Over the weekend my daughter took me down a rabbit hole without realizing it. This anime was written in 1984 originally. Akimi Yoshida wrote back in 1986. I don't know if she realized what she was showing but it's a lot of truth about how things really work. Of course, you can watch Banana Fish on Prime (Amazon). Unfortunately, I couldn't find it anywhere else. Plotline: The official plotline is about the relationship between Ash Lynx and Eiji Okumura. These boys are two years apart in age. Also, there was a drug the government developed and tested on soldiers during an operation in the Middle East. Ash's brother suspected the doctor performing the test and was going to expose him. Until Giffen, Ash's Brother paid the price for that decision. You couldn't pick two kids of completely opposite personalities if you tried. Talk about polar opposites. Eiji is from Japan, a calmer and I would say saner society. They don't resort to violence to solve problems as a first resort. That's absolute last. Ash, however, was originally from outside of Boston and ended up in New York after his father sent him away. At 7 years old Ash was sexually assaulted and blamed for it by cops and his father. At 8 years old Ash was raped and he shot the pedophile who raped him. Ash runs away, big mistake, ends up in the hands of a pedophile kingfish. This is a different experience for Ash because, under Papa Dino, Ash experiences the more refined side of life. Opera, orchestra concerts, and crazy expensive wines. Yes, as a pre-teen and into his teen years he was given wines most of us don't even know to exist. What stood out to me was the scene when they were at a dinner given by Papa Dino and Ash knew the year of wine that was served. All this didn't come free to Ash. He was used as a prostitute for blackmail. Ash was also drugged and put into child porn. This is where things get real in our society. Blackmail is used by and on a variety of officials in government, finance, and anything else. Toward the end of the series on Amazon Ash was getting ready to testify in front of Congress and Senate about his experience with this very powerful person when he is killed by a rival gang member. Throughout the series, we see Eiji have a very calming effect on Ash. Eiji is the first person to come into Ash's life who didn't fear or use him for anything. Eiji comes to truly care about Ash as a person. They never have sex ever. That would be what Ash expects to be used for and Eiji knows this. Besides, it doesn't tell if that is what Eiji is into. So he becomes the one person who truly cares and loves Ash despite his past. And a willingness to use violence to solve problems. Eiji gets to know Ash as a person and his painful life. Yut-Lung Lee. Yut's backstory is that his mother was brought to his father when his father was 65 years old and his mother was only 10. Yeah! His father was old enough to be his mom's grandfather. Holy crap! It reminded me of the epidemic of child brides. When Yut was about six his father died. That's where his life took a very tragedic turn. His older brothers, he was the youngest of six, raped and killed his mom. While Yut was forced to watch. Then adopted by a pedophile. Blanca was a character who was blackmailed into working not only for Papa Dino but for Yut-Lung Lee. Blanca's story is this, he had worked for the Soviet Military as an assassin. His actual name was Sergei Varishikov. He married a young woman that the government disapproved of. After that, he defected from the Union and of course, they wanted him back. This made him vulnerable to blackmail. He taught Ash how to fight and use a gun. This is why I recommend this series, it shows a truth of our world that people don't want to know about or talk about. It shows how far up the ladder pedophilia goes. The higher up they are the safer they are unless one of their victims kills them. Which Ash does toward the end of this series. It shows what happens to child brides as well.
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