BANANA FISH

Chapter 1

LAST WORDS

  • Story and Art by Akimi Yoshida

  • English Adaptation by Matt Thorn

  • Lettering and Touch-Up art by Cato

  • © 1997 Akimi Yoshida/ Shogakukan inc.

1973 Vietnam – US soldiers are relaxing in a half-destroyed building chatting about someone who died from a drug and singing. Griffin comes back from ‘taking a piss’ and starts firing at everyone with a machine gun. One of the soldiers is able to shoot him in the legs and get him to fall and stop firing. The try to get him to speak but all he says is ‘Banana Fish’.

1985 The Bronx, NYC – A lady finds her husband dead from a slit throat. Suicide?  Cops say there was another body on the property that was his bodyguard also from a slit throat. This is the third weird suicide in their jurisdiction this year.

Lower East side the same day – A man (Ash) comes across an injured man saying help me. When Ash stops to check on him, he is handed something and told an address in Los Angeles. The guy dies and two other men come around the corner. Ash asks what all this is about, and they are surprised to see him there and call him BOSS. After demanding an answer, they tell him that DINO told them to do it. Sirens in background so Ash tells the other two to get out of there and he goes himself to talk to DINO.

Chapter 2

PAPA DINO

  • Story and Art by Akimi Yoshida

  • English Adaptation by Matt Thorn

  • Lettering and Touch-Up art by Cato

  • © 1997 Akimi Yoshida/ Shogakukan inc.

Ash arrives at Dino’s place and gets into an argument with his outside guard. Other guards keep the guard from going after Ash before he is allowed to see Dino. Dino is paranoid and makes him remove his hands from his pockets and remove his jacket. Ash asks why he put the two guys up to killing that man. Dino says he didn’t want to concern him with such a trivial manner.

There was an agreement not to use Ash’s men to kill. Dino claims the killed man wasn’t a member of the syndicate and was just a small mouse. Dino is impressed that Ash found out what happened and offers him a position with him. He refuses. Dino is acting flirtatious and threatening.

Ash leaves and goes home. Skip tells him that Arthur had a hand in the latest troubles. A man tells Dino that a small amount of ‘it’ is missing. Ash investigates what the man from the other day gave him and realizes it’s a pendant with a vial hidden inside. He goes into a room and Griffith is there. He asks Griffith what is Banafish. He explains about the dead guy saying that as his last words and that he could have been the one to do this to Griffin. Griffin still not speaking.

Ash meets up with the guys and makes the two from other day stand against wall. He shoots at them, barely missing, stripping off a layer of skin with each shot. He kicks them out of the gang saying “If you would rather roll over for Dino. You can leave.” Then he calls out Arthur who realizes Ash is onto him. Arthur knows Ash missed on purpose and that he cant beat Ash in a fair fight but wants payback for ‘these fingers’. No images show anything wrong with fingers (hands mostly in pockets).