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Banana Fish was a show I was going to overlook, mainly due to its name and plot summary. It sounded like it would be an awful show, and the only reason I gave it a chance was someone mentioning it had fighting scenes. I was blown away by the first few episodes available at the time, and faithfully watched each new episode on the day it came out each week after that. I'd think of the plot of the previous episode while waiting for the next throughout the week, and it took me a few days to get over the ending, one of which I ... could think of nothing else, and got no sleep that night. I still think of it all the time, and I always look for bits of fan content or references (the one in Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, though small, made me smile).

Breaking it down...

Story: 8/10
The story never takes a break throughout the show. It's extremely fast paced, and although you still get most of what's happening me re-watching the show made me appreciate the way the plot flowed a lot better. There was plenty of suspense, and the situation was constantly changing, as well as the setting. Many have complained about the plot getting repetitive with how often characters are kidnapped and then saved, but that didn't bother me much since so much else was going on and it made sense each time it happened. However, serious topics are discussed clearly and are a major part of the plot, so I wouldn't recommend this to younger viewers. Banana Fish did a good job showing how wrong those topics were, though. Most of the time I'd leave the episode feeling disturbed and uncomfortable, and the fact it affected me so much is part of why I like the show. Some scenes were just cringey, though, and Banana Fish could have toned it done a bit, since Ash's entire life was one long miserable one with the absolute worse happening every time. Luckily, I had been wanting to watch (or read) something with a protagonist like that, and Ash fought as much as he could given everything against him. There were also some rare moments of humor or rest.

Art: 8/10
The gangster/city theme of the show was great to look at, and the clothes and character designs were impressive. I was in awe of the art at the start of the show, but at some point the quality dropped and I began to notice the corners being cut every now and then. The last episode tried its best to bring up the quality level again, though, and unless you're looking for it near the later middle you should be okay. I liked how different Eiji looked when acting as a waiter of sorts in one episode, and how Ash seemed in another when given a suit and green earring, compared to their rough appearance while on the run and in the action. The contrast showed just how much they were going through, and the other gang leaders have a similar street appearance. Backgrounds were great, keeping in mind being in a crowded city most of the show, and even having some luxury locations (a party area and a fancy flat).

Sound: 10/10
No complaints here. The OPs and EDs were all great, and I didn't skip a single one. The openings were full of hype, and endings brought out a sorrowful feeling. All of it fit the show well, as they were written for Banana Fish. The voice actors, especially Ash's, did a great job showing all the emotions needed. Papa Dino's voice actor unfortunately died while the show was running - but his character still has all his lines (except maybe in the last episode, where he is pretty much mute, but for understandable reasons plot wise). Background music fit well with what happened.

Character: 8/10
Ash is my favourite character of all time. He was so real, and extremely impressive - even though sometimes he seemed to be too much of a Gary Stew (200 IQ, perfect fighting and gun abilities, leadership skills). There were plenty of faults, though, and he was extremely aware of them. The other characters such as Yut Lung, Eiji, Blanca, Sing and Lao all experienced character development and changed as the series went on. The villains were the weakest part of the characters and show, with many just being plain evil with no redeeming qualities, such as Foxx and Papa Dino (who at least has some interesting interactions with other antagonists, but is unforgivable).

Enjoyment: 10/10
My introductory paragraph speaks about how much I was invested in this show, and I enjoyed almost every moment watching it. Episode 20 wasn't as great for me, as I notably didn't enjoy it as much, but when re-watching it I found it to be quite good. It's not a show everyone can handle, or enjoy, but personally I found it to have me invested more than pretty much any other I've seen. I'm eager for any more content, whether an OVA or dub.

Review Overall: 8.8/10
I added up the scores and divided by 50 to get the final score's percentage.
This might be different from what I have on my anime list, as it's more of an assessed mark than the score I give on my list after finishing the show based on how I felt about it at that point.

Final note: Reading the epilogue, Garden of Light, found at the end of the manga, might help provide some closure.

This is my first attempt at a review. I've decided to try it with the series I most recently finished, Little Busters!.

First of all, I've watched Clannad, Angel Beats! and Charlotte before Little Busters!, and so the Key formula was very familiar to me. I expected this to be similar to Clannad, given it is about the same number of episodes and is considered just something to watch before the "superior" sequel, the same as Clannad with Clannad: Afterstory, and I was pretty much right. I haven't seen Little Busters!: Refrain yet, though, so can't say anything about if it's better than this first season ... or not.

Getting to the review...

Story: 6/10
It took place at school, like most anime. Very rarely were we shown other settings, as everyone stayed in dorms at the school and so had no reason to leave for the most part.
The main story line was about Rin finding notes with tasks to do attached to one of her cats every now and then, with the promise that at the end she'd be told a secret to the world. Riki is always there right when she finds one, and sometimes helps. Usually, though, he's busy recruiting different girls with problems that get more and more serious as the series goes along to join the main cast's baseball club.
I hated the arc part of Clannad, and didn't like it here either. Many of the characters' arcs were really stupid, and there were supernatural elements that seemed to only apply to the given situations and not be questioned or mentioned again.
I've been spoiled a bit regarding the next season from Riki's character page, so I think maybe some of the logic behind the arcs' progressions might be explained in Refrain. Not sure.

Art: 8/10
The characters were nicely designed. Riki's face is the only thing that bothered me, with how unnatural and off it looked.
The backgrounds were great. The baseball field, trees in courtyard, classrooms, ext, were quite good.
Animation-wise, there was a bit of movement. Not much, though. A lot of just mouth changing. In the fight segments, where two characters fought using whatever they caught from what the other classmates threw at them, I'd always be disappointed since I'd expect some elaborate animation showing them using the different objects and yet it usually just cuts to the result.

Sound: 6/10
The opening song and ending song both sound nice. They remind me of Angel Beats!.
The videos accompanying them are quite interesting as well, though after seeing the opening a few times I skipped it after the clip showing each character one by one, and the ending after seeing it once I avoided since it was seen already and doesn't feel new or fun afterwards.
I downloaded it in dual audio, and switched between the Japanese and English versions a lot. Kud's Russian accent in the English dub was cringey, and made her serious scenes seem less serious with how ridiculous it was. Riki's voice sounded like a woman's in both versions. A lot of the girls had squeaky high pitched voices in the Japanese version, which was difficult to endure.

Character: 7/10
I really liked Riki's character. I watched the first episode expecting him to be the typical weak guy who feels horrible about it and doesn't do much right, but that wasn't the case. Riki kind of accepts it and it's not a big deal, while he does what he can to help the others, his biggest problems being Kyousuke leaving by the end of the year and his narcolepsy, both not being major in comparison to what else goes on. The other characters have a main personality trait and a few quirks, based on their arcs, and that's it. At some point the female characters blended together in my head and I had trouble remembering who each were based on what their backstory was. Some development occurs with the characters, such as Rin being less shy and Mio feeling more comfortable around others.

Enjoyment: 5/10
I was disappointed at the start, and kept taking long breaks between each set of episodes. The middle just made me want to quit, not finding the series worth the effort. In the end, though, I felt kind of happy. It was a feel-good ending of sorts, making my opinion of the series as a whole a bit better. Still, it was a chore to go through all 26 episodes, despite some being better than others.

Review Overall: 6.4/10
I added up the scores and divided by 50 to get the final score's percentage.
This might be different from what I have on my anime list, as it's more of an assessed mark than the score I give on my list after finishing the show based on how I felt about it at that point.