Ash & Eiji’s Mysterious History Of Love Affairs With Women

Could it be that they are virgins!?

Whenever the main characters of a manga are two boys around their age, it’s common for a lady to get involved. However, in BANANA FISH, no woman gets involved with any of the main characters. Far from it — there are very few female characters and they all have perfectly minor roles. Because of that, there might be worries that all of the characters would get frustrated.

So, I became intrigued by Ash and Eiji’s love affairs with women up until now and decided to analyze them.

Firstly, Ash. He doesn’t seem to be gay but he’s been attacked by perverted old men countless times. That being said, Ash was never the one to lead them on (although he did seduce men during his operation), and there were no scenes of him calling out to a woman either. There was only one time when he talked about girls with Eiji, while drinking beer on a Halloween night. To Eiji’s “you were popular with women, weren’t you?” (why did he use the past tense?), Ash nonchalantly replied with a “yeah, sort of”. As there are plenty of women who want to be the boss’ lady, he could pick and choose whoever he wanted if he felt like it. But Ash coolly stated that “he would refuse those unsightly women even if asked”. From his words, it can be understood that not only old men, but also many women had approached and made a pass at him. He may have been raped or attacked by an older woman.

Actually, when he was 14, he maintained a sexual relationship with a 42-year-old female tutor in Golzine’s mansion. The tutor justified her actions by claiming that “Ash was the one who seduced her” and was dismissed by Golzine. Based on these facts, it can be be inferred that Ash has at least some experience with women. Whether he had sex out of his own volition and desire apart, it’s unthinkable that he might be a virgin. If the women who approached him in his early teens were lining up, Ash would surely get wobbly. Since he “could pick and choose whoever he wanted if he felt like it”, there must’ve been nights when he was into it after all.

But during this same Halloween night, he told Eiji another part of his past — a very sad one. At 14, Ash came to really like this one girl, but, as she was mistaken for Ash’s woman, she ended up getting killed. Chances are that Ash had never even kissed her. Ever since this incident, he absolutely stopped himself from falling in love or dating anyone else. Being in his position, the likelihood of exposing anyone he came to love to danger was huge; alternatively, situations in which he thought he was loved but realized that the other party was actually expecting something in return happened quite a few times. Because of that, it seems that Ash ended up having a tendency to be unsuitable for love. Considering the situation, Eiji was surely the only one truly special to Ash.

Meanwhile, this very Eiji is strongly suspected of being a virgin. Eiji was a high school student in the countryside of Izumo city¹, Shimane prefecture. Besides, he spent all of his time practicing, day after day, as a serious member of the track and field club. Even though it wasn’t mentioned whether it was an all-boys high school, there were absolutely no girls in the school scenes, nor in the pictures taken by Ibe. There were only boys around. Since he had a cute face and was a promising high jump athlete, Eiji undoubtedly had some fangirls; but he was the sort of high school student who really had no interest in such things.

After graduating from high school, Eiji went on to university with a sports recommendation. Eiji seems to have actively joined the track and field club — this also left no time for him to enjoy mixers with college girls. On top of that, he got injured soon after joining and ended up slipping into a slump. In such cases, people would commonly become desperate and visit soaplands or hang around a woman’s place, but Eiji isn’t much of a dexterous type when dealing with his problems. He was in such an indecisive state that Ibe forcibly took him along to the US under the pretext of being a camera assistant. Then, he ended up meeting Ash before he could have some fun with blonde ladies in America — and the rest is history. He has been violated by Golzine, but he has never been approached by a woman.

In addition, as an evidence that backs up the “Virgin Eiji Theory”, there’s one remark from his Halloween night chat with Ash: after being asked whether he had a girlfriend back in Japan, Eiji faltered — he knew that by “girlfriend”, Ash meant “a sexual relationship”. Flustered, he answered “well, if it’s just a friend......” in an attempt to dodge the question. Because he was uncharacteristically jumpy, whether they were really “just friends” seemed quite dubious.

Ash has kissed Eiji once, it happened during the time he was in jail and tried to pass a capsule with a message on to Eiji. (It’s their only direct love scene.) As he watched them, Ibe got worried that it might’ve been Eiji’s first kiss — his guess was probably right on the money. Even if Eiji had ever kissed someone in Japan, it certainly wouldn’t have been voluntary — maybe it was forced onto him by an assertive senior, or someone could’ve stolen a kiss while he was drunk. Far from losing his virginity, Eiji has never even experienced a proper kiss.

However, as Eiji was still in his teens, it was still alright. So how about after Ash’s death? Set sever years later, “Garden of Light” introduces a 28-year-old Eiji. Just as ever, there doesn’t seem to be any woman around; he might still be a virgin, no changes here either. It’s pretty concerning as it feels like he’s remained faithful to Ash.

