Reviews for Bananya

Some anime aren't for everyone. There are people who really can't stand sports anime. For others fanservice is a turnoff. Some people think that psychological works are too confusing and full of themselves. And you know what? That's perfectly fine. Everyone has different taste - that's why we have so many different genres and mediums for entertainment. I'm never going to tell someone their taste is bad. Unless, of course, they don't like Bananya. You see, Bananya is a universally appealing anime - as in, if you see a slice-of-life comedy about adorable cat banana friends going on adventures, finding love, and chasing their dreams not appealing to you,you are literally Hitler.

Every single week, Bananya manages to make the best of its three minutes by not just focusing on its cuteness factor, but having a coherent storyline and character development as well. Yes, Bananya can do in three minutes every week what overhyped action anime aimed at adults can't manage to do in 23.

After eleven episodes, I feel like I've become part of a new family. A family of bananyas.

Not only is Bananya entertaining, it's soothing. If you're having a bad day, simply turn on your anime-watching device of choice and watch cat-banana adventures. Even though it's a kids' show, it doesn't feel like it's dumbed down or talking down to an older audience at all, and has some jokes that will get more of a laugh out of an older audience (such as a cat being called the "Madonnya of Bananyas" - BTW she's also the best girl of the season).

In conclusion, you have absolutely nothing to lose by watching Bananya. In the time you took to read my crappy review, you could have watched your first episode of Bananya and began your life-altering journey into bananya-hood.

What could I say about this masterpiece that hasn't been said yet? Some shows are just too good for the human race to apreciate, with that said, bananya is something else than an anime, to the point of being an experience, something you'll only live once in your life, something beatyfull and outstanding. Story- 10/10: Every episode tells a different story about bananya's crew, focusing in one of the few characters. Art- 10/10: Animation and art in general is incredibly high quality. Sound- 10/10: All things related to sound, that being, voice acting, sound track and everything else passes the feeling of awesomeness. Character- 10/10: Character development is outstanding inthe show, something other anime could learn from.

Enjoyment- 10/10: It's impossible to watch bananya without a smile in your face, it's almost a magic feeling.

Overall- 10/10: In the end, bananya is not an anime, bananya is the most incredible experience you'll ever have in your entire life.

It's a cat! No- it's a banana, It's Bananya! The utterly adorable kitty who is inside a banana. Story (9): The story follows the adventures of Bananya and his friends and family. Each episode is a whole lot of fun, possible a bit cliche, but undeniably enjoyable. Although, please keep in mind that this is a kids show so it is not for everyone. There are no evil characters or sinister companies, deep plot twists or fight scenes, it is just pure fun that can be watched by people of all ages. Art (10): The art is absolutely adorable! The color palate is bright and colorful, the animation smooth,the backgrounds well done and the character designs incredible. There is nothing to pick on, no inconsistencies, nothing.

Characters (9):

For a kids show, the characters are executed very well. As we all know, our main character is Bananya, a white kitty inside a banana. But he isn't the only bananya around! We have a whole cast of adorable characters, like Baby Bananya, Bananya-ko, Kuro Bananya etc. All the characters are likeable and cute. They all have their own little quirks and personality traits for example the incredibly narcissistic Kanage Bananya who is admired by Bananya-Ko.

Sound (10):

This anime only has three voice actors, but they all executed their respective roles incredibly well. Yuki Kaji (Eren Jaeger in Attack on Titan and Yukine in Noragami) voices 5 of the bananyas, including the main role Bananya and Ayumu Murase (Hinata in Haikyuu! and Shun in Shin Sekai Yori) also voices 5 bananyas as well as a mouse. Our narrator is Yoshikazu Ebisu who guides us through the world of Banaya perfectly.

There is only one piece of music used in this series; Lucky Holiday by AXELL featuring Bananya's voice actor Yuki Kaji and it is totally adorable and suits the anime to a T.

