2018 Score 8.45 24 eps Red Monochromatic MAL ↗IMDb ↗ MAPPA Action Adventure Drama Suspense

Banana Fish

Pixel Slice — 1px center crop per frame
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Smooth Average — mean color per frame
Smooth average barcode
Rank Mosaic — columns sorted by luminance
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Circle / Radial — polar transform
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Edit Pace — frame-to-frame color delta (bright = fast cuts)
Edit pace barcode
Color Temperature — warm (gold) vs cool (teal) per frame
Color temperature barcode
Frame Density Comparison — every 2nd vs every 4th frame
Slice · 15s
Avg · 15s
Slice · 30s
Avg · 30s

The data reveals a show built on a *trap of warmth*. *Banana Fish* begins in a New York City awash in the amber glow of streetlights and neon — a *bright opening* that is pure misdirection from director Hiroko Utsumi and studio MAPPA. The middle act does not darken; it paradoxically *brightens* to an average of 0.583, pushing the palette into a flat, desaturated Red-Orange that feels less like hope and more like the oppressive glare of a police interrogation room. This is the violence of exposure, not the comfort of sunlight. The closing act then collapses into the show's true nature: a deep, murky 0.443 brightness where the dominant #221E1E consumes the frame. The 35% Red hue dominance is not the red of passion or romance but the dried, brownish red of old blood and rusted fire escapes. The fall arc is not a descent from light to dark; it is a retreat from a blinding lie into a comfortable, fatalistic shadow. Ash Lynx was never going to see a clear dawn.

Brightness Arc (episode progression)

Hue Distribution

Act Breakdown

Opening
0.501
Middle
0.583
Closing
0.443
Avg Brightness
0.376
Avg Saturation
0.299
Warmth
0.555

Color Palette

#221E1E
#5E5D59
#9F9C9A
#512E20
#92725E
#A38D6A
#5D4B32
#E2DDD6

3-Act Color Story

Opening
Middle
Closing
Color Twins
Perceptually nearest palettes — measured in OKLab space, not RGB
Vandread
2000
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Red-Orange
Cowboy Bebop
1998
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Red
Baki the Grappler
2001
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Red
Baki the Grappler: Saidai Tournament-hen
2001
Baki the Grappler: Saidai Tournament-h
Red
Attack on Titan
2013
Attack on Titan
Red-Orange
Also from 2018
Other top-rated anime from the same year
A Place Further Than The Universe
2018
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Attack on Titan Season 3
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Red-Orange
Gintama. Silver Soul Arc - Second Half War
2018
Gintama. Silver Soul Arc - Second Half
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Golden Kamuy Season 2
2018
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Blue-Green
Grand Blue Dreaming
2018
Grand Blue Dreaming
Green