Banana Fish, Akimi Yoshida
Apr. 1st, 2009 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandra“I also find out you are supposed to put out your non-combustible garbage on Wednesdays and Saturdays!”
This is my favourite volume of Banana Fish so far - the final action sequence is amazing, and before that there is entertaining banter and a very nice plot revelation sequence, plus by this stage I like a lot of the characters more than I did in volume 2 (previous favourite) - and I wrote a lovingly detailed summary of it by hand on a small piece of paper due to battery issues, which I have either left in a book or in the wrong city or both. Writing another summary seemed like my best chance for having it show up again...
Anyway, Volume 8 starts with Eiji introducing Ash to a variety of Japanese foods (I realise now that my summary of volume 7 implies a cliff-hanger, but actually Cain is quite happy to hang back and watch Ash cut his way through the local gangs who've been foolish enough to ally with Arthur), some of which are more successful than others (Ash is not a fan of natto). Ash turns off the news when it starts talking about his gang attacks, and is ambivalent about Eiji’s questions about them. Arthur, meanwhile, is less ambivalent and more hopelessly outclassed, as his own ineptly dressed minions bring him news of yet another gang figure killed. The Union Corse is putting pressure on him to succeed, and he’s running out of places to look for Ash. And the police flip through the photos on dead gang-bangers and wonder what Ash is becoming.
Ash corners a gang guy (Waxie) with a sickle on his tank top (? a communist gang) and an unfortunate hair-do, and kills him and a roof-top sniper before ordering his own minions to cold-bloodedly kill all of Waxie’s gang, for the crime of joining Arthur. When Ash gets back to the apartment, Eiji asks him about the killings reported in the newspaper, the execution-style methods, and asks why he’s doing it. Ash says first, he’s a murderer and second, anyone who betrays someone will do it again. Eiji argues that this is the logic of the strong, and that not everyone can be as exceptional as Ash – things deteriorate, and Ash, storming out, yells back that he has never wanted to be exceptional. I actually believe him here, and it's part of why I've ended up liking Ash despite him being an angst-ridden super-talented pretty boy with an appalling past, because he doesn't wallow and neither he nor the author/mangaka (which is far rarer)come across as not so secretly thinking about how special he is because of all of this.
There is a nice dawn over the city montage, and Kong & Bones come back to the apartment to find Eiji – and no Ash. They are able to direct Eiji to the New York public library (with lions!), where Ash goes when he wants to be alone. Eiji attempts to apologise, and they end up going out for hot-dogs and talking about death and Hemingway, before a really nice double-page spread pull-back where they turn out to be staring over the water to the World Trade Centre, which certainly underlines the conversation a bit more heavily than it would have done in 1987.
Max contacts a fellow journalist. Arthur comes to visit Cain, who then sends a message to Ash; the two of them meet up at the Winter Garden, where Cain states Arthur’s proposal; a one-on-one duel, with Cain to supervise. Ash agrees surprisingly quickly. Max meets up with his contact again, and then with Ash, and despite the fact that Ash is wearing a rather unfortunate jersey (I presume this is part of his disguise), this is a great sequence in which they carefully outline their respective findings and slot them together into a plot. The US government wants Banana Fish to control Central America and keep it from going Communist; the Union Corse provides the money and gets control of the cocaine traffic. Max is impressed by Ash’s grasp of geopolitics, at which Ash’s facial expression is indescribable but highly amusing. Max and Ash are still using the father/son references, heavily ironic, and there’s some nice tension between their two different viewpoints on the conspiracy – which snaps back when, as he’s about to leave, Ash asks Max if he’d keep pursuing the story if he (Ash) died.
When Ash gets back Eiji, who appears to have some NY apartment version of cabin fever, has decorated the entire place with pumpkins for Halloween (I do like the sense of time passing in this manga, although occasionally I’d like to know what Eiji’s family think has happened to him) and other decorations and foodstuffs picked up from the neighbours, who he’s been chatting to (Ash: Step away from the pumpkin! I’m serious!!). After the food, Eiji and Ash end up talking, this time about girlfriends – yes, more of Ash’s tragic past, but the issue this bit picks up on is Eiji’s worry that he’s a burden to Ash, and Ash’s inability to tell Eiji what he does think of him (I think Ash probably doesn't know, rather than being overwhelmed with secret feelings, but it's hard to phrase that). Later, the phone rings. Ash answers it and is given the rendezvous for the duel. Without waking Eiji, he heads out into the night, telling Kong and Bones to take Eiji to the airport in the morning without telling him what’s happened. There’s a nice shot of Ash walking through the last of the trick-or-treaters, and then we're at the subway station chosen for the duel, locked down until the trains start running again in the morning.
