Prime Video’s Most Underrated Anime Thriller Is Leaving This Weekend, And It’s For The Best

After Crunchyroll and Netflix, Amazon Prime Video is quickly emerging as a popular anime streaming hub. Admittedly, Prime Video may not boast as vast a library as Crunchyroll or all the hottest new hits like Netflix.

But from classics such as Fist of the North Star to highly anticipated releases such as Science Saru’s new Ghost in the Shell reboot, Prime Video does house many underrated gems. That said, one such highly underrated anime is leaving the platform soon, and it’s by MAPPA no less.

MAPPA’s Best Shojo Thriller Is Leaving Prime Video on July 5

Exactly eight years after its release, one of MAPPA’s best thriller series, Banana Fish, is leaving Prime Video, the same platform where the series made its debut back in 2018. As confirmed by the anime’s homepage on Prime Video, Banana Fish will be leaving on July 5, 2026. The series has yet to announce a new streaming home, meaning now is the best time for fans to catch up on the series, while they still can, whether that’s trying it out for the first time or giving it a rewatch in time for its upcoming anniversary.

Based on the 1985 manga of the same name by Akimi Yoshida, Banana Fish is one of Studio MAPPA’s most distinct releases in the last few years, even if it does not get nearly the same amount of attention as the studio’s recent mainstream hits. Most surprising of all is the fact that the series is technically a shojo, as the manga was published by Betsucomi, though you’d never be able to tell by the series’ dark, gritty storyline that revolves around investigating a lethal drug that has been quietly been making its way through 1980s New York City.

Banana Fish is devastating, disturbing, thrilling, and multi-layered all at the same time, and the series has everything from bishonen leads, romance, action, street gangs, drugs, the mafia, to government conspiracies. Evidently, Banana Fish is far from a stereotypical shojo series, and MAPPA’s adaptation still holds up as one that does the series justice after all these years, making it still worth revisting.

Banana Fish Needs A New Streaming Home ASAP

As such it is quite unfortunate that Banana Fish is losing its streaming home after all these years, though hopefully, given how beloved the series still is, it won’t be long before it finds a new one. In fact, this could be a huge opportunity for Banana Fish to finally expand on the franchise.

Even eight years later, Banana Fish still does not have an official English dub, and this was also a point of controversy earlier this year when Prime Video tried to implement AI-generated dubs for many of its anime offerings. It goes without saying that the AI dubs were terrible and one of the series unfortunate enough to be part of this initiative was Banana Fish, and the outrage was palpable.

That said, with Prime Video letting go of the series, now could be the perfect time for whoever obtains the licensing riight to Banana Fish next to finally give it a worthy English dub. The hype surrounding Studio MAPPA is also at an all time high at the moment and what better time to help fans of the studio’s newer works discover one of its older gems through an official dubbed release.

Banana Fish

Release Date

2018 – 2018

Directors

Hiroko Utsumi

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