Banana Fish, Akimi Yoshida, v12
Apr. 15th, 2009 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandraI was reading this at lunch in a cafe when one of the staff came up to make sure my meal was all right; she saw that I was reading manga, ducked down to check the title and then went, "Banana Fish! My favourite!" with appropriate enthusiasm (she turned out to be from Osaka). She was most interested in finding out where I'd gotten it from and if I liked it, while I was a) thrilled to encounter someone else who'd heard of it and b) terrified that she'd tell me what happened, so I ended up asking whether she knew if the mangaka had done other series (yes, apparently, although nothing that she liked as much). The food was also very nice (vaguely Spanish), as well as meeting my important criterion of being able to be eaten mostly with one handed cutlery while reading with the other...
Ash is dressing up to look young, telling Eiji he’s going out as a call boy; Eiji, mildly startled by this and not entirely convinced, finally gets around to telling Ash about Yut-Lung’s threat towards Ash, although he leaves out the bit where he himself will be targeted. Blanca, watching in the lobby, gets Ash’s name and apartment number out of an unsuspecting doorman. Ash catches up with the younger-looking escort Kippard has actually hired and takes his place. Things have managed to get as far as the bed before Ash pulls a gun (I had to reword this sentence a ridiculous number of times and it is still slightly dodgy) and, while Ash obviously is going after Kippard as part of his investigation into Banana Fish, he’s also getting a chance to attack Kippard over their previous encounters. However, Blanca is watching, and although Ash manages to threaten Kippard with exposure (photos of his encounters at Golzine’s), Blanca shoots Kippard in the head (from a distant apartment) before Kippard can give Ash the name of whoever’s behind him. Ash snaps the lights off straight away and tracks Blanca to the apartment he used, but the man himself is long gone.
The next day Blanca shoots Holstock, the other main backer, while he’s being driven to work. Meanwhile it takes Eiji 3 pages to get Ash to wake up (there’s a nice shot of him sleeping face down next to his shrimp & avocado salad, fork still sticking up) and they argue to the extent that an overinflated fugu is hovering next to Eiji while he is about to smash a vase over Ash’s head before Ibe and Max arrive. When Ibe and Eiji are catching up Ibe says it’s been a year since they came, which sounds right, but the action’s been so well compressed that it hasn’t felt that long (also, what about Eiji’s family? He does mention them occasionally, so I will assume the occasional phone call and unhelpfully worded postcard).
The news of Holstock’s death is announced, and Ash tells Max about Kippard. Blanca (who is a character I like a lot as far as personality, but would really have preferred a less pretty character design) takes a phone call, stares thoughtfully at a picture of Ash and Eiji and then nails it to the wall with a knife through Eiji’s head. Jenkins and Charlie, who I haven’t seen for a while, stare thoughtfully at Kippard’s body.
Ash is at the library again. Eiji talks him into going out for ramen and then someone starts shooting at them – to Ash’s surprise, when they split up to escape it’s obvious that a) Eiji, not Ash, is the target and b) the sniper is playing with them. They get away, but Ash isn’t happy and, when they get back to the apartment, there’s a message which confirms his suspicions; a copy of Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream.
Blanca welcomes Dino and Yut-Lung to his apartment, overlooking Ash’s, and has a slightly edged conversation with Yut Lung wherein he reveals that he trained Ash. Ash, meanwhile, is thinking the same thing, and that Blanca is the one person he can’t defeat. Testing his theory, he orders the others out of the main room and into the kitchen, and then opens the curtains - and a bullet hits the glass next to him seconds later. Unfortunately Eiji comes in at the noise, and although Ash gets him down he’s hit in the shoulder first. In the other apartment Yut Lung is massively impressed with Blanca’s marksmanship, although Blanca demurs, saying he only meant to graze Eiji.
Eiji has his wound bandaged by Kong & Bones, while Ash gets a phone call from Blanca, Yut Lung and Dino (now back at Dino’s place), who tell him to meet them tomorrow night, alone, or they’ll kill Eiji. Ash sits out all night in the rain, thinking about Blanca, and what he can do against him.
When he gets back to the apartment Eiji is awake, and asks Ash if he’ll come to Japan with him, when all of this is over. Ash is noncommittal, but when Eiji’s asleep again Ash swears to himself that he won’t let anyone hurt Eiji, at the cost of his own life. Next day Ash invites Ibe over to watch Ash before heading out; Eiji can tell Ash is lying about something major, but he doesn’t ask.
At the warehouse Ash surrenders without a fight. Yut-Lung offers him a gun, saying they’ll leave Eiji alone if Ash shoots himself, and Ash immediately takes the gun, puts it to his temple and fires – but it’s unloaded. Yut-Lung deals very badly with this, and there’s a massive disconnect here between Ash and Yut-Lung, as Yut-Lung is appalled at Ash's behaviour and Ash has no idea why he even cares; it's enough that Blanca steps in, telling Yut-Lung to forget it. Yau-Si, recovering somewhat, puts forward the deal – Ash’s records, Professor Dawson and Ash himself, within forty-eight hours, or they kill Eiji. Ash will be turned over to Golzine, who it’s fair to say is looking forward to the chance to destroy him. Yut-Lung is still trying to stack things enough that Ash will refuse, still wanting to break the connection between him and Eiji, but – as with the gun – Ash agrees almost as soon as Yau-Si stops talking.
