Banana Fish Chapter 110 Discussion

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                        Since this is going to be a summation of kind of the series, and yes contains spoilers, thought I would make a new thread instead of put it under "Banana Fish" thread.





Anyways the ending was somewhat sad, it didn't really hit me as being overwhelming tragic in the very last actual chapter, but then during the last chapter, the extra chapter where Eiji's cousin Akira comes to visit ... I found that chapter to actually be pretty damn sad.



Moving on, the series itself was great, I enjoyed both the characters, the plot and especially many of the themes this series captured that rarely are seen in manga, and even when they are present never go too in depth. Especially the different ethnicity's among the different gangs, which from my understanding is actually very accurate. My two complaints were: At the very very end, Banana Fish was kind of just ... forgotten. And of course being a straight male the other complain kind of would have been the detail in which they discussed ash's past or other instances, although since it actually fit the story and was necessary to ash's character the latter of the two complaints is definitely negligible.





Overall, great series, I would probably realistically give this an 8.5 - 9 /10

this is gonna be a rambling mess so bear with me please. it's been about a month since i finished it but I'm still upset..... God. Ok. I don't really care if people consider Ash was a Mary Sue or whatever because the key point of that is that they're poorly/lazily written and boring, which he isn't. What fucked me up about the ending, though, is that Ash finally got a break, the horrible people in his life were finally dead, he had someone who truly cared about him, a fucking soulmate... He went through hell and back, and he finally had a chance at happiness and a chance to be at peace, and then he dies... He didn't seek medical help, he just bled out with a smile on his face... If the librarian had been more of a stickler then maybe he would've even survived. That serene smile on his face stayed in my head for days... i was legitimately, like, grieving about this.

bc yknow, if this story taught us anything about ash its that he's pretty much the exact opposite of a "cold-blooded killer." he was very human.. and he hurt so much.

and it hurts. because he had hope at the end but then he died. and the fact that he was serene and accepting and truly felt the love of those who cared about him is so tragic and beautiful but it's also depressing. it doesn't really send any positive messages to anyone who had horrible childhood trauma.

this manga was not perfect but, god, did it hit me hard.

like i mentioned earlier, i pretty much felt like someone actually died after i finished this. and i feel like it would have been just as beautiful if ash, in the end, found peace and freedom, not through death but through life..... ghhhgh. so yeah this wasn't the best manga to read for someone who's already depressed lol... but i don't regret it either. i really loved so many of the characters, and to quote someone on twitter or something, "what a beautifully compelling mess."

i liked the feel. it felt like akimi yoshida must've been pretty familiar with america, because the way the characters who were not white were written seemed like they were american. but the way she portrayed black people especially really bothered me... i guess its to be expected from a manga from the 80s, but still. at the very least they weren't always the characters getting killed off, and they were shown to be good and sane people even if they were really stereotyped... but the bar is so fucking low dude... its so low... also the only latino characters i saw were i think rapists. but u couldn't really tell who was intended to be latino unless u heard their name and it was joaquin or juan or something. but as a person of pee oh see of color i still felt camaraderie there even if the only latino characters were freaks. i liked the part when they were eating congee.

so yeah reading this manga i felt like i was friends with these characters or something.. it felt close to me. and theres legitimate issues with it... and i odnt think r*pe and pedophilia were always handled super well either, but it did feel less... gross in the way it treated them (like, it didn't romanticize it or try to justify it at all.) than other manga/anime that feature the same things. both were always shown to be 100% horrible and unforgivable things. (once again the bar is so low!!!)

uhh.. i wish there were more girls.. and i think nadia should've been gay and not have dated a cop.... ash lynx, love that guy, the anime did him dirty and made him look like a pseudo yurio instead of a blonder river phoenix.... i miss the 80s fashion.... but this is a manga discussion not an anime one. if u reply to me with some crackheaded response ill just ignore u (saying this as a reminder to myself because i have better things to do with my life)

so yeah... if i said more it might get a little ridiculous and i think id just start complaining about the anime adaptation so i'll leave it at this. have a nice day thx for reading if u did xoxo.

