Banana Fish
a review by eeah
I read that people think very highly of this manga. I can see why, first because it was a very early representation of gay themes in manga. It also has some interesting characters and a sprawling conspiracy and cast. I don't disagree with any of those assessments, but after I finished it I'm not really sure if I'm glad I read it.
It really reminds me of Eden: It's an Endless World!. Both are 90s manga that feature a North American setting and multinational gangs, centered on a sprawling conspiracy involving a new technology threatening to reshape the world and the various powers that fight to control it. Both also feature an extremely smart, morally ambiguous feminine guy, incidentally. And both stories are pretty drawn out, willing to kill characters off, and are ultimately pretty flawed. But while I actually really like Eden despite its issues, I'm more mild on Banana Fish.
To start with, the characters. They're pretty good! The different leaders and members of the youth gangs are generally likeable, especially as the story develops. The villains are a bit one note excluding Yue-Lung Lee, but they work for the story. The supporting cast is also likeable. The main duo are pretty compelling. But this is where I'll get into my first issue, which really comes from reading it from a modern lens. It was just really annoying to go through this as it totally dodges acknowledging the characters as in a gay relationship, even when they very obviously are, until the very end.
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Even the last chapter twists the knife by saying "his love wasn't romantic it was something deeper than that". I'm so over reading mangas that refuse to go beyond subtext. Part of this was my mistaken expectation sure, but I consider media from a modern lens, and from that angle its pretty disappointing. Even the singular kiss is explained by plot necessity to pass a message secretly. Gay characters are apparently allowed to be horrible pedophilic rapists, or victims, but never part of a real relationship. I know that was just part of the time it came out, but it still is frustrating.Additionally, while Ash is a cool character, I feel like as the manga goes on, he gets increasingly overpowered until it's a bit ridiculous. He starts the manga as a scrappy but deceptively cunning and intelligent gangster. But by the end, he's this semi-immortal, 200 IQ perfect supergenius expert fighter hacker. It feels a bit silly, especially with all the cheesy animal metaphors Dino is constantly pulling out. And it saps the drama from the story to me. I know there's no way Ash is going down by the end, because he is too perfect.
Another point I'll mention is that, while the manga seems very intent on asserting that Ash and all the youth gangs are bad (or at least morally gray) people, it doesn't really show it. Comparing to Akira which also features youth gang wars, it feels like this manga wasn't really willing to show the characters as actually morally gray in a meaningful way. Sure Ash kills people, but it's always in self defense. And what these youth gangs actually do all the time other than fight one another isn't really detailed. I'm not saying Ash should be a really shitty guy like Kaneda is at the start, but I feel like its depiction of the youth gang system of their world and the issues involved is deceptively shallow beyond what is necessary for the plot to move forward. Ash's moral gray-ness is more told rather than shown.
As for the plot, it's interesting, but very dragged out and repetitive. The central mystery is compelling, but at a certain point it feels like the manga is just spinning its wheels until it ends.
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The whole manga feels like a series of successive capture and rescue missions. Ash gets captured, and then they rescue him. But oh no! Now Eiji is captured. Ok he's safe but now Ash is captured again. The first time Ash gets captured it's pretty exciting, because you're not sure how they're gonna get him out without him there to carry the group through plot armor. By the end it feels like he's been captured like 10 times. And the stakes are constantly changing too. It starts with a good progression. At first Dino just wants Ash back under control, then eventually Dino gives the go-ahead to kill him just to stop the conspiracy getting out. But after that fails, Dino actually just wants him for experiments. Then he wants him as the head of his empire, and then a sex slave. The flip-flopping of the stakes really messes with my investment in the story since whenever it is time for Ash to get captured again, Dino conveniently doesn't want to kill him again. And the status of the conspiracy investigation is weird as well. Evidence is gathered, then thrown away, then suddenly that doesn't matter because it'll be exposed anyway, and then all the loose ends are just tied up in a big explosion and one briefcase.The action is pretty compelling, and there are some very memorable and exciting setpieces. I actually don't mind the ending too much (I understand it's a bit controversial), but I just think the time investment required compared to what I got out of it wasn't as good as I was hoping for. It's still pretty good I'd say, but not the masterpiece I was expecting by any means. I was engaged on a moment-to-moment basis, but when thinking back on it after finishing it, I was a bit underwhelmed.
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