Chapter Text
📌 A Quick Note for Readers!
Just so you’re all on the same page before diving in—
In this Banana Fish AU, the characters are actors playing their Banana Fish roles. Their behind-the-scenes lives are funny, chaotic, and sometimes unexpectedly emotional. Think: cast interviews, prank wars, line flubs, late-night bonding, and that slow, slow burn between two actors who maybe don’t just have chemistry on camera.
For reference:
The actors use their character names as their own. This was a deliberate choice by the director, who believed it would allow the cast to deliver more natural, immersive performances. So yes—Ash is played by Ash, Eiji by Eiji, and so on.
They filmed the show on an episode-to-episode schedule. Just like in the old TV days, episodes were released while new ones were still being filmed. This gave the show a raw, in-the-moment energy and also allowed the cast to interact with fan reactions as the story unfolded week by week.
Eiji Okumura is 19 in real life—just like his character. This is his first acting role. He mostly did lowkey modeling gigs back in Japan (you might’ve seen him in a Muji ad or a train station poster once), and was actually cast after veteran actor Ibe saw his photo in a magazine and sent it to the director.
Ash Lynx, whose real name is you’ll never find out because he doesn’t want you to, is a former child star. He’s 18 in real life (even though Ash in the show is 17).
Shorter Wong is 19, just like his character, and has a few indie films under his belt. Also has a prank YouTube channel no one’s supposed to know about.
Yut-Lung Lee is 18 in real life, though his character is 16. No one is more committed to the drama—on screen and in the group chat.
Sing Soo-Ling is actually 16, and yes, everyone does constantly remind him he is.
Max Lobo is played by an actor whose career was, well, hanging in there. This show becomes the comeback he didn’t know he needed. Inspired by Key Huy Quan <3.
And last but not least—Ibe is a legend. He’s the Michelle Yeoh.
Let the behind-the-scenes chaos begin !
Now lights, camera, trauma with a side of flirting.
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“You’re hired.”
That’s what the casting director said after Eiji Okumura read one scene with Ash Lynx.
It was one of those moments that everyone talks about in the press junkets now—the moment. A scene about a stolen gun and trust and running away. The lines weren’t romantic. But somehow, the room had gone so quiet you could hear a pen cap fall.
The director later said:
“I don’t know. There was just…something. It didn’t feel like acting. It felt like eavesdropping.”
Eiji, for his part, didn’t think he did that well.
He just hadn’t known who Ash Lynx was.
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That Audition
The tape still lives somewhere on the internet: Eiji in a hoodie, standing stiffly. Ash lounging in the chair like he was bored out of his mind. The casting director starts the scene—and something changes.
Eiji steps forward.
Ash doesn’t move.
They hold each other’s gaze.
And keep holding it.
And keep holding it.
Even when the lines run out.
“Did you just improvise?”
“No,” Eiji said. “I was waiting for him to say his line.”
“I was waiting for him to look away,” Ash said.
Neither of them moved first. That was it. That was the show.
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Now, they’re the co-leads of one of the most buzzed-about shows on TV.
A dark, gritty drama about gangs, politics, and a drug called Banana Fish.
It’s violent, intense, destined for an award.
But behind the cameras?
There’s spilled coffee on the scripts. There are inside jokes and 2 a.m. snack runs. There are birthday parties on set and chaotic interview clips and a growing pile of memes from behind-the-scenes footage.
And, slowly, there’s something else.
Something that isn’t in the script.
Something real.