NOTES:

1. Izumo looks like a very countrysideish city, so dating around doesn’t seem to be as common as it would be in big cities like Tokyo. I guess being from a smaller place made it already hard for Eiji to have had any relationships... It wouldn’t be surprising for him to have barely even talked about those things — considering his devotion to sports. Ash being so used to such subjects (not because he chose to, but still) really widens the gap between the lives they’ve led. I’ve touched upon this before but y’know, I can never stop talking about those two :’)

Tags

IM CRYING ash gets attacked by men and women left and right the day i wont cry about banana fish is the day ill die

RANT RANT RANT!!!!

New episode(ep 33) of Valdemar route wasn't loading at all!!! so I kept closing and opening the app then I reinstalled it as a last resort!!! But!!! my!!!! account!!! lost!!! all!!! data!!!

hearts that i collected from logging in daily so i could donate it to Ronelle!!! GONE!!!

the new Valdemar episode that I wanted to play!!! LOCKED!!!

ok so while writing this I checked my account again and thought REALLY HARD cuz when you have an account your data is saved automatically.....but mine's gone....so it's possible that I didn't log in at all in the first place?

was about to blame it all on dorian but nvm

Tags

rant visual novel dorian valdemar quaestor valdemar valdemar the arcana ronelle otieno valdemar route i have to start over lmao valdemar x reader

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tinylandchaos

3 years ago

Hange asmr

I've only been listening to Japanese Hange asmrs(which wasn't even alot cuz only 1 youtuber made Hange asmr and it was only 3 videos and there wasn't even a Hange x listener) which made me miss out on the AMAZING English Hange x listener asmrs and yesterday I tried listening to one AND now I'm listening to another asmr and I regretted ignoring them before in my yt recommends now I love it and I love Hange and I wish they were real have I mentioned I love them-

Tags

I love them aot hange zoe hange just when i thought i got over you i love hange zoe hange asmr

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tinylandchaos

8 months ago

Yet another AO3 bot situation - please spread the word!

Hi, it's me again, the person who wrote that viral post about fanfiction plagiarism! Today I'm here to warn you about abuse perpetrated by bots who have stolen AO3 usernames.

There's currently an epidemic of bots going around leaving (apparently random) horrible, hateful comments on people's fics. This isn't the first time bots have invaded AO3, but the big problem with this wave is that they're using real AO3 usernames to do it.

I learned about this when another writer contacted me after receiving the following comment on their story:

a screenshot of an AO3 comment left by a guest with the username AVAAntares. The comment reads, 'This fanfic is proof that not everyone should be allowed to write. It's that bad.'

Now, while that is my username, I DEFINITELY did not leave this comment (and anyone who would leave something like that on a fic should be slapped! What an awful thing to post). This fic is in a completely unrelated fandom that I have never participated in, nor has that author participated in any of my fandoms, so the probability of it being some intentional fandom drama thing to make me look bad is also low.

The writer whose fic the comment was left on enlisted the aid of some friends and tracked down other guest comments with unrelated usernames attached, which is pretty strong evidence that they are being left by bots at random.

The TL;DR: If you receive a cruel comment from a (Guest) with an actual AO3 username attached, it's most likely from a bot. Please do not lash out at or dogpile the AO3 user who owns that name, and who in all likelihood has no idea that their name has been hijacked for evil.

If finding this kind of comment on a fic, even left by a bot, is likely to upset you, I would recommend changing your comment settings so that only users who are logged in can leave comments. To do this, edit your story settings, and under "Privacy," select the radio button that says "Only registered users can comment," as shown below.

A screenshot of AO3 Privacy settings. The button next to 'Only registered users can comment' has been selected.

Please spread the word to other AO3 users! And if you see mean guest comments on other fics, maybe let the author know that it's probably from a bot and not a real person who thinks their writing is bad.

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tinylandchaos

3 years ago

My thoughts on why Ash didn’t get help after he was stabbed (TW: mentions of unaliving self, seggsual abuse)

I think Ash had wanted to die for a very long time, although there’s no indication that Ash has self-harmed(I only watched the anime) whenever his loved ones is put in danger, he doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself, and I think one of the reasons for that(besides him caring deeply for them) is he is suicidal, cuz ever since he was a child, he was sexually abused and taken advantage of by sick perverted men.