Overall Enjoyment (10):

Overall Bananya is an anime everyone can enjoy! With adorable characters, art and music as well as top notch voice actors, you should defenitly give it a go and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Warning: Possible spoilers Go watch it and then come back here. You won't believe the glory of this anime and you shan't be able to get trough this review without finishing the whole series. Bananya, the Citizen Kane of anime. Now you'd say nah no way this anime is for little kids and mentally handicapped, also known as American college students. To that I have to say you are dead wrong. Behind the simplistic premise hides a huge amount of intrigues and mysteries. Art. Art looks like it's drawn with crayons. Now you might think it's just shitty art or maybe they didn't have enough money to animate itbetter or it's a stylistic choice. In truth it's supposed to represent how judgmental our society is about appearance and how companies nowadays only care about their products looking nice. It's also worth noting that main character's design is a combination of ancient art fusing felines from Egyptian art with ornamental arcs from Arabic one.

,, Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it''- Salvador Dali when asked what he thinks of people who don't watch Bananya

10/10

Sound.

Lines are delivered with so much emotion and effort. Every scene feels so real. The conflict between parents is extremely tense and culminates in a fight and father going to prison, or maybe it was just my family. See? It's so real you can't even discern reality anymore!

,,The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.''-Mahatma Gandhi when asked why nobody wants to forgive the lack of LGBT characters in Bananya

10/10

Story.

It's an incredibly paced story only rivaled by it's colorful yet human characters. Story starts of slow as we are introduced to Bananya and have been explained his origins and goals. You'd think that it's mundane or stupid that his goal is to become a chocolate banana tho you are wrong. The chocolate banana represents rich corporate moguls as they appear to those as naive as Bananya. His simple goal is juxtaposed with extremely hard work he has to put up to achieve it. It would come as no surprise if Bananya soon had an internal conflict by learning about those horrible 1%ters on the top. This gives off an obvious political message that is so subtle you might not be able to understand it unless you are able to completely get Nietzsche work and have read all of Karl Marx.

It has some major twists which I mustn't spoil otherwise they'd be ruined for you.

,,A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but idea lives on.''- John F. Kennedy when asked what would happen if the writer of Bananya died

10/10

Character.

Characters are probably the peak of this deep,well thought out anime. Our protagonist is shown as a mysterious person, his lower side always being hidden by a banana, he is shooting high and not backing up. We are also shown how releateable he is by witnessing him experiencing fear,happiness,envy. Let's not forget the side characters. There's Bananyako and Kenaga Bananya (or Long Haired Bananya) who obviously represent shallow masses that surround you concerned only by looks who are your main drive for success and escape from such environment . I do think they are the weakest ones cause art style has already got that idea trough about looks and their struggles seem to be rather mundane. Tora (Tabby) Bananya however is a character who despite standing by the side seems like the heart of this bunch. He is kind and caring but also deeply in love with Bananyako. His misfortune is that she completely ignores him despite his rich personality. You can see his depression growing after every turn down, at this point I'm concerned he might do something. However I'm certain his brother, Sabatora (Gray Tabby) Bananya will not allow him something like that. He is the moral support to his brother and always watches over him despite being younger. Together they share a bond that got them trough many hardships such as still unspoken about time they spent on the streets working for a gang. The story about their addiction to heroin and how Sabatora is still struggling with it might come up but such complex arcs will probably be left for season two. There's Kuro Bananya( Black Bananya) he hasn't been explored so far but by what little we saw of him it seems as if he has history with our main character. My speculations are that they've met during the Cold War, as we can obviously see that Kuro has a Russian accent. It will most certainly evolve into a tense spy action that overshadows even the likes of Mission Impossible and Bourne franchise. Oyaji (Dad) Bananya and Tabananya (Baby Bananya) show us how much our main character cares about his family. His father is always there for both of his children. What I will spoil, so skip ahead a few paragraphs if you don't wish this masterpiece to be ruined for you, is that they aren't even his children. They've been abandoned by their mother during the second world war and Dad Bananya found them as he was walking trough the ruins of Berlin after the Ally armies stormed the place. There's also Bananya's arch nemesis that you'll have to find out about for yourself, I'll spoil that he's in episode three.

,,Life is a brief intermission between birth and death, enjoy it''- M.K. Soni on why you should watch Bananya

10/10

Enjoyment.

Just perfect I can't even explain with words how touching and heart gripping this anime is.

