Common Name: Banana Fish
Score: 4/10, 2/5
Length: 24 Episodes
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller, Yaoi
Summary: Within the span of a few years, Ash Lynx has gone from a runaway to the head of New York City's gangs. Renowned for his tactical mind, princely charm, and ruthlessness, he managed to unite nearly every gang, regardless of their skin color and origin, under him. Okumura Eiji, the assistant to a journalist, has traveled all the way from Japan in the hopes of interviewing this 17-year-old king of crime. Almost immediately after making conduct with Ash, though, Eiji quickly learns that Ash's power didn't come from nowhere. Brought up as a sex toy and future heir to his empire, the mafia's Papa Dino has no interest of letting his beautiful pet run free. Now, both Ash and Eiji must fight to survive every horror imaginable as Papa Dino sets plans into motion to bring Ash and the whole world under the control of him and his cabal of elites.
Review: People often say that "hate" is a strong word that should be avoided at all costs. Yet even that strong of a word does not express how much I dislike Banana Fish. Gorgeous as this show is, well-animated as it is, fantastic as the general design of it is, I just not hate the narrative and characters that it uses to express all those things. It is a soap opera along the lines of the lowest-quality trash you can find airing on ABC in the middle of the day. In spite of that, though, I will admit that I tried to like this show. I tried my damnedest to focus only on the show's better aspects, which are unfortunately limited mainly to its production value, and toward the beginning I was generally capable of looking past the things that bothered me in the hope that things might get better. The longer it dragged on, though, the harder and harder it became to keep up my determination to look past the bad and just enjoy the good. As tragedies continued to befall the cast, as issues with representation kept cropping up, as scenes that screamed how insensitive or unaware the writer is about the trauma of rape, and as some problems born of just lazy writing kept appearing, my resolve steadily chipped away. By the show's end, my resolve was just gone and I had fully given myself over to the hate that had been sitting in the pit of my gut. I actually found myself cheering for, not the villains (more on them later), but every stray bullet and the hand of the grim reaper in the hopes that I'd finally be free of these characters that I've grown to hate on a level that unnerves me.
Like, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that a rewatch of this show would have me cheering
and crying for shitheel Arthur because he exists just to torture and antagonize Ash.
Let's back up a bit, though. There is, after all, the possibility that I dislike this show simply because I am not it's intended audience. So, starting from the top, Banana Fish is an action thriller title with a focus on gang violence in New York City based on a manga from the 80s. Rather than adhering strictly to the manga's setting, however, the anime takes a few liberties to refresh the series for a modern audience. Most notably, it takes a few scenes that involve the Vietnam War and replaces it with Iraq and introduced the use of smartphones. Apart from those changes, however, everything is still very much 80s New York. From the fashion to the function of mafia and gang society, Banana Fish screams an 80s aesthetic which is, in all honesty, a fantastic backdrop to any action thriller title. More specifically, though, the show is centered on two main characters, Ash Lynx (aka Aslan Jade Callenreese) and Okumura Eiji. Now, between these two, Ash is the more thought out and compelling. He is the leader of a unified group of racial gangs that rules with a caring but ruthless fist. Yet, rather than being your underdog, Aladdin-esque "street rat," it is made abundantly clear that he is more like a prince in rags. Ash is smart, cunning, and skilled on a level that demands the respect of those that serve him. By all rights, he is a monster with a bleeding heart for anyone and anything he grows close to. So, as you might expect, he also tries to portray himself as being very reserved and standoffish to keep himself separated from others.
Cool as a cucumber this kid, even as he's being raped and physically tortured.
All this skill and pedigree didn't come from nothing, though. On top of his power and authority within the gang community of New York, Ash is the favorite and groomed heir to New York's Italian mafia. More specifically, he is the prospective heir of the mafia's leader, Papa Dino Golzine. Picked up by the mob boss for his princely looks, Papa Dino spends years using Ash as his personal sex toy while simultaneously grooming him to become the ruler of New York, if not the entire world. By the show's start, though, Ash has attained a moderate amount of freedom through his building and unifying the gangs under his banner, allowing him to bargain with Dino as a near equal. What's more, he's reached an understanding that his looks and sexual prowess are just as strong a weapon as any gun, making him a terror to anyone who might try to take advantage of him.
And boy howdy are there LOTS of guys who want to take advantage of him in this series.