I'm just here to say that this broke my heart in million pieces. Like wow I've neverr paid much attention to this because I'm not feeling the title but it kept on showing on my recommends so I thought okay fine I'll check this out. And it's one of the best decisions in my otaku life.

It's dark and tragic and painful but also beautiful in a way. It left a bittersweet taste in my mouth

Pain. Pure pain. His life was a never ending fight ever since his childhood. He deserves the best ╥﹏╥

Pain. Is there anything else that needs to be said ?



Overall, this was a pretty good manga. It's definitely dated and of its time but I can't bring myself to be critical about this. I wish there were more shoujo like this.

Banana Fish just killed my heart.

I can't believe after the reading the manga all those years back they actually animated it - and it was million times painful.

Ash is one of my most favorite character of all time in the manga world. I really waited for the series to end for me to binge watch instead of waiting for the weekly update.

Damn. It really can affect you.

I have to agree. The relationships between Ash and pretty much all the characters is spectacular. They are all complex in their own right. Even his relationships with antagonists have aspects of caring and sympathy to them. Seen in relationships like Ash and Dino, where though Dino can be the scum of the Earth, he also is protective and clearly cares for Ash in his own sick and twisted way.



The plot does shift focus pretty abruptly. This is true. I'll be pretty honest, the first time I read the ending I was mad, though, and pretty much refused to read anything else for a good few days. It made me mad that Ash died, especially the way he did, even if I saw it coming. At this point I think I've resolved the ending a bit with myself, though.



A lot of people have commented that Ash presented as a Gary-Stu, but I don't think that's entirely true. Ash may be gifted as an intellectual sniper fighter, but he has many deep personal flaws. I like how in a lot of ways, Yoshida held Ash accountable for his situation, particularly in the manga's end. Ash was a victim, yes, but Ash was also offered many outs by people who cared about him, especially Eiji, and yet he never took them. Ash isn't perfect by any means. He is self-pitying, self-destructive, and a risk taker with dodgy morals. Even if he ultimately moves beyond this mindset by the end of the manga (racing to the airport after reading Eiji's letter to save himself instead of wallowing in his pain), his past decisions and relationships still come back to bite him. Notably the person who killed him isn't someone of whom he was a victim, such as Dino, or Foxx, or Blanca, or Yut-Lung. It's an enemy he made from a choice he made, because his own flaws created as much of his problems as his circumstance, and those choices don't just go away. I think that's enough to land him out of Gary-Stu territory. He ain't no saint.



And so with that analysis I really ended up likely Banana Fish thematically: you can't escape the past. You're your own worst enemy. True that. For me a lot of the tragedy came from the fact that Ash was able to grow as a person, but he did so too late for help. Although I will concede the side stories were pretty amazing as well (albeit the t-shirts a bit distracting).



Love this manga. Definitely one of my top and probably the one I have most personally resonated with, even if it took me a while to get it. I have it as a 9/10 for the weakness in plot towards the end (even if it was more thematically strong), and the terrible art for the first few volumes. Seriously, some of her panels have people (not chibis) three heads tall and floor tiles with no perspective the sides of their heads...

Wow this last chapter was explained everything. Just came here after finished the anime and went to the last chapter to seeking the real ending. Was a pretty dramatic but also great story. I like it. I'd also see Sing and Eiji grown up. Great story overall.

NinoHaruhara said:
Old_School_Akira said:
NinoHaruhara said:
wow, this manga is amazing, a masterpiece, can't think of any other way to put it. this was the first BL manga I've ever completed and i couldn't have been more glad, if I had space in my favorites i definitely would have added it. can't wait to watch the anime. 11/10 manga.



It's a shoujo manga, not BL  yeah i know, but I’ve seen many people call it a BL manga, so I’m gonna stick to that



A Manga can have a gay relationship without being BL. Those people are wrong.

I just finished this manga and I feel like there's a big hole in my heart. I've sworn not to be drawn too deep to a story anymore, but damn, I did it again. I've cried many times over anime, manga, movie, or any other stories, but banana fish is the most painful. And I'm going to take it all out here. So this comment is just gonna be some rant.



