WL's Gay Manga and Anime Review - 9. Banana Fish by Akimi Yoshida (Gay Crime/Action/Dark)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Fish

I was reading up a list of the greatest gay anime and manga series when this series’ name came up. I knew about gay subtext being important in novels, which was used to cover issues of censorship before same-sex relationships became more acceptable in mainstream fiction. However, I had not realized that much of the mainstream gay manga culture that we enjoy today owes a debt of gratitude to writers like Ms. Yoshida, who pioneered several of the concepts that exist in modern gay manga and even gay fiction within her work, Banana Fish. The manga was created in 1985, its theme was inspired by the 1969 American film, Midnight Cowboy, depicting the homoerotic relationship between a hustler and a con man. Since this manga inspired the genre that so many people, including myself, enjoy today, I wanted to see what the ancestor of the BL genre has to offer. I will warn fellow gay fiction and gay manga readers, that it’s a gritty story without a happy ending, unlike modern BL. For older readers, who prefer the realism of life in their novels, I think it’s a perfect bridge to understand the appeal of modern gay manga.

Length: 3,400 pages across 19 manga volumes and 24-episode anime series. This story will take you a very long time to finish, perhaps a month at least for most people accustomed to binge reading and viewing. It’s worth it if you need a dose of realism to offset the usual mix of happily ever after in BL or gay fiction in the modern world. The original series is based on 1980’s sensibilities and cold-war era political/social environments. The anime series is based on the 2010s with America’s government conspiracies are more prominent. I warn everyone this is a major investment of time and, in the end with so much investment, you will find yourself drained and sad. Evil may not have triumphed, but our unspoken gay protagonists don’t get their HEA.

Plot: The original manga story begins during the Vietnam War, while the anime begins during Iraq War, but both follow similar plotlines, so I’ll attempt to offer a synthesis of the narrative. Griffin, an American soldier, appears to have gone insane and kills members of his unit in cold blood. Before he completely loses his faculties, he says two words to his surviving unit members, “Banana Fish”. Flash-forward to New York City, Ash, the 17-year-old brother of Griffin, is the coalition street gang leader with connections to an organized crime syndicate. Ash comes across a dying man, who tells him with his dying breath to find “banana fish”. He learns that the murder was committed by his henchmen, ordered by Dino Golzine, the Don of a major Italian crime family and Ash’s abusive surrogate father. Ash begins his investigation into this mysterious banana fish. While this plot is occurring, Ash’s gang agreed to have an interview with a Japanese reporter, interested in doing a story on the modern street gangs of New York. This interview leads to an encounter with Eiji, a 19-year-old Japanese boy and college student acting as the Journalist’s assistant, who is naïve and completely out of his element in this world filled with violence and death. After several gang wars, attempted assassinations, the death of major characters, and a complex government conspiracy involving mind control and experimental drugs, Ash learns the truth about what happened and Dino’s involvement. A showdown occurs, but it was not the climax of the story. You will be heartbroken by what happens in the end.

Review: I enjoyed the manga and anime. Both had their unique outsider takes on American violence and society, more negative commentary than positive about how easily the social framework falls apart, power structures are corrupted, and the weakest are made into unwilling toys for the strong. It’s a very adult and refreshing way to look at gay fiction, different from the light fluffy romances or the introspective personal issues that are being explored in the modern BL genre. There are a lot of subtle glimpses into a gay romance between Eiji and Ash, up to the point where Ash and he silently admit their love without saying it as well. Banana Fish to me stands at the crossroads between what is Shonen, traditional male action series like Naruto or Bleach, and BL, which focus on the gay romance angle.