Eiji, on the other hand, is pretty much as simple as it comes and generally serves as the best means for the audience to ground themselves in this show. While I wouldn't go so far as to call Eiji an audience-insert character, he grounds a lot of the show's more crazy bits of drama simply because he is the show's civilian character. More than that, he's basically crafted into being the most saccharine cinnamon bun to have ever been born. Before coming to the States to assist Ibe Shunichi, a journalist doing a piece on American gangs, Eiji was a pole-vaulter who got injured at one point and became too scared to try jumping ever again. Yet, bitter about his cowardice as an athlete, Eiji often exhibits an odd brand of reckless courage where he just shoves down his fear, runs into trouble, and typically just gets himself into trouble. Particularly when it comes to putting up a fight or defending himself, he just kinda chokes at the last possible moment. The fact that he even tries, in spite of his fear and weakness, though, makes him skyrocket in Ash's eyes as the two become nearly inseparable. Despite his lack of physical ability or mental fortitude to harm another person, Eiji has a skill with people that makes their defenses crumble in the face of his saintly powers. So, in other words, as the show goes on, Ash just kinda turns to putty in his hands, making them the perfect couple in the history of forever.
Hear that? It's the sound of thousands of fujoshi crying out in joy over how cute these two are.
Now, as for the show itself, the vast majority of the plot is built on the world and various factions reacting to Ash's rebellion against Papa Dino. Underlining all that, though, there are a number of subplots that range from mundane to harsh to downright insane. Most notably among these is the subplot that gave the show its name involving a mind-control drug Papa Dino and a number of American bigwigs in the military, medical, and political spheres. To talk on it in very broad strokes, the general push of this plot is Dino the big players working to take control of the world with a drug that'll make those dosed with it follow any directive they are given. Due to unforeseen complications, however, Ash catches wind of Papa Dino's mysterious super-drug and tries to shut the whole thing down, putting himself, Eiji, and anyone even remotely affiliated with them in danger. Considering the breadth and depth of this world conquest scheme, though, the show quickly becomes mired in dozens of different factions cropping up and fighting among themselves to grab the reigns of the Banana Fish project, all while also trying to be a character drama focused on Ash and Eiji's developing relationship.
Ain't no international conspiracy theory is going to sink this ship.
On the whole, the Banana Fish subplot mainly exists to better establish the main cast's (mainly Ash's) history, offer opportunities for some minor bits of development, and introduce characters who become big players later in the show. So, by now you're probably asking how can something that important and integral to defining Ash's journey can be considered a subplot. Honestly, I'd love to know that too but about halfway into the series the Banana Fish subplot is all but forgotten. For several episodes, it has nothing to do with the story and isn't even mentioned until the last couple of episodes when it finally becomes relevant again. Until then, the show contents itself with torturing the main cast and repeatedly putting either Ash or Eiji into a "damsel in distress" situation the other rescues them from against all odds.
No matter how bad things get, these two always have each other's back
...and butt...pretty much everything really.
Unfortunately, as you might have noticed, my hatred is starting to seep back into this review. So, if you'd like to watch the show for yourself and see if my hatred is justified, then I recommend dipping out now. From this point on, I'm not even going to bother holding anything back. With luck, maybe I'm just completely off base here and something else was souring my mood enough to make me project it onto this show. If that is the case, I'd really like to be told so. Considering how much I tried to like Banana Fish, though, I doubt that'll be the case.
God speed you crazy kids.
Alright, so, anyone that stayed in spite of that warning probably wants to know what is it that I dislike about Banana Fish. Put simply, it's the characters. The way they are treated, interact, plot, and develop just destroys any chance that I might have liked them. At their best, the show's characters make for great objects in motion, hellbent on shutting down an international conspiracy that puts the world and those they care for in jeopardy. The minute they open their mouths, though, that admiration for them goes right out the window. Let's start with Ash since the show is mainly centered on him. Throughout the series, Ash is presented as a monster with a bleeding heart. Despite his proficiency for murder, he hates killing. In the very first episode, he makes it clear that he will avoid killing another person at all costs because he just hates staining his hands with even more blood. Yet, as the show goes on, he thoughtlessly kills and kills and kills without a moment's hesitation, not giving it a second thought until the plot conveniently gives him a moment to tear himself to pieces because he's such a cold, unfeeling monster--a statement that is the biggest load of crock considering how he was established. This kind of disconnect between established characterizations and the show's actions run wild through nearly every aspect of Banana Fish, but most come hand in hand with Ash's story.
