Banana Fish, Akimi Yoshida, v10
Apr. 12th, 2009 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandraI am finally in a house large enough to unpack all my books for the first time since 2004, during which interval I have acquired just a few more books (and rather a lot of manga). It was not entirely surprising when I ran out of shelf space, although I was hoping to get just a little further through the alphabet; judicious use of every possible shelf, including the kitset bookcase I put together this morning, and a rigorous cull policy (I'll post about this later, but I now have a massive cull pile consisting predominantly of fantasy trilogies I cannot be bothered with, books by authors who've annoyed me, books that have annoyed me books about vampires and the occasional duplicate, roughly in that order of quantity) means that I am now shelved up to Ryman. S through Z are going to have to wait for more shelves. Also, some sort of explanation as to why I have apparently found it necessary to acquire everything by Rafael Sabatini and SP Somtow/Somtow Sucharitkul at some stage in the distant past would be nice. Among many, many others, but I just don't remember buying quite this many books for either author.
Anyway. Back to the manga, which I have managed to shelve...
"Hospital regulations require the infirm be handcuffed? If only the AMA knew, I'm sure they'd issue a strongly worded statement."
Yut Lung is watching the news coverage of Ash's death, also deeply unconvinced. He hears a noise from Eiji's room and goes in to see a broken window (glass suspiciously on the inside) and then Eiji grabs him from behind, holding a shard of glass to his throat in his cut hand. He gets a gun off one of Yut Lungs's guards and starts heading out, only to run into Sing in the elevator. Yut Lung tells Sing not to do anything, but Sing disobeys orders and heads out on his motorbike after the car Eiji and YL have taken. I am particularly fond of this sequence for having the good/bad guys reversed in terms of usual expectations; plus, I like Sing a lot.
Somewhere in the city Eiji orders them both out of the car, and they talk about Ash, Yut Lung trying to force Eiji to kill him or risk him (YL) killing Ash later. Eiji can't do it, and YL accuses him of just using Ash without ever repaying him; the crux of his problem, tho’, is not that Eiji is using Ash but that Ash is prepared to do anything for Eiji, and Yut Lung betrays his own feelings when he asks, Why you, anyway? Eiji says someone like Yut Lung will never understand and bolts.
Sing, stepping out from the shadows, asks if Yut Lung is trying to get himself killed. Yut Lung orders him away again (and doesn’t answer), but he keeps following. Again, this is very much the sort of plot line that’s normally only given to the “good” guys.
Dino returns to NY. Max, working for Newsweek, asks him about Ash's death - the first Dino's heard of it.
Ash's autopsy. The police are there, along with Max's rather long-suffering attorney, who is acting for Ash. They start straight in with the rib cutters, and the attorney turns green and leaves, saying that it's definitely Ash; obviously, this convinces Max that Ash is alive. Dr Mannerheim confirms this in an announcement to a bunch of minions and starts in experimenting on Ash, wiring him up with electrodes and getting him to do IQ tests. While Ash scores extremely highly, Dino is tracking down what's been happening.
Dr Mannerheim takes Ash on a tour, and Ash starts to put the pieces together - former violent criminals now docile and unintelligent, exhibiting symptoms similar to Griff... Mannerheim confirms he's been using Banana Fish, cites the V2 rocket research to support his ethical approach and then shows Ash Shorter's brain in a jar, which all goes down as well as might be expected. Mannerheim then takes Ash to see Professor Dawson, post Banana Fish and with the mind of a five year old due to repeated doses. Mannerheim points out that the decline in intelligence is most pronounced on those who are smart to start with; then orders his minions to hold Ash down and sedate him and, as he's losing consciousness, tells him that he's going to use him as a brain to study, giving him repeated doses until there's nothing left of Ash as a person. Ash is trying so hard to stay awake here and fight back, but it's impossible and he passes out.
Eiji, lost in NY, gets accosted by a couple of toughs and then saved by Sing before passing out, presumably from blood loss. And, in an even more ambivalent rescue, Dino walks in on Ash's operation. He doesn't get to take over, as it turns out the CIA is very interested in Mannerheim’s/Dawson’s work and Dino is losing power, but the op is postponed until the new boss (Kippard) can approve. Dino waits for Ash to wake up and taunts him in a deliberately counterproductive manner, trying to get him going while telling him he can never escape him.
