Yoshida Akimi 吉田秋生

She debuted with a short called "Chotto Fushigina Genshukujin" (A Slightly Strange Neighbour) in 1977 on Bessatsu Shoujo Comic.

See also:
<http://home.interlink.or.jp/~hodumi/banana/index.html>

Banana Fish
ＢＡＮＡＮＡ・ＦＩＳＨ
serialized on Flower Comics,
19 volumes @ Y390
[ 01:____| 02:____| 03:____| 04:____| 05:8711| 06:8805| 07:8812| 08:8907| 09:8910]
[ 10:9007| 11:9010| 12:9104| 13:9110| 14:9205| 15:9210| 16:9304| 17:9310| 18:9403]
[ 19:9409]
bunko 11 volumes @ Y580
[ 01:9612| 02:9612| 03:9701| 04:9701| 05:9702| 06:9702| 07:9704| 08:9704| 09:9705]
[ 10:9705| 11:9705]

The story starts in South Vietnam, 1973. Griffin suddenly begins firing at his fellow GIs. Max Lobo shoots him to stop him from firing. Griffin is out of his mind and can only say "Banana Fish".
The story jumps to New York, in 1985. Ash Lynx, a street kids leader, comes across a man who is shot and dying. The man hands Ash a locket and says "Los Angeles Westwood 42....... See Banana Fish". Ash goes home and asks his elder brother Griffin, who has become a human vegetable, what Banana Fish is.
Dino Gorzine, who is a homosexual Corsican Mafia boss and loves Ash, is also interested in Banana Fish.

Eiji Okumura comes from Japan with Shun-ichi Ibe, a photographer. They meet Ash to take street kids' photos.
Dino frames Ash and he is sent to a prison. Ash meets Max Lobo there. While Ash is in prison, Griffin is killed by Dino's henchmen. Later, Ash is released from prison and attempts to kill Dino with the help of his friend Shorter, but they fail and escape.

Ash, Shorter, Max, Eiji and Ibe visits Los Angeles Westwood 42. There they find Dr. Dawson's house. Dr. Dawson is out and they only meet his adopted son Yousiss, a Chinese American. Ash secretly accesses Dr. Dawson's computer to find out what Banana Fish is. Max receives a phone from his wife. She states their house was burgled. Ash and Max leave Dr. Dawson's house and rush to Max's wife's aid. Max's son says the burglars were Asians.

Yousiss actually is Li Yuelong, the youngest brother of a Chinese mafia family. He forcibly takes Eiji and Shorter to Gorzine's place. Ash and Max visit Gorzine to save them. Gorzine injects Banana Fish into Shorter and tells him to kill Eiji. Ash shoots and kills Shorter. Ash and Eiji go back to New York. Ash accesses Gorzine's bank accounts using a computer and steals his money. That causes the Corsican foundation to lose money and Gorzine leaves the U.S.
Ash decides to challenge Frederick Ausser, another gang leader. They fight in the subway. Ash wins but is seriously injured and is taken to hospital by the police. The TV news states that he had been moved to the National Mental Health Center and died there. Eiji doesn't believe the news. Ash meets Dr. Alexis Dawson in the National Mental Health Center and escapes with him. Ash studies in the library and speculates that Banana Fish is a drug synthecized from an Alkaloid plant.

Dino and Yuelong employ Blanca. He is the one who taught Ash fighting techniques. Dino and Yuelong threaten Ash and say that they will kill Eiji unless Ash hands over Dr. Dawson and all the report about Banana Fish to them. Also, Ash must live with Gorzine and become his successor. Ash feels that he has no option.

Eiji saves Ash from Gorzine's place with the help of Shin Su Lin, a Chinese-American gang leader, and Cane, an African-American gang leader. Dino employs Colonel Fox (who used to be a member of the French Foreign Legion) to destroy Ash's gang and it's new associates.
Ash's gang forms alliances with Chinese and African-American groups to fight against Gorzine and Yuelong. Yuelong wants to kill Eiji. One of the Chinese members shoots Eiji and he is taken to hospital.

After seeing Eiji at the hospital, Ash fights against Yuelong and Gorzine at the National Mental Health Center. Gorzine dies.
Eiji has to leave for Japan. Ash decides not to see him again. However, when he reads Eiji's letter he starts running to the airport. He is stabbed on his way to the airport... {KUN}

See also:
<http://www.phlebas.demon.co.uk/bf/>

TRA:(E)Viz Communications
Click to buy English translated volume 1 at Amazon.
Click to buy English translated volume 2 at Amazon.
Click to buy English translated volume 3 at Amazon.
Click to buy English translated volume 4 at Amazon.
Click to buy English translated volume 5 at Amazon.
Click to buy English translated volume 6 at Amazon.
Click to buy English translated volume 7 at Amazon.

