Gackt's favorite manga

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Banana Fish, a shoujo manga series that ran from 1985 to 1994 is widely credited as "revolutionizing" the shoujo (or girl's manga) genre to include more mature, adult themes, and to win a large male crossover audience.

Banana Fish was not the first manga to include the genre stereotypes of handsome, angsty bishounen and steamy boy-on-boy sexuality that we see in adult shoujo titles today. But it was among the first to marry pretty-boy bishounen with a simple, action-oriented style of artwork and a hard-boiled, violence-filled plot.

This series is a classic of the genre, and its appeal still remains today.

The main character is the beautiful and deadly gang leader Ash Lynx, who tends to his older brother, a vietnam war vet who was destroyed by a powerful drug nicknamed 'banana fish' the story deals with Ash and his friend, Eiji a Japanese reporter, as they deal with the effects of the drug and the gangs in 80's New York.

**Gackt reported in a Malice Mizer book that Asrun Dream a song from the MARS album, was inspired by Banana Fish. (Asrun being another name for Ash) When Gackt wrote it, he imagined Eiji asleep in bed while Ash looks out the window to the night sky**

For more on the manga see the site BoyFruit.
http://www.boukenshin.net/boyfruit/intro.php

Comments

[michiyo-fir.livejournal.com]

Ah...I love this manga. It makes me cry everytime I read it. In fact it's so good that I spent about $250 to buy the whole collection.

[tanfouk.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I had read that remark about his fave manga a long time ago, but never saw any copies of it. Now I understand - */*, emo and violent, makes perfect sense.

[lilyginnyblack.livejournal.com]

Ah! I remember seeing this in my town's library, I was all pumped up to go and check it out too...when I realized that I lost my library card...^^;> I've been so busy since that I haven't had time to go to the library, but maybe I can find some time over Christmas vacation and check it out (now that I have a new library card). I've been wanting to read it for such a long time now...