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A lot of people shot this down because of the 'yaoi' themes in it. I understand this, sometimes would do the same thing - but a friend rec'd it to me and so I watched it.

When I think of traditional yaoi I think of some of the stuff I watched in my teens - like Junjou Romantica and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, which contained a lot of non-consentual touching and rapey overtones, and probably rape itself, as well as its frequent romanticisation.

I'm here to tell you that Banana Fish does not do this at all. It can't. It's main bad guy is the rapist.

What ... it does instead is depict a relationship between two consenting men, with the most well-constructed and thoroughly human characters i've ever seen. Ash, as a survivor of years of rape, sexual abuse and trauma, as well as being a victim of child pornography, does not have a good relationship with sex. This is not explored to a great extent, most probably due to television restrictions, but it is certainly present. His past is used as a weapon against him - by the police, by the mafia he escaped from and rival gangs. Any promiscuous things done by Ash throughout the anime is done simply for his own survival - feigning interest in mafia members so they won't kill him, the prison scene with Eiji, etc. It's part of the reason he's such a solid character - he has faced years of trauma and yet he is still strong enough to weaponise his sexuality so he can live another day, and plan his next move.

His interaction with Eiji brings about the development of a deep connection between someone who sees himself unworthy of love, and someone who has so much of it to give. There is no sexual contact needed to justify/develop this relationship. To a certain extent, you could intepret this as a brotherly love, and although I think that could've happened in different circumstances, I don't think that's the one here.

Honestly, you could call it a 'yaoi' relationship, but with all the connotations that 'yaoi' has, I really don't think that it accurately portrays the very human relationship that is depicted here.

Also it has a fantastic plot with good pacing and animation, strong character development and solid art.