#yuts spoilers

[banana-fish-writing-blog]

Y'all if you can't forgive me for this edit I'm working on I understand.

[aberfaeth]

because i know there’s at least one guy who cares for me and wants nothing in return. i cant believe how lucky i am. it’s the happiest feeling in the world

[bad-guidance-counselor]

Picsart, my beloved 😔

[gatoraid]

Random, but can I ask why do you love Yut Lung? What made him special? Is there a certain moment in Banana Fish where you know, this will be my favorite character?

P.s I can't believe the mangaka end Yut Lung just like that in the later manga. Are you surprised, too?

This is the perfect ask, YES you can ask me why I love my fave character. <3 This has been sitting in my drafts for a while but since the jp fandom is currently drawing a lot of Yut Lung fanart for the Mid-Autumn Festival, I feel like it's a good time to try answer this.

Yut Lung as a character is just endlessly fascinating to me. He’s the bitchy antagonist, the foil and twisted mirror image of Ash and to a lesser extent Eiji too. He has such delicious relationships with so many of the characters in the story, he's THE fandom bicycle to me.

I love how Yut Lung is full of contradictions. He’s an evil mastermind and seductress pulling at the strings, but he’s also a traumatized 16-year-old kid who misses his mother. He uses his femininity and beauty as a weapon and never fails to bring a fashion moment when going out, yet at home he only ever wears ugly grandpa sweaters.

One of the reasons why I enjoy reading about him so much is that he’s not really a good person. He’s petty and jealous. He’s been having a bad time his whole life and he wants to make it your problem too. Yet at the same time, you see how torn he feels about Shorter's death, how he just wants acceptance and for someone to take care of him. Idk, something about him showing his ugly sides and still being someone who clearly would deserve love and healing just feels so cathartic to me.

And let's not even get started on the gender stuff. I tend to latch on to characters with atypical gender expressions, and Yut Lung is explicitly referred to and viewed as feminine by other characters in the story. Is he someone who's learned to use his perceived femininity to his advantage (the ppl who have compared him to the main character of M Butterfly are so smart), or is this how he actually wants to present? Maybe both? In any case, this aspect of his character has also made him very dear to me.

Also, I actually do know the exact moment I realized Yut Lung would become my fave:

Soo yeah, despite being a fan of the manga for years, it was the anime adaptation that made his character really pop for me. Maybe it was just the right timing for me to vibe with his particular story, or maybe the fact that the anime staff clearly loved him made him stand out even more? His updated character design is just so good! Obviously I love his manga and anime versions equally now, the anime was just the catalyst.

You also asked about Yut Lung's story arc in Yasha. I'm putting the rest after a cut bc of spoilers.

I haven't read Yasha myself, but I've read enough fic and other reports to know the basics of how Yut Lung's life ends in that story. I'm very sad since I just wanted him to keep on living, taking reponsibility for the shitty things he has done. But idk if I can say I'm surprised. Unlike the anime staff, I think it's pretty clear that Akimi Yoshida did not love Yut Lung at all. I feel like she disliked him quite a bit actually, so writing an ending like that for him makes sense in a way sobbbb.

[shoujomangathoughts]

Shoujo Thoughts - Banana Fish

I decided recently to rewatch Banana Fish. I have a lot of thoughts on this series (it's in my top three, if not my favorite series) so I doubt I'll be able to go over everything that I could. This will contain spoilers for the series so here's the warning for that.

I won't spend a ton of time going over Ash and Eiji's relationship because I feel that's the conversational ground that others have covered the most. What I will say though is that I don't really see BF as a BL series or even really think that Ash and Eiji necessarily love each other in a romantic way. This series certainly inspired a lot of LGBTQ+ stories but I've always liked that Ash and Eiji's relationship seems to be in some sort of gray area; it feels ambiguous enough to remain interpretable. I don't want to take away from any queer elements that people may like about the story, but I also think it's sometimes important for media to display emotional intimacy between men, as I feel a lot of stories don't let this aspect exist unless they're romantically involved (or sometimes it's the setup for gay jokes). I like that this series kind of walks the line, though I'm sure many will disagree since BF has had a reputation for being a BL especially after the anime and it's modern popularity.

Something interesting about the relationship between Ash and Eiji for me is the "selfish" reasons they seem connected and how that relates to parts of their character arcs. To Ash, Eiji has an innocence that he tries to protect, as his was trampled on at an early age. It's interesting to see this shift, things like giving Eiji a gun in the beginning to refusing him one when escaping Golzine's mansion. This aspect of Eiji also grounds Ash in a sense - conversations they have like when Ash talks about his fear of pumpkins shows a more innocent side to Ash that can't frequently be on display because of everything around him, but it reminds us of how young he actually is (Ibe notices this as well). Eiji's perspective on things and his experiences are so vastly different that it helps balance Ash out. Eiji, on the other hand, sees Ash and his role in helping him as a way to not quit something. He quit pole vaulting after an injury that also led to some psychological barriers, and in some sense he sees the events that take place as a means of not repeating what he believes to be past mistakes. In some ways, it also comes across a little bit that Eiji almost has a hero complex when it comes to Ash. I don't mean this in a negative way at all, but I think it also demonstrates some of Eiji's naivety (albeit still good-natured) by thinking that it would be so easy for Ash to start over. Their relationship obviously has other layers as well, but I've always found these aspects interesting and they're not as often brought up when it comes to the nuance of the how the characters in this story feel very "human'.

Another aspect I want to talk about is the antagonists. I feel as though characters like Dino come across well and as intended, but some of the others don't or feel as though there might be a bit of missed potential. I feel like Yut-Lung didn't quite live up to his full potential; the way he acted in the beginning versus when he was working with the mafia is a bit confusing at times as he used to use secret techniques and trained moves but then ends up in a bit of a damsel situation. His motivations however are solid and show off what his role is well in my opinion. Fox is the other antagonist that people seem to have issue with. While I think his role is fine and does a good job at reinforcing the fact that Dino really does have connections in all sorts of places (and the parallels to Ash being legally 'dead'), his shift into essentially being the "final boss" doesn't work for some and I see why. He wasn't really built up to be that significant so it doesn't feel as satisfying as it should. Most of the other "villains" in the series are more interesting and end up being more memorable characters (Dino, Arthur, Yut-Lung, Blanca).

