Banana Fish

Episode 20

There's still a lot of Banana Fish that feels weirdly dated, if not outright offensive in 2018. The episode starts off with a perfect example, as Yut Lung compares the Corsican mafia's ambitions to being like "the new Jewish community," which opens up an ugly can of worms of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories; if we're meant to dismiss this assertion because it comes from the mouth of a villain, the show doesn't reinforce that framing. This is also during a scene where Yut Lung is dressed even more like a girl than usual, making him a "villainous crossdresser" who also happens to be spouting anti-Semitic rhetoric.

But depending on your tolerance for these routine speedbumps in the Banana Fish viewing experience (and if you've gotten this far, your tolerance is probably high), you tend to overlook these problems to enjoy the more timeless aspects of the story. The pulse-pounding mob battles are the kind we still make movies about today, the interpersonal relationships alternate between heartwarming and heartbreaking, and even when the details of the series feel uncomfortably dated, the emotional core is what keeps things chugging along. This might be why even though so much of Banana Fish feels like a product of the 1980s, it continues to have a healthy fandom in 2018. It's certainly what keeps me coming back to this show.

Episode 20, "The Unvanquished," takes its name from a William Faulkner novel, but the title feels like it fits this episode even better. No matter what challenges come Ash's way, he remains "unvanquished," persisting to fight another day. It's also the first action episode in a while where it feels like everything works out in Ash and Eiji's favor, with neither of them ending up in the enemies' clutches. (Thank goodness, as I thought Eiji was screwed there for a while.) They're not out of the woods just yet since it's clear the baddies will regroup, and Yut Lung is newly emboldened to prove himself to Golzine too. Still, it's significantly better than where the last two episodes left us with Ash.

I was surprised how quickly the "party" portion of the episode flew by. The previous episode set it up as a major confrontation, but Sing, Eiji, and friends deal with it pretty quickly, rushing the blinded Ash out of there. Eiji is at his toughest yet, managing to land a bullet in Golzine's shoulder. It doesn't kill him, sadly, but it would feel like poetic justice if Eiji were the one to take out Golzine—he's the boy Ash chose over his captor, the boy that nobody ever believed was capable of surviving in this world. Maybe it's too early for Golzine to go down yet, though we only have four episodes left, and he's a significantly less interesting threat than Yut Lung. Meanwhile, Ash kills a dude while still temporarily blinded by following his ears. In the end, Ash and Eiji are back together, with Sing and Cain helping them. Of course, it isn't long before they're found in the sewer hideout again, but we get some softer moments first that focus on the relationships between our good guy gang.

Ash and Eiji get another tender moment with appropriately romantic music, proving that Ash is learning to trust Eiji's judgment. It's always cute to see Eiji mother his boyfriend, but it's all the more heartening that Ash lets him do it this time. He notably doesn't act this way with any other character. On the other side of things, Lao, one of Sing's underlings, forces him to explain why he keeps siding with Ash, the guy who killed Shorter. None of them trust Yut Lung, but they're not sure why Ash is any better. Sing explains that Ash is the only one who can "control downtown", otherwise it would be taken over by another guy like Arthur. Of course, we know there's a little more to the story than that, but this establishes that there might be strain going forward with the Chinese side of his gang.

As for Yut Lung himself, we delve deeper into his relationship with Blanca. Yut Lung understandably suspects that Blanca took the job with him only to keep a closer eye on Ash. He certainly seems to be looking after him so long as he's with the mob again, even telling Ash outright about his new contract with Yut Lung. Blanca also refuses to kill Eiji, citing that he isn't a threat to Yut Lung yet—but I suspect it's also because he's too curious about Eiji's relationship with Ash at this point. (He also knows Ash would lose it in a way that would hamper Yut Lung getting away.) Blanca agrees to renegotiate the contract to do whatever Yut Lung says, but it's still clear that there's tension between them throughout the episode. Yut Lung believes they can do anything, but Blanca knows that Ash and his gang are too much for Yut Lung to take down on his own right now—and he turns out to be right. Even with Blanca correctly predicting that Ash is biding time, he doesn't see what happens next, from Cain's rescue to the lengths Ash will go to save Eiji. He eventually threatens to torture Yut Lung while keeping him alive, which finally gets the two of them to agree to exchange hostages.

Yut Lung is doing all this to get the upper hand on Golzine. He knows their alliance can't last forever, and he doesn't want it to; he can't be anyone's underling, least of all Golzine's. As a Yut Lung Fan™, this episode certainly left me with a mix of emotions. I didn't want him to prevail over our favorite boys, but I would also love to see him get one up on Golzine and the Corsican mafia. He's a far more interesting villain with a real set of motivations beyond just being evil (though there's that too), and I suspect that he'll be a more compelling adversary for Ash in the long run because of their similar backgrounds. Of course, a petulant Yut Lung will motivate him even more, so I'm fine with this outcome. What's important is that Ash and Eiji are back together again for now, and their friends are temporarily safe too.

"The Unvanquished" is a pulse-pounding adventure of an episode, never letting up for even a moment. Even during its quieter scenes, we know no one is truly safe. I also loved the way it embraced New York as a setting, from the sewer chase to Ash and Blanca's showdown in the Museum of Natural History. Honestly, I was hoping for even more museum fights. Maybe they'll go to the Met next time, a classic New York film location that I've gotten to visit myself. Even if the show's portrayal of American cities is a little dated, watching these characters zoom around and make each setting their own is half the fun.

Rating: B+

Banana Fish is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Rose is a Ph.D. student in musicology, who recently released a book about the music of Cowboy Bebop. You can also follow her on Twitter.