Banana Fish, Vol. 16

BANANA FISH #16

by Akimi Yoshida

Nature made Ash beautiful; Nurture made him a killer!

VICE NEW YORK IN THE 80s...

Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of “Papa” Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash's older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa's insatiably ambitious hands--and it's exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx's acquaintance... Epic in scope, and one of the best-selling shojo titles of all time in Japan, Akimi Yoshida put an electric shock into the genre and gained a huge crossover audience through Banana Fish 's stripped-down, non-stop style.

Ash and his crew are faced with a new deadly enemy, as Golzine has hired ex-member of the French Foreign Legion Colonel Foxx and his elite cadre to destroy them. To fight back, Ash has formed alliances with local Chinese and African American gangs. While the two sides clash in an all-out melee in New York's garbage-strewn back alleys and abandoned buildings, Yau-Si is still obsessed with the notion of killing Eiji...

Genres: Manga, LGBT, Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Queer, Fiction

185 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 1993

About the author

Akimi Yoshida (Japanese: 吉田秋生, Yoshida Akimi) is a Japanese cartoonist from Tokyo, best known for her manga series Banana Fish.
Yoshida studied at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo and made her professional debut in 1977. Despite serialising her works in shōjo manga (girls' comics) magazines, most notably in 'Bessatsu Shōjo Comic' and 'Monthly Flowers', during the 80's she developed a visual style akin to the aesthetics of shōnen manga (boy's comics) of that era, contributing significantly to creating a bridge between these two traditions. This is particularly evident in her international best-seller Banana Fish (1985-1994), a thriller set in New York City blending action and homoerotic romance. Among her other major works are the series Yasha (1996-2002) and Umimachi Diary (2006-2018).
Yoshida's comics have received a number of accolades in Japan, including three Shogakukan Manga Awards (1983 and 2001 in the category 'shojo', 2015 in the general category), an Excellence Award for manga at the Japan Media Arts Festival (2007) and the 6th Manga Taishō award (2013).

Reviews

[Fariha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am really beginning to hate this series compared to earlier volumes. The drug plot is dropped a long ago and now it’s a repeat plot of Golzine sending someone against Ash, and someone telling the reader a millionth time about how much Ash is indestructible teenage Shonen manga protagonist (TM).

The blatant homophobia in display is grossing me out. Even if it’s written in 90s. Every adult gay character is a child molester 🙄 thus propagating the age old harmful stereotype against gay men.

I was even more mad at how computers are used in this. It’s as if Ash has access to current day internet.

Not to mention the never ending “hey look how smart Ash is, but he turns into an idiot and surrenders as soon as 1-2 people he cares about gets caught meanwhile whole lot of other mostly non white kids are being mowed down for his pretty white ass”. How many times we have to repeat it in the same damn series?! All the exposition of “let me tell you just how competent Ash is” (🙄🙄) reminded me why I really dislike Shonen manga “smarter and more competent fighter than adult” teenage protagonists. Barf.

I have three more volumes left so I will power through. But it’s a hate reading at this point. If bunch of characters die now, I will be relieved cause they will not be used to make Ash dumb anymore.

[Lily]

no more fun, only pain

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guerilla warfare in the middle of New York and the cops are no-show? Yeah, right.

I’m too far engaged to quit 3 volumes before the end but the series has already lasted for too long and as a consequence has thrown away most of its credibility.

[Nea Poulain · Rating 3 out of 5]

He vuelto a este antro del mal. No saben lo mucho que odio este arco porque odio a Foxx. Tsk.

[Mawdz :]]

read but at what cost

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one I'm calling Banana Fish: The Seige. Here we have a full out guerilla conflict with Ash & his allies under attack from hired mercenaries. There's some nice Ash & Eiji moments again, but I'm really starting to think that these two are doomed to never consummate or even admit their love. Clearly, they have enormous affection for one another, but after everything they've been through, I'm surprised they haven't even kissed yet (aside from that staged one in volume 2 or so when Ash was passing Eiji a note); it's kind of infuriating. Had I been reading these volumes at the rate of one a month, I'd have gotten really frustrated. Hmm, maybe that was why I stopped reading them with volume 7 back when they were first being published. Now that I'm binge reading them I'm not as annoyed because the invested time isn't so acute between volumes. 

[paola · Rating 5 out of 5]

ASH!!!!

[Carlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

… everything is gonna get so bad from here on out… I’m not ready

[jemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cómo odio al vejete de la portada...

[liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

so much military talk and a mid plot

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full-on guerilla warfare in the streets of New York City. Man the 80s were wild. Also Jessica's back and I'm in love.

[seb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one got a little draggy for me with the endless military talk. But the siege was pretty exciting. This also had the most irritating moment for me when you finally see a gay man with a husband and oh of course he was a child molester. It's just ultimately so reliant on the titillation of same-sex attraction while equating those who practice homosexual sex with abusers and perverts. A common issue in the yaoi / BL genre.

