Yoshida Akimi - Banana Fish, vol. 01-02 (Eng. trans.)
Wed, Jul. 11th, 2007 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI swear Minekura was trying to redo Banana Fish in her own style with Wild Adapter.
In Vietnam, a soldier suddenly goes crazy and shoots down his friends, saying only "banana fish." Eighteen years later, teenage gang leader Ash Lynx* finds himself in possession of a mysterious drug and the words "banana fish." Soon, he's tangled in a complicated plot that involves rival gangs, mysterious drugs, and one teenage Japanese reporter, with whom I am guessing is the signature yaoi love interest.
This is a classic shounen ai manga that supposedly addresses issues like AIDS and homosexuality in a very real manner, and Matt Thorn has pimped it constantly. I held off reading it for so long because the art is very 1980s.
I am going to stop reading it because I am nowhere near as enamoured with Ash as all his enemies, friends, acquaintances, and, clearly, the mangaka are. Also, the fact that it's set in New York and is attempting to be a serious thriller are very off-putting, given the assorted cracktastic elements (why is everyone so obsessed with Ash? Also, Ash Lynx?!). The real-world setting also meant that the politics squicked me out even more.
I do give Yoshida props for actually having POC, but I am rather annoyed by all of them being drawn with afros and thick lips. It verges on caricature. I also nearly threw the book across the room when I came across one plot point that has to do with Ash's black friend (make a wild guess...). The treatment of the Chinese characters is a little better; they get more to do. But they're still overshadowed by Ash (white) and Eiji (Japanese).
I think this series falls right in between the boundaries of realistic and cracktastic, and as such, it's not good enough for either.
* His real name is "Aslan." I could not make this up if I tried!
In Vietnam, a soldier suddenly goes crazy and shoots down his friends, saying only "banana fish." Eighteen years later, teenage gang leader Ash Lynx* finds himself in possession of a mysterious drug and the words "banana fish." Soon, he's tangled in a complicated plot that involves rival gangs, mysterious drugs, and one teenage Japanese reporter, with whom I am guessing is the signature yaoi love interest.
This is a classic shounen ai manga that supposedly addresses issues like AIDS and homosexuality in a very real manner, and Matt Thorn has pimped it constantly. I held off reading it for so long because the art is very 1980s.
I am going to stop reading it because I am nowhere near as enamoured with Ash as all his enemies, friends, acquaintances, and, clearly, the mangaka are. Also, the fact that it's set in New York and is attempting to be a serious thriller are very off-putting, given the assorted cracktastic elements (why is everyone so obsessed with Ash? Also, Ash Lynx?!). The real-world setting also meant that the politics squicked me out even more.
I do give Yoshida props for actually having POC, but I am rather annoyed by all of them being drawn with afros and thick lips. It verges on caricature. I also nearly threw the book across the room when I came across one plot point that has to do with Ash's black friend (make a wild guess...). The treatment of the Chinese characters is a little better; they get more to do. But they're still overshadowed by Ash (white) and Eiji (Japanese).
I think this series falls right in between the boundaries of realistic and cracktastic, and as such, it's not good enough for either.
* His real name is "Aslan." I could not make this up if I tried!