Banana Fish, Akimi Yoshida
Mar. 25th, 2009 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandra“The crap the NYPD is passing off as a pot of coffee is not potable without sugar.”
Max and Ibe are forced to tell Nadia about her brother's death, although she's already guessed. Charlie is supportive in a doomed sounding fashion. Eiji wakes Ash up despite dire warnings from the gang about the dangers of doing so (Eiji escapes unscathed), and then Ash sends his gang off on a mission before having a surprisingly relaxed conversation with Eiji, during which he confesses his childhood fear of pumpkins. The best thing about this is that Eiji is completely unhelpful about this and, once he stops laughing, teases Ash about it (suggesting Dino hire gourds instead of guards, in a joke that makes me curious about the original Japanese) rather than offering him vast sappy amounts of sympathy.
An arms dealer shows up and Ash trades his jade earring for a lot of weapons. Eiji wonders about which Ash is the real one. Ash and Eiji argue in a rather endearing fashion about things – Ash telling Eiji off for being a klutz while changing bandages – and I am particularly taken with the bit where Eiji, in exchange, demonstrates exactly which finger he plans to leave in the sandwich he’s making for Ash.
More skipping around. Max and Ibe talk about Eiji's effect on Ash, and there’s a cut to Ash waking from a nightmare and having a breakdown in front of Eiji, talking about the first guy he killed (the pedophile from his home town) and how he can’t feel anything. Eiji offers to be on Ash's side and stay with him, telling him that he can feel, and it’s a very nice moment, although I did get distracted by the fact that despite having just woken up in the middle of the night they are both wearing fully laced sneakers. There is also a very nice dawn-over-the-city sequence and then Ash starts plotting on some computer equipment that was no doubt cutting edge at the time, but now just gives me nostalgia flashbacks for dot matrix printers.
Back with the police. Ash is their target and is being blamed for the attack on Dino. Dino, meanwhile, buys Ash from the city, to take possession of him once arrested. The police, who have obviously not planned this well, attempt to arrest every blond pretty boy in NY.
Ash is hiding in plain sight, feeding squirrels and dressed as a trust fund kid with Max as his rather reluctant father. Ash tells Max what he's done on the computer – undermining Dino’s authority and power, stealing money from him and making it look like Dino embezzled it – and it’s all intercut with Dino’s reaction. Max comes up with, of all things, an Oscar Wilde reference, calling Ash one hell of a Bosie, which I think is probably unfair to all concerned. Ash gets Max to sign for the apartment he's bought overlooking Central Park, also very handy for watching one of Dino's buildings.
His empire collapsing, Dino is forced to leave the country to talk to his Corsican mafia bosses, but hands things over to Arthur and arranged to have Ash stuffed by the top taxidermist if he’s killed before Dino gets back. Ash’s other plans are also advancing, and there is a really nice subway sequence where Ash takes out one of the rival gang leaders, all tensions and distractions. Ash is cutting his way through the gangs, taking out those leaders who’ve allied with Arthur in an attempt to undermine him as well.
Ash shows up as a pizza guy to talk to Max and Ibe and says he'll get them on flights to Japan in ten days, but he’s keeping Eiji until then. Ash confronts Dino at the airport, declaring war, and heads back to his war on the gangs – Eiji, watching him discuss plans, is disturbed by Ash’s casual orders to kill those who get in their way. Despite this, he’s photographing people visiting Dino’s apartment for Ash to pass on to Max. And Ash goes to make a deal with Cain Blood, who runs a gang in Harlem and who’s been staying out of the fight, to make sure he remains on the sidelines.
I think the events in this volume actually cover quite a bit of time, but it's hard to be sure without making an actual timeline. Certainly we're only getting glimpses of Ash's plans, and of everyone else's; Ibe seems to have stopped coming up with his own ideas, though.
Max and Ibe are forced to tell Nadia about her brother's death, although she's already guessed. Charlie is supportive in a doomed sounding fashion. Eiji wakes Ash up despite dire warnings from the gang about the dangers of doing so (Eiji escapes unscathed), and then Ash sends his gang off on a mission before having a surprisingly relaxed conversation with Eiji, during which he confesses his childhood fear of pumpkins. The best thing about this is that Eiji is completely unhelpful about this and, once he stops laughing, teases Ash about it (suggesting Dino hire gourds instead of guards, in a joke that makes me curious about the original Japanese) rather than offering him vast sappy amounts of sympathy.
An arms dealer shows up and Ash trades his jade earring for a lot of weapons. Eiji wonders about which Ash is the real one. Ash and Eiji argue in a rather endearing fashion about things – Ash telling Eiji off for being a klutz while changing bandages – and I am particularly taken with the bit where Eiji, in exchange, demonstrates exactly which finger he plans to leave in the sandwich he’s making for Ash.
More skipping around. Max and Ibe talk about Eiji's effect on Ash, and there’s a cut to Ash waking from a nightmare and having a breakdown in front of Eiji, talking about the first guy he killed (the pedophile from his home town) and how he can’t feel anything. Eiji offers to be on Ash's side and stay with him, telling him that he can feel, and it’s a very nice moment, although I did get distracted by the fact that despite having just woken up in the middle of the night they are both wearing fully laced sneakers. There is also a very nice dawn-over-the-city sequence and then Ash starts plotting on some computer equipment that was no doubt cutting edge at the time, but now just gives me nostalgia flashbacks for dot matrix printers.
Back with the police. Ash is their target and is being blamed for the attack on Dino. Dino, meanwhile, buys Ash from the city, to take possession of him once arrested. The police, who have obviously not planned this well, attempt to arrest every blond pretty boy in NY.
Ash is hiding in plain sight, feeding squirrels and dressed as a trust fund kid with Max as his rather reluctant father. Ash tells Max what he's done on the computer – undermining Dino’s authority and power, stealing money from him and making it look like Dino embezzled it – and it’s all intercut with Dino’s reaction. Max comes up with, of all things, an Oscar Wilde reference, calling Ash one hell of a Bosie, which I think is probably unfair to all concerned. Ash gets Max to sign for the apartment he's bought overlooking Central Park, also very handy for watching one of Dino's buildings.
His empire collapsing, Dino is forced to leave the country to talk to his Corsican mafia bosses, but hands things over to Arthur and arranged to have Ash stuffed by the top taxidermist if he’s killed before Dino gets back. Ash’s other plans are also advancing, and there is a really nice subway sequence where Ash takes out one of the rival gang leaders, all tensions and distractions. Ash is cutting his way through the gangs, taking out those leaders who’ve allied with Arthur in an attempt to undermine him as well.
Ash shows up as a pizza guy to talk to Max and Ibe and says he'll get them on flights to Japan in ten days, but he’s keeping Eiji until then. Ash confronts Dino at the airport, declaring war, and heads back to his war on the gangs – Eiji, watching him discuss plans, is disturbed by Ash’s casual orders to kill those who get in their way. Despite this, he’s photographing people visiting Dino’s apartment for Ash to pass on to Max. And Ash goes to make a deal with Cain Blood, who runs a gang in Harlem and who’s been staying out of the fight, to make sure he remains on the sidelines.
I think the events in this volume actually cover quite a bit of time, but it's hard to be sure without making an actual timeline. Certainly we're only getting glimpses of Ash's plans, and of everyone else's; Ibe seems to have stopped coming up with his own ideas, though.