Something else that I appreciate in this story is the plot device of banana fish itself. The mystery of the drug is far more prominent early on, but I appreciate that as the story progresses, there is no magic cure developed that makes previous characters feel like they only had a case of bad timing. They outright say there is no cure for the drug and the story sticks to that, which is an aspect I respect. People also say that the plotline with the drug ends up taking a backseat, which I partially agree with, but it's also important to recognize that its role changes. At first, it's the core of the mystery and after that's uncovered, it turns into something that is more political in nature. I feel like some didn't like the change in role it had and that's why they say it's not important after around the halfway point. Not saying that the execution is without flaw, but the drug has a role, even if more in the background, throughout the whole series. The moment when Ash tells Sing to let the briefcase go is the moment Ash decides to let the existence of the drug die with the man that was at the head of it all (not to mention all the scientists and whatnot that had already been killed). It may seem unsatisfying, but Ash would rather just let its existence be wiped than deal with anyone else trying to do something with it, not to mention that he values Sing's life enough to help him even at the expense of something he'd chased the whole series, which shows that being around Eiji probably helped him open up and shows that some of his morals are in check.

The end of the series, while being somewhat controversial for some, is something that I still find myself liking. Honestly, the first time I watched the series I expected Ash to die; from the many moments of foreshadowing and knowledge of other mafia/gang series that show many of these people never being able to truly escape the world they're in. The story on a whole is about Ash and throughout the story he found solid people to love and trust, most specifically Eiji and Max (I'd also say he found strong allies in characters like Sing and Cain as well and Shorter was around before the series began). People always say they wished Ash could go to Japan to start over but I'm not of the opinion that an ending like that would suit the series. I've seen the ending being labeled as senselessly tragic or as some sort of cry-bait but I disagree. I know the mangaka made comments at one point about how at least part of her decision to end it with his death was due to all the death he caused, therefore claiming the ending was justified in her mind because of some sort of karma. I understand why people are rubbed the wrong way by this because of how traumatized Ash is, but I do think that's an angle that makes sense as well (keep in mind not all of Ash's killings were in self defense). Ash gets stabbed in a moment where he saw an opportunity to try again and is then reminded that he still has enemies. It reminds me of the look on his face when Dino dies; he doesn't seem relieved like he probably expected he would. Part of this is probably because he doesn't know what to do with his "freedom" because he's never allowed himself to think that far, but I think another part is that even though Dino is dead, he doesn't really feel free. I know some get upset that Ash gets fatally wounded by a "nobody" character like Lao (which some are under the impression that Ash wasn't fatally wounded and merely chose to bleed out due to a missing line from Lao in the anime), but I think it suits what Yoshida was going for and also reiterates the smaller, more petty enemies that Ash made throughout his life. Dino and some of the other big shot villains being killed did not automatically free Ash of being a part of this world. Ash gets to die knowing that there are people who care for him and that's a feeling that he'd never imagined himself having. He dies a person that experienced genuine care for him after having been starved of it his whole life. It comes across that he dies satisfied. I see why the ending doesn't work for some but I've always thought it made sense.

For now I'll stop here as these were just some observations I was making on rewatching the series knowing how I and others felt about certain aspects. I may end up making another post or something someday on BF because the series really means a lot to me. Thanks for reading!

[ac3th3shark]

I JUST FINISHED BANANA FISH AND IM IN DENIAL SO I WROTE THIS TO COPE!!!!!

!!banana fish spoilers!!

Eiji's sister doesn't have a name, so I refer to her as Fuku bc that's what the random name generator wanted.

idea: Ash survives and comes to see Eiji in Japan

It had been a little less than a month since Eiji had returned to Japan. His injuries had almost fully healed, and he was able to walk around and do things again. His poor mother had been horrified to see the state he was in when he arrived home. She cried so hard seeing him hurt in that wheelchair. He remembers thinking about how upset he was that Ash hadn't come, but he was sure that he would see him again while his mother thanked Ibe for taking care of him and his father yelled at Ibe for letting him get hurt.

About a week after he arrived home, he got a call from Ibe saying that Max had called him, and Ash was in the hospital after getting stabbed by Lao. Max had asked him not to tell Eiji yet, but he thought that he deserved to know what happened. Eiji wanted to go right back to America to check on Ash, but he didn't. He decided that he needed to stay here for a while before doing anymore travelling and he's confident that Ash would be ok, ash is strong. One of the strongest- no, the strongest person that he's ever met.

He was so worried about Ash, asking Ibe if he knew how he was doing every day. He remembers thinking that he shouldn't of came back until he was sure that Ash and everyone else was ok. He was so relieved when a few days ago Ibe told him that Ash had finally been released.

He was snapped from his thoughts when his mother called his name. He looked up from where he was staring at a page of his book.

"Sweetie, someone's here to see you."

"What?"

"I think it's a friend from America. He barely speaks Japanese, but he kept saying something in English and your name so I figured I would get you."

Eiji tried to think of who it could be. What if Ash had gotten into more trouble and someone had come after him again? now, that was extremely unlikely. But who could it be? Max is too busy with his engagement and planning his marriage. He had heard that Sing was working with Yut Lung now, so who?

"Thanks ma" He cautiously got up and walked to the door that was cracked open.

Upon opening the door, he was met with a familiar face, ash. Ash had come to see him.

He just stood there staring and Ash just stared back. Finally, he worked up the ability to say something.

"Ash..."

"Eiji..."

"Ash!"

"Eiji!"

Ash jumped onto Eiji, bringing him into a tight hug, Eiji hugged him back. They both pulled back a little, staring at each other, both of them crying happy tears. Ash moves one of his hands to Eiji's face, gently pulling him into a soft kiss. They both Smile as they pull away.

Eiji grabs his hand and pulls him inside the house, shutting the door behind them. As soon as he moves his hand from the knob its back around ash and they're hugging again. They stay like that for a while before Ash remembers that this isn't his home and pulls away.

"How are you? Are you ok? I heard that you were stabbed. You just got released a few days ago, right? Why are you here?"

"I'm fine now, I lost a lot of blood and ended up passing out from blood loss in the library but I'm ok now." Ash responds, gently taking Eiji's hands into his. "And I'm here because I missed you."

The nice moment only lasts for a short minute because Eiji suddenly turns around.

