Banana Fish 8
Posted: May 1, 2009 Filed under: Banana Fish 3 Comments »Ooh, this just keeps getting better and better. This volume, Ash and Arthur decide to settle the score once and for all in a moderated fight that takes place in an unused subway tunnel. Now, after the elaborate lengths everyone goes through to ensure both of them only have knives and that nobody else was going to interfere with the fight… I mean, you KNOW what’s going to happen. But Banana Fish pulls it off with way more style than I expected, and the volume ends before the final outcome is resolved. This scene proves, pretty much without a doubt, that Ash is one of the coolest manga characters ever.
The political intrigue is also ratcheted up in this volume. Previously, we knew that Dino was trying to sell banana fish to the American Government. Now, my imagination sort of stops there, and I just fill in a generic war scenario. But Banana Fish goes the extra step and lays out elaborate scenarios where America fights communism and takes over governments on the sly, where Dino benefits not by being directly compensated, but because he’ll then control drug supplies from these countries. The scope is pretty impressive, and I wouldn’t have thought it possible of a series that starts off about gangs in New York.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go read how this fight with Ash and Arthur ends.
[...] Girl on vol. 8 of After School Nightmare (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions) Connie on vol. 8 of Banana Fish (Slightly Biased Manga) Connie on vol. 27 of Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga) Greg McElhatton on A [...]
I love this volume. It has everything – increasing tension with the gangs, the reveal of what’s really behind the government’s alliance with the Union Corse (diabolically coherent and horribly believable), some really nice moments between Ash and Eiji (who has also apparently bonded with most of the other people in Ash’s apartment block) and then the subway duel, which is just stunning and also has more of Sing, who I think is just great. I can’t imagine how people coped with this coming out in individual chapters!
I know, this entire section of story was pretty epic. I’m sad it slowed down a bit in volume 9, but it would be pretty insane if it kept this pace up for 10 more volumes.
And Sing is pretty awesome. I haven’t really mentioned him much, but I like the way he seems to deal with people.