,, We need never be afraid of our tears''- Charles Dickens after he confirmed he cried during the heartbreaking conversation between Tora Bananya's

10/10

Overall.

Bananya is probably the best anime this year and will make you stay up the whole night thinking about your choices in life. What you might question yourself as well is: ,,Is this a parody?''

Yes,yes it is congrats here's a golden star sticker you troglodyte. This anime is your classic kiddie anime and the best thing about it is that I enjoy writing reviews for something like that. Also it has better animation than new Berserk.

Story: SPOILERS AHEAD MY GOD. This Anime's story is absolutely outstanding. From the very first episode it hooks you in on wonder. Wondering, what is this peculiar Banana-Cat's world like? Later on, as we learn more of these banana-cats exist, our veil of limitation is lifted, because Bananya eventually explores later on, and we learn the lore that this world adds to the story. In the final episode (aka the best final episode ever written of anything), bananya and his friends help the greedy humans and open their hearts by making a cake for them. In return, the humans help bananya achieve his dream of being achocolate-covered banana.

Art:

Some might say the art is garbage (Nobody is happy with anything), some, simplistic. I think is very aesthetic and adorable no matter how you want to rate it. Character design: absolutely gorgeous. Backgrounds: They deserve to be on display in a museum.

Soundtrack:

I feel like Chopin was revived from the dead to write this series score because, dang. Thats lit.

Character:

Bananya is an example of an anime with good character writing. Take a moment to think of an anime with good characters, then toss it out the window because it automatically fails in comparison to Bananya. Bananya is the name we address our mc with, and he dreams of being a chocolate covered banana. He explores this world and his heart is open to the moral that everyone deserves automatic respect, and that he is not alone.

Bananya eventually learns that his so called 'best friend', Calico Bananya, is only acting like his friend to see Bananyako. Bananya's heart is broken like this, and has to rebuild himself and everything he's ever thought about others. This is why Bananya is such a good character.

Enjoyment:

I very much enjoyed this series. I absolutely enjoyed this series. Please, just watch it. Its adorable and the lore runs deep.

Overall:

Best anime ever. Please watch it when you get the chance.

Bananya is that dosis of cuteness where you might be able to beat your addiction for cat videos. Now wait the characters are cats? But I though they were just talking bananas... I am confused. Bananya is 95% cuteness and 5% comedy stuff 3 minutes series. So if you really need that blissfully cuteness of drugs, this would indeed be cocaine of cuteness XD All the rainbow faeces of the Unicorn - the good things - Very beautiful simple colorful artstyle. (a more detailed style wouldn´t be fitting, I think) - I love their Nya sounds, very cute and a good cute ending song - Many would takes this asa con, but I think it was perfect for this one that it had a episode based plotline.

- That ending was interesting!

All the hurtful.... cringe! - The cons

- It is nothing more nor less, don´t expect much.

So yeah should you watch Bananya? Hell yeah especially if you feel down, stressed or anything like it and want to watch some kawaii stuff ^^ It is perfect for those situations

Just a simple review! This is a short anime with each episode of not more than 3 to 4 min max. Like the poster shows its about a cat in a banana. RIP logic. Coz it's bananya. What more will make us happy than an epidode of 3 minutes with an abundance of kawaiiness and an amazing art! Don't expect a story outta this anime. It's just a great entertainment. No matter how mature you are this anime can bring out the soft kawaii side out of you. If not then watch it with a kid. If it still doesn't work then may be it's justyou. :'D

Each bananya has his/her own storyline. Their daily lives in a human world mostly in a kitchen are what the story is about. It's like a toy story (not a serious story) in a kitchen but bananya are more kawaii. Each episode shows about the new encounters by bananya in the kitchen and how they enjoy(survive) them.

Sorry for the spoilers ahead of time. The main character plot development is that Bananya is actually a cat inside a banana. One of the best animes I seen so light hearted. Imagine watching innocent happy puella medoka magika without the "plot". This is the perfect show to watch when you are feeling under the weather. It doesnt have a political message or any reason but to entertain and make you happy. The have little misadventures here and there or have spats. No overlining story each episode is its own plot. From being comfortable with the temperature to finding a place to hang out.

