Merchandise: Other Books

With the exception of Rebirth, all of the following books are out of print and difficult to find. You can try looking for them in online stores like Sasuga Books or Amazon.co.jp. You can also try inquiring at an import bookstore like Kinokuniya, if you're lucky enough to live near one. Finally, there's always ebay, although you might just end up paying an arm and a leg for a copy of the Angel Eyes artbook.

Anyway, here is a list of other official Banana Fish-related books by Akimi Yoshida:

	*Private Opinion* ISBN-10 4091348610 ISBN-13 978-4091348616 Private Opinion is a single volume of short spin-off stories from the main Banana Fish series. The stories are titled "Private Opinion," "Fly Boy, in the Sky" and "Ura Banana." It was published in 1995 by Flower Comics, a division of Shougakukan.
	*Another Story* ISBN-10 409191182X ISBN-13 978-4091911827 Another Story is the other volume of short spin-off stories from the Banana Fish series. It reprints the first three stories, as well as two additional stories, "Angel Eyes" and "Hikari no Niwa," both of which originally were printed in volume 19 of the Banana Fish manga. This book is just over 300 pages long. Published by Shougakukan in 1997, but apparently not under the Flower Comics title. This book is meant to be part of the 11-volume reprinted Banana Fish manga published by Shougakukan in 1997.
	*Angel Eyes* ISBN-10 4091996914 ISBN-13 978-4091996916 Angel Eyes is a beautiful artbook full of Akimi Yoshida's special illustrations for Banana Fish. It also includes the short story "That Summer". Angel Eyes is now out of print and very difficult to track down. Published by Shougakukan in 1994.
	*Rebirth* ISBN-10 4091798020 ISBN-13 978-4091798022 Rebirth is the Banana Fish "Official Guidebook" published by Shougakukan in 2001. It's a beautiful book, 162 pages in length, that sells for about $15 US. The book includes detailed story and character analysis essays, creator interviews, a complete guide to Banana Fish merchandise, and lots of amazing bonus artwork, as well.

Merchandise: Novels

In addition to all of the above, there were also four Banana Fish novels published by KSS Comics. The novels are subtitled Max Lobo no Shuki, or "Max Lobo's Private Notes." Here is a checklist of the novels:

	Volume 01 ISBN-10 487709220X ISBN-13 978-4877092207 Published 6/98
	Volume 02 ISBN-10 4877092285 ISBN-13 978-4877092283 Published 7/98
	Volume 03 ISBN-10 4877092293 ISBN-13 978-4877092290 Published 8/98
	Volume 04 ISBN-10 4877092307 ISBN-13 978-4877092306 Published 9/98

Unfortunately, I have no more information about the novels at this time.

Merchandise: Books Not From Shougakukan

Image: Click the thumbnail for a larger scan of this cover.

Banana Fish: Kenkyuu Hakusho ("Research Paper")
Subtitle: Ash Lynx Tsuitou Iinkai Hen
"Ash Lynx Memorial Committee Compilation"
ISBN-10 4810375412
ISBN-13 978-4810375411
Published 9/98

Published in 1998 by Doubunshoin. 223 pages. I don't have this book, but based off listing on Amazon.co.jp and other places, it would appear to contain analysis about Ash, Eiji, and other characters; information about the science behind the "Banana Fish" drug; information about Manhattan and other Banana Fish locales; and other stuff as well. Without owning the book, I couldn't tell you if any of this content is, er, academic in tone, or not. A blurb about the book here asks: "What does Ash's criminal record look like? How was the Banana Fish drug completed? What sort of life do the characters lead after [SPOILER FOR END OF THE MANGA]?" It looks like a fascinating little book. As it is published by Doubunshoin and not Shougakukan, I have no idea how "official" the information in this book is supposed to be.

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