Cain takes them down to the platform – where Sing shows up, having snuck in with his gang to act as another witness. Cain is a little irked. Both Cain and Sing head over to the other platform, and Arthur and Ash start fighting each other with knives. Ash is a little slow, and appears distracted – then he yells out “Train!”, and the others eventually hear it as well (I think there was another reference in an earlier volume that suggested Ash, in addition to his many other talents, has great hearing) – Arthur has used his connections to send a train down the line and through this station, packed with his minions armed with machine guns. All the sound effects and action panelling work really well here. Guns firing, the train screeching through the station to a halt, people diving for cover all over the place. Sing and Cain retrieve Ash’s gun (taken off him pre-duel) while Ash throws his knife – his only weapon – at the first minion to get off the train, taking him in the throat. Sing cuts through the stopped train to throw Ash his gun. and Ash starts shooting back with a variety of very loud and effective sound effects. Cain and Sing’s guys regroup and attack. Arthur’s gang, realising they’re outnumbered, pull back to the train, which is starting up again – and Ash, after reloading his gun with the ammunition he’d thoughtfully taped to his ankle, dives onto the train just as it starts to pull away.
Cain and Sing exchange views on the events. Ash starts shooting his way through the train, going after Arthur. Arthur, at the front, uses the intercom to call the guys at the back and try to catch Ash between them. There are a lot of train noises and a lot of shooting, and it’s all very tense – and then we cut to Eiji, waking up in the apartment. He confronts Kong and Bones, and there’s one panel where Eiji looks surprisingly like a Fumi Yoshinaga character (I think it’s the shadows on the face, and something about the eyes). They tell him Ash’s plan. Eiji assumes he has become too much of a burden, and decides to go back to Japan.
On the train. Arthur’s men attempt to execute a pincer movement, and Ash shoots out the lights. Arthur’s men are starting to panic, but Arthur tells them the train will be above ground soon – and dawn’s coming.
Kong and Bones prove themselves completely incapable of hiding important information from an apparently resigned Eiji, and tell him about the duel. Cain and his gang in cars, and Sing and his on motorbikes, race through the streets of New York to Coney Island, where the train will terminate. Eiji breaks away from his protectors and starts running for the subway as well, although he’s heading for the original station. And the police start hearing about disturbances on the subway. Back on the train, Ash is preparing for his final attack, and kills the last of Arthur’s minions before – finally – catching up with Arthur himself.
This is my favourite volume of Banana Fish so far - the final action sequence is amazing, and before that there is entertaining banter and a very nice plot revelation sequence, plus by this stage I like a lot of the characters more than I did in volume 2 (previous favourite) - and I wrote a lovingly detailed summary of it by hand on a small piece of paper due to battery issues, which I have either left in a book or in the wrong city or both. Writing another summary seemed like my best chance for having it show up again...
Anyway, Volume 8 starts with Eiji introducing Ash to a variety of Japanese foods (I realise now that my summary of volume 7 implies a cliff-hanger, but actually Cain is quite happy to hang back and watch Ash cut his way through the local gangs who've been foolish enough to ally with Arthur), some of which are more successful than others (Ash is not a fan of natto). Ash turns off the news when it starts talking about his gang attacks, and is ambivalent about Eiji’s questions about them. Arthur, meanwhile, is less ambivalent and more hopelessly outclassed, as his own ineptly dressed minions bring him news of yet another gang figure killed. The Union Corse is putting pressure on him to succeed, and he’s running out of places to look for Ash. And the police flip through the photos on dead gang-bangers and wonder what Ash is becoming.
Ash corners a gang guy (Waxie) with a sickle on his tank top (? a communist gang) and an unfortunate hair-do, and kills him and a roof-top sniper before ordering his own minions to cold-bloodedly kill all of Waxie’s gang, for the crime of joining Arthur. When Ash gets back to the apartment, Eiji asks him about the killings reported in the newspaper, the execution-style methods, and asks why he’s doing it. Ash says first, he’s a murderer and second, anyone who betrays someone will do it again. Eiji argues that this is the logic of the strong, and that not everyone can be as exceptional as Ash – things deteriorate, and Ash, storming out, yells back that he has never wanted to be exceptional. I actually believe him here, and it's part of why I've ended up liking Ash despite him being an angst-ridden super-talented pretty boy with an appalling past, because he doesn't wallow and neither he nor the author/mangaka (which is far rarer)come across as not so secretly thinking about how special he is because of all of this.