I just watched all 13 episodes of the anime called "Bananya". A few points I would like to raise (spoilers ahead): Like pupating moths, the cats live inside these banana skins inside the house of the rarely seen human family. All the Bananyas supposedly have their own personalities: for example, Black Bananya has a bowtie. What intrigued me early on was Bananya’s ambition to become a chocolate covered Bananya – one that was, to say the least, entirely perplexing. Does Bananya want to be eaten? Does he just enjoy it aesthetically? If, like me, you go into the show wanting an answer to this, you willbe disappointed. In fact, for the rest of the series I found Bananya’s work ethic intolerable. Instead of pursuing his ambitions, he spends most of his time asleep and eating sweets. Why, at the supermarket, did he not find the isle with chocolate sauce? How much knowledge does Bananya have of the world and its workings anyway? I was left wanting for so much more.

Another aspect of Bananya’s character I found unpalatable was his betrayal in “Bananya and the Mouse Nya”. After breaking bread with Bananya, and sharing starkly honest and genuine moments of friendship and connection, Bananya turns on the mouse and tries to kill him. This is when his character arc, for me, went too far. For the people that believe he is redeemable after this, I wonder how much you truly value mouses’ life.

In "Bananya and the Balloon Nya" Bananya and co. are trying to grab the balloon for an unknown purpose. They try to jump for the balloon string, but cannot reach, until girl bananya manages to grab and tie it to a cup. Next thing we know, Bananya is atop the balloon, after jumping up there.

The physics are ludicrous and inconsistent. One minute, Bananya jumps like he's in zero-gravity, shooting up as high as the story requires. The next he can't reach the string. Similar inconsistencies are shown in "Bananya and the Stray Cat Nya" where he can't reach the window lock, after jumping to much higher places in other scenes. Does Bananya perhaps have jumping powers that easily deplete? If so, the story should have made this more clear.

I hate baby Bananya.

A few more points: the racial insensitivity of “Bananya Goes Out Nya”, the mysterious and underdeveloped narcissism of Long Hair Bananya (for me, one of the most compelling and open ended characters in the series), loose ended depictions of famine and child neglect.

While Bananya has some positive aspects, I couldn’t ignore these glaring problems that, once fixed, I think would make for a very compelling and fascinating programme.

This is the anime that healed my soul. I was suffering from extreme depression after the death of my cat. Bananya filled the void that was left by the departure of my longest companion. I have since referred this show to all of my friends and have yet to find anyone who has watched it all the way through and not liked it. Story: The story is simplistic, but very well Art: The art isn't on a par with some of the more recent released, but the art style cute and appealing.Sound: Nya~

Character: Bananya is the best written character I have ever encountered.

Enjoyment: 30 minutes pure unadulterated sexual pleasure.

This was a cute little anime that I was able to binge-watch fairly quickly. I never knew that banana cats could be so adorable!!! Oh, sorry I mean bananyas. Each episode had a cute story, and some of the scenes reminded me of my own cats (Fun fact of the hour: I have two adorable cats). The detailing of the character's lives and backstories were unique, creative, and fun as well. Overall, this is really cute, and if you're short on time this is a fun anime you can cram in quickly. Thanks for reading my review and I hope you enjoy the anime as muchas I did. ^^

- Otaku-kun, The Otaku in Converse.

ten out of ten, a masterpiece, perfection of the craft, I have been simply brought to tears by this show. the world may be in a dire state right now, where corporations and oligarchs control every facet of our life, selling our data to unknown suits for their personal benefit, but this? this show? this is pure, this is a show which cannot be touched by the billionaires, this show contradicts every single negative thought I have had about the world around me. they're cats, and bananas, they're bananyas, it's ingenious, it's stupendous, it's pulchritudinous. there is not a moment that goes by anymore withoutthe thoughts of these adorable banana cats invading every wrinkle and crevice my brain has to offer, this show represents everything that is right with the world, it is humanity at its finest, it is flawless, there's a baby bananya, who drinks banana milk!! tell me, how can the impurities and atrocities humanity has committed EVER taint such a beautiful thing as this??

