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TOP 10 ANIME BETRAYALS

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Fanon Eiji: Pure cinnamon roll, too good for this world

Canon Eiji: Suck your own dick, Ash, or is it too small?

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whu- what is this? Let them say fuck! I’m suing!!

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“A guy who’s got the mafia at gunpoint, scared of a pumpkin!”

bonus:

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My words might not mean anything now, but just remember one thing. Even if the world turns. I’ll always be by your side. I’ll stay by your side. That is if you don’t mind.

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….forever.

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He’s just such a good kid, you know? He’s such a good kid

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BANANA  FISH  #11  PREVIEW    -   「  The Beautiful and Damned  」

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sad thinking of how much pain ash carries and how heavy he feels, not only from the wrongs done unto him but also from how much guilt and self-loathing he puts on himself. I hope the reason his gaze softens around eiji is because he feels relief from those burdens

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Why Banana Fish Episode 10 was…Disappointing

So in general, I’ve been pretty impressed by the Banana Fish anime. However, I have a few…issues…with episode 10. And they’re big enough for me to actually going to say that I, overall, preferred the manga’s version. And here’s why:

There are some small reasons like:

I can’t believe they took out Eiji’s “Fuck you” line. It would have been really appropriate for his character, and done an excellent job at hyping the audience. But I understand that out of interest of time and resources, that may not have been possible.

And the anime sort of makes up for it with this good shot of Eiji:

This is the first time we ever see Eiji truly boxed in by the staging… and it’s pretty shocking to see a character so closely associated to freedom physically “trapped”.

Also I’m sad they get rid of Sing’s characteristically childish name for his fighting technique. It’s such a…immature name only a teen would come up with… and it was really endearing.

Aside from these small complaints, the action shots were pretty mediocre, conventional shots. I don’t expect a lot from most anime, including Banana Fish, when it comes to coming up with creative and jarring action shots, but I have to say this episode really fell short of my expectations (that were based on previous action scenes).

Then I have my really significant complaints:

Manga Ash’s design was soo much more iconic, and…well… meaningful. I don’t want to go too deep into this yet, because I’m planning a lengthy essay on this topic for when the anime finishes airing but here’s the gist of it:

Firstly, I’m really bummed out that they got rid of the “X” shaped ammunition bandoliers that Ash carried in the manga. This is partially for aesthetic reasons (it looks badass) and partially for realism. I noted that in the anime, Ash carries his ammunition in a small pouch. Which is… pretty ridiculous for the number of rounds he should have gone through to mass murder a whole mansion of guards. But that’s not the main point. The main point is that the change the anime made takes away from what I believe could have been a major motif. So from here, I’m going to be talking based on some meta that I can’t delve too deep into w/o seeing the rest of the anime so please bear w/ me. Ash, particularly in the anime, is heavily coded as a Messianic figure… and guess what… the Greek letter “X” (Chi) is the first letter in the word “Χριστός”, meaning “Christ”, and has been used as a representation for Christ for centuries. (I also just realized that the connection between the X symbol and Ash matches up with the name of the ed “Prayer X”.) Some alternative ways to understand the “X” symbol is as a mark reserved for the extraordinary, the chosen one (like on a ballot!) It can represent an unknown or a negation, all of which are vaguely applicable to Ash’s characters. But I’m still sticking with the Christ image because it’s literally implied everywhere in the anime – more on this later.

I’m also kinda bummed that they got rid of Ash saying “Check this out assholes”, then a shot of him straight on, yelling and charging at his enemies. That panel really drew me into the action, and I felt like the anime lacked that. But I understand that Ash’s more quiet and stealthy approach and the appropriate camera placement changes for that is a lot more realistic.

Additionally, this shot was also a huge let down, for less symbol and subject related reasons, and more for aesthetic related reasons.

Despite the fact that the manga is a static photo, it is so much more dynamic than the anime, therefore contributing to the hype and fast pace of the action. The location of the man at the bottom of the staircase and behind Ash forces him to visibly shift his balance and lean his body backwards. The movement of his body looks very believable: his hair flies up behind him and his bandage also falls slower than the rest of his body. Similarly, the man’s fall is drawn perfectly. The addition of the tie and the suit jacket falling slower than the rest of his body adds a realistic weight to his death. Compare this to the anime version, which is much less dynamic, despite being animated: The man simply crumples down to the ground, the shot has no other movement in it. Next, Eiji is framed by Ash’s outstretched arm pretty perfectly in the manga. Both Ash and Eiji are clearly looking in the direction of the man falling, cueing the attention of the reader to the same point in the panel. We can see Ash’s facial expression very clearly and his posture is far more open and engaging. This allows the reader to understand his feelings of desperation and determination. On the other hand, anime Ash is very closed off. We can’t really see his face at all, and his pose is pretty… bland. It looks… too effortless for someone whose actions the anime has already established are very emotionally charged at the moment. Lastly, the replacement of the hard lighting that was in the manga with the soft lighting in the anime…. was, in my opinion, a really terrible decision, as the lack of light contrast makes the image less striking. Not to mention that the anime didn’t include Eiji flinching as blood from the man splatters onto his face, taking away from the context in which Ash asks Eiji if he is afraid of him. This panel was possibly the most iconic panel of the whole manga (for me), and it’s all those little details I mentioned above that made it such. I must say the anime really let me down here.

For similar reasons, I also prefer this shot from the manga:

Eiji driving away in the car as he yells that he’ll wait for him (Ash) evokes…a feeling of urgency and desperation to be with Ash. Him leaving Ash behind on a barren landscape, Ash standing on the spot, watching Eiji disappear, the shadow that Ash casts, the distant camera placement, the tilt of the shot all succeed at the same goal: to allow the audience to sympathize, if not empathize, with Ash’s feelings of loneliness and longing for Eiji. 

Compare that to the anime version – Ash leaving with his back facing Eiji as Eiji watches him go, the relatively bland tonality and contrast…are weaker in terms of it’s ability to evoke emotion. I also think that it gives a less meaningful and powerful characterization of Ash and Eiji’s relationship.

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“Ash Lynx is the only white bitch I ever respected.”

Sing Soo-Ling

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Ash and Eiji

[ Banana Fish Vol 7. My recolors ]

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This is golden.

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Me when ash shoot 738384 bullets at Abraham

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Me: *listening to various genres of god knows what* Spotify trying to make my discover weekly:

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EVERYONE KNOWS!