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This Week in Anime - Does the '80s-tastic Banana Fish Work For Modern Anime Fans?


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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5499
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 1:26 pm Reply with quote
Keeping it in the 80s would of been better, If you have to have it now, at least give them some sensible fashion. Poor fashion choices are fine for the 80s, but now it looks rather silly.
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Lactobacillus yogurti



Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 851
Location: Latin America
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 1:59 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
Keeping it in the 80s would of been better, If you have to have it now, at least give them some sensible fashion. Poor fashion choices are fine for the 80s, but now it looks rather silly.


I dunno... Nowadays, the fashion trends I've seen around are probably even more bizarre and poorly thought than 30 years ago.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5499
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 2:39 pm Reply with quote
I am not familiar with the original manga, but to me the anime works in a modern setting and timeline. Banana Fish is to me the best show of the season so far.
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A Mystery



Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1888
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 2:53 pm Reply with quote
It also helps that I've never been to New York, so I'm less distracted by changes between the eighties and now.
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Lord Oink



Joined: 06 Jul 2016
Posts: 876
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:35 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
Keeping it in the 80s would of been better, If you have to have it now, at least give them some sensible fashion. Poor fashion choices are fine for the 80s, but now it looks rather silly.


No way. Time period stuff is great. Otherwise we get stuff like the Jem reboot where she's some annoying millennial YouTuber.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5499
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:45 pm Reply with quote
Lord Oink wrote:
MarshalBanana wrote:
Keeping it in the 80s would of been better, If you have to have it now, at least give them some sensible fashion. Poor fashion choices are fine for the 80s, but now it looks rather silly.


No way. Time period stuff is great. Otherwise we get stuff like the Jem reboot where she's some annoying millennial YouTuber.
To the period that it is set in yes.Also please sir/mam, some tact, I did not want to be reminded of Jem.
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space.



Joined: 22 Jun 2018
Posts: 44
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 4:29 pm Reply with quote
What did they do to Ash? His design is ruined.
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Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 1771
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Magical Misery Girls seem all the rage these last few years, so maybe it's just male characters who don't need ALL the trauma anymore; although I remember Gangsta falling over itself to find new ways to make the two guys' childhoods even more awful. Reminds me of a line in Bunny Drop where Rin's mum's editor says something like "I think you've got some good characters here: now you just need to give them all some trauma."

edit: Also, is this going to be another one of those modernisations where they give the characters smartphones but none of them know what Google is?
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11584
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 4:36 pm Reply with quote
Being sent to prison without a trial probably happens more now than it did 30 years ago (now whether they could get away with sending a minor into the adult population is more iffy, though it's happened, "accidentally.") I don't think they said he was found guilty and sentenced, just that he was sent to prison (or jail - not sure the writer/subber was concerned about the difference, which isn't much if you're the one behind bars).

Not only does the NDAA permit indefinite "detention" of US citizens by the military without trial, or even charges being brought, municipal courts are so backlogged and police miss court dates with impunity causing delays, that people who can't afford bail sometimes spend years awaiting trial. The US has around half a million people in jail pre-trial right now.

Anyway, I'm loving this show. Angst is my jam. As for the reviewers on this point, methinks they doth protest too much. Wink
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7358
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:17 pm Reply with quote
I'm honestly not sure why they need to address that Marvin is gay so much either. I mean, the guy's a pedophile, regardless of his sexual orientation, he's still a pedophile and a piece of trash. So that is definitely one thing I wish the anime would tone it down on. If society in the future ever is really ok with pedophilia though? I'll move to Mars.

@Lemonchest
Not sure if I've seen anyone use knockoff Google yet, but the characters are very aware that cell phones have GPS tracking on them (it's addressed in literally episode 1), so it's not like they're completely clueless to the basic functions of a modern smart phone.
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katscradle



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 469
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:59 pm Reply with quote
Lemonchest wrote:
Also, is this going to be another one of those modernisations where they give the characters smartphones but none of them know what Google is?


So far the characters use tech and it neither really creates new plot problems nor solves them. When Eiji was trying to find a restaurant in Chinatown with his phone I was kind of laughing how he ended up having to ask directions anyway. Especially Apple Maps is so unreliable. My sister had a similar problem just a couple weeks ago when we were supposed to meet for lunch.

MarshalBanana wrote:
Keeping it in the 80s would of been better, If you have to have it now, at least give them some sensible fashion. Poor fashion choices are fine for the 80s, but now it looks rather silly.

That bomber jacket Eiji is wearing was all the rage in men's fashion last year.
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Usagi-kun



Joined: 03 Jul 2013
Posts: 877
Location: Nashville, TN
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 6:55 pm Reply with quote
katscradle wrote:
Lemonchest wrote:
Also, is this going to be another one of those modernisations where they give the characters smartphones but none of them know what Google is?


So far the characters use tech and it neither really creates new plot problems nor solves them. When Eiji was trying to find a restaurant in Chinatown with his phone I was kind of laughing how he ended up having to ask directions anyway. Especially Apple Maps is so unreliable. My sister had a similar problem just a couple weeks ago when we were supposed to meet for lunch.

MarshalBanana wrote:
Keeping it in the 80s would of been better, If you have to have it now, at least give them some sensible fashion. Poor fashion choices are fine for the 80s, but now it looks rather silly.

That bomber jacket Eiji is wearing was all the rage in men's fashion last year.


So were men's rompers, tbf.
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XerneasYveltal



Joined: 09 Jun 2015
Posts: 676
Location: Philippines
PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:48 am Reply with quote
A car that looks like the Dodge Charger (pre-2015 LX/LD) in one scene in episode 2 makes me think that the anime's setting appears to have been updated.
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See more glass



Joined: 04 Jan 2012
Posts: 16
Location: In the 20th century
PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:05 pm Reply with quote
Banana Fish is not a BL series. It's a shojo with gay leads.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:19 am Reply with quote
As a native New Yorker, the first episode kept making me cringe. It was so distracting to see "'80s New York as interpreted by a Japanese author who saw a lot of action and crime movies." With cellphones. That was not a New York I recognized, and it was hard to keep my suspension of disbelief up.

And what was up with a police officer setting up journalists to interview a mob boss at large? That did not make any sense.

Gina Szanboti wrote:
Being sent to prison without a trial probably happens more now than it did 30 years ago (now whether they could get away with sending a minor into the adult population is more iffy, though it's happened, "accidentally.") I don't think they said he was found guilty and sentenced, just that he was sent to prison (or jail - not sure the writer/subber was concerned about the difference, which isn't much if you're the one behind bars).

Unfortunately, that part is true. Until October 2019, New York will continue to be one of only 2 states in the country that treats all 16 and 17 year olds as adults when arrested, and there are even younger kids in the adult population in New York State jails and prisons.
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