Spending time with Eiji did give him comfort and but his whole life he was abused, manipulated and raped, over and over, I’m no therapist but I’m pretty sure Ash isn’t mentally stable after going through all of that, and I think it takes more than a caring, loving and selfless person to heal Ash’s wounds. (I’m not saying Eiji didn’t change Ash’s life, Ash loved Eiji for sure) Eiji did give him hope in living so I think that’s why Ash rushed to the airport when he saw the ticket, in that moment, he did want to spend his life with Eiji.

Sadly, he was stabbed, and I think that triggered Ash’s suicidal thoughts, cuz come on, that stab wound was treatable. Ash survived a gunshot wound before, stab wound is no big deal for him. My theory is while he was running, he was imagining the life he could have with Eiji in Japan, but *STAB*

He was brought back to reality, and he was reminded of the countless people he’s killed and that died for him. He’s being chased by police, gangs, criminals, and Lao is only one of them, What if those people would chase him even when he’s in Japan with Eiji? Will they easily give up just because he’s travelled to another country? What if his friends he’ll leave behind get hurt and held hostage by the gangs, then demand Ash to return? Will he be able to move on and start a brand new life with Eiji in Japan happily?

Bleeding, he finally decided to give in to his suicidal thoughts. He chose to not get help and bleed to death.

ok here’s why I think suicidal thoughts is what drove him to do that. First of all, he could’ve gotten some help and STAY, Eiji wasn’t forcing him to live with him, Ash could’ve be like, “Yeah, I can’t live with you, but you can come visit me from time to time, ok? love you” that way he protects his gang friends, and Eiji is in a safe country so no need to worry for him.

Ash was an insecure, suicidal, traumatized poor boy.

So yeah, this is my theory, and I don’t blame anyone for the outcome of the story no matter how sad it is, because they all had their reasons.

Tags

my thoughts banana fish eiji okumura ash lynx theory bananafish ending

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tinylandchaos

3 years ago

LMAOOOO

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tinylandchaos

3 years ago

All I feel is emptiness

I’m gonna keep replaying the scene between connie and samuel until I got no more tears left to cry cuz why not

Tags

aot aot season 4 connie attack on titan the bgm made it more emotional

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tinylandchaos

3 years ago

I just wanted to remind y'all that Hange likes cats.

Te cutest thing you're going to see today

Credit @/levi_Ackerman on instagram

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tinylandchaos

3 years ago

WHAT BRANDON ROGERS VOICES BLITZO AHAHAHAHAHA BRB IM GONNA WATCH THE EPISODES AGAIN

Tags

helluva boss Brandon rogers

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tinylandchaos

3 years ago

I wasn't aware of this up until now, thank you for sharing this

okay you know what? i’m gonna say it.

i appreciate akimi yoshida’s work as a writer and i love banana fish. that being said, i think some of the shit she’s pulled is absolutely deplorable and i won’t stand for it.

for starters, she’s sent out this awful message that trauma survivors are always going to be confined to their past, which we’ve seen being conveyed through her reasoning behind ash’s death. for those of you who don’t know what i’m talking about, she’s basically said that there was no chance that ash could have had happiness, mainly because of everything he’s been through. (fuck that, by the way. if you’re a trauma survivor, know that there is happiness in store for you, regardless of anyone else’s opinions.)

secondly, we have the bury your gay trope, as many people have already pointed out. that’s just deeply homophobic. i don’t think i need to go into detail with this one, we all know how banana fish ends.

she also villainized her main protagonist, claiming that he was nothing but a “murderer,” and going by the eye-for-an-eye ideology. she said that if he killed, he deserved to be killed in return.

next. she paired up a 30-something-year-old with a 20-something-year-old. now you might think that’s okay, but it’s not. why? because said 30 y/o knew said 20 y/o when the latter was a child. is it still okay? yeah, didn’t think so.

yoshida also used substantially racist caricatures similar to the anti-black portrayals of black people in the media.

then we have the absolutely horrifying spectacle that is the official art of blanca x ash. the main theme of banana fish is the effects of pedophillia and child sex trafficking, and how appalling the whole concept is. we’ve seen throughout the storyline how big of an impact it has had on the main protagonist. despite this, yoshida published art that depicted blanca (a full-grown, adult male) and ash (a child, at the time) being intimate. there have been no official comments made as to what exactly was going on in said art, but fans have speculated that it could be symbolic. we won’t go into detail of that right now, but i think we can all agree that this whole situation is extraordinarily self-contradictory.

i think yoshida is a good writer and i love this incredible story she’s given us, with all these amazing, complex characters. however, i do not agree with any of her reasoning and quite frankly, i think it’s disgusting.

feel free to add on if you have any more points

Tags

blance and ash being intimate thats fucked up

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tinylandchaos

3 years ago

OMFG