living-with-the-ghost

[living-with-the-ghost]

I really hate that banana fish got this reputation of "the anime that will make you cry" bc I think it's made some people watch it and go "that was sad fuck the author" instead of like thinking about the political commentary and themes of the work and why certain story choices would be made. Obviously no one has to think that deeply about a show, but I wish that people wouldn't get mad about something making them feel an emotion when that was the entire point.

[living-with-the-ghost]

The fact that New York Sense is supposed to be a real photo book in universe is so funny. Because imagine you're a big photography fan and you grab a book by an up-and-coming artist for your end table. And it consists of many aesthetic NYC shots, some photos of the photographer's friends, and a bunch of pictures of a half-naked teenage boy. Like you did not sign up for one of those things lmao

And that's not even mentioning the potential of an FBI agent picking it up and being like uhhhhhh???

[living-with-the-ghost]

Ash and Eiji's first meeting is so iconic because you have Eiji, a normal dude, who upon meeting an actual real-life gang leader thinks, in order:

Wow, he's really pretty

Ugh, what a brat

Hey is that a real gun?

And then there's Ash who after a nice boy is friendly to him and asks for permission before touching his gun is like "this guy is kind of a weirdo."

[living-with-the-ghost]

A very important part of my personal characterization of Asheiji is that Ash is not the wish-fulfillment boyfriend, Eiji is.

And that sounds a bit weird because Ash is like a model-gorgeous super genius, but Ash just seems so very drawn to how Eiji is just a nice, normal guy. I imagine he dreamed about finding someone like Eiji far more than Eiji ever dreamed about ending up with someone like Ash.

[living-with-the-ghost]

Does anyone know the lyrics to Choppin' from the Banana Fish soundtrack?

Bc I really want to know but I can't seem to find them anywhere.

[living-with-the-ghost]

Yeah, Yasha gets a bit crazy lmao. Spoilers ahead if you care about that:

Basically in Eve no nemuri, Sing's son Rie is the vague, sort of love interest of the main character Arisa who is the biological daughter of a genetically engineered superhuman (who is the main character of Yasha). Like nothing actually happens between them but it's pretty heavily implied that they're going to end up together eventually. And there's a character who makes a speech about Arisa's future descendants having dormant superhuman abilities that can reappear in the human race when society is better able to handle them or something. So Sing may end up being the ancestor of future super-humans lol.

Nothing too out there for a sci-fi series I guess, but being reminded of it in Banana Fish which has a more realistic premise just strikes me as funny.

Revisiting Banana Fish after reading Yasha and Eve no nemuri is wild because I now look at Sing and think about how he's likely going to be the grandfather of the next evolutionary stage of the human race

[living-with-the-ghost]

Revisiting Banana Fish after reading Yasha and Eve no nemuri is wild because I now look at Sing and think about how he's likely going to be the grandfather of the next evolutionary stage of the human race

[living-with-the-ghost]

Sometimes I see posts and fics where the point basically boils down to saying "everything would have been better if WWX had done X," and like a lot of them just totally forget about the Wens. When saving them is like??? the entire point???

[living-with-the-ghost]

Ever think about how Sing's life is just a never ending series of shoes to fill? How he's always the one left behind to grieve and try to pick up the pieces?

[living-with-the-ghost]

On the topic of Jiang Fengmian, my unpopular Mdzs opinion is that things would have turned out a lot better if Jiang Fengmian had lived. Like he would have agreed with Wei Wuxian that saving the Wens was the right thing to do, and he would have been more established with more political clout than Jiang Cheng when he took his side. He may have been wishy-washy and believed that the other sects could be reasoned with for too long, but I sincerely doubt he would have led something like the Siege of the Burial Mounds.

[living-with-the-ghost]

It's truly wild how many people claim that Lan Qiren would have been a better parental figure for Wei Wuxian than Jiang Fengmian. Like one was imperfect but caring, and the other decided to beef with a teenager for no fucking reason.

[living-with-the-ghost]

and how did Lan Wangji feel watching him grow up, knowing that entire cultivation world, his sect included, wanted this boy that he cared for dead? How do you cope with that?

It's so horrifying how Sizhui grew up around and was taught by people who helped kill his entire family. Lan Wangji obviously didn't have any other option for where to take him, but can you imagine the betrayal that Sizhui would feel? Lan Qiren led the Lan part of the siege. A non-zero amount of Lans most likely slaughtered his family members and dumped their bodies in the blood pool. How do you deal with that knowledge? How do you trust anyone anymore?

[living-with-the-ghost]

It's so horrifying how Sizhui grew up around and was taught by people who helped kill his entire family. Lan Wangji obviously didn't have any other option for where to take him, but can you imagine the betrayal that Sizhui would feel? Lan Qiren led the Lan part of the siege. A non-zero amount of Lans most likely slaughtered his family members and dumped their bodies in the blood pool. How do you deal with that knowledge? How do you trust anyone anymore?

[living-with-the-ghost]

People are completely terminally stupid.

[living-with-the-ghost]

The anime has a tragic lack of Eiji dressing like a middle aged golfer.

[living-with-the-ghost]

Banana Fish is very clear that rape and assault are not about attraction, they are about power. There are men who assault Ash who aren't attracted to him, such as Foxx, and the ones who are attracted to him do so to have control over him and don't see him as a human being.

So I think the focus on Eiji's attraction or lack thereof for Ash ignores the more important thing which is that Eiji sees Ash as a human being and doesn't want to control him.

I've seen a couple posts debating whether or not Eiji is sexually attracted to Ash, and I have my own opinions and interpretations, but I mostly think that it doesn't really matter when discussing why Ash and Eiji's relationship works and why Ash trusts him.

In their first meeting Eiji asks to hold Ash's gun and we're told that every guy before him had just tried to reach out and grab it. Eiji tries to help rescue him then refuses to go along with the police's plans and use Ash's fondness for him to get him to talk. He helps him multiple times and never asks for anything in return, and Ash even mentions this multiple times. These are all concrete actions that show Ash that he can trust Eiji, and whether or not Eiji thinks Ash is hot doesn't have any impact on them.

[living-with-the-ghost]

I've seen a couple posts debating whether or not Eiji is sexually attracted to Ash, and I have my own opinions and interpretations, but I mostly think that it doesn't really matter when discussing why Ash and Eiji's relationship works and why Ash trusts him.

In their first meeting Eiji asks to hold Ash's gun and we're told that every guy before him had just tried to reach out and grab it. Eiji tries to help rescue him then refuses to go along with the police's plan to use Ash's fondness for him to get him to talk. He helps him multiple times and never asks for anything in return, and Ash even mentions this multiple times. These are all concrete actions that show Ash that he can trust Eiji, and whether or not Eiji thinks Ash is hot doesn't have any impact on them.