Banana Fish Episode 7 Review: The Rich Boy

The quest for Banana Fish has taken our boys clear to the other side of the country, to sunny California, but, all is not as it seems. Trouble is always on the horizon and this week’s episode is chock full of lies and deceit. We still have a ways to go before BANANA FISH reaches its conclusion, so, let’s dive into another action-packed episode of the series that doesn’t know when to quit!

Japanese Title: リッチ・ボーイ

Plot

Ash and Co. finally made it to Los Angeles, but before they check out the mysterious ‘102, 42 Westwood’ address, they make a pitstop at Max’s ex’s house. After taking a detour, the gang finally uncover the truth about Banana Fish, but, Papa Dino and his men are one step ahead…

Episode Highlights

Boys will be boys: I love that despite all the danger they’re in, Shorter and Eiji have no trouble kicking back and enjoying their time in Cali. Shorter heckles all the hot women he sees and Eiji is content with just enjoying the sights. Meanwhile, Ash is having none of it, his sights set on getting to the bottom of the whole Banana Fish mystery.

Badass Woman: I love Max’s ex-wife Jessica, she is a badass female character and she doesn’t take sh** from anyone. Her first onscreen appearance has her wielding a shotgun, how badass is that?!

Character POV: After Ash doles out some hard truths to Eiji, we get an emotional moment from the kid. Rather than just showing us Eiji crying they do this really cool POV shift where for a brief moment we see things through Eiji’s eyes and they do a really good job of depicting someone on the verge of tears.,

Themes & Trivia

Meaningful Title: All of the episode titles have been references to novels and short stories by famous American authors. This week’s episode is no different, borrowing its title from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, The Rich Boy, from his 1926 collection All the Sad Young Men.

Comments

I love how subtle the anime is with showing how differently Ash treats Eiji from everyone else. Like, when Yau-Si walks up behind Ash, he freaks out, but when Eiji does the same thing literally two seconds later, Ash doesn’t even so much as flinch. It’s the small things that show just how much Ash trusts Eiji and that is really what sells the series for me. It doesn’t rely on the usual innuendo and subtext to sell you on the intimacy of their relationship, they just let their actions speak for themselves.

I really enjoy how each episode starts off one way, only to end in a completely different direction, especially these last few episodes, which started off rather lighthearted only to leave us with a whammy ending. BANANA FISH is a heavy series, so it’s nice to take a step back and get to spend time with the characters in a much more relaxed setting. Of course, trouble is never too far behind, but, the gradual build toward the heavier content helps give more weight to the actions of the characters leading up to that point.

Too Late to Turn Back

This week’s episode had more than its fair share of twists and turns, with the revelation about Banana Fish and Shorter’s dilemma things are about to go from bad to worse for our merry band of freedom fighters.