There is a nice dawn over the city montage, and Kong & Bones come back to the apartment to find Eiji – and no Ash. They are able to direct Eiji to the New York public library (with lions!), where Ash goes when he wants to be alone. Eiji attempts to apologise, and they end up going out for hot-dogs and talking about death and Hemingway, before a really nice double-page spread pull-back where they turn out to be staring over the water to the World Trade Centre, which certainly underlines the conversation a bit more heavily than it would have done in 1987.
Max contacts a fellow journalist. Arthur comes to visit Cain, who then sends a message to Ash; the two of them meet up at the Winter Garden, where Cain states Arthur’s proposal; a one-on-one duel, with Cain to supervise. Ash agrees surprisingly quickly. Max meets up with his contact again, and then with Ash, and despite the fact that Ash is wearing a rather unfortunate jersey (I presume this is part of his disguise), this is a great sequence in which they carefully outline their respective findings and slot them together into a plot. The US government wants Banana Fish to control Central America and keep it from going Communist; the Union Corse provides the money and gets control of the cocaine traffic. Max is impressed by Ash’s grasp of geopolitics, at which Ash’s facial expression is indescribable but highly amusing. Max and Ash are still using the father/son references, heavily ironic, and there’s some nice tension between their two different viewpoints on the conspiracy – which snaps back when, as he’s about to leave, Ash asks Max if he’d keep pursuing the story if he (Ash) died.
When Ash gets back Eiji, who appears to have some NY apartment version of cabin fever, has decorated the entire place with pumpkins for Halloween (I do like the sense of time passing in this manga, although occasionally I’d like to know what Eiji’s family think has happened to him) and other decorations and foodstuffs picked up from the neighbours, who he’s been chatting to (Ash: Step away from the pumpkin! I’m serious!!). After the food, Eiji and Ash end up talking, this time about girlfriends – yes, more of Ash’s tragic past, but the issue this bit picks up on is Eiji’s worry that he’s a burden to Ash, and Ash’s inability to tell Eiji what he does think of him (I think Ash probably doesn't know, rather than being overwhelmed with secret feelings, but it's hard to phrase that). Later, the phone rings. Ash answers it and is given the rendezvous for the duel. Without waking Eiji, he heads out into the night, telling Kong and Bones to take Eiji to the airport in the morning without telling him what’s happened. There’s a nice shot of Ash walking through the last of the trick-or-treaters, and then we're at the subway station chosen for the duel, locked down until the trains start running again in the morning.
Cain takes them down to the platform – where Sing shows up, having snuck in with his gang to act as another witness. Cain is a little irked. Both Cain and Sing head over to the other platform, and Arthur and Ash start fighting each other with knives. Ash is a little slow, and appears distracted – then he yells out “Train!”, and the others eventually hear it as well (I think there was another reference in an earlier volume that suggested Ash, in addition to his many other talents, has great hearing) – Arthur has used his connections to send a train down the line and through this station, packed with his minions armed with machine guns. All the sound effects and action panelling work really well here. Guns firing, the train screeching through the station to a halt, people diving for cover all over the place. Sing and Cain retrieve Ash’s gun (taken off him pre-duel) while Ash throws his knife – his only weapon – at the first minion to get off the train, taking him in the throat. Sing cuts through the stopped train to throw Ash his gun. and Ash starts shooting back with a variety of very loud and effective sound effects. Cain and Sing’s guys regroup and attack. Arthur’s gang, realising they’re outnumbered, pull back to the train, which is starting up again – and Ash, after reloading his gun with the ammunition he’d thoughtfully taped to his ankle, dives onto the train just as it starts to pull away.
Cain and Sing exchange views on the events. Ash starts shooting his way through the train, going after Arthur. Arthur, at the front, uses the intercom to call the guys at the back and try to catch Ash between them. There are a lot of train noises and a lot of shooting, and it’s all very tense – and then we cut to Eiji, waking up in the apartment. He confronts Kong and Bones, and there’s one panel where Eiji looks surprisingly like a Fumi Yoshinaga character (I think it’s the shadows on the face, and something about the eyes). They tell him Ash’s plan. Eiji assumes he has become too much of a burden, and decides to go back to Japan.
On the train. Arthur’s men attempt to execute a pincer movement, and Ash shoots out the lights. Arthur’s men are starting to panic, but Arthur tells them the train will be above ground soon – and dawn’s coming.
Kong and Bones prove themselves completely incapable of hiding important information from an apparently resigned Eiji, and tell him about the duel. Cain and his gang in cars, and Sing and his on motorbikes, race through the streets of New York to Coney Island, where the train will terminate. Eiji breaks away from his protectors and starts running for the subway as well, although he’s heading for the original station. And the police start hearing about disturbances on the subway. Back on the train, Ash is preparing for his final attack, and kills the last of Arthur’s minions before – finally – catching up with Arthur himself.