[Naya · Rating 4 out of 5]

esta llegando el final y no estoy psicológicamente preparada para esto

[mydarlingreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

The volume of subtle homophobia in this bus is astronomical!! You can really tell that while the story of this series is timeless, there are aspects like the usage of gay men or those who indulge in gay sex are all pedophiles and into using/buying young boys to be essentially sex slaves DID NOT AGE VERY WELL. If this series were made today, I personally wouldn't read this BL series- because you'd expect the author to do better and be more aware of the audience for which they write for. But since these books were written in the 90s, I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. Do I like that all the potential gay characters in this series be child molesters and pedophiles? No of course not. I don't condone that way of thinking and those behaviors. I wanted to read this series because this story and series clearly seem to be timeless and continues to captive readers and viewers alike, especially since the series regained popularity due to the anime coming out a couple of years ago and the current pandemic led to a resurgence of interest. It's a good story - it's well written in some parts, there's a lot of filler sections here and there and some plotlines were rushed, but that's with all manga and written works anyway. We're getting to towards the end of the series and I just dearly hope that all these antagonists get their due diligence and finally DIE because I am truly over and bored of seeing my babies and their friends continue getting hurt or killed as if they're expendable and worthless.

Anyways onto my play by play of Volume 16!

Max is the father figure that Ash deserves but will ultimately never get. And I have a feeling Ash knows that too on some level.
I FUCKING KNEW MAX WAS GONNA GET MERKED.
Also, that's so hot that Ash is able to underhand them with his right hand. My mansssss.
You can clearly tell that Ash doesn't like to kill people, he's just forced to do so for survival.
I knew it, Lao turned on them, and I bet good money that Ash suspects it too.
NOW IS NOT THE TIME JESSICA AND EIJI TO FUCKING GET LOST!
All of that just to get fucking captured. Again. I hate it here.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars. So, this volume definitely slowed down a little and even dragged with all the military and strategy talk. I will say it is pretty cool though, to see Ash outsmart these people who have been executing guerrilla strategies for probably more years than Ash has been alive. But these kinds of plots taking over volumes half worries me to death. It is what I signed up for tho so I’m not complaining.

Hey y’all, wassup. I didn’t have much commentary on this volume, so this review is pretty short, sorry. But I’m back after another break. I’m down to the last 4 volumes... yes, I AM scared. But you know, I really want to finish this manga so I’m gonna commit to finishing this once and for all. I will probably regret this later lol. Anyway, onwards to the commentary.

So Golzine sends these men to go kill anyone in his way, Basically. All of which are close by Ash, and in Cain’s hideouts.

Ash finds out Max is in danger, and runs like hell to get there in time. Thankfully he does because Max is like in my top 5 favorite characters.

Ash flexed on everyone who’s ever existed with just his right hand.

Ash is also, as we knew, hella smart and was able to strategize in his favor. But it was a matter of time until Foxx got the upper hand. We left off on a mean cliffhanger, but we shall see what goes down after this.

[T.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

For such a great series, this volume might be the most irritating. The Banana Fish drug cover-up plot is all but forgotten now. Hopefully there's some conclusion to that closer to the final chapters.

I don't understand why Golzine wants to make Ash his heir so badly, either. Calling in yet another person to catch him (eyeroll) when Ash obviously wants to get away from Golzine and will never submit to him is the final straw. And knowing what Ash knows, seems idiotic that Golzine doesn't want to just take him out and be done with it at this point.

Still rooting for Ash & Eiji though even that seems stuck in a loop right now.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is really centered around combat strategy and tactics. It changes the focus a bit and feels like the author was indulging in a love of reading about combat situations. There is some growth in characters but given the arc of the story, this is now the time to let things unroll.

There are more deaths on both sides. I do find that much of the death on Ash's side seems to happen off page. I am not sure if this is to minimize the amount of new characters and to ensure that the focus remains on the characters that are on page. Makes some of the deaths worth more in terms of storytelling.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, Golzine hires Colonel Fox, ex-foreign legionnaire and his mercs to take out Ash and his pals. They slug it out in the alleyways. Ash could’ve pulled it off. But, some of his pals have made it. Yet, others including Eiji decided to get stupid and go in the wrong direction. Ash is not gonna be happy about this. Some of his other pals got captured, and Ash was forced to surrender. Not happy at all.

[Grace Ching'Ani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reading other reviews and they were complaining about the loss of mention of the drug banana fish. To be honest I completely forgot that they were fighting about it! Nevertheless I did love this book, the amount of action was great and was very exciting. I do have to say the amount of anxiety I got knowing everything was going to go badly was crazy but I loved it.

[Fr. Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series, have been spacing it out over the past year or so. The "way of speaking" put into the mouths the black characters in this volume seemed really forced and jarring, which interrupted the pacing for me

[Sharlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 - Good
Haha "busted my sexy black ass" is so true. Jessica is the only female character I like. "Bro, see you in 48 hours!" says Eiji. "Yeah! I love you bro!" replies Ash. I've never seen such a sadistic fox!

[Anto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ese final, la que lo parió!!! No quedan muchos volúmenes para terminar, y mi corazón ya lo está sufriendo.

[MariaQM · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Aleja Uribe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ay no! Ya tengo miedo. Esto se pone cada vez más bueno!

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cap 84 - 88

[alanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

“‘Do I scare you? ‘How many times do I have to say this? No way!’”

[anny ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars.

[autumn wind · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Do I scare you?"

"How many times I have to say this? No way."

that's the second time Ash asked that question 😭

[Reyna Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ash no puede tener un pinche descanso, a cada rato intentan matarlo, dios mío

[Juan Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

😬🫣😬