Banana Fish 19
Posted: May 25, 2009 Filed under: Banana Fish 29 Comments »WHAT?! That… that didn’t tie up any loose ends at all! The fangirl inside of me died a little and went into shock, but the part of me that likes stories like this approves. I mean… when was the last time I saw a series brave enough to do something like this? It’s been a long time.
Actually, I was really surprised by this volume for more reasons than just the end of the story. I was under the impression that the short stories that were published after the series ended weren’t collected in America, but here’s two of them. The main story ends kind of abruptly (but well), but the short stories answer a number of questions, along with leaving the reader with some good memories. I was wondering how on earth the loose ends were going to fill an entire volume, but the actual end of the story only takes up about 35 pages.
Right up until the very last page of the main story, Banana Fish is just an amazing read. The entire series was much different than I had imagined, even knowing it was an action-driven story about gangs, the mob, and drugs. Eiji and Ash’s relationship was unlike the usual shoujo manga relationship, but to say that it’s the driving force behind the series would be misleading, because I think someone reading the story for Ash and Eiji would be disappointed (I say that, but it still caused me to rush through some parts looking to find out when they would be together next). Though the story sort of changes direction a couple times (something I can see more now that my roommate is reading from the beginning and complaining about some of the early volumes), it managed to stay extremely exciting and interesting all the way through, and some of those action scenes from volume 7 onward were just… incredible. It probably somehow fails as a shoujo manga, and has a bit too emotional a touch to really fit in with shounen action series, but… it’s out there, doing its own thing, and it succeeds as an extremely worthwhile series to read. Ibe, Max, Shorter, Dino… all of these people are characters that will probably stay with me for some time, too, and they weren’t even really the focus of the story.
Congratulations, Banana Fish. I wanted to hate you, but you turned out to be one of the best manga series I ever read.
The rest of what I’m going to say would spoil the end of the series, so let me mark this out clearly. Do yourself the favor of not being spoiled, because I promise the shock at the end is totally worth it.
spoiler…
spoiler…
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Holy crap, ASH. I’m so used to shoujo series with happy endings that Ash’s death was totally off the radar for me. One last time, Banana Fish proves that it is unlike any other series out there. I really do admire authors who have the strength to kill their main characters at the end of the story. It’s a powerful gesture, and perhaps for Ash, it was… well, there was no way to leave him in peace unless it happened, because people like Lao would come after him for the rest of his life. And in all honesty, I probably would have been a little disappointed if he’d have made it to the airport and gone back to Japan with Eiji. That’s just not Ash. His death in the New York Library, holding Eiji’s blood-stained letter, was one of the best ways this series could have possibly ended. It’s probably one of the few times I’ve been 100% satisfied with the end of a series. It was just so perfect and so sad.
Following that ending up with the Angel Eyes short story was really great, since now both Shorter and Ash are gone. Showing how the two of them met was an interesting gesture, and it was a great story to boot. Shorter seems to have had much the same reactions and experiences with Ash in prison as Max Lobo did, but Shorter’s simultaneous caution and… well, attraction to Ash’s personality was interesting. I liked Shorter too, and it’s been so long since he’s been in the story that it was nice to see him one last time before the end.
The other short story, Garden of Light, I probably could have done without. It was a “ten years later”-type story, showing Eiji’s life without Ash. While the relationship between Ash and Eiji in the main series was great because it was never questioned by anyone and was born out of a strange need on the part of both boys, setting Eiji up with Sing seems somewhat forced. It reeks of generic BL plots, and Banana Fish is better than that. I also didn’t need Garden of Light to tell me that Eiji was not going to be over Ash’s death ten years later, and I wasn’t all that fond of Ibe’s niece. But the indepth look at Eiji’s emotions in this period was much appreciated, and I liked the way everyone avoided the subject of Ash when talking to young Akira, and how he came up anyway by the end of the story. I also liked the way everyone dealt with his memory in their own way. The photo in the gallery was a good way to end the story.
I have to say, though, that the emotional moment where Sing cried when looking at that photo of Ash was ruined a little by the fact he was wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon shark that said “Killer of the Sea” on it.