Eiji wakes up, hand bandaged, in Sing's hide out. They discuss Ash, Shorter and Yut Lung. Eiji gives away a bit more info about Shorter and blames himself. Sing is obviously looking for a way to avoid having to go after Ash for Shorter’s death, but I’m not sure he’s got enough information.
The reporters track down more info about the facility over food, and Max and Ibe plan a rescue. Yut Lung is keeping tabs on everyone. Ash starts planning as well, hearing about a planned tour of the facility at tomorrow's monthly visitors' day. And Dino meets his successor, Baron Zakharev, who has trouble with small talk.
The tour is starting, and Max and Ibe are on it. Mannerheim gives everyone a bland introduction. Meanwhile Ash, in a scene that hit my embarrassment squick so hard that I actually just skipped it on my first read through, flirts madly at his security cameras, singing a song about being a candy bar, and throws a sheet over the camera as a finale. The guard who then goes down to sort him (and the sheet) out is easily tempted by Ash’s offer of a blow job, although should probably have checked the fine print – Ash actually offers to send him to heaven in five minutes, and then breaks his neck. He steals the guard’s gun and id card, and leaves his room, starting on a very nicely done escape sequence in which Ash is avoiding guards, acquiring tools & a blueprint of the lab, ignoring his own injuries and trying to find out exactly how he can ruin Mannerheim’s (and, through him, Dino’s) plans. Unfortunately for him, Max and Ibe’s rescue attempt is about to get in his way.
I’m very fond of stories where the good characters come into conflict, intentionally or otherwise, and this whole sequence has some very nice examples – Ash’s attempts to escape are constantly being frustrated, unintentionally, by Max and Ibe, whose rescue attempt is only possible because of the distraction caused by Ash getting out. Mannerheim’s attempts to deal with the escape(s) are frustrated by his own assumptions about who’s driving the whole thing, and the power games between him, Dino and the Baron.
There’s a fair bit of action here, but everyone ends up focussed on a particular elevator - Ash and the professor are on the roof of it, Max & Ibe are inside at least some of the time, assorted guards burst in and out and external security people control whether or not the elevator’s moving, and in which direction, usually resulting in the professor falling off. Max & Ibe get away; Ash, after a lot of difficulty, manages to finally haul himself & the professor back onto the roof of the elevator at the end of the volume.
Anyway. Back to the manga, which I have managed to shelve...
"Hospital regulations require the infirm be handcuffed? If only the AMA knew, I'm sure they'd issue a strongly worded statement."
Yut Lung is watching the news coverage of Ash's death, also deeply unconvinced. He hears a noise from Eiji's room and goes in to see a broken window (glass suspiciously on the inside) and then Eiji grabs him from behind, holding a shard of glass to his throat in his cut hand. He gets a gun off one of Yut Lungs's guards and starts heading out, only to run into Sing in the elevator. Yut Lung tells Sing not to do anything, but Sing disobeys orders and heads out on his motorbike after the car Eiji and YL have taken. I am particularly fond of this sequence for having the good/bad guys reversed in terms of usual expectations; plus, I like Sing a lot.
Somewhere in the city Eiji orders them both out of the car, and they talk about Ash, Yut Lung trying to force Eiji to kill him or risk him (YL) killing Ash later. Eiji can't do it, and YL accuses him of just using Ash without ever repaying him; the crux of his problem, tho’, is not that Eiji is using Ash but that Ash is prepared to do anything for Eiji, and Yut Lung betrays his own feelings when he asks, Why you, anyway? Eiji says someone like Yut Lung will never understand and bolts.
Sing, stepping out from the shadows, asks if Yut Lung is trying to get himself killed. Yut Lung orders him away again (and doesn’t answer), but he keeps following. Again, this is very much the sort of plot line that’s normally only given to the “good” guys.
Dino returns to NY. Max, working for Newsweek, asks him about Ash's death - the first Dino's heard of it.
