Banana Fish 3

If you’re planning to collect this series, here’s something to keep in mind:  All the early volumes are published in two editions, the Shojo edition and the Pulp edition.  As the series goes out of print, the prices on the Shojo editions are going to go up since this is what people are going to look for.  If you find that you don’t want to pay $30 for an ex-library copy of a single volume of manga, look to see if there is a Pulp edition (in this case, 1569314381).  The art is flipped and the trim size is larger, but you’ll probably pay far less as long as the used copies hold out.  In my case, it was $3 instead of $30, and it was very much worth it to me.

I think my commentary on this series will be far less… animated than the entry I just wrote for Basara.  There’s all sorts of fun stuff going on in Basara, but everything in Banana Fish is pretty serious business, and I feel like it’s hard to pick apart the plot since the volumes just move so smoothly and seamlessly through the story.  One thing leads to another, and there’s no pause between things.  It’s pretty amazing actually, because I just can’t think of any other series where not a lot of effort goes into transitioning between prison fights, skipping bail, murder attempts, and road trips to Cape Cod.

Ah, poor Griff.  I wasn’t expecting that so soon, honestly.  I was really hoping that his walking around last volume meant good things.  He is sort of a catalyst, though, and I’m kind of surprised that Ash didn’t go visit that doctor when he got out of prison to get an idea of what happened, or even to pick up the Banana Fish.

Banana Fish is explained slightly better, and I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what’s going on.  The origins and what Dino plans to do with it are still rather dim points though, and I’m kind of looking forward to finding these things out.

The action in this series is superb.  I look forward to absolutely every fight Ash starts, because it’s just so cool.  I wouldn’t have really believed I could like a character this much for such weird reasons.  I mean, the reasons really are just that he’s cool.  His personality is still kind of a mystery, and I disagree with a lot of decisions he makes.  It’s a good thing he has his coolness, because I think I would be at a loss without that element.

I’m kind of hoping Ibe hops ship soon.  He’s kind of a downer, though I admire his dedication to Eiji, and I know he has to stick around for his sake.

I’ve got one more volume of this before I have to pause and wait for more to come in.  I anticipate a pretty hardcore marathon and/or party when they finally do.