I think "broken" is the word you're looking for, Eiji.
Functionally speaking, Ash pretty much has three different modes of existence that battle and contradict one another throughout the series. The first is cold-hearted, unfeeling, action hero Ash who kicks so much ass that he might as well be considered a natural disaster for all the harm he does. This is an Ash who can concoct an insane plan on the fly, execute it, look good doing it, and come out without a scratch. Morality, mortality, and his own pride be damned. Then there is femme fatale Ash who sells his body and soul to get anything he wants and often uses his sexual experience to put him in a position of power in which he can effectively threaten and/or murder anyone he pleases since, apparently, this world is populated almost entirely by gay rapists. Then, lastly, there is kicked puppy Ash. Whenever there is a pause in the action or Ash needs a moment to reinforce that Eiji is his better half, this version of Ash comes out and just breaks down and bemoans the existence of his other two selves. During these moments, he just tears into himself and falls apart mentally. Of course, being repeatedly abused and raped by people as early as 7-years-old, it makes sense that he'd be more than a little fucked up. Yet, despite being so broken, the Ash and the show continue to play him off as this smooth, unfeeling murderer who's just gotten used to it all, even though he very clearly hasn't and shouldn't.
I'm just going to let this one line sink in for a moment.
Murder is one thing I can believe people can get over with time and enough detachment from humanity. History and understanding of the mental processes of the sociopathic make that idea very easy to believe. Rape, on the other hand, is not something victims of it can just magically get over like Ash does repeatedly throughout the series. The trauma of that helplessness is not something that can be just shoved down. People can disassociate from the experience and not let it define them, sure, but it still takes time to reach that point. Yet, with how often it happens to Ash in this series and how early it occurs in his life, I still cannot believe this show's gall to have the various assaults he undergoes take on an almost transactional nature. Especially early on, he just badasses his way through being raped and turns it into a step in his master plan to learn about Papa Dino's plans and Banana Fish. Then, as the show goes on, it just conveniently has kicked puppy Ash take center stage as he breaks down both emotionally and physically after another instance where he was raped, just in time for Eiji to swoop in and just magically cure the hurt, make everything OK, and get Ash back to being the badass he's supposedly always been. Yet, what makes this scene even more disgusting is his reaction when one of the show's other rape victims asks him how he can possibly be fine after going through that when it took her 6 months to get anywhere near normal.
Fuck you, Ash. How, in any way, is that an appropriate answer?
To pull back from Ash, though, it should be said that the show's villains are not any better. Papa Dino, for example, is just an absolute mess of a character. In spite of starting the show as a murderer, pedophile, and rapist, he's just not a convincing villain. Most of his actions throughout the show actually benefit Ash more than they hurt him--a crazy statement I know, but true. Throughout all of Banana Fish, Papa Dino only ever spends his time deciding what he wants to do with Ash, changing his mind at the drop of a hat. One minute, he'll decide that Ash is his most lucrative prostitute and best sex toy and nothing more. The next, Ash is the heir apparent to all of his schemes of world domination. Then, an episode or two later, he's a thing that should be butchered and mounted on his wall. Over and over, Golzine just constantly undermines his own plans just because he constantly changes his mind on what he wants to do with Ash. On several occasions, he even saves Ash from his own clutches and that of others just because he's had some sentimental thought about wild beasts roaming free of how fun it'll be to chase him down again. With how many times he sabotages his own plans throughout the show, it honestly becomes impossible to take him or his threats seriously, particularly since it's always a given that Eiji will somehow manage to rescue Ash.
Christ, and that weren't bad enough, the show even tries to give him a noble death
like he was some tragic, misunderstood hero the entire time.