"Awwww, Eiji! Your so on-edge all the time since you came back! I can't sneak up on you anymore!" Fuku, Eiji's younger sister pouts.

"Heh, sorry Fu."

"who's that?" Fuku and Ash both say at the same time, pointing at each other.

"Ash," Eiji starts saying in English "This is Fuku, my younger sister." He turns to Face the girl better, "Fuku," he says in Japanese now, "This is Ash, my....Friend from America" he blushes a little when he decides not to tell her that they're dating.

"Hehe! I knew that that charm I gave you would work!!" Fuku laughs as Eiji jumps back a little.

"Ahh, that was intentional!?"

"What did she say?" Ash asked.

"r-remember that charm I told you about? She said that she knew it would work." The red on both of their faces intensifies and so does Fuku's laughter.

"Well, if it's that obvious, may as well just own it." Ash says, "You can introduce me as your boyfriend if you'd like."

"Sure."

And they all three smile.

[neonscandal]

Hello, how are you? I love your blog, thanks so much for sharing you post, Neon (sorry, can I call you that?)

I found your blog cause your BakuDeku and SatoSugu posts, and I was surprised when found out, you also a fan of Banana Fish, Fushigi Yuugi, AoT and Sk8.

Last week was my birthday, and one of the best present for me is founding your blog.

Can I ask your fav characters and moments each from Banana Fish and AoT? Sorry if maybe you've already posted this before.

Happy belated birthday! 🎉✨

I hope you enjoyed yourself 💛 IDK how old you turned but here's to another year around the sun. I don't really do new years' resolutions, but, on my birthday each year, I think about how I want to spend the next year of my life. I hope your next year is extra special.

I haven't quite answered this so please see below!

⚠️ Spoiler warning for Banana Fish anime and Attack on Titan through series end.

CHARACTERS

Aslan Jade Callenreese - Because of COURSE he is. Plenty of places to read about why that is but just know, he is precious and I know he deserved better.

Shorter Wong - Just a funny lil guy. But to know the walls that would have divided Ash and Shorter which they would have broken down to have such trust and peace between them makes everything that happened that much more devastating.

Eiji Okumura - To paint Eiji as some harmless little cinnamon roll does his character such an injustice. He was gentle but he was fearless and could be fierce and had such a teasing sense of humor. I adore him for who he was to Ash but also because he could be sassy and obstinate.

Jessica Randy - Bad bitch with a gun. Adore her for being just as mean as Ash and not treating him like glass but also being sympathetic in those moments where they really connect.

MOMENTS

Admittedly, I wound up having to stop watching Banana Fish part way through because it was so devastating and I was triggered. ✨ Took a month long break before I finished it and I have not watched it since. It just haunts me. I thought I'd read the manga but haven't brought myself to though I did buy Vol. 19 so I could get some closure.

Ash and Eiji's immediate gravitation toward one another from him just giving Eiji his gun?? and from the way he watched with awe how Eiji pole vaulted over fence and effectively saving them. Such a funny way to set up such an unlikely but perfect pair.

Ash shooting from atop the truck and everyone retreating into the Manhattan? river.. THE WAY SHORTER INSTINCTIVELY GRABBED EIJI?

Ash showing Eiji how to shoot in Connecticut, the way he softened up like they were just kids playing but then immediately had to retreat back to being Ash Lynx when he noticed other people watching.

How, even in his betrayal, Shorter did what he could to protect Eiji while in the mansion.

When they busted Ash out of the mansion, that moment of clarity when he realized Eiji was there for him.

Jack-o-Lanterns.

Every single father son moment Ash had with Max.

The moment Max burned Ash's photos. I could actually bawl right now thinking about it?

Yut Lung's revenge on his brothers.

Ash's triumph over Rick Fox.

CHARACTERS (have a funny way of not making it to the end of the series, huh?)

Levi Ackerman - I think I just like people who are burdened and damned.

Hange Zoe - Their personality did not fit the confines of life behind the walls and yet.. there they were. Brilliant, quirky, compassionate and curious. But eventually carried the weight of the whole world which blotted out their smile.

Sasha Braus, Connie Springer, Jean Kirstein - My favorite trio. From Jean's artistry, to Connie's horrible comedic timing and Sasha's insatiable hunger. Just a recipe for hilarity.

Mikasa Ackerman - Admittedly, she lost her edge and appeal later in the series which is such a shame. I mean, they brought it back for the ending but just feel like her being this OP bad ass could have had a personality consistently to match.

MOMENTS

Attack on Titan had such exquisite exposition. This is definitely a series I always wish I could watch and read for the first time again. From the world building to the fact that, just when you get settled into understanding everything, your perspective on that world is completely rearranged. Now as a veteran watcher, crazy to find all the easter eggs that were hidden in plain sight.

The reveal at Utgard tower + their success in the box - As their first line of defense is fighting against dwindling stamina and dulling blades. Offset by the impossible odds of the newbie squads' success. Devastating.

Flegel Reeves' takes on the MP's - THE REVEAL. Also, what a way to emphasize their corruption in front of those shitty run down buildings. It was such a heart swelling moment.

Levi vs. Kenny in the city - their backstory and the animation of him flitting around and dodging bullets.

Battle at Shinganshina - From Erwin's incredible speech, Connie's awful joke and the difficult decision Levi had to make. SO MUCH. Such a phenomenal succession of chaos, honestly.

THE MARLEYAN REVEAL. Bro, are you kidding me??? With a whole new understanding of oppression and classism within the world.

The scouts experiencing life outside of the walls - Especially the clowns, the cars and the ice cream.

Massacre in Marley - The chaos of the attack on Willy Tybur's play to recapture Eren but also showcase the growth of the Scouts in Paradis and the fact that their freedom still came at the cost of other people who also weren't free.

Sasha Braus' Murderer's reveal - Gabi and Falco finding their way to the Braus' was one thing. But to be turned upon by someone who wanted to help them get back home and the only Maryleyan they met because of Sasha while being spared by her father? What a turning point.

Ymir's origin story and how that devolved into the world her descendants suffer in now.

FINDING OUT EREN WAS BEHIND EVERYTHING!? Even the death of his own mother and the slaughter of the royal family perpetrated by his father. All to engineer a future where he, too, knowingly would be killed. Knowing this and rewatching it just... it was there all along.

ALSO Levi Ackerman's back story from the OVA - man has been suffering since birth.