Ash's autopsy. The police are there, along with Max's rather long-suffering attorney, who is acting for Ash. They start straight in with the rib cutters, and the attorney turns green and leaves, saying that it's definitely Ash; obviously, this convinces Max that Ash is alive. Dr Mannerheim confirms this in an announcement to a bunch of minions and starts in experimenting on Ash, wiring him up with electrodes and getting him to do IQ tests. While Ash scores extremely highly, Dino is tracking down what's been happening.
Dr Mannerheim takes Ash on a tour, and Ash starts to put the pieces together - former violent criminals now docile and unintelligent, exhibiting symptoms similar to Griff... Mannerheim confirms he's been using Banana Fish, cites the V2 rocket research to support his ethical approach and then shows Ash Shorter's brain in a jar, which all goes down as well as might be expected. Mannerheim then takes Ash to see Professor Dawson, post Banana Fish and with the mind of a five year old due to repeated doses. Mannerheim points out that the decline in intelligence is most pronounced on those who are smart to start with; then orders his minions to hold Ash down and sedate him and, as he's losing consciousness, tells him that he's going to use him as a brain to study, giving him repeated doses until there's nothing left of Ash as a person. Ash is trying so hard to stay awake here and fight back, but it's impossible and he passes out.
Eiji, lost in NY, gets accosted by a couple of toughs and then saved by Sing before passing out, presumably from blood loss. And, in an even more ambivalent rescue, Dino walks in on Ash's operation. He doesn't get to take over, as it turns out the CIA is very interested in Mannerheim’s/Dawson’s work and Dino is losing power, but the op is postponed until the new boss (Kippard) can approve. Dino waits for Ash to wake up and taunts him in a deliberately counterproductive manner, trying to get him going while telling him he can never escape him.
Eiji wakes up, hand bandaged, in Sing's hide out. They discuss Ash, Shorter and Yut Lung. Eiji gives away a bit more info about Shorter and blames himself. Sing is obviously looking for a way to avoid having to go after Ash for Shorter’s death, but I’m not sure he’s got enough information.
The reporters track down more info about the facility over food, and Max and Ibe plan a rescue. Yut Lung is keeping tabs on everyone. Ash starts planning as well, hearing about a planned tour of the facility at tomorrow's monthly visitors' day. And Dino meets his successor, Baron Zakharev, who has trouble with small talk.
The tour is starting, and Max and Ibe are on it. Mannerheim gives everyone a bland introduction. Meanwhile Ash, in a scene that hit my embarrassment squick so hard that I actually just skipped it on my first read through, flirts madly at his security cameras, singing a song about being a candy bar, and throws a sheet over the camera as a finale. The guard who then goes down to sort him (and the sheet) out is easily tempted by Ash’s offer of a blow job, although should probably have checked the fine print – Ash actually offers to send him to heaven in five minutes, and then breaks his neck. He steals the guard’s gun and id card, and leaves his room, starting on a very nicely done escape sequence in which Ash is avoiding guards, acquiring tools & a blueprint of the lab, ignoring his own injuries and trying to find out exactly how he can ruin Mannerheim’s (and, through him, Dino’s) plans. Unfortunately for him, Max and Ibe’s rescue attempt is about to get in his way.
I’m very fond of stories where the good characters come into conflict, intentionally or otherwise, and this whole sequence has some very nice examples – Ash’s attempts to escape are constantly being frustrated, unintentionally, by Max and Ibe, whose rescue attempt is only possible because of the distraction caused by Ash getting out. Mannerheim’s attempts to deal with the escape(s) are frustrated by his own assumptions about who’s driving the whole thing, and the power games between him, Dino and the Baron.
There’s a fair bit of action here, but everyone ends up focussed on a particular elevator - Ash and the professor are on the roof of it, Max & Ibe are inside at least some of the time, assorted guards burst in and out and external security people control whether or not the elevator’s moving, and in which direction, usually resulting in the professor falling off. Max & Ibe get away; Ash, after a lot of difficulty, manages to finally haul himself & the professor back onto the roof of the elevator at the end of the volume.
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-15 06:49 am (UTC)And I have to ask...'books that have annoyed me' and 'books about vampires' are separate categories? *grin*
no subject
Date: 2009-04-15 09:51 am (UTC)