But, no, where the flaw with this show's villains really lies is with the one painted as Ash's evil twin or something, Yut-Lung Lee. Introduced to the show at roughly a quarter of the way into the series, Lee basically suffers from the same contradictory, half-assed writing that Ash does and is made into an utter laughing stock for it because he's also one of the show's primary antagonists. Unlike the rest of the villains who want to dominate Ash and rape him into a mindless puppet, though, Lee's obsession with Ash has a different angle. Namely, he basically wants to force Ash to be like him, a tortured monster who wants nothing more than to destroy everything around him, because it validates his own choices and world view. Rather than overtly attacking Ash to do this, though, Lee directs his ire at Eiji instead because, supposedly, Ash's feelings toward Eiji are getting in the way of his monstrous evolution. Rather than acting like the cunning manipulator and strategist he is initially set up as, though, Lee's antagonism toward Eiji follows the same lines Golzine antagonizes Ash. Even when Lee has Eiji captured and imprisoned in his own fortress, he just lets Eiji go for reasons that are fairly obvious but not actually stated until the very end. Lee simply just doesn't want to be the one who kills Eiji, opting instead for cat's paws and assassins that either fail stupendously or outright refuse Lee's request. In the end, though, it all resolves that the only reason Lee hated Eiji was because his helplessness reminded him of his mother who was brutally raped and murdered by Lee's brothers. So, like our tragic hero Golzine, Lee is functionally reduced to being little more than a petulant child who blames his mother, and by proxy anyone who vaguely reminds him of her, for being raped and murdered in front of him.
Granted, it doesn't help that he dissolves into a pathetic drunk when all is said and done.
Granted, I kind of get Lee's hatred of Eiji since the show also has no real clue what it wants to do with him. I mean, Eiji doesn't really undergo any kind of development throughout the show apart from his gaining the courage to risk his life. Throughout the show, the most he ever does is act as Ash's security blanket when the kicked puppy starts to show up and his knight in Styrofoam armor when Ash becomes the damsel in distress. Despite his developing some courage, though, the show insists that Eiji cannot and should not ever be allowed to do anything wrong. He cannot kill. He cannot hurt anyone. He basically just leans of everyone else to do the killing for him even when he needs to defend himself. This concept that Eiji needs to be as pure as the driven snow is nothing short of galling, particularly since he constantly blusters about how he'll eventually stand up for himself and act. What's more, this reservation of Eiji's purity also extends to his romance with Ash, if it can even be called that.
Hmmm. Funny how fujoshi-targeted shows always manage to sneak in one or two conversations
firmly planted in hetero-normative ideas. It's almost like they think homosexuality
is just a phase hot boys go through or something.
Over the course of the show, both Ash and Eiji come to accept their love for each other but do absolutely everything to sabotage that relationship. Apart from some "everything will be alright" cuddling and a kiss used to pass a note in jail, nothing ever actually happens between them. This is due in part to needing to keep Eiji pure, but also because this entire show is dedicated to making Ash as miserable as humanly possible. Very frequently, Ash finds a way to blend his badass personality with the kicked puppy personality as he just decides on his own that Eiji should really stay away from him. For nearly half the series, he insists that Eiji should go home half because it'll keep him safe and half because Ash worries that being around him will somehow taint Eiji's purity. Even when Eiji makes it clear that he has no desire to be anywhere other than Ash's side, he pushes him away because, once again, he's a heartless killer who might just kill Eiji someday, or some such nonsense. Though, for his fair share, Eiji does have a few moments where he basically demonizes Ash for killing people in self-defense, thus only driving Ash further into his pit of self-hatred.
This show is such a fucking mess.
I think I've mostly exhausted my frustration with this show. It best it's a beautiful mess with art and animation that make it look like Akira was updated for a 2018 showing. At worst, it's pretty much your standard fujoshi drama, but with the power and push behind it to do some real harm and damage to anyone who might see themselves in this show's characters. Regardless of where it falls, though, its use of things like trauma, rape, and abuse are nothing short of galling. The only time it is used even remotely effectively is for a cheap means to reaffirm that Eiji is Ash's soulmate. Apart from that, every other instance is rendered into being little more than the cheapest way to label a villain, needlessly harm another character, or turn it into something people let happen to them. This aspect alone should be enough to damn it for me, but the lazy character writing and bullshit romance put that last nail in the coffin that is this show. To be clear, though, I won't say people shouldn't watch and/or like it. For once, I've found myself in a position where it seems I just cannot tolerate a show that a lot of other people liked. So, if you want to give it a shot and like it, I'd love to know why. Perhaps I missed something or have a skewed perspective on how this show might offend or represent people. In short, if you watch it, feel free to call me on my bullshit. I'd much rather have someone make it clear that my thoughts are flawed than continue to judge things on faulty assumptions and beliefs.