One final anecdote: I forced my roommate to read the series from the beginning. After I finished the final volume, I was dying to talk about it with someone. He’s all I have in real life, and I didn’t want to spoil the end for him, so I just told him that the ending “probably broke every fangirl’s heart that ever read it.”
He asked me if Ash married a girl in the end.
It’s always nice to keep someone around that can put things into perspective.
Yes.
The ending was just amazing – right for the story, completely, and yet so heartbreaking and also so unexpected. And I just don’t think I can get over Ash dying alone in a *library*, particularly one that’s been a safe space for him throughout the series.
I’m probably the reverse of you on the subsequent stories – I liked seeing Shorter again, but didn’t think the rest of Angel Eyes added that much, whereas Garden of Light reduced me to tears (well, I’d already gotten slightly weepy in the first bit), mainly when it became how obvious just how much Ash’s death had wrecked Eiji. I actually didn’t think Eiji and Sing were a couple – I thought they were more at the level of close friends, with a dysfunctional layer due to Ash’s memory – but I wasn’t sure how much I was supposed to read into this.
Anyway. I can totally sympathise with you forcing the series on your roommate, because I am posting volumes up to a friend of mine for similar reasons (and obviously posting on your blog!). It’s such a great series, even if, as you say, it isn’t really either shounen or shoujo, and it deserves to be read by many more people for many reasons – not least of which is having more people to discuss the ending with. I’ve read a number of things recently with interesting characters and set-ups that just fail on the plot, particularly the ending, and Banana Fish was just so impressively strong on this all the way through.
There is apparently an Ash & Blanca short story out there that I’d like to track down, but I’d also really love to see what else Akimi Yoshida has done, and unfortunately I don’t think any of it’s been licensed. Oh, and the fansite with the Gackt song (under Omake) is http://www.boukenshin.net/boyfruit/ and has other general info about the series (personally, I’m not going anywhere near the fanfic because I do not want the ending “fixed”, which I suspect would be a popular approach!).
I told you the ending of Banana Fish was intense.
Though I actually did see it coming to some extent. What was driving me crazy through the last few volumes of Banana Fish was “is he, or is he not” because Banana Fish is so unique that it doesn’t conform enough to other things for me to tell whether it was going the triumphant or the cathartic route. Towards the end I was thinking “Oh, he is, really?” and … then he didn’t.
However, nowadays, I probably encounter more non-happy endings than happy ones in my entertainment, so unless a story is completely bubbly and lighthearted (and I mean COMPLETELY lighthearted – the line between comedy and tragedy is fine indeed), a tragic ending won’t come as a complete surprise.
Now that you mention it, the ending of Banana Fish reminds of the ending of another manga. This other manga is very different from Banana Fish, but the ending is the main character receiving a letter which only says that another major character is dead. Then the main character starts writing a letter herself. The end.
The story with you roommate is very amusing.
I didn’t read the two short stories right after I read the main one. Mainly because a large part of me wanted to believe that Ash hadn’t just died, but was only resting while the ambulance was on its way. But I was happy too how it really ended even though it broke my heart.
Ash will always be the coolest character. *cries*
Cyphomandra: Having the death at the Library was really just the icing on the cake for me. It’s sort of like how, after it happened, I couldn’t imagine the series ending well any other way. Where else would Ash have died that would have had that much meaning? An awful lot of planning and thought went into that. I know what you mean though, it was super heartbreaking and horrifying.
I probably would have been just fine without either of the short stories. Actually, I may have liked it better if the volume had just ended with the main story, if only because it would have left me with a terrible feeling of desolation that I would have been very happy with. On the other hand, I do really like Garden of Light, simply because it seems to serve the important purpose of proving that Ash did in fact die, and wasn’t just sleeping in the library. I agree that Angel Eyes didn’t add much, though, I liked it mostly for that peek at Shorter after all this time. There was something Sing said in Garden of Light that made me think that he was trying to get together with Eiji, but now I can’t find it. It’s probably really subtextual though, like most of what went on between Ash and Eiji. Maybe I was just reading too much into it.
