Banana Fish
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50 free Banana Fish trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Banana Fish began as a manga in 1985 and found a second life with its 2018 anime. It pairs a hard-edged crime thriller with one of the most talked-about bonds in anime: Ash Lynx, a young gang leader with a brutal past, and Eiji Okumura, the gentle visitor from Japan who becomes the one person he trusts. This quiz covers the whole story: the mystery behind the title, the allies and enemies Ash collects along the way, the famous ending, and the people who made the manga and the anime. A full set of questions is devoted to Blanca, the assassin who taught Ash to fight, and the books and films that shaped the series get their due as well. It is written for fans who have finished the series, so expect spoilers. Casual viewers will find plenty they can answer, and readers of the original manga will meet a few questions that reward a close reading.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The title of Banana Fish borrows from a short story first published in The New Yorker by which author?
J. D. Salinger
J. D. Salinger published A Perfect Day for Bananafish in 1948. Its imaginary fish gorge themselves until they cannot move, and the story ends with a sudden death.
Q 02Banana Fish, a gritty crime story, first ran in a monthly manga magazine aimed at which readership?
Teenage girls
Teenage girls were the intended readers, yet the gritty crime story drew so many men and adult women that it became a rare crossover hit.
Q 03Ash Lynx's look in later chapters of Banana Fish was modelled on which Stand by Me actor?
River Phoenix
River Phoenix became the model after the creator saw him in The Mosquito Coast. His death in 1993 briefly made her rethink the ending she had always planned.
Q 04Before injury ended his athletic career, Eiji Okumura of Banana Fish competed in which field event?
Pole vault
Pole vault training saves him early on: held captive by Ash's enemies, Eiji escapes by vaulting over a wall.
Q 05In the final scene of Banana Fish, a wounded Ash Lynx dies inside which Manhattan landmark?
New York Public Library
New York Public Library's main branch is where Ash dies smiling over a letter from Eiji. The library later credited a rise in gift shop revenue to visiting fans.
Q 06Which studio, also behind Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, animated the 2018 Banana Fish anime?
MAPPA
MAPPA made the series for the 40th anniversary of the creator's debut. Its chief executive agreed once the director chose to move the story to the present day.
Q 07The 2018 Banana Fish anime swaps the manga's Vietnam War backstory for which later conflict?
Iraq War
Iraq War service replaces Vietnam in the backstory of Ash's brother, and the update also puts smartphones in the characters' hands.
Q 08Which film about two New York hustlers inspired the creator of Banana Fish to pursue a career in manga?
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy, seen at a revival screening in high school, moved her to write about close spiritual bonds between men.
Q 09In Banana Fish, which close friend does Ash Lynx shoot at the friend's own plea after a forced injection?
Shorter Wong
Shorter Wong, the Chinatown gang leader, is drugged and ordered to kill Eiji. In a lucid moment he begs Ash to stop him, and Ash uses his single bullet.
Q 10During a prison visit in Banana Fish, how does Ash Lynx secretly pass Eiji Okumura a hidden message?
With a kiss
With a kiss, Ash slips Eiji a pill capsule holding a note that tells him to seek out an ally in Chinatown.
Q 11Ash Lynx of Banana Fish ran away as a child from his family home in which Massachusetts resort area?
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is where the group later searches his brother's belongings for clues, and where his estranged father still lives.
Q 12Dino Golzine, who groomed Ash Lynx as his heir in Banana Fish, is a boss in which organization?
Corsican mafia
Corsican mafia kingpin Golzine hopes to expand his power by selling the drug banana fish to factions inside the United States government.
Q 13In Banana Fish, what is the first name of Ash Lynx's older brother, a veteran broken by the drug?
Griffin
Griffin Callenreese spoke the words banana fish after firing on his own squadron, the clue that sets Ash's whole investigation in motion.
Q 21In the Banana Fish manga, Blanca is a former lieutenant of which agency who defected after his wife's murder?
KGB
KGB service lies behind the assassin Blanca, who left the Soviet Union after his wife, a political dissenter, was murdered.
