
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 10:56 am Reply with quote
If it isn't done well, this will kill me. Banana Fish is my all time favorite manga.

Objectively, the manga went on a little too long anyway, so it's not like it can't be edited down, but so many of my favorite scenes and character building stuff came in the latter half. To do it right, you'd probably need at least 52 episodes, but heavily reworked and condensed, you could probably get it down to 22-ish. 11 episodes is just begging for pain, unless there's a possibility for more down the line.

I'd rather end it unfinished than try to cram everything in if the episode count is low. I'm guaranteed to buy the LE regardless.
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Keichitsu0305





PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:22 am Reply with quote
Sweet mother of God is this for real???!

Not only are they getting a director who worked on one of the most popular KyoAni series but Studio MAPPA is in charge of animation??? Ever since Jason Thompson's article, I have been a major fan of Banana Fish but to actually get an anime for it is bonkers!

I hope they keep all the drug , Vietnam War references, and manage the diverse cast. Wonder which arc they will pick since Noitamina shows rarely go beyond 12 or 26 episodes. So Uber excited for this!!
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lebrel



Joined: 16 Oct 2009
Posts: 374
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:23 am Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
Also, if nothing else, I really hope this prompt Viz to re-release the series in like a super duper omnibus format or something. Because yes, I will totally buy it all over again! Maybe hand some copies out like a crazed evangelist too.


Yes please. It was already out of print and hella expensive on the secondary market before I got into manga, and I've given up finishing my set of the series unless I win the lottery... Although I bet it would be a very expensive license, and Viz may not want to take a chance on a rerelease of an older series.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:33 am Reply with quote
^ It seems Viz doesn't currently have rights, since I don't see any digital release, but who knows, they might? But they should consider getting this back in print asap (I know an anime boosts manga sales in Japan, I would assume it may do the same here, after all, Parasyte almost went out of print until it got an anime and then Kodansha got that back in print pretty quickly), and also to pick up Umimachi Diary (one of my more wanted manga licenses for sure), or really any Akimi Yoshida, I'll take all of it, please!

I would definitely prefer for them to do less and do it well rather than try and cram the whole thing in. While this means we would be highly unlikely to ever see Blanca, if it encourages people to read the manga see how awesome Blanca is there, that would work out well for everyone.

Oh more thoughts! Now I might be able to get some fan art prints and stuff at conventions in the future! The joy!!!
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+ 光



Joined: 22 Mar 2016
Posts: 226
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 12:01 pm Reply with quote
keichitsu0305 wrote:
Noitamina shows rarely go beyond 12 or 26 episodes. So Uber excited for this!!


I second this. But if it gets 24/26 eps, it will be split cour.

Really looking forward to the Hiroko Utsumi / Mappa combination! The plot seems hectic too. Wish I could pick up the manga, but the releases are so old ... Viz where you @?
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Cait



Joined: 29 May 2008
Posts: 503
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 12:04 pm Reply with quote
Kind of disheartened to see this go to Noitamina and therefore Amazon exclusively (presumably). I will have to consider my options about if and how I will watch it. This was bound to happen sooner or later, but I wish it hadn't happened with one of my favorite manga titles.

That being said it's nice.to see Utsumi as director. I hope she can bring the same level of quality to the story and characters that she did to the first season of Free!.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 12:51 pm Reply with quote
I love it when old, out of print favorites get a reboot! I've been hearing about how many fans love Banana Fish for years, but its been out-of-print so longer that I never read more than a chapter or two (which I found in an old Animax magazine at a used book store).. A new anime brings a whole world of possibilities: the original manga reprinted in new editions in various languages, an extra short story by the original manga-ka or tributes by other manga-ka (Parasyte got two volumes of short stories written by a plethora of manga-ka who were fans of the original). I don't know if I can get into a dramatic 80's gang war (I'll certainly give it a chance), but the fans of wanted this for so long, it's thrilling to see fan dreams come true!
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Animechic420



Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 1724
Location: A Cave Filled With Riches
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
I love it when old, out of print favorites get a reboot!

Ikr? There are a ton of 80s/90s manga that finished, but don't have anime. I'd wanna see an old school romance manga get animated, like, From Far Away or Red River. Smile
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moogrin



Joined: 12 Jun 2016
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:28 pm Reply with quote
I was so obsessed with this series 15+ years ago haha, but then due to endless delays from Viz (prior to them changing the format they published it in & starting over) I never ended up actually finishing the series, though I did look up the ending one day just to spoil myself haha. But yeah, when I was into it I was pretty obsessed. One year my entire birthday present from my family was them paying a translator to translate the next volume of the manga for me since Viz hadn't released anything in a couple years & it was driving me bonkers. And I still actually have the Banana Fish Special Box collector's thing I got after obsessively stalking yahoo auctions japan listings haha.

Sadly my interests have changed since then... i remember sometime more recently (5 years ago?) I went back to try to read the whole series from the beginning and couldn't get into it in the same way I used to. Still, I'm happy to hear it's getting an anime! It's always a nice surprise when that happens for older series like this. And it sounds like there's a good staff around it, so I'll definitely try to watch it even though my manga interest waned. I do wonder like the others above me how they're going to adapt it in terms of length & trimming the story or selecting certain arcs. I feel like this might be one of those cases where a more liberal adaptation would be better than something that just tries to replicate the source material, in terms of actually making it work as a (presumably) 1-cour series.
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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2404
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:29 pm Reply with quote
It´s good to see that Noitamina is doing something of value and no one expected this one to get an anime. A TV drama maybe but an anime? Huh. So that´s all great but the manga will need a few changes to still function in 2018. Chief among them is the really clunky and frankly problematic (over)use of rape. The writers will also need to settle on the sexuality of the protagonists and their relationship.
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Calico



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 383
PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:31 pm Reply with quote
I don't think anybody was expecting this, but this is great news! I hope that this leads to a re-release of the series in English, maybe in new editions. (C'mon, Viz, do it!)
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