I wish I knew more people around here that I could loan my books to that would enjoy it. Part of the reason I have the site is because I don’t know that many people that enjoy comic books, so all my zealous ravings are wasted on them and are instead turned on the internet. I might be able to convince one or two more of my friends to at least start it, if only because it really is so un-manga-like. My roommate likes it a lot because it reads like an action movie, so maybe I can sell it on those merits.
Thanks for that link, too. That’s an awesome site. I always forget to look up old-school series sites like that, though are often better sources of information than the likes of Wikipedia and other general information sites.
Sara K.: I couldn’t even guess an ending was coming before that entire last scene in the mental hospital, there just wasn’t anything that felt particularly final to be before volume 18. I had literally no clue how things were going to finish, but after the way 18 ended, I thought things were just going to wrap up amicably and peter out. That entire last chapter in 19 had me smiling and frowning alternately while I tried to figure out what was going on. First Ash wasn’t with Eiji at the airport, then he runs out to presumably join Eiji at the airport after getting the letter, then gets stabbed, the stab wound missed the vitals, then I thought he was going to the library for help. For whatever reason, I did not foresee his death in any of that, but the tease was incredible.
I probably read too much lighthearted shoujo and shounen manga. As much as I want a tragic ending sometimes, usually everyone winds up getting what they want in the end. It’s satisfying because you read the entire story expecting it, but it’s never quite what I want. Even the last couple drama-heavy series I read, which by all rights should have ended horribly, had happy endings. Even a recent character death in a series I really like just got reversed. Maybe I was just due for a wake-up call like the one in Banana Fish.
Sarah: I half expected those two extra stories to say that Ash didn’t really die in the library, because supplementary stories would be a good opportunity to soothe any angry fans. But I’m glad that the ending stuck, because it really was the best, and I’m glad that the consensus seems to be generally positive.
I like the fact that you would have been happy with a “terrible sense of desolation” :) I know what you mean, though – it’s the sort of ending that sticks with you, because it’s right as well as being painful (I’m very fond of Casablanca for similar reasons).
I just moved away from the city with my main manga-reading friend (although I have gotten one person here to read Death Note), and it would be great, as well as cheaper in postage, to have somewhere here to check up on things with. I should probably comment more on your blog, as I do read it fairly regularly (and really enjoy it, by the way) – however, I’m currently waiting (impatiently) for vol 3 of 20th Century Boys and Pluto, as well as vol 4 of Real, all of which you’ve already read – the disadvantage of being far away from all the publishers. I am caught up on Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, which I’m really loving – again, I can’t understand why this isn’t more popular, because it’s brilliant (even for the translation notes alone).
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Most of the shojo I read ends happily too, but the sad stories generally make a stronger impression on me, so they skew my perceptions.
I also see a lot of theatre and, excluding comedies, plays generally don’t have happy endings. And even comedies can have tragic endings.
Now my poor little brain is trying to figure out why plays like being depressing, and other storytelling media like to avoid it.
Well … what distinguishes a play from, say, a comic book or a novel is that it is a very public experience. When you read something, it’s very private, and when you invest yourself in the story, and the characters’ world falls apart, your world falls apart a little too, and you are *completely alone*.
A movie can be a public or private experience. Though even in movie theatres, it feels pretty private. While you can share things with rest of the audience, the aritsts are generally far far away.
Theatre a private experience? Never. It’s not just the audience, the artists (at least the actors) are right there too, and you can talk to them after the show.
So when a play ends with, say, the main character committing suicide (a popular ending, in fact, that’s how the last play I’ve seen ended), you are not alone. The rest of the audience just went through the same experience. As well as the actors, albeit in a different way. You can talk about it right away, and often people do, but I don’t think that’s even necessary. Just knowing you’re not alone is enough. And when a story has a sad ending, there is a sense that something important just happened, and that you are somehow wiser or stronger by having witnessed it.
Whereas the last time I saw a non-comedy with a happy ending … my friends hated it. I didn’t think it was so bad, but I admit that it did feel hollow. Happy endings in non-comedies can work, and when they do, they generate a great wave of euphoria in the audience (or at least in me). That doesn’t happen very often.