Recalling all of this makes me want to rewatch AOT again, TBH.

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2023, #35: Banana Fish (anime)

[said while vibrating very quickly and typing out like 20 different bullet points] i like this series a normal amount

okay so. non-spoiler thoughts:

step 1 YOU SHOULD READ/WATCH THIS. it does have content warnings for literally everything you can possibly think of as needing a common content warning (drug abuse, sexual assault, racism, and thats absolutely just the tip of the iceberg) but my fucking god. no wonder it's been such an influential piece of media on literally every jp anime/manga crime story (especially the BL ones) written since

for a series that is literally one of the early genesis points of BL as a genre i was ABSOLUTELY expecting more actual BL than was in this LOL. not that i'm really upset, bc honestly i really like the way that ash and eiji's relationship is written in a shoujo-y "they obviously care about each other a lot but it's not going to be outright romance" kind of way. bc like, honestly? that makes it way more emotionally satisfying (and devastating). i think it would actually make less sense if anything more happened In the story (though more happening in the epilogue wouldnt hurt LOL)

how the FUCK was this published in a shoujo magazine

the time period change to modern day from the mid-80's has both helped and hindered this series bc like. on one hand. much easier to do everything with a phone. also the update to shorter's character design was excellent,10/10 no notes. on the other hand. the Everything About It makes it so obvious that it was written to be a product of its time.

speaking of ^ ash turning from A Guy Who Knows How To Use A Computer into a hacking genius is so. why. i mean you can update it for sure but Why Like This

god i wish this had more room to breathe sometimes bc the exposition goes WILDLY fast sometimes. why did they try and do 19 volumes in 24 episodes. the 39 episodes that the director wanted would have been so nice to have

that said: the emotional moments that i actually give a shit about and that make up the core of the weight of the story are given what they deserve. at least up to volume 5 they are. gestures at ep 9? and 22 with a pained smile

i literally could write an essay about why it works so well as a spin on the american-style gangster story even while it definitely has flaws. and how its influenced so many fucking things. my god.

it has flaws for SURE but the rest is so good that i don't care. which is rare for me (gestures at nirvanai/neo twewy being other examples)

spoiler thoughts under the cut (like full-very-ending-of-series spoilers) but YEAH UH I LIKE THIS THING CAN YOU TELL BY HOW MUCH I WROTE ABOUT IT.

it does kind of annoy me that literally all of the canon-MLM (probably gay but you know) guys are horrible people lol. like wow love how the gay predator stereotype is on full display here. feeeeels baaaaad. i know i know asheiji homoeroticism i am ON THAT TRAIN

however yut-lung being feminine out of a wish to carry on his dead mom's legacy is kind of a slay. ive seen people go "ugh it sucks that one of the villains is a feminine man' but while he is definitely not a good person hes one of the less terrible villains, just like. as a person. hes also a teenager in shitty circumstances just with way more power and sway

here's the part where I admit that I was spoiled on the ending so it didn't hit as hard for me OOPS. however. the anime DOES leave it open-ended and it fucking irritates me that anime-only people are like "boo i hate the ending bc ash dies!!!" when it is LITERALLY AMBIGUOUS. i have heard that the manga is less ambiguous about it but :') oh well. anime-onlys what are you doing

speaking of ^ i actually like the ending. like i think a lot of people who absolutely hate it must not have a lot of familiarity with gangster movies as a genre bc it is a genre convention that the Main Gangster dies in the end. granted this was a hayes code thing which the manga definitely did not have to do LOL but its definitely supposed to feel unfair bc ash's damn LIFE is unfair.

however i'm glad the anime makes the ending ambiguous bc that feels like a more fitting end. like ash's life was always in limbo, considering what he was doing, so making his life in limbo at the end too? Good. Yes. Do That

the fucking. everything with shorter and the sa-yo-na-ra bit. i die. that shit is so emotionally painful

i know this sounds weird but i kind of wish they dragged out the "what the hell does banana fish mean" thing a LIIIITTLE longer but by that i mean like, halfway point of the series. like they could have used a little more time to figure out what it is. also that would have let shorter live a little longer ay lmao that said this criticism also almost definitely applies to the manga soooo. you know

[andrewwtca]

I found this old 'essay' I wrote about Banana Fish and Perfect Day for Bananafish and imported it here because I am still insane about this and want to scream about it to whoever I can

warning for suicide mention and Banana Fish spoilers

In the original Perfect Day for Bananafish, it follows Seymour, a vet with PTSD. He is on a vacation with his wife, and he goes down to the beach alone where he talks to three year old Sybil. The two are friends and Sybil is angry that he let another girl sit next to him while he played piano (to which Seymour tells her to push the girl). Seymour then tells Sybil to go look for Bananafish with him. He explains that they are literal fish that eat bananas in banana holes until they're too fat to leave and die, and eventually, they find one with six bananas in its mouth. Seymour returns to his bedroom and shoots himself in the head. The Bananafish represents greed and materialism. How in a modern America, people take take take until the very end, till death. Seymour had seen both spectrums of the world: he had seen war, murder, and all these horrors. And he had seen innocence in the form of Sybil. In seeing Sybil and then the Bananafish, if creates a contrast in Seymour's head: he has the choice between two extremes. Either he'll go on with the horrors he's seen and become materialistic, or he can become cold to that reality and die with a shred of innocence. This seems like a simple narrative that Banana Fish tried to follow, however, one of the key elements of Bananafish was changed: the very existence of Eiji. Sybil represents the other world to Seymour, a world of innocence and purity, as does Eiji. For Seymour, this world is unachievable for him, Sybil being a child. However, Eiji is in fact older than Ash, changing everything. Eiji is attainable to Ash, something in clear view. In Bananafish, Seymour meets an adult on the elevator ride back up to his room. He's distrusting, even bitter towards her, claiming she was a pervert looking at his foot. This is a contrast compared to how he treated Sybil playfully, teaching her things about the world and being sweet with her. Ash has these same qualities: he's distrustful of adults (the antagonists, Ibe, and Max) and is seen to be kinder to children (Skip and Michael) than he is to adults. This is a constant through the whole show and it takes longer for adults to earn the trust of Ash. The grey zone that Ash has that Seymour didn't, was those his age as Ash is significantly younger than Seymour. In Seymour's case, he is an adult and most other adults are materialistic and have become people Seymour cannot trust. But Ash is a teenager, barely becoming a legal adult, and is surrounded by other teenagers, full of innocence. There is a difference between how Ash treated other teenagers compared to both adults and children alike. You can see it in Shorter, his best friend who he kids around with but also fights alongside; in Sing, who Ash shows mercy to; heck, even in Yut, who constantly compares himself to Ash. And above all, Ash treated Eiji different. He doesn't have to treat Eiji like a child, when he's older than him. And he doesn't have to treat Eiji like an adult, when he's almost the same age as him. Eiji is innocent, from a world away from Ash, but at the same time he's not. Ash isn't talking to a three year old. He's talking to someone who's lived life, struggled himself, someone he can actually hold a conversation with. Eiji is attainable. Sybil was proof that Seymour cannot return to innocence and will have to live among greed and evil. Eiji is proof that Ash doesn't have to live his life like this, proof he can leave and return to that innocence he was deprived of. Eiji can comfort him, help him, be his companion in a way Sybil could not. In summary: for Ash's death to have to the same meaning as Seymour's, Eiji would've have to have been a three year old and not a romantic interest and best friend.