"Bananya" is ungovernable, it is anarchy, it stands for humanity, it stands for the greater good, and I have been positively enthralled with its conquest for world peace every step of the way, don't just watch this show, envelope it, make it a part of your everyday life, because trust me, you will be all the more happier for it.

This anime completely redefined the whole game, it step up to the world's biggest taboos without fear and made us viewers rediscover anime under a new critical eye, subjugated by the outstanding efforts put into the storyline and unique never seen before characters and overly colourful art, a true feast for the eyes. This anime covers all genres and is not to be taken lightly even by weeabo veterans, under evil hands, it could be used as a weapon which will one day destroy the whole world (dramatic music) therefore it had been sealed deep in the shallow darkness of the net but resurfaced once againlike jumanji to wreck havoc upon this realm.

but yeah it's good tho

This anime.. is weird? It is about a cat, that is also a banana, named Bananya, and his friends/family? The friends are named; Tora Bananya, Baby Bananya, Bananya-ko, Kenaga Bananya, Kuro Bananya, Mike Bananya, and of course the Narrator who is obviously narrating what the Bananyas are doing. Bananya wants to be a chocolate covered banana or something like that, I guess. It's all just really, really odd to me. The episodes are very short, only 3-4 minutes long, and it was good, but I just didn't find it very interesting.If you like stuff like Chi's Sweet Home and Donyatsu, this anime is definitely for you.

In my opinion, I find it oddly entertaining at 5 AM, but I would never say this is one of my favorites.

So I don’t think I will ever be eating a banana again… this show is just too cute! It’s basically a couple shorts about a little kitten that lives in a banana and his many friends. The series is actually one of those very short cartoons consisting of only 3 minutes long. I consider it very similar to 4 panel strips in Comics in fact where it’s just a little taste of the characters and comedy. Because of this, this review is going to be pretty short compared. There really isn’t all that much you can talk about for a 3 minute anime that reallydoesn’t have much of a story.

Let me introduce the characters, there is Bananya, Tabby Bananya, Bananyako, Black Bananya, Long-haired Bananya, Mackerel Bananya… are you starting to see a trend? There are 11 characters and 10 of them are these strange Bananya creatures. There is even a little Baby Bananya as well. And each of these characters have there own little personalites to make them stand out… I really don’t know how they stand out though because I could barely remember all of the characters. I could probably pick them out by looks, but definitely not out of their personality. The other character that is not a Bananyas would be the Narrator who sounds like researcher in a documentary.

The animation is really really cute though very simple. Think more like Flash animation then the high detailed cell design that you see in action packed anime. The most action we get is the Bananya figiting or getting flustered. Most of the detail that is used in it is for backgrounds and the Bananyas even if it’s pretty simple. When they do show the humans, it’s really lack luster but that isn’t really a bad thing. The center point should be the Bananya’s so any humans or other creatures around them are basically just to push whatever plot along.

The music at the end is a really cute song but the rest of the soundtrack just seems a bit cutesy generic. It’s a lot of what you originally heard before in other slice of life style cute anime with nothing to make it its own. I watched the sub, not the dub (if there even is a dub of this) , and so some of the jokes seemed to slip past me as well as how slow it was for me to watch. I did have to stop it to read what the narrator was saying which is the reason why A) I like to watch Dubs, and B ) I am trying to learn Japanese.

There is something I really do like about this. At the end of each of the episodes, there is a couple cute pictures of real cats. I am not fully sure on where those are from but I think they are either cats owned by those who worked on this show, or cats that live at the studio. It’s hard to know as I only saw a split moment of them. I don’t know if it’s because I was watching the free version on Crunchyroll or if that’s just how it is.

Looking back on this show, I keep on asking myself if the show had any real point to being. You didn’t really learn anything like in Bottle Fairy, its very slow comedy, and just seems to be cute. I just wonder if it was created to sell more bananya shaped items and things like Bananas just as Shopkins have come out here in the USA. Still, I did really enjoy watching the very short episodes as it was just too cute to miss. It’s one of those shows that if you pick it apart, your not going to enjoy it all that much which is the hard part of reviewing things. If you like slice of life and little animated cats, then you will like this. If not, then you might just want to take a look at something else.