Even though I saw the ending of Banana Fish coming a little, I was still thrown a little when it happened. And I’ve seen quite a few people on the net lamenting that they don’t have anybody to discuss the ending with. So maybe what we all want is somebody to prove that we aren’t alone, and that somebody else went through the same experience.
This is way longer than I planned, and I’m sure this theory is either missing a key part of the puzzle, or has more bogus than truth in it. I can’t tell where the bogus is though.
Yeah, probably about half of my enjoyment of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service comes from those translation notes, and that’s saying something, because the story is really awesome. The notes that are really long digressions on a totally unrelated topic are my favorites, one in particular made me laugh really hard because I believe it started out talking about something, then had a really long, nonsequitor filler story in the middle, then finished up whatever the original topic was afterwards. I can’t remember the volume or context of that one, but I think it may have had something to do with Lupin III.
I’m normally a little behind on series only because I read way too many, and I usually buy them at a discount online and it sometimes takes forever to ship. The three you mentioned were exceptions since they were review copies, but normally I get stuff at least 2-3 weeks after it comes out. I sympathize with people that have to have the books shipped overseas, I know that must be a pain and really, really expensive.
I’m sort of shy about telling people I know about my hobbies, but even the few people that know I read comics aren’t all that interested in stuff I try to recommend. These same people play lots of video games and occasionally enjoy anime, so it always makes me a little sad that I can’t drum up any enthusiasm.
Actually, that’s a really great theory. Death seems to be a popular topic of conversation when it comes up in entertainment. I thought immediately of television, and how there was a particular episode of ER where a character died and literally everybody, even people who didn’t watch the show, was talking about it the next day at school and there were countless news stories and internet articles about the episode. TV is probably another medium that can get away with death because people you know will be watching the show and you can talk about it with them the next day. I don’t actually watch TV all that often, but I’m still aware of when insane things happen on popular TV shows because of all the buzz the next day. Of course, usually American TV shows don’t have endings, only a season finale, so it’s a little different, but still.
It seems to be as you say too, where a tragic ending to a book or movie is less satisfying because you won’t be able to discuss it with people. Nobody will be reading the same book you are at the same time, and most movies are probably watched long after they come out in theaters and on DVD, so there’s less of a chance that someone saw the tragic ending to… I don’t know, Gran Torino recently and is going to be able to talk about it with you the next day or whatever. The sad ending that you didn’t see coming probably isn’t as satisfying and/or doesn’t work so well in novels and movies because you can’t sort your emotions out with your friends when all is said and done. I do wish it came up more often, though.
But a play is the perfect social experience. You’ll probably be seeing it with at least one, if not a few people, the audience in a theatre are usually extremely social, and there’s a lot of buzz afterwards, especially with the actors circulating among the crowd. It is the original cathartic experience, and still the best one, it seems.
A sad ending doesn’t have to have death. In fact, I think some of the most tragic/disturbing/moving endings have no death. For example, I’m not going to spoil the ending of “No Exit”, but the title is an accurate description of the characters’ situation. Even death is not an ‘exit’.
Since in my entertainment I have a healthy mix of happy and sad endings, it’s hard to completely surprise me. On the other hand, sometimes it does increase my suspense, because I see how something can go both ways perhaps more than other people. That drove me crazy in Banana Fish – pretty much throughout I was asking “So, Ash, in Volume 19, are you doing to live, or are you going to die?”
Right now, the story which is driving me crazy with the happy/tragic ending thing is 7Seeds. A lot people seem to think that it’s going to be a tragedy. I’m one of the few who is expecting a happy ending. Of course, part of my argument is that 7Seeds recycles a lot of the plot from Basara. On the other hand, as of Volume 13 of 7Seeds, about 40% of the characters are dead, usually by awful means. And when 7Seeds recycles Basara plot, it (usually) makes it more horrible. So the people who expect a tragedy have a point. Mostly, I just really want a happy ending.
Ooh, 7Seeds! I forgot all about it. I started to read the first volume, and then got distracted by Basara. Is the ending definitely coming soon? I may just wait until all of it is out and go through it all at once. One of the other things I’m bad at judging is when a series end is coming. They always go on for slightly longer than I think they will.
