So this is definitely going to be one of my nerdier/rambly posts, but I've got so many thoughts and feelings that I'd like to put out there so I'm going to write them all here! While the dub is not meant to release officially until Wednesday, I had to check it out once I'd heard it had leaked and ended up getting completely sucked in again. I'm going to try and keep this journal as spoiler-free as possible and I urge anyone who hasn't seen Banana Fish to do so as I truly believe it is such an amazing piece of media. I’ve tried to organise all my thoughts below if anyone wants to read!
Given that I have watched Banana Fish so many times in the past 6 years from when I first watched it, I had so many ideas as for how a hypothetical English dub would go, so my expectations were very high at the announcement. After watching the trailers Netflix uploaded along with reading who was casted to play both Ash and Eiji, I was quite nervous for how Netflix would handle things. After seeing the first 9 episodes today, I can say that some things did not live up to my expectations while others exceeded it. While I'm not completely happy with how everything has been handled, I can honestly say I have enjoyed what I've seen so far and cannot wait to see how things progress further along in the series.
Before I progress further, I want to make it clear that I mean absolutely no hate towards any of the voice actors, I believe they've all done an amazing job so far. Any gripes I have are purely because of my own expectations and that is all on me and nobody else's fault.
Ash was the character I was the most nervous for after his voice actor was announced to be Brandon McInnis. I've only heard McInnis in his role as Mafuyu from Given, where he is rather soft spoken, which isn't how I had imagined Ash Lynx to sound. However, after hearing him in this role, I have really enjoyed his performance so far and he has truly delivered, especially in the more emotional scenes. While it was quite and adjustment to hear a different voice come from this character, this is something I got over quickly and have been loving now.
Eiji was the character I had the most expectations for going in. As a Japanese man in America, the manga portrays him having broken English and him speaking in Japanese when around other Japanese people. While this was lost in the anime adaptation for obvious reasons, the English dub gave an opportunity to bring back this aspect of his character, especially given that his English voice actor, Jonathan Tanigaki, is half Japanese. Tanigaki has done an amazing job so far voicing Eiji, but I cant help but be a little disappointed, as Eiji speaks in perfect English with a very Americanised accent. I understand why this may have been done, but I feel as if there was a massive missed opportunity to have Eiji's English and accent improve as the series progresses. I will say though, the cadence in which Tanigaki delivers Eiji's lines is exactly how I imagined him to speak.
I think my favourite vocal performance so far though has been that of Dino Golzine. Anyone who has seen Banana Fish before knows how genuinely repulsive Dino is as a character, so to say I've been enjoying his vocal performance feels a little wrong to say in all honesty. While I'm not sure who the voice actor is as it hasn't been officially announced, whoever it is is smashing it. Hearing him say all of his horrible lines in English has made my skin crawl, which is absolutely the effect Dino should have on you.
As for the other characters, I have really enjoyed Shorter Wong's voice actor; his performance is pretty much exactly what I had imagined. Jonah Scott also hinted that he was in the dub, and while I think he may be Ibe-sans voice actor, I feel as though he would fit Max or Blanca's character so well. Saying this, I'm 85% sure that Keith Silverstein is voicing Max, which is a welcome surprise, I'm always happy to hear Keith Silverstein in anything. Yut Lungs voice actor has also done an incredible job so far and I cannot wait to hear how he sounds as he gets more emotionally charged as the series progresses.
I feel that me going into this dub with such high expectations was definitely a mistake on my end. It doesn't help either that I'm so used to the original Japanese voices, as well as their performances being genuinely flawless. However, I have found myself really liking the dub so far and I'm so excited to see how things change as the series progresses. I'm also incredibly excited to hear from characters like Sing, Cain, Blanca, and even some antagonists like Fox and Kippard. I've seen so many people be very critical of the dub online which I understand to a certain extent, but also I hope that people don't project this negative energy towards the voice actors themselves, I believe they've all done a wonderful job so far, and I am so grateful to have a real, human-made English dub for my favourite anime of all time. I hope that with Banana Fish coming to a platform as big as Netflix that it gets the popularity it rightfully deserves, and that merchandise becomes more easily accessible as it is all so hard to find and also very pricy. Banana Fish deserves so much love and I will continue to sing its praises as I have always done :D
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