#cause of the scene where eijis teaching him japanese

[quil12]

I was thinking about Banana Fish and I just realized something about the ending that absolutely devastated me... I'm sure other people caught this, but it took me a while...

At the end, Ash dies while happy because Eiji literally (and figuratively) taught him how to say goodbye - he has closure because of that. Meanwhile, Eiji, while on the plane, can't find it in him to say goodbye to Ash because he didn't get that same lesson (plus Ash was able to say goodbye to him at the hospital whereas Eiji wasn't)

Basically, Eiji teaching Ash to say goodbye was what offered him closure and part of the reason he was happy when he died (the other, of course, being that Eiji hadn't abandoned him). And I think that's simultaneously really sweet and really sad

[uozlulu]

Banana Fish episode 22 reaction post. Spoilers.

Overall, I think this episode was a really hard episode because of how much had to happen within it, which shows yet another weakness to the anime’s infinite list of pacing problems. I did fast forward through the stuff with Foxx, because not only do I find what he did excessive and something that brought nothing new or strong to the story, it’s also just nothing I care to view. I really liked Uchida and Fukuyama’s voice work in this episode. Ash repeating Eiji’s name over and over at the end was painful and I liked the range and rawness that Fukuyama brought to Yut-Lung.

Please be aware that there are spoilers below.

”You’re like a leopard…” This is going to become some kind of death flag that broke the camel’s back if we’re not careful.

”You could have anything you want.” Like freedom? Pretty sure he’s trying to obtain freedom.

Anyway, I’m going to fast forward through this for the sake of my own sanity. What I can say is this: I always found this to be excessive and unnecessary. Like the mounting death flags, we know Ash’s history. We know what trauma he’s been through. Perhaps the point here is to retraumatize him since Ash has been healing a little over the course of the story. Maybe the point is some kind of fetish. Maybe it’s a way to deal with personal trauma. Maybe it’s meant to solidify something to justify what’s going to happen later in the story. I don’t know, but I’ve always felt Foxx taking this to the level he takes it to did not really add anything to the story and did not strengthen anything in the story. It’s just torture for the sake of torture rather than torture for the sake of plot.

I know it’s aiming for a door and blowing it away with a gun, but like Eiji could not hit that can in Cape Cod worth beans and here he is now.

The benefit of the anime is that it strengthens this hug between Eiji and Ash. We can see Ash shaking (trembling? Both?) and Eiji wraps his arms around him and Ash slowly stops shaking. I also like the contrast of how Cain approaches Ash and Eiji approaches him. Cain does what most people would want, a hand on the shoulder. It’s an honest gesture but comes without any warning. Eiji, however, gives Ash a moment to be ready and then hugs him. I don’t know if I’d characterize it as asking for permission but more like Eiji’s saying non-verbally, “I’m going to hug you,” and Ash chooses to accept it in his own way. I also like the lack of background noise or music.

I have to say I really understand where Lao’s coming from here. He’s operating with the information he’s been given. He doesn’t know why Ash killed Shorter, but he knows that much. Under any other circumstance, that would give him – any of them – the right to go after Ash and get revenge. Since he doesn’t have the information Sing has, Lao is frustrated with this whole affair. He doesn’t want to capitulate to the guy who murdered his boss (and probably friend), he can’t trust anything coming from Ash at all, and it’s probably like everyone’s lost their minds. One thing I am curious about is like how Sing exactly became the leader of the gang. How did they decide? Was he always Shorter’s second in command? Did the gang as a whole decide Sing was the best leader? Is it a family thing? Does it have to do with Sing becoming acquainted with Yut-Lung? I just have a lot of questions and I really can’t fault Lao because he’s making clear logical choices based on the information he has.

I know it’s the writing, but just in universe motivation a sec, I wonder if part of what’s driving Yut-Lung to return Ash to Dino is jealousy. When Ash and the others fled the mansion ages ago, Yut-Lung left, but did not leave Dino’s influence. Now that Yut-Lung’s brothers are all dead and he’s gotten his revenge, he’s still connected back to Dino. Eiji in many ways represents Ash’s freedom and Yut-Lung doesn’t really have anyone like that right now in his life because when Sing could have become that, the story required Sing to walk away. Blanca meanwhile is part of the snare that Yut-Lung is still trapped. I am curious but not to the point I’d want to necessarily know what Yut-Lung’s been through over the course of the story, what caused him to kind of go from the equivalent of a student council nemesis to some kind of braid twirling kid on a downward spiral. I mean I know the answer is it’s for the sake of the story and the ending we’re working towards, but I guess as per usual, I’m left wishing we could have gotten more from Yut-Lung than this.

I feel like this is part of why I end up ultimately neutral on Blanca. Like you can see how his choices are made in a way to help Ash, but at the same time just some of the choices he makes you know? But that’s also kind of what keeps him from lacking dimension like Foxx does, which I can appreciate. I’m kind of curious about the editing team situation during the manga’s run. Everything starts out fairly strong and the main characters are pretty dimensional for the most part (Ash’s Gary Stu moments aside here), but as we get into the later parts of the story we lose a lot of that especially as we drive closer to the end. What kind of editing discussions went on? Was the manga popular enough that the editors just kind of went with whatever? Are these things based on compromises made with editors? I’ve just always been curious about these things.

This is also why I’ve always been rather sympathetic to Yut-Lung as well. Up to this point, he’s had all these opportunities he could have killed Eiji. He’s even been in a position a few times in which he could have killed Ash as well, especially if the narrative allowed him to show up his assassin skill to its fullest extent. I think that he doesn’t actually want to kill Eiji or Ash. I think that what he’s observed with them stirs up things he doesn’t know how to handle possibly. Yut-Lung has lived a fairly isolated existence even when his mother was alive. He can’t generate the support network that Ash can. Everything he’s been through, ,he’s had to carry himself. Ultimately he gives Blanca the location because I think that he set the hit for Eiji to try and capture whatever it is that he’s lost since achieving his goal against his brothers. Perhaps he thought that by killing Eiji he could kill whatever it is about Eiji that eats at him. Yut-Lung hasn’t been able to take a breather and step back to analyze what’s happened to him since he finally got his revenge and that’s part of the in universe motivation for his current state of being. I think that’s also why I’ve always kind of toyed with what would happen if Eiji and Yut-Lung were to meet again post-“Garden of Light” perhaps. What does Yut-Lung go on to learn about himself after the series ends? How does he mature and grow? I mean he’s basically a high school sophomore/junior who’s been severely traumatized which likely won’t do the maturation process any favors. I feel sorry for him ultimately totally see for these reasons but also how he’s used by the narrative throughout these final sections as well.

I like how the anime does what the manga did where they have the character speak in English to represent speaking in Japanese. lol “I’m thank you.” I can totally see Ibe’s face while messing around teaching Ash straight up gibberish.

I know this must be shocking for everyone, but you’d think between Alex and Jessica they would think to put pressure on Eiji’s wound to help stem the blood flow. Like I mean Alex is the second in command of one of the bigger gangs in New York City during the cocaine crisis. Certainly he knows first aid for wounds like this. I mean I know that the anime wants to present the scene so we can clearly see the wound and see all the characters in the room. It’s framed really nicely. However, please someone get Eiji some first aid please.

Once again, Uchida is giving us what we deserve in terms of voice work.