I haven’t got my hands on the most recent volumes (14 & 15), but based on Volume 13 I don’t see it taking any less than 20 volumes, and it’s probably going to be more. It’s only possible to read up to Volume 15 if you’re following the Japanese.
Which is an interesting exercise. My bad Japanese has definitely become less bad with the practice. It’s sometimes frustrating because I miss a lot. There’s a character who does horrible things, yet I can’t understand the monologue where he explains his motives (I can guess, but I’d like to *know*). On the other hand, the artwork is so effective that, even if I don’t understand the words, I often know exactly what is going on just from the visuals. It’s sort of funny when there’s a cliffhanger I don’t understand, because it still puts me on the edge of my seat.
This is exactly what I’m going through, too. I’ve been making a habit of picking up the Princess Gold anthology, and those series are pretty easy to figure out even without a huge vocabulary since a lot of the story could be picked up in the art and… well, the plot devices that are standard to all those series. It’s amazing how much even stuff like character relationships can be conveyed simply through art, and a lot of those types of details are things I overlook when I’m reading in English and don’t have to work for the story. But I try and sit down and really read three or four of the chapters a month, and it’s improved my terrible, nonexistent Japanese. There’s still a lot of stuff I just can’t get, but it always makes me happy when more and more pieces fall into place.
There are a few of books which have helped me a lot with reading manga in Japanese. One is “Japanese the Manga Way” by Wayne P. Lammers. The other books are Basic Kanji vol 1&2, by Chieko Kano et al. Though kanji isn’t completely required to read manga, even knowing a few hundred makes it so much smoother. I’ve seen a few kanji books, and these are by far the best. They are a little hard to find. I was able to get copies from local used bookstores, but if that’s not possible, Kinokuniya is about the only place which sells new copies.
I’m actually surprised at how many kanji I can pick up just by reading manga. When you see a kanji used in context enough times, you just know what it means.
Back to Banana Fish … I looked back at some of my comments on previous volumes, and I was pretty spot on in guessing that the pay off wasn’t going to be what you were expecting. While Banana Fish is unique among manga published in English, I think there are some unlicensed manga which have some of the same vibes. I’ve read that Akimi Yoshida was strongly influenced by Ryoko Yamagishi, for example.
You’re not the first person that’s recommended “Japanese the Manga Way,” so I’m probably going to get around to picking that one up. And I really do need to stop being lazy about kanji and just learn. I only actually know two or three, which is really, really sad. I rely entirely on the furigana.
It really is a shame that Banana Fish wasn’t more popular in the US, because I would love to see similar titles. I’m sure there were any number of titles that came after Banana Fish that were influenced by it too, but unfortunately I’m not finding a lot of information on the subject.
If you want to keep on reading Japanese, I strongly recommend the Basic Kanji books. I think I get through more manga faster by mixing manga reading and kanji study than I would if I used all that time only for manga reading by furigana alone.
I didn’t think about the manga which would come after Banana Fish, but since it was so popular in Japan, others must have attempted something similar. Actually, the manga which I can think of which comes closest is … 7Seeds. It is closer to typical shojo than Banana Fish, but manages to be quite a bit less girly than Basara (which is not a point in its favor, since Basara is perfect in its girliness). Looking through online discussions, 7Seeds does seem to have a following among guys who never read other shojo/josei. It’s interesting to see the reactions to the parts where Tamura renews her girly credentials, because the guys are like “This sappy stuff is lame” and the girls are like “But it’s so romantic”.
Haha, in having my roommate read Banana Fish, we’re having similar conversations about it. He feels like the relationship between Ash and Eiji was tacked on and the series would have been better if Ash’s sexuality hadn’t come into play, whereas I told him that was one of my favorite parts.
It’s hard for me to imagine 7Seeds not girly, since her art lends itself to that so well. I suppose Chicago wasn’t particularly girly though, and was infused with girly relationship parts occasionally in the same way that Banana Fish is.
That’s one reason I prefer the Basara art – it is much more girly.