Story~There was legit no story here lol. Like at all. There were just random episodes with some random theme like "Going to the supermarket" or some crap lmao. 3/10 Art~The art here was ADORABLE. I squealed multiple times per episode because of how how cute it was. Every single character made me go, "I WANT IT!!!!!" 8/10 Sound~The sounds for each cat were probably the cutest things I have ever heard in my life. That's all I have to say about that. 9/10 Character~I want all the cats in this anime as my pets. I WANT THEM ALL. The only not-so-good thing I have to say aboutthis is that the creators of this anime could have actually given the cats names. Instead they just state the color of the cat and put Bananya at the end. 7/10

Enjoyment~This anime was adorable and I loved the cuteness of this show. I binge watched all 13 epsiodes in one sitting because I couldn't get enough these banana cats! 10/10

Overall~As much as I liked this, I have to be honest. The only real thing they've got going with this anime was the cuteness of it. It does sound kind of harsh and I hate to do that because I thought this anime was the cutest thing on the face of the earth lol but it's true. 7/10

All in all, if you want to just squeal over cats that live in bananas and not pay attention to any story watch this haha.

Much like the title Bananya is a portmanteau of banana and the noise a cat makes (nya), this series is about creatures who are a portmanteau of bananas and cats. It’s a series of short (3-minute) episodes following the daily lives and adventures of Bananya and his friends. Bananya and his friends live in a human family’s kitchen and throughout the series we see them playing with each other, exploring the house and the world around them, with their actions being described by an unknown narrator. There’s also a short section at the end called ‘Bananya Identification Guide’ (although the actual book cover says Bananya PictureBook) where there’s a character profile of the bananyas. Each episode stands alone, and there’s no reason to see a previous episode in order to understand any other episode.

The visuals are simple, with heavy outlines on the characters and not a lot of movement. I think as this series is very stylised and is aiming to be cute, this isn’t a detriment to the show.

The soundtrack doesn’t especially stand out, but contains plenty of light comedic music which complements Bananya’s adventures. The ending theme ‘Lucky Holiday’ （ラキーホリデイ) by Axell is by nature extremely short, but is a well-suited conclusion to the show, with the same light tone as the rest of the show, and the depiction of the bananyas on a holiday.

Obviously with such a short episode format, there’s not a lot of time for character development, and the series rides on cuteness and comedy. Each bananya has an individual personality quirk, but I still don’t think that they’re particularly unique. I think that the narrator has excellent timing and reactions to the events that he sees and this makes the show quite lively and fun! I’m not even a particular fan of cats and I found this lovely to watch.

I definitely recommend this show if you enjoy short anime and/or you like cats! Bananya has been charming to watch from start to finish and while it doesn’t bring up any especially unique concepts, it’s a show which I looked forward to viewing each week.

Ok so, this thing is 13 episodes long 3 minutes each, so a total of 39 minutes of your time. So to be blunt, these Bananyas are the creatures you find on cute Japanese stationary. With 39 minutes you have nothing to lose, I highly recommend to watch this after a horror game marathon or something, believe me you won't forget it. I mean its Banana cats, you can never go wrong with that. Bananyas are exactly what they sound like, and they will make you feel exactly how you think you will feel (unless you're some sort of weirdo) Plus the ending is FRICKIN CATCHY. If you're wasting yourtime here on MAL, reading reviews on Banana cats, then you have time to watch it, so you can watch it while you're stressed or something I don't care.

Thank you for reading!

Story: 7

Art: 7

Sound: 8

Character: 6

Enjoyment: 7

OVERALL: 8

Okay, besides this being the best thing to have ever been or will be made, let's talk about this show. If this show existed in any other form, it'd probably be terrible, but it's a short form show anyone could get into and finish in around 30 minutes to an hour. The show itself just has a bunch of cats in bananas, what's more to like. They go through all kinds of antics, doing silly things like bouncing around, or messing with the TV. Most of the skits last for around a minute at most, and end with a pretty catchy ED. The art styleis kept pretty simple and lightly colored, but still fits for a show like this. I'd recommend this as something you could watch to pass time, and still enjoy at the same time.

