#shunichi ibe
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.
Banana Fish!! What a great anime :D
