Banana Fish 11
Posted: May 12, 2009 Filed under: Banana Fish 3 Comments »There were two really awesome things about this volume. The first was Ash’s escape from the mental hospital, which was uncharacteristically hilarious. Ash by himself was kind of funny, but then Max and Shunichi got in on the act, and Ash dressing up as Nurse Barbara was sort of the high point. Not only were these parts at the hospital epic, but they were also very funny. A winning combination, really.
Also notable: Yau-Si’s desire to wipe out his entire family down to the last man, woman, and child. This entire scene, where he invited Dino over and they made small talk for awhile, followed by a recap of everything that had happened in the series so far, just gave me chills. I can’t even really tell if Yau-Si is a bad guy or not, but the way he has his hands in everything, combined with his bizarre lust to wipe out his family, makes him very scary indeed. But is he scarier than Ash, who is also a killer? Hmm.
There were some nice Ash & Eiji parts here, too. Really, all of them were good. When they are reunited, they get a nice hug together, there’s a conversation where Ash explains to Eiji that the real America is in small towns and backwoods rather than New York and Los Angeles, they even get some joking banter together. I know this lightheartedness won’t last long, especially since an assassin or something is introduced at the end of the volume, but I’m enjoying it immensely while I can.
Yau-Si is fascinating. His emotional reactions are all over the map in that end bit where he has his brother shot in a way that feels believable as well as terrifying, and yeah, the contrasts with Ash are intriguing.
I love the way that Max and Ibe’s rescue plan almost completely stuffs up Ash’s own escape, especially as they’re so unaware of it (personally I was madly impressed when Ash didn’t shoot Max after he announced that they were there to rescue Ash, despite Ash just having broken *into* their cell).
[...] Pattillo on vol. 2 of 20th Century Boys (Kuriousity) Connie on vol. 11 of Banana Fish (Slightly Biased Manga) Connie on vol. 36 of Boys Over Flowers (Slightly Biased Manga) Ed Sizemore [...]
All those scenes with Max and Ibe in the hospital were absolute gold. That entire escape had some sort of weird Naked Gun vibe going, which was kind of creepy given the context, but hilarious all the same. I love Max and Ibe, it’s like they can do no wrong when they appear together.