Originally published in the mid-’80s, Banana Fish finally received an anime adaptation in 2018, over 30 years later. Directed by Hiroko Utsumi, the mind behind SK8 the Infinity, the series is set in the midst of a gang war in present-day New York, where young gang leader Ash and a photographer’s assistant from Japan named Eiji meet for the first time.
Despite the absence of an official label, Banana Fish is generally considered a boys’ love anime by virtue of its depiction of the bond between Ash and Eiji. Far from being subtle, their relationship goes from being antagonistic to flirty, and eventually tender and romantic, in adherence to a lot of shojo anime tropes. If Ash and Eiji’s love story can be taken as an example of a healthy same-sex relationship, however, the depiction of homosexuality in the series is overall very problematic. It often depicts sex as violent and non-consensual, as well as being linked to pedophilia and prostitution. Since Banana Fish refuses to call its one good pair a couple, does that make it homophobic?
A Romance Blossoming Amid a Gang War
Ash and Eiji’s first encounter is awkward. Eiji is there to help his boss take pictures of the gang leader, and Ash makes fun of him for being a child, despite being a 17-year-old himself. Nonetheless, a spark of interest seems to be ignited — Ash complies with Eiji’s request to look at his gun, something that apparently no one is allowed to do. The encounter escalates when a traitor attacks Ash’s hideout and Eiji and Skipper, a young member of Ash’s gang, are captured. Ash finds them and saves Eiji’s life. From that moment on, Eiji and Ash’s lives get more and more entangled, their bond growing as the series progresses.
Arguably the focus of the series, Ash and Eiji’s relationship grows with remarkable speed, reaching an intensity that also surprises other characters in the show. After their first adrenaline-filled encounter, Ash and Eiji never let go of one another again. Ash clearly enjoys flirting with him — something that he doesn’t do with anyone else. He playfully makes fun of Eiji, calls him out on his naïveté and even steals his ‘first kiss.’ Interestingly, Eiji isn’t angry at Ash for that — he’s flustered and embarrassed, but never disgusted, and his bond with Ash only grows afterward.
The bickering and flirting never fade, but it’s increasingly supported by a profound shared trust — Eiji and Ash tell each other about their pasts, their nightmares and their hopes and dreams. As they grow closer, their domesticity leaves others as stunned as the audience — Eiji is the only one who can wake Ash up without metaphorically getting his head blown off, they sleep in the same bed and Ash seems to be more relaxed, more his age, around him than anywhere else. Funnily enough, they make fun of Max and Jessica for bickering, claiming that they “will never get married,” seemingly not realizing that their behavior mirrors that of a married couple.
Ash and Eiji’s love for each other is what keeps the story machine going. They often make choices to keep the other from being harmed, or to actively save the other’s life. Ash goes as far as killing his best friend — an unthinkable feat — to save Eiji. Eiji says that “he doesn’t know what he’d do if he lost Ash,” and the series finale ends with Eiji’s letter to Ash, where he promises, “My soul is always with you.” Banana Fish ends on a cliffhanger, with the audience wondering whether Ash will survive and whether he and Eiji will ever be reunited.
Banana Fish’s Homosexuality as a Synonym for Violence
While Eiji and Ash’s relationship only ever helps them grow and heal, when shown as sexual, same-sex relationships seem to become a synonym for violence and brutality. As early as Episode 2, Ash seduces Marvin, a middle-aged member of the New York City mafia, in order to escape. As the story unfolds and Ash’s past is revealed, the audience learns that Ash was sexually abused as a child by Dino Golzine, the mafia boss who acts as the main antagonist, and by many other men he sold Ash to. Whenever Ash is restrained or captured by older men, it seems that the specter of sexual violence is always waiting just around the corner.
This doesn’t only apply to Ash. Yut Lung, another character who was brought up to become a member of the Lee crime family, readily offers his body to Golzine in order to ensure his collaboration; on that occasion, Eiji risks becoming a victim of sexual violence too. Moreover, Golzine and his men are not the only ones to partake in sexual violence and pedophilia — Ash was abused as a child by a man that he later killed. It seems that whenever a male/male sexual act is performed, it involves aggression and lack of consent and is always perverse.
Is Banana Fish Homophobic?
While there seems to be a certain unsavory taste for showing sexual violence, one needs to take into account the historical and narrative contexts. After all, the world of Banana Fish is one populated by gangs, the mafia and drugs. It’s the empire of brutality and perversion into which Ash was unfortunately pulled because of his past. The men he meets are not representative of the average man — they are ruthless crime lords who don’t value human life. If anything, Ash’s experience of same-sex relationships could inform his behavior toward Eiji – the lack of a sexual component in their bond may be ascribed to the horrifying violence he had to endure as a child.
Banana Fish was first published in the ’80s. As much as one may criticize the choice, the anime adaptation moved the story to the present day, yet it didn’t change much about the content. The manga was released in the midst of the AIDS crisis, at a time when homosexuality was demonized and feared, perhaps accounting for the violence and viciousness portrayed in the story. It would have been incredibly difficult to present a positive same-sex relationship in the media, especially between two men. It’s therefore all the more amazing that the tender story of Ash and Eiji could see the light of day at all.
When considering the historical and narrative contexts, then, it seems hard to condemn Banana Fish as homophobic. Perhaps it should have been the anime adaptation’s responsibility to update the content in order to reflect the more progressive cultural context of today. If a second season is ever released, making Ash and Eiji a real couple may balance out the violence of the story, making Banana Fish a more respectful and meaningful artistic product.
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