I’m in between, because none of the 7Seeds romances really compare to what happens in Basara, but the romance is not central to the plot anyway. And when the “girly” parts are really good, even the male readers love it – for example, some of these guys consider the scene where a girl dances for her dead boyfriend to be one of the best parts, even though I consider that a very girly (and heartbreaking) scene. I wonder what they would think of one of my favorite scenes where, among other things, a female character is naked (which shows that 7Seeds really is josei, since I don’t think any shojo magazine would allow such detailed nudity).
For that matter, I was also in between on Banana Fish too. I think one of the reasons why I could never call it one of my favorites is that I was never truly engaged in Ash/Eiji, though I think it’s awesome that Eiji arranges his life around Ash’s death.
Banana Fish . . . you will be missed. I really don’t think there is anything quite like Banana Fish. Definitely not in English, and probably not in Japanese. I have to say it’s in my top ten manga of all time.
I KNEW this was going to happen as soon as Ash mentioned wanted to see Japan in one of the earlier volumes. I kept thinking, “Oh god, no. Ash, you’ve just given yourself a death sentence.” And I don’t think I could have been happy if he had lived. In fact, I can’t see him or Eiji being happy if he had lived. Not that Eiji is particulary happy with him dead.
I absolutely adored Ash/Eiji if only because their relationship each gave them something they needed. It was something so important to their sanity that i can’t really imagine Banana Fish without it.
Though on 7 Seeds – God, I love it. I think it’s better than Basara which is sad because I love Basara way more and like Basara’s character a whole lot more, but 7 Seeds is definitely better in execution. I think it’s mostly because 7 Seeds is so much farther into Tamura’s career.
Still, I have to love 7 Seeds to bits. It would be easier on my brain if it didn’t have so many characters (Angel Sanctuary anyone?) But i love the storytelling, and the pacing is very good as well. Now if only Viz or someone could be convinced to license it . . .
I did wonder how it would work with Ash in Japan, but I naturally assumed he would go and it would give him a blank slate. He dodged the bullet so much during the series, I was completely shocked when all that went down at the last minute. I absolutely did not see it coming, and loved it all the more for it.
And it’s true, the best thing about Ash/Eiji is that it wasn’t overtly romantic, but still incredibly so since it was just a question of both needing each other, more than romance or anything else. I liked it a lot for that.
I desperately need to read 7 Seeds. I will probably buy it in Japanese and stumble through it, because I do not foresee it getting released in English any time soon. But man, I loved Basara, I really liked Chicago, and according to everyone who’s read it, 7 Seeds is Tamura’s best work. I’m not going to be able to hold out much longer.
That review of volume 19 was great, and your bit with your roommate at the end was classic. Thank you for being great.
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it. I couldn’t help but add that at the end, he made me laugh pretty hard when he said it.
Just read the ending yesterday, but I didn’t want to read the two extra stories. I thought it would taint the shock of the ending, which was absolutely perfect. I literally sat there with my mouth hanging open, tears welling up in my eyes even though I knew it had to happen. That was a damn good manga.
That’s a good idea. The short stories are probably less remarkable after having followed that ending, and I was a little disappointed by the epilogue story, but both are still worth reading. The one about how Ash and Shooter first met did make for an eerie read after that last scene, though, and was pretty good to boot.
And yeah, that ending was amazing. Still one of the best I’ve ever read in a manga. I’m happy I decided to read this series after all these years.
I’m so unbelievably heartbroken. I knew he was going to die because I accidentally read the first comment of this review, but it was still shocking. I didn’t see it coming so soon because I didn’t think that it would end only a few pages into volume 19. I’m still crying.
I, too, could’ve done without “Garden of Light”. It was great to see Eiji and Sing again, but it just didn’t feel right for them to be almost forced together. I would’ve been more satisfied if Eiji’s lover was an entirely new character.
Jasmine: Wait, what?! Eiji and Sing are lovers?! I totally missed that completely. Seriously? Like, for real?! (now i have to go back and re-read that story). I totally thought they were just really close roommates.
I think that ruined my day. But . . . if Eiji is happy, I’m happy? I didn’t exactly want him alone forever, but I always saw him as married to Ash’s memory or something.
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