Banana Fish Episode 9 Review: Save Me The Waltz

….so… I cried. I’ll admit that. This week’s episode of BANANA FISH had me bawling by the end of it, so prepare a box of tissues. I’m not going to draw this out, because I’m still in mourning, so, let’s just dive into Episode 9, ‘Save Me The Waltz’.

Plot

Eiji and Shorter are being held captive by Golzine and his men. Shorter is carted off early on to be tortured, while Eiji is set to become one of Golzine’s new pets. Meanwhile, Ash, Max, and Ibe are on their way to Golzine’s house of horrors.

Episode Highlights

Dangerous Dinner Party: Oddly enough, the dinner scene between Ash and Golzine was one of the most uncomfortable scenes in the series thus far (second only to the scene at the end of the episode). Dino has Ash and Co. dressed in their finest for an elaborate dinner and it is intense! Golzine doesn’t have them restrained and there’s not a gun in the room, but, you could cut the tension with a knife. Even Golzine’s praise of Ash makes your skin crawl because you know this is just the beginning of something much more nefarious and you’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s like the calm before the storm… and boy, when it rains, it pours!

Torture Room: This scene… this one scene is by far the most haunting thing about this entire episode. Light piano music accompanies one of the most horrific displays this series has to offer, and I say that knowing full well all the horrors this series has yet to reveal. We’ve seen violence, we’ve seen sexual abuse, but what takes place in Golzine’s execution room hits you on so many levels you can’t help but be horrified by the events that unfold.

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 Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald’s 1932 semi-autobiographical novel, Save Me The Waltz. The novel is an account of her life and marriage to American author, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Acupuncture: Is a form of alternative medicine technique used in traditional Chinese medicine, in which needles are inserted into the body at specific points in order to alleviate pain and/or stimulate healing. Yut Lung uses this technique as a form of anesthesia to incapacitate Eiji. While acupuncture has been used as a form of anesthesia before, its use as such is still heavily debated among medical professionals.

Comments

I cried. I cried so hard I couldn’t see the damn screen and had to watch the last ten minutes of the episode twice, just so I could write this review. Of all the stuff I’ve seen in this series so far, this is one of the most unsettling. Up until this point, Ash and co. have always, always managed to get out of Golzine’s clutches more or less unscathed. We’re used to main characters having plot armor that protects them from anything ‘too bad’, but, this time, that is not the case and the series is better for it. It raises the stakes. This is no longer just a game of cat and mouse between Ash and Golzine (not that it ever really was), now there are tangible consequences as we see one of our own paying the price for their actions up until this point. Of course, that’s the rational part of my brain. The other side is weeping because, THOSE BASTARDS KILLED MY BABY SHORTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

*clears throat* What I mean to say is… THOSE BASTARDS KILLED MA BOI SHORTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I just can’t get over that and I could probably spend another couple of paragraphs ranting about the ‘incident’, but the cliff notes version of it is, sh** just got real and Dino is a sick f***. And, that is about as eloquent as I can be about that.

It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye

*wipes tears* The events that unfolded in this week’s episode will leave you with a deep sense of loss that will only continue to grow as the series races towards its midway point. There have been losses on both sides, but, this one… this one really hurt the team and it’s hard to imagine them picking up the pieces after this, but… the show must go on.

I’ll be back next week with another BANANA FISH review, but in the meantime, be sure to check out MANGA.TOKYO’s other amazing Summer 2018 reviews!!