[ceaselxss]

//people on twitter are doing redraws for a particular banana fish scene and it makes me think of tseng,,,

obviously spoilers but if you replace eiji with rufus, this is a very tseng thing to do

Usually i would compare tseng to yut-lung which does make it funny to think of him in ash's place

[chaoslynx]

Utena anon here! Lol, I get it. I only asked because I just finished MY first watch of the show and it gave me immediate brainworms, and thought to myself 'hey, you know who else might have liked this show?' and that's how I ended up in your ask box 😂. But, yeah, I was thinking that way because of the similarities to some of the core themes in Banana Fish and in Utena, though are of course tackled differently in each. (What struck me was how one character reminded me a lot of Yut-Lung and the way he behaved to survive his situation in BF) (And I've been thinking about the thematic symbolism of coffins in Utena and the ending messaging with them, and thinking about that in relation to Eiji and Ash is driving me insane--and it is NOT for the reason you may think upon reading the word coffin). The brainworms are dancing together and I don't know what to do about it lmao

oohhh good to know! I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever able to focus on something other than Banana Fish lol

Also I don't know if you're in my Discord server, but I have a channel in there dedicated to infodumping about whatever people are interested in, bfish or otherwise! You're welcome to see if anyone else there has seen it, and do a whole big analysis behind spoiler tags if you need to get it out of your system hehe

[littlemissmedicalmalpractice]

making a post to organize my fandoms because istg if someone asks me one more time what i'm interested in and my mind completely blanks i'm going to cry

in purple are my current hyperfixations :)

jujutsu kaisen -> hidden inventory arc

banana fish -> yut lung & shorter

sk8 the infinity -> rekiiiiiiiiiii!!!

tian guan ci fu -> xianle trio (sideblog @tibia-soup)

the locked tomb -> nona the ninth (sideblog @tibia-soup)

dune -> alia atreides

anne with an e -> hello :)

haikyuu!! -> aoba johsai

hunter x hunter -> yorknew city & greed island arcs

my little pony: friendship is magic -> twilight sparkle

bungou stray dogs -> hunting dogs & stormbringer

link click -> just started pls no spoilers!!!

magyk -> childhood comfort series fr

she ra and the princesses of power -> adora. adora adora adora

the disastrous life of saiki k -> s1 ep9 11:24 (dubbed)

my hero academia -> i shipped bkdk when that meant execution

mo dao zu shi -> everyday means everyday

bee and puppycat -> all of my beautiful children

the owl house -> raeda

percy jackson -> percy, annabeth, & rachel

dungeon meshi -> just started pls no spoilers!!!

[chaotic-tired-cat]

trick or treat!!!

Happy Halloween, Anon!!!

The closest I have to a Halloween special is a series of snippets I kind of wandered into writing, but they seem pretty fitting! These are from World Walker: Aftershocks, which is really a bunch of scenes made to figure out where the characters are going to end up.

This involves no World Walker or canon bnha spoilers, and is very sparsely edited. DimensionTravel!Izuku hunts ghosts with this background character below the cut, inspired by Buzzfeed Unsolved, YUTS, and Game Changer. Interviewer OCs are named Ran, Myuki, Kaito, and Tatsuya. Cryptid's PR guy is named Dai.

Tw: ghosts and related topics.

Cryptid ducks under the doorway.

Ran visibly falters.

Cryptid's agency did all of the communication with them, supposedly because Cryptid himself is a workaholic who handles emergencies not just here, but also wherever else he disappears to. He also has a tendency to choose interviews near emergencies that unfold in a predictable future for him and a horrible surprise for everyone else, so apparently it's safer for everyone involved if he makes his own patrol schedule for the agency to work around. Dai from PR was lovely to talk to. They have no complaints.

But Dai from PR neglected to mention exactly what Cryptid is like in person. Cameras glitch out occasionally and secondhand accounts grow either poetic or lack detail, so they had no real warning about this. Tatsuya is abruptly aware that the fanart is perhaps more accurate than photos of this hero, which would be funny if he were able to breathe right now.

Cryptid looks horrifying. 

Unseen wind stirs green hair. His dark costume highlights the fact that his shadow pulls an echo of stars up from the floorboards, and the sharp teeth of his smile that forces his mouth open slightly. When he looks at them, a galaxy rests in his eyes.

He steps forward. There is something distinctly unnatural in the way those joints move. 

Ran audibly inhales through her teeth.

The next step is better, then the next. Cryptid's back straightens and his mouth closes into something more human. The stars and eerie presence are packaged away, folded up and tucked into the hero like a coat left at the door. It makes being affected by an unfelt wind and possessing odd-bright eyes feel like any other quirk.

"Hello," Cryptid says kindly, stopping a fair distance away, which is greatly appreciated. He tucks his hands behind his back, posture unthreatening. "Are you Ran?"

"Yeah," she gulps. "Um. Your agency said we should do an interactive interview with you?"

"Dai has been very accommodating," Cryptid agrees serenely. "And the void stops screaming at me when it thinks I'm busy."

"Oh?" Ran asks, voice pitched just a touch higher than normal, but she's too good an interviewer to let that leading statement go. "What do you mean?"