While I can hardly say that I’m in the target audience of the show I watched it regardless. I would say that even as a kids show my review would be harsh. Do you believe that children deserve fulfilling narratives and immersive experiences? Then I would not recommend Bananya for your toddler. First I will address the positive sides of Bananya (2016). The “bananyas”, an assortment of cats stck in banana peels, are all colorful and appealing to the eye. I’m sure any child age 3-6 would enjoy a Bananya-themed stamp or a lunch box. In this the shows creators are to my understanding severely successful.I hope that branding and marketing is the goal here and not fulfilling entertainment.

Secondly I will address the more negative sides of the show. One of the shows primary sins is the lack of any overarching ideal or goal of the show. Bananya is almost purely episodic and while I wholeheartedly support episodic shows (infact some of my favorite series are episodic), there is no growth from the events in the episodes. The narrator of the show, of whom I will shortly return to, states in the series finale that “I’ve introduced several types of Bananyas. What do you think?”. This is indicative of the shows lack of any internal motivation beyond introducing the separate Bananyas. A child deserves to learn from media and from stories, but there is nothing to learn here, other than uncreative, largely descriptive, names of separate Bananyas. This is connected to the other main problem of she show, namely the inconsequence of every single encounter Bananya has with his world. In many other child TV-shows (Bluey to name one), there is a lesson, a moral, an invitation to reflection from your toddler. In episode 6, “Bananya goes out”, Bananya has joined Mama to go to the store. Bananya gets lost in the store, Bananya meets a foreigner, Bananya sees the candy in the store. In the episodes non-climactic ending Bananya is almost scanned by the cashier. This episode is rather action packed compared to the rest of the show. But nothing that transpires have any bearing on either Bananya, the narrator or us the viewer. The final interwoven topic I shall address on the quality of the show is it’s characters. As you would probably expect from reading the review thus far, Bananya sufferes from one dimensional characters. I would go so far as to accuse the show of having no true characters at all unless you count the narrator. All the side characters represent archetypes and the show hardly problematises thes archetypes. You have the tired adult, the timid younger brother, the handsome narcissisist, the… girl. Bananya on the other hand acts as a self insert for the viewer, and as a tool to drive the episodic progression. If you have seen the show, I would invite to consider: what is Bananyas personality? I find this a challenging query to assess. Bananya himself is just there. I would point to two episodes that does investigate this deeper. In episode 11, “Bananya takes a walk”, we are told by the narrator that Bananya is mischievous. This is appparent in many other episodes aswell. In episode 12, “Bananyas Afternoon Nap”, we see Bananya hit his friend “Calico Bananya” in the face. Calico is knocked out are dazed. As a response Bananya elects to take a nap, dodging the consequences of his actions. Is this the kind of moral you want your toddler to pick up? His actions are never addressed either and he goes on once more without learning anything.

Lastly I will address the more problematic aspects of the show. The presensce of archetypes ruins any chance of true representation or character developement. The “girl” archetype is always seen and describes by how the different male characters perceive her, and her one motivation is to be with the narcissist archetype. The final point I will make is the series narrator. The only character in the show as I see it. He comes of as a very insecure and indecisive character. His tendency to praise and adore the Bananyas is embarrassing for viewer and Bananya alike as shown in the finale episode where the line I quoted in the second paragraph is met with a collective frown from the castmember. He also reveals a lack of intellect in episode 3 “Bananya watches TV” where he mistakes the monster on the TV for a real monster. The voice actor expertly portraits a sad, weak man lost in a fantasy of cats in banana peels. He lectures the viewer, while never criticising Bananya for instance when he punches Calico in episode 12. The impression we as adults are left with is that of a failed parent setting up his children (the viewer) to fail, as they will not train their empathy, learn moral lessons or become exposed to the complexity of human nature.

In the end I would not recommend you watch Bananya (2016). At best you will be bored, at worst you might come to resent the show, anime as a whole or in the utterly worst case, yourself. Neither would I underestimate your toddler by showing presenting them with this show. They deserve better. They need better.