Q 22Blanca, the assassin hired to train a young Ash Lynx in Banana Fish, is of which nationality?
Kazakh
Kazakh rather than Russian, Blanca dutifully completes any contract he accepts, which makes his eventual refusal to harm Eiji a turning point.
Q 23Banana Fish gives the assassin Blanca, Ash Lynx's former combat teacher, which real name?
Sergei Varishkov
Sergei Varishkov goes by Blanca in the series, where working names are common: Ash Lynx and Max Lobo are aliases too.
Q 14Which Banana Fish character, still bitter over a friend's death, fatally stabs Ash Lynx in the final scene?
Lao Yen-Thai
Lao Yen-Thai never forgave Ash for that death, though his own half-brother did. The creator chose a low-ranking killer on purpose, so that her hero would seem to die meaninglessly.
Q 15Which former member of Ash Lynx's gang sides with Dino Golzine in Banana Fish and later dies duelling Ash?
Frederick Arthur
Frederick Arthur is left in charge of hunting Ash when Golzine is summoned to France, and their duel to the death leaves Ash gravely wounded.
Q 16Which fourteen-year-old takes over the Chinatown gang in Banana Fish after its leader is killed?
Sing Soo-Ling
Sing Soo-Ling first blames Ash for the killing, then becomes a reluctant ally; behind the carefree manner is a skilled tactician.
Q 17Cain Blood leads Black Sabbath, a Banana Fish gang that controls which Manhattan neighborhood?
Harlem
Harlem's gang starts out neutral, and its leader agrees to observe a duel before he finally allies with Ash against Golzine.
Q 18Max Lobo, the journalist who shares Ash Lynx's cell in Banana Fish, was drawn to resemble which actor?
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford was one of several real faces the creator borrowed, a process she compared to casting a B-grade action movie.
Q 19In Banana Fish, the Dawson brothers created the title drug by accident while trying to make what?
LSD
LSD was the goal when the brothers were students. One of them disowned the result, while the other went on to test it on unwitting soldiers.
Q 20Ash Lynx is only an alias in Banana Fish: what is the gang leader's real first name?
Aslan
Aslan Jade Callenreese is the name he was born with, before he ran away from home and was drawn into the mob as a young child.
Q 24Blanca's character arc in Banana Fish is drawn from which posthumously published Ernest Hemingway novel?
Islands in the Stream
Islands in the Stream also names the anime episode in which Ash accepts he cannot beat his old teacher and gives himself up to protect Eiji.
Q 25After training Ash Lynx in Banana Fish, Blanca retires to which region before Dino Golzine calls him back?
The Caribbean
The Caribbean is where Blanca was living quietly when Golzine summoned him to capture his former pupil. A bonus audio drama has him reminisce about it with Yut-Lung.
Q 26Which voice actor, also the Japanese Sephiroth in Final Fantasy, plays Blanca in the Banana Fish anime?
Toshiyuki Morikawa
Toshiyuki Morikawa gives Blanca his voice in Japanese and also heads Axlone, the voice acting agency he founded in 2011.
Q 27Which Banana Fish side story shows how Blanca first met Ash Lynx after being hired to train him?
Private Opinion
Private Opinion appeared in 1995, after the main series had ended, and was later collected with three other side stories in Banana Fish: Another Story.
Q 28Dino Golzine hires Blanca in the Banana Fish anime episode named after which Ernest Hemingway short story?
The Killers
The Killers is the seventeenth episode, in which Golzine brings Ash's retired mentor back to eliminate his government co-conspirators.
Q 29Lee Yut-Lung, youngest son of a powerful Chinese crime family in Banana Fish, is an expert in what?
Herbs and poisons
Herbs and poisons are his speciality, which is why Golzine wants his help in working out the chemical make-up of the drug banana fish.
Q 30After his rescue in Banana Fish, Ash Lynx takes Lee Yut-Lung hostage inside which institution?
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History is where Ash regroups and trades his captive for the gang members seized during the escape.