I’ve watched the second episode of “Banana Fish”. Firstly, this stuff is getting more intense, and, secondly, I’m starting to feel who is the “hint of the slash” is going to be between. So, Eiji and Skip are being kept hostage, Ash rushed to save them but got caught himself. (Spoilers!) He was beaten by Marvin, but then tricked him and all three of them almost managed to run away, but they accidentally deadlocked and here Eiji’s talent comes out – he’s a pole vaulter, so he jumped over the wall, ran to the police and told them where were Ash and Skip. When police forces come there, Mafia and Ash’s gang arrive too, Skip is killed by Marvin (in the second episode! Now you understand, what I mean by “intense”?) and Ash chases him to his flat, only to find him there dead and be caught by the police and accused of murder. During the interrogation, we find out that Ash was invested in children-pornography. While Ash is in the hospital (he was hurt by Marvin), Eiji is sent to him get some information about Mafia, he doesn’t find out anything, but they have a nice conversation. Now Ash is in prison and everybody’s worried that he’s going to be killed there.
It’s time for a little change, let’s start a new anime: I’ve watched the first episode of “Banana Fish” and I know almost nothing about it, only that it’s something criminal and with a hint of slash. Well, it jumps to the plot which seems to be very complicated: some New-York gangs, Mafia, Japanese reporters, War veterans, drugs… I’m trying to learn at least the character’s names. The main character – Ash is seventeen years old, he’s a leader of one of the gangs, a favourite (as much as it can be) of a mafia boss – “Papa” Dino and probably (as I understood from the conversations) a former Porn star. He in his turn doesn’t seem to be very fond of Papa and (Spoilers!) steals a sample of drugs from him. He has a kid-friend and a henchman – Skip. Ash tries to investigate the drug, brings it for expertise to a doctor, he also brings his brother, who’s war veteran with him claiming that he was drugged while in Iraq. In the end, he’s being interviewed by some Japanese reporters, but then Mafia (sent by Papa, for stealing the drug) and some of Ash enemies from the gang attack and kidnap Skip and one of the reporters (the one which is young and pretty, of course) and now Ash is chasing them. Woosh, that’s a lot of things to show in just one episode!
I’ve watched the seventh episode of “Banana Fish”. Our team arrives at LA and go to visit Max’s ex-wife – Jessica - and his son. She almost shoots him (but she’s actually very cool and a journalist), but then lets them all in and Max can give his son a birthday present. Then they visit an address they were going to investigate and rescue a young long-haired Chinese guy, who claims to be the son of the owner of the house and that the scientist they are searching for is his uncle who’s been missing for a long time and that his father’s missing now too. (Spoilers!) Ash hacks the computer in the house and they finally find out that “Banana Fish” is not a person, but the name of the drug, but then the real twist happens: Shorter gets a message that Chinese mafia is in this mess too now and so he’s to stay out of it or follow the orders. He doesn’t do any of it, of course, and finds out that the boy they’ve saved is - Lee Yut-Lung - the youngest son of the boss of the Chinese mafia. At first, Shorter agrees to follow his orders, but then, after Yut-Lung observed how everybody in team treats Eiji – and especially how Ash cares for him, he orders Shorter to kidnap his and Shorter revolts, gives a passionate speech about how his parents taught him to respect the Lee family and how he always believed that they were different, but now he sees that it’s not true and Lees are no better than Galzine. The episode ends with mafia attacking Jessica’s house.
I’ve watched the sixth episode of “Banana Fish”. They decided to make things even more dramatic. The whole company moves from Max’s hideout to Ash’s home. A real home, where he lived as a child and where his father with a wife – Jennifer still lives. We get to know more about Ash’s family, for example, he and Griffin are only half-brothers, they have different mothers. Ash’s and his father don’t have good relationships – the father can’t say a simple word to his son, he only yells, he accuses him of all sins and says that if any of his “friends” sleep with him, they have to pay. Well, later after Max tells him that he was Griffin’s friend and they served together, the father tells a story of Ash’s childhood: he was raped by a baseball trainer, everybody in the village loved. Police did nothing and victim-blamed him (a seven-year-old boy!). Well, father told him, that if something like this happens – don’t fight, but make the abuser pay. Ash was assaulted more by the same coach, but a year later shot him with father’s gun. Police found child bones in the coach’s basement. To protect the boy against the rumour, the father sent him to live with his sister, but Ash ran away, was caught by Galzine and we know what happened next. They thought Ash was not enough traumatized? Seriously? Now they want us to think that he’s okay? Well, getting back to the plot – Dino’s people find them and take Ash’s family hostage, but he’s not so easy himself: he puts up a fight, Shorter and Max help him, but Jennifer is killed and Ash’s father shot (but still alive) and now our company has to leave as fast as possible, Ash is afraid that his father can die too. To continue their investigation about Banana Fish they go to Los Angeles, to see what’s on that mysterious address given Ash by a dying man (they’ve also seen this address written in the photo album near the picture of a man who killed Griffin (turns out, they had served together)). It’s only a fourth part of the series and so many events have already happened!
