New York City is on everyone’s travel list. There’s so much to see between the Statue of Liberty and the New York Public Library. It’s always been portrayed as a city of adventure and the perfect place to fall in love. For Banana Fish fans, New York City is a city of heartbreak and grief. Return to New York and bring a box of tissues to experience this devastating anime one more time.
Banana Fish was pulled from Amazon Prime’s streaming library, and Netflix announced that the show will be finding a new home on their platform. As a bonus, Netflix revealed that Banana Fish will be receiving an English dub set to air on August 12th, 2026. Some anime fan at Netflix’s marketing department knew what they were doing by scheduling this long-awaited release on the birthday of the series main character, Ash Lynx. The only voice roles that have been confirmed so far are for the main duo, Ash Lynx and Eiji Okumura. Brandon McInnis will voice Ash Lynx, and Eiji Okumura will be voiced by Jonathan Tanigaki.
This seems to be Jonathan Tanigaki’s first voice acting role, but Brandon McInnis has turned into a staple voice actor in male romance anime stories. Brandon McInnis previously voiced Mafuyu Sato from Given and Taiga Hirano from Sasaki and Miyano, both well-received boy love shows. Banana Fish’s story features a blossoming romance, but it also tackles distressing topics. The show is cherished by its fans, and the dub must be handled with care. Brandon McInnis took to TikTok to praise his co-star Jonathan Tanigaki as well as the voice actors who haven’t been announced yet for the hard work they’ve put into this production. He admits in the video to using every acting technique he knows for his role of Ash Lynx. I think the dub is in good hands. Fans on social media have been praising the casting choice of Brandon for Ash. At first, I was skeptical about him taking on the role, but his video from July 14th boosted my confidence. I personally feel like I could finally hear the strength in his voice to shoulder the heavy role of Ash Lynx.
The buzz that’s come with Netflix’s announcement regarding the dub reminded fans of a previous half-hearted attempt at dubbing. At the end of 2025, Amazon Prime attempted to release an AI dub of Banana Fish that no one supported. The few who were brave enough to watch it reported that the AI dubbing was as terrible as expected. To many fans, this was disrespectful to such an impactful piece of media. I don’t think AI should be dubbing any anime. After a few days of criticism, Amazon Prime removed the AI audio option from the listing.
The Banana Fish dub has been highly anticipated for years, and I thought it was an anime that would just never receive a dub. I’m glad I was wrong. I think the dub will be number one in trending for at least a week when it releases. There are going to be a lot of broken hearts. I don’t think knowing what’s coming is going to make it any easier either for fans who are re-watching the anime. Sometimes you want to cry in your own language. Will you be tuning in to the Banana Fish dub?
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