"There's a version of me trying to swallow the sky in another universe, and the void wants me to watch." Cryptid gestures, shoulders now hunched to communicate lack of threat. "But moving around will help convince it that I'm busy, so I really do appreciate you all changing so much of your schedule to make this work."

"It's no problem," Ran says. Ironclad control returns, one of the reasons she was chosen for this activity. "I have a list of pre-interview topics here. Anything else you want to talk about or avoid can be added to the paperwork, and we will be including your agency in the editing process whenever your quirk is discussed."

Tatsuya continues unpacking equipment as Cryptid irons out their details.

They have two guests on the game show today. Both heroes were on their list of candidates, but after hearing Cryptid's situation, an idea was pitched. Adding in Exorcism: the Ghost Hero to this was a stroke of genius. It'll make an amazing special.

Onemu Shinya waits by the car, discussing things with her own interview team of Miyuki and Kaito.

Six people, two of which are heroes. Three, gods help them, are thrill-seekers. Tatsuya was the only person in the office who saw bargaining power for what it was when the crew was short one member. They are paying him a lot to film and make snarky commentary behind the camera. Life is good.

Neither of the heroes know what the schedule holds.

Then again, they probably know it'll be odd. Burnt Honest Tea sits halfway between a game show and news organization due to hiring more actors and comedians than journalists. Everyone here has some kind of past in the entertainment district. The employee-owned business model is a wreck. They do comedy. Humor. A little gossip, when it's lighthearted and everyone involved is fine with it getting aired, but that’s a rare one. Celebrity guests are more likely to get dumped in a room full of puppies than interviewed from an armchair.

They figured out a while ago that since heroes have licenses for public quirk use, they could hire a bunch of weirdos to conduct interviews in the most extreme places possible. This is legally and logistically a nightmare. Crucially, it also sells really well because nobody else is willing to make a whole business around that model.

It takes a while for set-up to finish, and the heroes are brought to the front of the eerie brick building. It likely has been abandoned for longer than anyone here has been alive.

Probably.

Their two guests are odd enough that Tatsuya cant help but suspect otherwise. He suggested the question during one of the meetings and got shot down, though.

The two heroes wait patiently by the door as set up finishes.

Cameras and mics checked, lights on, introductions finished, and ground rules reiterated.

Filming starts.

“So what are we doing?” Exorcist asks, and Tatsuya winces preemptively. She has to suspect they’re going-

"Ghost hunting," Ran says.

Exorcism closes her eyes, and Cryptid nods thoughtfully before sticking his entire arm into a circle of blazing starlight. He pulls out a pair of gloves, and tugs off his own, revealing what looks like tattoos underneath.

Exorcism sighs, eyes still closed. "You can punch ghosts now, can't you?"

"I can punch ghosts," Cryptid agrees sagely as he puts on the new gloves, then holds up a cautious hand. "...Will it launch your soul out of your body if you touch these?"

Exorcism high-fives him.

"Guess not."

Tatsuya just knows today is going to be great.

-

"Hello," Cryptid says to the hallway, exactly as he greeted Ran earlier. It makes the underlying message clearer - don't be scared, I will not harm you, I know I am frightening and promise not to move too fast or speak too loudly. "I don't have any dominion over life and death, but we can speak if you'd like."

"You're very kind," Exorcism tells him with a pat to the back, then stomps past him into the hallway with Kaito and Miyuki on her heels. "Hey, ghosts! If you got a problem, now's the time to speak up!"

Unearthly screeching fills the building.

"Get their ass," Cryptid says, completely straight-faced. A door slams down the hall, and Kaito screams. Cryptid looks more alarmed at the scream than the haunted door.

"Hey, friend!" Exorcism yells in the same instant. "Ooh, you've got vibes. Where's that shirt from? It's cute."

"So," Cryptid says as he turns to Ran and Tatsuya, "shall we?"

"This was such a mistake," Tatsuya says. Ran shoots him a look that disagrees, and he zooms in on it just to be petty.

-

Exorcism considers the door, then turns to the empty space to her left with a raised eyebrow. She's gone a little translucent.

"Sure," she tells the patch of air. Then, "this is your local service announcement; big noise incoming."

"Go for it," Cryptid says distractedly as he pokes at a ratty, bug-infested curtain. It blocks off a corner of secrets Tatsuya has zero interest in. He is, unfortunately, the only person to feel this way. Ran gestures at him. It's a loving one. The kind that implies she will kill him in his sleep if he misses whatever bullshit their local Wikipedia-classified cryptid is about to pull.

It's fine. He's not in charge of filming Exorcism.

That hero is busy counting down her big noise out loud. It's very appreciated. Tatsuya has plenty of time to brace, so the abrupt crash of wooden planks is almost comfortable. He gives it a three-count before glancing back.

Exorcism tosses aside a piece of the door she just kicked in. She turns around to scan them all for injuries, with only a glance into the whole new room of horrors she just uncorked for their miserable little field trip. Then again, she's a hero known to get information from ghosts. This is her home turf.

Tatsuya flinches when Kaito lurches back from the broken doorway, face ashen.

Exorcism pauses.

She leans back, peering inside for a second assessment of whatever she unleashed.

"Hm," she says, fully awake for the very first time. Tatsuya's stomach flips upside-down.

"What's up?" Cryptid asks over from where he's placing a line of ginger candies under the most cursed piece of furniture to ever exist. Tatsuya isn't the faintest bit religious, superstitious, or even faintly curious about these kinds of things, but even he knows that broken chair has some seriously bad vibes. If they set an apple on it, that fruit would definitely rot in seconds. It is extremely unnerving. Ran hovers over Cryptid's shoulder as the hero happily arranges some kind of offering, torn between her own curiosity and nausea.

"This isn't mine to deal with," Exorcism says, brushing a hand over the wall. The shadows under her hand glitch out in real-time and is honestly the weirdest thing Tatsuya has seen in his life.

He holds his camera steady and exchanges a look with Kaito. Miyuki wanders over to serenely hold up what looks to be a Geiger counter. The little box ticks in a slow but uneven little pattern until she presses it to the wall.

The ticking turns slightly chime-like, then stops.

Tatsuya is fairly sure this isn't supposed to happen, but his science knowledge levels out at baking soda and vinegar. Miyuki, who has the kind of brain that saw her through engineering at Waseda until she decided it didn't spark joy, looks personally affronted.