Yasha
ＹＡＳＨＡ―夜叉―
serialized on Flower Comics,
12 volumes @ Y400
[ 01:9612| 02:9706| 03:9712| 04:9806| 05:9812| 06:9906| 07:9912| 08:0008| 09:0102]
[ 10:0108| 11:____| 12:0208]

No Synopsis.

Banana Fish Irasuto Bukku Angel Eyes [Banana Fish Ill. Book Angel Eyes]
ＢＡＮＡＮＡＦＩＳＨイラストブックＡＮＧＥＬＥＹＥＳ
artbook
published by Shougakukan,
1 volume @ Y2200
[ 01:9404]

No Synopsis.

Muteki no Raisensu
無敵のライセンス
1 volume @ Y1360
[ 01:8906]

No Synopsis.

Private Opinion
ＰＲＩＶＡＴＥ・ＯＰＩＮＩＯＮ
serialized on Flower Comics,
1 volume @ Y750
[ 01:9503]

A Banana Fish spin off. A Flower Comics special. This collection depicts Eiji's high school period.

Ravaazu Kisu [Lovers' Kiss]
ラヴァーズ・キス
serialized on Flower Comics,
2 volumes @ Y400
[ 01:9511| 02:9603]

There's a series of sultry days for the girls and boys at a public high school in Kamakura. This dramatic romance depicts the kisses that rock the passions of young girls. {009}

Kariforunia Monogatari [California Story]
カリフォルニア物語
serialized on Flower Comics, 1978
8 volumes @ Y360
[ 01:____| 02:____| 03:____| 04:____| 05:____| 06:____| 07:____| 08:____]
bunko 4 volumes @ Y630
[ 01:____| 02:____| 03:____| 04:____]

Confusion, indolence, apathy. The spiritual wanderings of young people living in a corner of a great city. Heath and his companions are stretched to the limit by life in ailing America. {009}

Kissho Tennyo [Goddess of Fortune]
serialized on Flower Comics,
4 volumes @ Y379
[ 01:____| 02:____| 03:____| 04:____]
bunko 2 volumes @ Y600
[ 01:9503| 02:9503]

A supernatural horror story about an Indian god and an angel-like woman. {PVH}

A kinetic psychological thriller with supernatural overtones. Sayoko is the new student at senior high, and her beauty, intelligence and self-possession create as many friends as enemies. A pawn in the financial machinations between her wealthy family and the Tounos, Sayoko attracts the attention of the Touno brothers, Ryou and Akira, and their simultaneous desire, fear and hatred of her puts the plot into action. One after another the attempts to subdue Sayoko end fatally, while Sayoko remains serene and untouched.

Sayoko is a compelling portrait of a woman keenly conscious of how male desire and control can render a woman victim of her own sexuality. While she transforms that perceived weakness into one of her weapons, the instinctive and terrible strength Sayoko displays is not presented as a feminine prerogative. Men and women, both as victims as aggressors, are weak and strong alike. It is only a fault in perception that persists in casting the sexes in fixed positions of dominance and subjugation.

But this is much more than a feminist tract. As is characteristic of Yoshida, her treatment of both male and female characters is even-handed and compassionate. By the time you turn the last page, the title will prove a lot less ironic than it initially seems. {SEK}

Kawa yori mo nagaku yuruyaka ni [Longer and Slower than a River]
serialized on Flower Comics,
2 volumes @ Y485
[ 01:____| 02:____]
bunko 1 volume @ Y629
[ 01:9412]

How do you f*** a bento? Did Princess Leia really love Han Solo? These questions and more pop up in the course of 'Kawa yori mo nagaku yuruyaka ni', Yoshida Akimi's passionate, wistful, side-splitting ode to youth. Toshi is your regular senior high student, except in the evenings when he's a bartender at a joint frequented by American servicemen, where he deals drugs, pimps, and even cross-dresses a little on the side. And his best friend Miyuki just happens to be the son of a loan shark with gay tendencies. If this sounds like the hardboiled world of Yoshida's later and most well-known work 'Banana Fish', it's balanced by Toshi's madcap adventures at his all-male school (where his mates jerk off to everything in sight, and scenes from shoujo manga are performed in all their histrionic glory), as well as the unexpected delicacy of his relationships with the women in his life. This episodic drama is bursting with all the frustration, the tenderness, the audacity, the horniness and the hilarity that comes with being young and male. All the tough, silly, dirty, and sweet things boys get up to in the locker room and out of it never brought a bigger smile to your face.

Kitsune no yomeiri [The Fox's wedding]
published by Shougakukan,
bunko 1 volume @ Y600
[ 01:____]

No Synopsis.

Yume no Sono
serialized on Big Comics, 1983
1 volume @ Y480
[ 01:____]

No Synopsis.