Ash’s nightmare while being operated on of slitting the throats of Eiji and Shorter is heart wrenching. It’s made ten times worse by the fact he tears up and mutters Eiji’s name in his sleep. Thanks Banana Fish, I didn’t need my heart today or anything. Aside from this heart breaking scene, episode fourteen seems to be split into two parts.

“Everyone wants to kill Ash Lynx.” and “10 reasons I hate Yut Lung.”

One part of it I enjoy considerably more than the other. Can you guess which part? It’s the part where I don’t have to look at Yut’s stupid smug face as he keeps Eiji hostage and tries to convince him what a burden he is to Ash. You act all tough and mighty, like you actually understand Ash but you don’t know anything! Just let Eiji go to his side and stop being such a total pain in the ass. Oh, um, good job on drugging your brother and making him into a walking puppet.
That’s good for you I guess? You got your revenge for what he did to your mother.

The parts of the episode with Ash are a lot more tolerable for me personally. In particular the scene where a assassin comes and tries to place a drug into Ash’s IV. Not only was the struggle amazing, but the way he stalled her by asking who she was. Knowing the names and shift rotation of his nurses who came in and introduced themselves to him earlier.
The sheer fact that even while he was flustered and annoyed by the fact they were clearly hitting on him. He still took the time to memorize all of that.
The way he knew she wasn’t truly a replacement nurse because of the lack of smell “No nurse doesn’t smell of anesthetic.”, while the goal of an assassin is to leave no trace and thus no smell. It’s so clever.

There are a lot of moments in this episode where he displays just how clever he is. Such as screwing with the guy who came to give him an IQ test, such as calling out the ‘fake’ FBI agents on what they truly are based off their clothing. Yet still he ends up captured by pawns of the government.
A doctor that has taken a special interest in Ash. With Ash now in their clutches, to try to avoid any attempts at a rescue, they spread fake information that he’s died to the news channels.
My heart absolutely shatters as I see Eiji watching the news report. As he’s stuck captured by Yut Lung, unable to help Ash. Unable to know that he isn’t truly dead.

I hope that Max can do something to save both boys. When Max was introduced, I wasn’t sure how important he would be to the overall plot or if he would end up dead quickly. Now I am placing almost all of my hopes in him! Please save both boys, please get them back together. Please expose this corruption.

You know, it’s almost sad. It’s almost sad how certain themes in Banana Fish hold up as well now as they did when it was written. The corruption in the US government, the idea that there is a thin line between criminal and victim. These things are just as real, just as true as they were in the eighty’s when Banana Fish was first printed.
What does that say about us as a society? What does that say about the world? I’m not sure, but I know I don’t like it.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Aella

    Yut-lung was projecting a lot when he was talk about Ash. He doesn’t want to be hurt, so he imagines himself as this ideal that he thinks Ash is, this cold killer bu,t, unfortunately for Yut-lung he’s human, and he can be hurt. He’s just a really messed up 16 year old. And he hasn’t finished his revenge, he still has 5 brothers left. Yut-lung is Ash’s foil. You can still hate him, but he hates himself more.

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