"Ah," Cryptid says, hesitantly approaching. "Yeah, that'd be me. Thanks for catching it."

Tatsuya is very nervous about how Cryptid seems to be using Exorcism as a meat shield against the wall, until he notices that Cryptid isn't actually avoiding the wall at all.

Miyuki, with her massive brainpower, picks up on the source of his nerves as well. It's probably easier for her, since she seems to be the epicenter.

She looks at the dead silent box she is currently pressing into the wall.

The wall shivers hypnotically. 

"Don't," Cryptid murmurs. It's unclear who he's talking to. "I did not make a deal with you to punch ghosts so you could-"

Exorcist swipes the box from Miyuki and tosses it to Cryptid, who yelps, fumbles, and catches it. The freshly returned ticking halts the second he has both hands on it. Instead, there's just one, constant, note.

Like a dial tone.

Cryptid stares at it in betrayal.

"Uh, so-" Ran clears her throat. "Are you doin' alright, buddy?"

"I am feeling very grateful for those NDAs," is all Cryptid says. "Um. Anyway. This is normal?"

He doesn't sound very sure.

"Kid," Exorcism sighs.

"It's completely expected," Cryptid hisses at her desperately.

"I'm drinking buddies with Eraser," Exorcism says, and Cryptid seems to deflate.

"Okay, so it might be normal but I honestly stopped trying to track what my quirk changes about me when I was so much shorter than this." Cryptid sighs, dial-tone box now clutched to his chest. It seems to be making the screaming note almost musical in an unearthly way. The realization of how that noise is shaping into an echo of a heartbeat raises hair on the back of Tatsuya's neck.

"That's messed up," Kaito tells him gently. "Aren't heroes supposed to be really good at using their quirks?"

Cryptid snorts. "That is a very long discussion nobody here except maybe Exorcism would enjoy having. Let's just say my quirk is the ability to skydive through an Old God, but testing limits weakens the barrier between my existence and its control?"

Exorcism pats him on the shoulder, and something like understanding seems to pass between them.

Something breaks in the room behind Tatsuya.

Every single member of their unfortunate little filming party is in this room, along with both their heroes.

"Let's go meet the neighbors," Exorcism decides, and leader her two adrenaline junkies away. It leaves Tatsuya in this room with his local cryptid and bad influence. Ran, despite getting them all into this mess of an interview, jumps slightly when Exorcism yells, "hey, friend!" loud enough to be heard through the wall.

Cryptid seems more interested in the fact that his cursed little offering has disappeared from the chair. Ran huddles after him.

"You are so weird," Tatsuya tells the hero gently.

"Yeah, well." Cryptid shrugs and pats Ran's white knuckles, which are currently clenched in his costume jacket. "Unknowable things aren't bad. Humans fear them, because a problem without definition is a problem that can't be controlled."

The way he says it separates them into two groups - humans, and whatever he is - which inspires the same curiosity Tatsuya feels when looking down from a cliff or skyscraper window. He can appreciate the danger mere inches away. He also wants to toss a paper plane at it.

"That's not how any of this works," Exorcism says through a yawn as she steps back through the broken-down door. The onmyouji pauses, noticing Ran breathing through her adrenaline. "Sorry, are you okay? Yes? Okay, just let us know."

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Cryptid murmurs as he pats the interviewer's shoulder. "We can go-"

"No," Ran interrupts in a wheeze. "I am having the time of my life. Let's keep rolling."

"Adrenaline junkie," Kaito says from the doorway, despite being sheet-white and grinning like a lunatic.

Cryptid and Exorcism exchange a look.

"You'll tell us the moment any of you want out," Cryptid says to the four of them. It's not a request so much as an order. "We're not going any further until I know everyone is completely fine with this."

A chorus or agreement rises, and Exorcism yawns.

"You were saying something," Ran says, once again showing that she's the only one here actually trained to host anything. "About how Cryptid is wrong about the nature of unknown things?"

Exorcism pauses, visibly trying to recall. "I was. Yeah. Basically, we fear what we don't understand for a very good reason."

"Doesn't mean you can't make a home out of it," Cryptid says.

"Are you not human?" Tatsuya asks, because it feels like they skipped over that little comment implying he isn't.

"In the way you're asking? Yeah. I was born human, I register to call-response quirk users, and I am capable of passing DNA tests in the right circumstances. In the way that matters-" Cryptid shrugs. "No. I'm a loophole."

Delightful.

That explains nothing.

"Could you explain what a loophole means in this context?" Ran asks. Miyuki smiles at her in a way that says, I could kiss you for keeping us on topic right now.

-

Blood runs down the wall.

"Huh," Cryptid says, completely unbothered by the many people now clinging to him. "That is one way to decorate. A bit too much red for me, personally, but it would look great in a children's hospital."

"Oh my God," Kaito garbles.

Exorcism muffles a yawn and pats him on the shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Kaito creaks. Cryptid takes their elbows and leads them to a very dusty chair, where he starts talking them through a breathing exercise. It works, and Tatsuya keeps his camera on the very haunted painting everyone seems to be ignoring. 

"It's good that we brought heroes," Miyuki says serenely.

Cryptid pauses as he tries to figure out what to say to that, which gives Exorcism time to be distracted by the blood dripping down a wall from inside the picture frame. Tatsuya turns his camera just in time to catch her place both hands on the wet red wood, lean in, and lick that nasty, dust-clumped, haunted blood. She makes a face at what he guesses is the flavor, then walks right out the door.

Her team follows, hopefully to ask her what in the world she was just thinking. Ran watches them leave from the door. This is great until it leaves him with Cryptid and a bleeding painting.

"Oh, that's funny," Cryptid says under his breath. He claws open a section of thin air through the painting. Tatsuya's camera glitches at the bright-dark void, but Cryptid casually leans out to inspect something on the other side. Plastic crinkles. He tugs something out, stuffs it in his pocket, and pats something that sounds like fabric.

The air to his left starts bleeding.

Just.

The air.

Dripping red.

It falls to the ground since there's nothing for the liquid to cling to, leaving Tatsuya very freaked out by the spontaneous puddle of red on the floor.

"UH," Tatsuya says, then has to shove at Ran before she can poke it.

Cryptid laughs a little, in a quiet way that's oddly reassuring. Nobody laughs like that when they're panicked. "We're very safe. That one wasn't a ghost."