I’ve watched the fifth episode of “Banana Fish”. (Spoilers!) Ash is released from prison, is picked up by Ibe, Eiji and Charlie then threatens Ibe and Charlie with a gun and then Eiji, who feels that now it’s his deal too, hijacks the car and they go to pick up shorter, some guns and a truck from some Chinese mafia. Then they take this truck to a restaurant owned by Dino and which is used as a place to sell children sex slaves (amazing), Shorter drives the truck and Ash rides on top and tries to shoot Dino, but gets shot by Arthur (nothing too bad), who’s there with Papa because he works for him now. So, they just run, Shorter protects Eiji (who’s unable to shoot), Max joins them and saves them, they jump off a bridge and swim away and Max takes them to his “hideout”. I have to remind you how cool action scenes are: they are very cool! It’s still very dramatic, because firstly, Ash still cries over Griffin and because when he speaks of those children, Dino sales, he says “like me”, which means that he was actually caught on the street and sold and then held as a sex slave… I don’t even want to think about how much traumatized he is.
I’ve watched the fourth episode of “Banana Fish”. (Spoilers!) Eiji, the doctor and his assistant are trapped by Arthur and mafia and threatened, so Eiji has to tell them about the drug, but then Shorter saves them, but then Griff (Ash’s older brother) recognized a doctor who came with the mafia and said something like: “You! Bana fish!”, and then this doctor shot him and he died in the hospital. Eiji feels very guilty because he feels responsible for Ash. Ash, in his turn, has more problems in prison, Max decided to move to another cell, so Ash had a new cellmate and Ash almost killed him, because this man tried to rape him (we see again how good can Ash fight, even with an opponent which exceeds him in physical strength). Then Ash has to fight mafia (three people at the same time) and again almost killed one of them. Then Max, who found the fighting scene, tells Ash about his brother and Ash, being very angry, attacks Max too, but they are both alright at the end. At the very end, they even reconcile, drink together and mourn Griffin, after all, they both loved him.
I’ve watched the third episode of “Banana Fish”. (Spoilers!) Ash is in prison, Max – a friend of the reporter – is to take care of him, but it doesn’t work out as intended. Ash is too young and pretty not to have problems in prison. The very first day he gets involved in a fight, is put in solitary confinement and beaten (not too badly) the next day. Because of that – he spends the night in the hospital, asks the doctor for a painkiller – specifically for a capsule. Sneaks it away and the next day, when the reporters, including Eiji, come to meet him he passes the capsule secretly… There was a non-consensual kiss and I thought – here we go, the “hint of the slash” becomes problematic, but then we find out it was needed for the “good deed” – that was a way to pass the capsule with a secret massage to Eiji so that he finds Shorter (second in command in Ash’s gang) or the doctor (who researches the drug), but Eiji gets caught by Arthur. While in prison with Max Ash finds out that his roommate also investigated “banana fish” and the drug and that we saw him and Ash’s brother at the very beginning of the first episode – when a soldier somewhere goes mad, starts shooting his comrades and the other soldier, who managed to hide, shoots him in the legs. The mad soldier is Ash’s brother and the one who shot him was Max. Now Ash says that when he gets out of jail, he’s going to kill Max because now his brother can neither walk, nor recognize anybody. Max (as a reporter) also tried to find any information about this mysterious “fish”, but only finds another reporter, who spent a lot of time somewhere in Asia and knew that “banana fish” was either a person or a group of people. Well, this reporter is dead now, we saw his death in the first episode. That’s all so tangled together!
I know some of you have requested this pin since last year, I finally can fulfill my promise . I can’t resist to make the tuxedo Ash and I also make Eiji as his pair! Hope you happy with them all!
Banana Fish pins now launched on Kickstarter! These pins are 1”, black nickel plated, hard enamel pins with a yellow rubber clutch. The first pin design to be unlocked is Ash Lynx at $190, then Eiji, Yut Lung, Shorter, and Sing in that order! Pledge now to get your hands on the pin you want before the kickstarter ends on May 7th! Pins are $8 each, or you can get five for $35. We’re also selling special Banana Fish stickers for just $2! These are waterproof vinyl stickers that measure 3” at their longest length.