They agree to meet up again in forty-eight hours, but before Ash leaves he demands the chance to fight Blanca. The fight goes badly – Ash is hopelessly outclassed from the beginning - but after the others leave Blanca approaches Ash to give him a warning, telling him to give up on Eiji and accept the power Dino’s offering him, the role he’s been groomed for – that Dino’s just angry, and he’s invested too much in Ash to really destroy him, and Blanca also doesn’t want to see Ash destroyed. Ash, furious, says that nothing Dino has ever offered him is real, and Eiji is the only person who doesn’t want anything from him. Revealing why he wanted the fight in the first place, he asks Blanca not to kill Eiji, almost begging, but Blanca says that’s the one thing he can’t agree to do…
Ash is dressing up to look young, telling Eiji he’s going out as a call boy; Eiji, mildly startled by this and not entirely convinced, finally gets around to telling Ash about Yut-Lung’s threat towards Ash, although he leaves out the bit where he himself will be targeted. Blanca, watching in the lobby, gets Ash’s name and apartment number out of an unsuspecting doorman. Ash catches up with the younger-looking escort Kippard has actually hired and takes his place. Things have managed to get as far as the bed before Ash pulls a gun (I had to reword this sentence a ridiculous number of times and it is still slightly dodgy) and, while Ash obviously is going after Kippard as part of his investigation into Banana Fish, he’s also getting a chance to attack Kippard over their previous encounters. However, Blanca is watching, and although Ash manages to threaten Kippard with exposure (photos of his encounters at Golzine’s), Blanca shoots Kippard in the head (from a distant apartment) before Kippard can give Ash the name of whoever’s behind him. Ash snaps the lights off straight away and tracks Blanca to the apartment he used, but the man himself is long gone.
The next day Blanca shoots Holstock, the other main backer, while he’s being driven to work. Meanwhile it takes Eiji 3 pages to get Ash to wake up (there’s a nice shot of him sleeping face down next to his shrimp & avocado salad, fork still sticking up) and they argue to the extent that an overinflated fugu is hovering next to Eiji while he is about to smash a vase over Ash’s head before Ibe and Max arrive. When Ibe and Eiji are catching up Ibe says it’s been a year since they came, which sounds right, but the action’s been so well compressed that it hasn’t felt that long (also, what about Eiji’s family? He does mention them occasionally, so I will assume the occasional phone call and unhelpfully worded postcard).
The news of Holstock’s death is announced, and Ash tells Max about Kippard. Blanca (who is a character I like a lot as far as personality, but would really have preferred a less pretty character design) takes a phone call, stares thoughtfully at a picture of Ash and Eiji and then nails it to the wall with a knife through Eiji’s head. Jenkins and Charlie, who I haven’t seen for a while, stare thoughtfully at Kippard’s body.
Ash is at the library again. Eiji talks him into going out for ramen and then someone starts shooting at them – to Ash’s surprise, when they split up to escape it’s obvious that a) Eiji, not Ash, is the target and b) the sniper is playing with them. They get away, but Ash isn’t happy and, when they get back to the apartment, there’s a message which confirms his suspicions; a copy of Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream.
Blanca welcomes Dino and Yut-Lung to his apartment, overlooking Ash’s, and has a slightly edged conversation with Yut Lung wherein he reveals that he trained Ash. Ash, meanwhile, is thinking the same thing, and that Blanca is the one person he can’t defeat. Testing his theory, he orders the others out of the main room and into the kitchen, and then opens the curtains - and a bullet hits the glass next to him seconds later. Unfortunately Eiji comes in at the noise, and although Ash gets him down he’s hit in the shoulder first. In the other apartment Yut Lung is massively impressed with Blanca’s marksmanship, although Blanca demurs, saying he only meant to graze Eiji.
Eiji has his wound bandaged by Kong & Bones, while Ash gets a phone call from Blanca, Yut Lung and Dino (now back at Dino’s place), who tell him to meet them tomorrow night, alone, or they’ll kill Eiji. Ash sits out all night in the rain, thinking about Blanca, and what he can do against him.
When he gets back to the apartment Eiji is awake, and asks Ash if he’ll come to Japan with him, when all of this is over. Ash is noncommittal, but when Eiji’s asleep again Ash swears to himself that he won’t let anyone hurt Eiji, at the cost of his own life. Next day Ash invites Ibe over to watch Ash before heading out; Eiji can tell Ash is lying about something major, but he doesn’t ask.
At the warehouse Ash surrenders without a fight. Yut-Lung offers him a gun, saying they’ll leave Eiji alone if Ash shoots himself, and Ash immediately takes the gun, puts it to his temple and fires – but it’s unloaded. Yut-Lung deals very badly with this, and there’s a massive disconnect here between Ash and Yut-Lung, as Yut-Lung is appalled at Ash's behaviour and Ash has no idea why he even cares; it's enough that Blanca steps in, telling Yut-Lung to forget it. Yau-Si, recovering somewhat, puts forward the deal – Ash’s records, Professor Dawson and Ash himself, within forty-eight hours, or they kill Eiji. Ash will be turned over to Golzine, who it’s fair to say is looking forward to the chance to destroy him. Yut-Lung is still trying to stack things enough that Ash will refuse, still wanting to break the connection between him and Eiji, but – as with the gun – Ash agrees almost as soon as Yau-Si stops talking.
They agree to meet up again in forty-eight hours, but before Ash leaves he demands the chance to fight Blanca. The fight goes badly – Ash is hopelessly outclassed from the beginning - but after the others leave Blanca approaches Ash to give him a warning, telling him to give up on Eiji and accept the power Dino’s offering him, the role he’s been groomed for – that Dino’s just angry, and he’s invested too much in Ash to really destroy him, and Blanca also doesn’t want to see Ash destroyed. Ash, furious, says that nothing Dino has ever offered him is real, and Eiji is the only person who doesn’t want anything from him. Revealing why he wanted the fight in the first place, he asks Blanca not to kill Eiji, almost begging, but Blanca says that’s the one thing he can’t agree to do…