I'm really mad at how he died. I just don't understand why did he have to die because of Lao OF ALL PEOPLE. He didn't even stab him in his vital organs. He can seek for help or going to the hospital instead going to the library and bleed himself to death (why didn't anyone notice his blood?). It just didn't make any sense after all he has been thru.



It really pains me because I think he had the chance to start his life again. It would be another story if he died in Foxx's hand. I would also be mad but I would accept that more over this ending (it wouldn't be a beautiful and tragic ending tho lol). Or it would also have been better if Lao stabbed him in his vital organs. It would make more sense if he died because there's nothing he could do. BUT THIS? OMG he fking had the chance to live. I don't buy his crap about not wanting to be with Eiji anymore because he's a bad news. Yes, maybe he WAS. But now, everything is over. He's already free. He may be back being a street punk but no one is taking his freedom anymore. So, where's the problem?



I just think he deserves better after all his suffering :(



It's such a perfect and beautiful ending, but I still hate it. Other than that, I really love this manga. I plan to watch the anime after this but I'm not sure if I can go thru the pain again lol

Yeah, I do have to complain a bit since Banana Fish just ended up being burning and forgotten. A bit of a easy resolution by killing off the antagonists... it went for a feels ending. Which, being technically shoujo, works for me.



I love the relationship between Eiji and Ash. And I love Ash - his broken past, which, surprisingly, continued into the present, and his ultimate ending. I knew he would die. Because this series loves to meet my expectations as a tragedy and kill off the main character... and of course Monster-style since he was killed by practically a nobody.



However, the extras/wrap-up stories were freakin' wonderful. It showed a bit of Ash before he became the superhuman that we all know and love, and brought back Shorter too. The epilogue with Eiji was well done, incorporating a small story of Akira as well, which added that thoughtful touch. Excellent ending.

i'm about to scream. are you fucking kidding me? that was a real punch to the gut, to put mildly. i've never been more devastated by a manga ending. i saw it coming right from the beginning (i didn't get spoiled or anything either) because characters like Ash never survive



god the saddest part about his death was that all the conflict from his life was finally resolved and he finally had a chance to come to Japan with Eiji and mend his emotional trauma over the years. but nope, he gets killed by a completely irrelevant character because he was so caught up with the letter that Eiji wrote. the author is evil, the ending would have been just as good if she just showed Ash getting on the plane without further explanation. however, i do not think the ending is bad by any means. it's a great ending, but it doesn't make me hate it any less. at the very least, Ash was finally at peace at the moment of his death. i kinda wish Eiji also died then, because seeing Eiji live alone without Ash is so painful to see



poor Eiji though, he knows Ash's death was partly his fault. it couldn't be helped, but still





that Sing growth though, i can't believe he was so tiny and then he grew to be a giant. i assume the person he was talking to on the phone was the young Lee brother, but i could be wrong. i kinda thought they would end up living together, instead of with Eiji



i wish there was more development on Blanca's character. i really really liked him but i feel like more could have been done with him



i loved this manga but i do gotta admit, towards the end, i completely forgot this manga was about the drug Banana Fish. personally, i didn't focus on the whole drug aspect of the manga. i much preferred the complex characters, but it's still odd that the plot was kinda thrown out the window. the last "villain" arc seemed a bit rushed, like the author just wanted to get rid of all the bad guys already and kill off Ash. the Papa Dino death was satisfying though. and i did like the fact that the drugs were just burned away but i feel like it wouldn't be so simple and realistic



interestingly, even though there was 19 volumes, i feel like there could have easily been more. some characters could have had more development (such as Blanca, Nadia, etc) and there could have been more plot-related chapters



despite all that, i feel like the issues i had were kind of minor. i'm going to rate it 9/10 instead of 10/10 purely because i'm bitter over Ash's death. i would have only been fine with it if he died along with Eiji. i saw it coming from a mile away but it still sure as hell doesn't make it any less sad







(behold my favorite line from the manga):