This isn’t my first foray into gangland manga stories or complex plots involving morally ambiguous organized crime figures. In the 1990s, when I was a kid, I got interested in a series called Young and Dangerous, based around the Hong Kong triads and its movie series starring a young Ekin Cheng. For many young lower to middle-income Asian boys between the 80s and 00s, the heroes of society were not the police or government with their arbitrary rules and enforcement tactics, but it was the noble scoundrels and hoodlums, whom readers and viewers could connect with. They lived outside what society deemed right through a nearly unachievable and narrow definition. Now as an adult Asian man, I know those values are wrong and the hoodlums do a lot of harm to the very neighborhoods and people they supposedly defend. Revisiting this genre as an adult though is still refreshing for older fans of the genre and reminds folks why being morally gray was such a draw.

Onto the main romantic leads, Ash and Eiji are marvelous characters and the subtle nods to their romance were refreshing, despite it being chaste. I honestly wished that they could have at least said something to get rid of the sexual tension. Some reviewers have noted that they represent the prototypes of BL genre Seme and Uke pairing, I agree only partially with that assessment. Ash appears to be the prototype of the BL genre’s Seme, he’s strong and dominant, but deeply flawed and unable to care for himself without going down a destructive path without his uke, case in point the ending. However, unlike modern semes, he often uses his body and sexuality as a weapon, including presenting a submissive nature to seduce aggressive gangster. In the story, times such as an implied rape scene at a library, when he uses as means to an end to gain access to medical supplies for his goal, demonstrate he's atypical of modern Seme conventions. Eiji is the prototype Uke, naïve and fearful, but great at domestic activity and protective of his Seme to a fault. However, unlike the modern formula, Eiji isn’t completely helpless or overly feminine in his portrayal, which is a boon that a lot of other female authors forget, when writing potentially gay or bisexual male characters. Eiji is capable of learning and adapting as a former athlete and even learns to use a gun with ash. I think modern BL writers can learn a lot from Yoshida, she left her gender experience behind when writing these characters. Their love for one another is unspoken but wonderfully felt, there’s a subtle language between men just like there is between women, where unspoken truths can be expressed through action. In a perfect world, these two young men deserved to be together after all they faced, but neither in this world of fiction nor in the real world, do people always have this option.

There are a lot of great side characters and subplots, which add to the overall development and revelations regarding the Banana fish as a mind control drug. I love the idea that the US government and the Italian mafia were co-conspirators in its development, which is a great twist on several government conspiracies. For those into the lore of conspiracy theories from secret CIA MKULTRA tests with LSD and other narcotics to the more far-reaching murders of the Kennedy family, it's a fascinating dive into the rabbit hole. Above the thrilling conspiracy angle, there are also the action scenes, which was fast-paced and exciting like a standard Shonen. Street fights with guns and knives are well choreographed. Additionally, the implied child sexual assault that Ash underwent at the hand of Dino Golzine and his henchmen was a great build-up of psychological tension between abuser and victim. Ash is a victim, who was molded into becoming a victimizer by Dino Golzine, a dark reflection on the ancient practice of pedophilia/pederasty that was prevalent in Rome and Greece. Compared to the light and balanced unspoken love between same-aged males like Eiji and Ash, I believe Yoshida wanted to showcase the difference between being gay and being a pedophile, which in the 1980s consciousness was a bold move. I applaud her and think the attempt succeeded, few people except the deeply troubled fanatics can’t see differences in the 2020s.

As for weaknesses, I wish there was a better ending, but I cannot fault Yoshida for choosing a dark ending as I would probably do the same in this kind of real world equivalent. I do think that some of the plots were a bit contrived to move things along or to add further issues, like Ash’s conflict with Yut Lung, but I did enjoy the Yin-Yang subplot between them. There’s also an apparent issue with Yoshida’s writing style, she prefers to kill off her characters indiscriminately to further plotlines, which is one of those things in writing that you have to be very careful about. Death happens and it is a catalyst for great change, but a warning for death writers, readers can’t just keep investing in characters only to see them die. Look at the Walking Dead, it was a well-written concept that has dwindled in popularity due to the same problem of character deaths. Leave room for your characters to exist without you.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5, it is near perfect in terms of the balance of action and characters. I loved the themes, setting, and rich character backstories.