This is not helpful news. Well, it is helpful in that it's good content, but Tatsuya is beginning to wonder if he's really being paid enough to witness this.

"So, what are you doing?" Ran asks. Cryptid clicks his tongue at whatever he's seeing, then moves a bit to the side so Ran can sidle up next to him and also lean out. She turns a little green but bravely stays put.

"Spring cleaning," Cryptid says. "It's really rude to litter in the void, but sometimes this happens anyway. So I'll just-"

He moves as if wiping something outside the portal, and the patch of spontaneous blood dumps a full bucket onto this already haunted floor.

Ran reaches back blindly, and Tatsuya reluctantly takes her place. Cryptid, blessedly, does not notice Ran trying to get Tatsuya and his camera to the portal. He shuts it the second she's out. Tatsuya can't help but feel a little relieved at being spared the burden of witnessing whatever Ran saw.

He likes not knowing, sometimes.

Ran fixes this by turning to him with very wide eyes and saying, "there was, I Kid you not, a wall of fabric, and so many stars. He found blood on the fabric and shoved it in, and it was like it wanted? To go?"

"Do you need to sit down?" Cryptid asks her gently.

"I saw the void, and it had so much shit in it," Ran tells Tatsuya and his camera. Cryptid very gently takes one of the hands she's gesturing with and pats it to catch her attention.

"It is very big," Cryptid agrees serenely. Ran frantically points at the painting, which has stopped dripping.

"Big," she repeats. "Big is small compared to whatever that was."

Tatsuya nervously shifts.

"It is also an ecosystem," Cryptid continues, slow and calm. "What you saw is no different than a forest, or the ocean. It is a perfectly natural part of the way things work, just a part you weren't aware of."

"There was nothing natural about that," Ran hisses.

"Pigeons make milk," Cryptid says, which- what? The unexpected announcement has Ran startling right out of her existential crisis. "There are species of jellyfish so rare they've only been caught on camera once. There's a river in England that looks like a brook from the top, but is so narrow and deep that putting a foot in would suck you right down. Many strange things exist in the world that you have not discovered yet. This does not make them wrong, or bad. It does also not invalidate your experience with them if anyone chooses to believe what you have experienced does not exist. Okay?"

Ran stares at him.

Cryptid meets her eyes steadily. "You are right about what you saw, no matter what people may try to tell you. And you are not alone in your knowledge of it. Everything is working as it should."

Ran keeps staring at him, until Cryptid slowly opens one arm in an offer. He lets the interviewer choose how close she gets, then stands there with an arm draped over Ran's shoulders like it's the most natural thing in the world.

A spider skitters across the ceiling.

"We are going to stand here and breathe for a little bit," Cryptid says easily. He glances at Tatsuya. "How are you holding up?"

"You've seen someone go mad from this," Tatsuya realizes. His mouth puts it into words before he can stop the conclusion from lying dead as a ghost in the stifling air between them.

"Not yet," Cryptid says. He glances at Ran, then up at the dust and cobwebs.

Not yet.

There is subtext in those two words.

Tatsuya finds his heart speeding up.

The reason these interviews are safe and worth doing is that they are conducted with trained rescue specialists. The danger is chosen specifically to be something these heroes can handle in their sleep.

The danger is not supposed to come from the hero-

"Can you smell that?" Cryptid asks, cutting through Tatsuya's gasping panic.

What-

He inhales, finds he's breathing too quickly, and forces his lungs to cooperate. Two deep breaths later, he glares at Cryptid.

"Any iron?" The hero asks. "Deep breaths, long and slow. There you go, just like that. Can you smell iron?"

"You bastard," Tatsuya wheezes.

"I'm very manipulative, yes," Cryptid says serenely.

"No iron," Ran creaks.

"Fake blood," Cryptid says. He shrugs the shoulder Ran hasn't claimed at Tatsuya's disbelief and adds, "someone pranked your show. Not with whatever Onemu is doing - the void loves her too much to interfere in that. But it did allow someone to set up that painting specifically to fuck with me."

What.

"Why did I agree to this?" Tatsuya asks under his breath.

"Because you had a formative experience at thirteen where you realized surrounding yourself with extroverts and people who thrive in odd situations brings you more happiness than any desk job," Cryptid explains. Tatsuya fumbles with his very expensive equipment. "Also, I suspect you're being paid a fair amount, but really it's the same as Kaito. Y'all really should compare wages."

"We're keeping you," Ran decides from where she's pressing her hands into her face.

Cryptid grins at the ceiling, which Ran misses entirely. His smile is too wide, too sharp, and stars bleed from his shadow. "Good luck. I am not made to be contained."

Mundane cheer takes its place by the time Ran shakes her head and steps away.

Tatsuya was holding the camera, though.

-

Izuku waits on the building roof.

"When did you figure out it was me?"

Not needing to turn around to identify the speaker, Izuku just heaves a sigh. The empty bag of fake blood crinkles from his belt pouch. "Nobody else would."

Cloud makes a disgruntled noise.

"And that last thud upstairs was very good, but when you swear into the Null about hitting your elbow on a brick wall, I can hear it."

Cloud frowns.

"I thought you hated ghosts?" Izuku asks, and gets a strange look for the question. As if Cloud hasn't put string ghost traps on top of several versions of the cafe.

"There was nothing supernatural about that place. Guess they were ghosting you."

"Then who was Exorcism talking with?"

"She wasn't talking to-" Cloud loses about two shades of color and backs up a bit. "Right. Cool. I'm gonna- uh. Go cleanse myself in a temple or something-"

"Did you not know?!"

"No," Cloud hisses back, hair bristling slightly like a cat. "I don't mess with ghosts. They get hungry and-" he breaks off, gesturing. "I don't know shit about exorcism, but that is very much not something I want to mess with!"

"I've seen you pickpocket an HPSC president," Izuku says, mildly offended and not sure why.

[untraditionaleagle]

Yesterday upon the Stair, Chapter 58

[pitviperofdoom]

UA unsolved headcanon: After the battle with Overhaul, Izuku no longer thinks the jokes about him being a ghost is funny

It’s either that or he goes the opposite direction and leans into the ghost jokes hard.

[hpwot]

The Villains about to kill Shouta in Chapter 58 of YUTS:

Narita: