Music.

Hello and welcome to our weed variation an exploration and education in anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert, dana hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough. Your plantain cephalopod.

Okay, go in savory this time.

Yeah.

Keep a little fry that up. Make a delicious little treat.

Get a little plant. Yeah, ship and some calamari.

I got to get into the kitchen. I need to experiment.

I've been inspired.

They're both things.

They're both foods.

They're both things that people eat. So maybe together, who knows?

I'm sure someone has done something with it.

Yeah, I mean, I was a college student. I got drunk and just mismatched whatever was in my cabinets at a time. I put barbecue sauce and ramen noodles. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible.

Yeah. You know how everyone in college gets drunk and just starts cooking up some squid, right?

Yeah, we all do that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anyway, anyway.

Welcome the friends to the year of the future.

20.

Jesus.

We made it.

Oh no.

Boy, we did it. Another decade in the bag, in the.

Book, in the toilet.

What will this one bring?

Suffering.

More suffering. Yeah, that's more despair.

What are your big 2020 anime predictions? I predict wifi's will get hologram tours where everyone will go and see them like tupac.

I didn't know I had to have something prepared. Oh no.

Technically they already are with fucking what's her name, the one vocal Lloyd with the blue pigtails hot tune.

Miku Baby.

That's it. She's already doing hologram tours.

See, she was just a test run. We're going to see some real advanced shit in 2020.

I think there was one of girls from splatoon, the first splatoon. And I think their opening band was kk Slider from Animal Crossing. I think that happened.

I want to go through that. I'm the biggest fan. Number one kk slider stand.

All his old EPS. I have test pressings.

You know that one song that goes.

Like I do have an animal cross tattoo.

Oh, really?

Yeah, I do.

I didn't know that song.

I'm not kidding.

It just tickled me so much. There was that like slight skype delay. It was like, oh, I didn't realize it.

Yeah, what about it? Yeah.

Feeling strong, my friend.

This is going to be the decade of anime because we're starting off anime and we're going to be stuck in it and we can't get out of it. We're going to be the full embrace. We're going to be the forefront of anime.

The experts are going to start the anime revolution as three white people are going to bring anime to America. Finally.

Because a bunch of glasses wearing nerds bring in anime.

Hey, John lasseter thinks he brought anime to America. So I mean, we're better than John lasseter.

That's not hard to do.

Yeah, that's a pretty low bar.

He's a shitty.

Anyway, let's get into this week. We're starting this year out strong. With a 2018 favorite. We're watching banana fish.

It's a new year. We're watching something two years old.

Yes.

This is as relevant as we want.

What are you going to do?

Hey. We are occasionally trying to do things that are more topical.

Sometimes. Not this time, but sometimes. Oh, boy. Banana fish, though.

But yeah. So, yeah, this came out summer 2018, and it was all over the Internet, hence me knowing about it. So I assume it got very popular. Do either of you know about it?

No, I saw it with the Hype, like, when it got popular and I heard people talking about it, but I didn't hear too much. And I kind of purposely avoided stuff because I did plan on watching it eventually, so I didn't want to spoil myself. But as far as I can tell, it's about crime and gays and I don't know if they're connected.

Wow.

It's about all I got. It's like uri on Ice, but with guns.

B gay.

Do crimes. The anime.

Yeah, finally. Kill your heroes.

Be gay, do crimes. spiderman.

Something I can get into.

We can all get behind this.

All right. So, yeah, we're all going in pretty blind as is.

Trivial.

Has never gone bad for us in the past.

It's a new year and we're the same.

We got to get better about that.

Research to do something else. But yeah. So we're going to watch the first three episodes. Gather your gaze, start a gang, play.

God and create fruit fish.

We snap through the alleyways.

Let me lug my notebook over here. Let me slap this down. Yeah, that's I have I have a novel to read for you based on episode one alone. This is a Denver show. Yeah. You couldn't tell that was my phone. Right? That sounds like a book. I don't know why I didn't actually slam my notebook down.

It is right there.

They are both right in front of me. And I chose the one thing I did not just describe.

I had two options and I chose the wrong one.

I have chosen poorly.

I don't think I took notes on the show. I think I just copied the script. I think I just found the script online. Here it is. Because it's all relevant. It's all important. There's no filler.

Yeah.

For clarity, I'm going to gloss over some things and combine some stuff as a heads up. But, yeah, we have a lot to dig into. So let's get to it.

Let's go this year with some work.

You got to start strong. So, yeah, we start off, we see some humvees driving through the desert, and we see some Us soldiers sitting around a campfire in generic war zone. They don't yeah.

Not to interrupt too quickly, but in this first shot, I was like, oh, I'm out. Not about this.

But it gets better.

No, thank God it gets better.

Yeah, but it's going to get worse.

Before it gets better.

That's true.

Yeah. You have to start low and go high. So yeah. We have Us soldiers scattered around a fire, talking about how one of their friends, Billy, took a drug and it messed him up. And as they're talking, we see one of the squad members, Griffin, walk in to frame from somewhere, all dazed. And he picks up a machine gun and just starts shooting at all of his squad bates. So a lot of them die. Some duck out of the way. One named Max shoots him, stops him. And as he goes up to see what is happening, griffin just says, banana fish.

Banana fish. Throws buzz, buzz. Banana fish is his sled?

Yes. It's just a yellow sled. It's not that complex.

It's his favorite amiibo. He's just in his amiibo corner. We can cut that one out.

So, yeah, we immediately say, fuck all that. We go to New York City, where we see a blonde boy named Ash. He's in an alley and he sees a man crawling up to him, shot several times, dying. And he goes up to him and says, help me, and hands him a mysterious thing and dies.

The dream.

What is the dream?

For you to die that way or for you to see someone die that way?

Just die. Here's my shit. It's your burden now. I'm out and I just please, my.

Laundry must get done.

I got a lot of debt I didn't pay back. It's yours now.

Take this. What is it? Is it a treasure map? No, it's my receipt for dry cleaning.

Don't leave it there. Good jacket.

It's yours now. I left a lollipop in the pocket.

But I already ate it. It was an unwrapped lollipop. It's why it was gang dry cleans. Yes. It was stuck to the outside.

We see two men walk up after who clearly just shot him. And Ash recognizes these as two of his gang members because he is a gang leader, gang boy. And he's like, oh, I got to give you a talking to.

Get out of here. Your knuckleheads. Just fucking kill the guy.

Yeah. They were told that dino has given them the order to kill this guy. So Ash is like, oh, I got to give him a talking to that he got me so fired up, I'm so mad. So, yeah, he goes and talks to dino, who is sort of ash's adopted father. We see a weird interaction he has with bodyguard, who they have like a contentious relationship that we'll get into later. We see dino and Ash talking, and Ash is mad because they promised that they wouldn't kill anyone. So they're sort of connected to each other in this crime family. And dino is like, he was no one. It was nothing. It was just a small thing. Don't worry. You're pretty little head about it.

And boy, is he pretty.

It's very pretty head.

He's very pretty.

Beautiful boys. We can check that off the bingo card.

Beautiful boy.

Play along this time. But we got one.

We got at least one square.

Yeah. So he goes and he's going back to his apartment, and he sees his friend Shorter, who says, watch out for marvin because he's that bodyguard he was talking to earlier. And they go into his apartment. We see a young boy there named Skip. And he says that tomorrow a Japanese journalist is coming into town to interview him for a magazine. So it's weird. Oh, yeah. My publicity.

I was wondering about small child. I got a good interview. Everyone has this accent. Everyone we do has this accent. Skip is an eight year old child.

Yes. But he is also a 45 year old age. So, yeah, Ash starts playing with the thing that the man gave him. It turns out it is a bullet on a necklace. And he's fiddling around with it, and he opens it up and he sees that there's drugs inside. So, yeah, he goes into the next room. He starts talking to someone in a wheelchair. And we see that this is Griffin, the guy who was shooting up the squad in the war zone. And he still can only really say banana fish. So Ash is like, what does it mean? What does it mean? So Ash gathers his gang and just gives, like, a public demonstration to all of them with the two people who shot the guy in the alley that, hey, you don't work for dino. You work for me. These two are trash. Get the fuck out. So kicks them out of the gang, and he also calls out another gang member, Arthur, who apparently also had something to do with it. And Arthur, cryptically, is like, yeah, I'll get my revenge for something. And he has, like, fucked up fingers.

Pay back for these stinkies my chicken thing.

He closed a cab door on them once. They never healed right.

I can't play piano ever again.

I was going to juilliard julliard.

I couldn't play piano before, but I can't now.

I wanted to start someday.

It's kind of coming off guard because he's like, hey, get these two goons out of here. They're no longer part of this, and fuck, you are the third. I was like, whoa. What? Yeah.

He's like, okay, sure. So he goes to a doctor. He picks up some drugs and also drops off what he found in the bullet and is like, hey, doc, can you figure out what it's apparently something important. So then we go and see. dino is talking to some of his goons, and he knows that Ash has what the dead man gave him because, of course, they didn't find it. So he basically knows that Ash is in on this secret and knows more than he's saying. So he invites Ash back to question him and say, oh, did he say anything to you? Did he give you anything? What's up? What happened? And Ash is like, Fuck you. I know nothing, you jerk.

I'm not telling you.

You're not my real.

You'Re my fake crime dad. We are now introduced to another character. Yeah, Eg. He is walking into the police station with his dad. These are the.

He just works for him.

Okay. I think they're asking if he was his son. I think I misread that as I was trying to take notes at this break. Next speed.

Well, let's keep that energy going. I like that.

It's his dad's.

Dad. He's on a business trip with dad.

Yeah, his dad taking him to crime scenes. Eg is assisting this journalist reporter for a magazine. His name is ebay. ebay, like the website.

It's weird.

I was like, I don't remember if I'm saying it right, but no, it's ebay.

It's weird. Even in the subtitles, it had the little trademark symbol, like, next to his name.

Yeah, weird. Wasn't even spelled the same. But they still grabbed that product placement. anyways, so they're there, they're talking about how Max, who is the guy who shot Griffin, is in jail, who's apparently a friend of ebay's. And they're here to interview Ash because he is a gang leader who basically has everything under control even though he's only 17. Yeah. So he has a lot of pull for being a literal child.

I mean, child living alone. Check, got it.

Boom. So the doctor, Ash, comes to look at Griffin. We learn that Griffin is ash's older brother. And when Ash is like, yeah, he can only say Banana Fish. The doctor is like, a man of culture. He must know salinger because banana fish is a jd. Salinger book.

The plot thickens literature.

You need to stop here. A disclaimer pops up and says, hey, go read Banana Fisheries before you watch the rest. And it then becomes a direct sequel to this book. The book came out, like, 50 years ago. So yeah. ig and ebay go to a bar where they're meeting up with Ash for the interview. They're all terrified because they're like, oh, this is a seedy American bar, and we're just mild mannered Japanese folk. We don't know crime like this. People playing pool.

A bar built underground beneath the building by stars.

So, yeah, they're all skittish. Ash is being a little withholding. He's not the most talkative person, so I don't know why they tried to get an interview with him. But Eg sees that he has a gun tucked into his waistband, and he's like, Is that real gang leader criminal? Yeah, of course. Well, guns are illegal in Japan. Can I touch it?

And everyone in the art, like, gun.

The bang bang stick romance. Yeah, I guess so.

Let me just grab it by the barrel.

I like that.

Eg says, real guns are illegal in Japan. And I immediately just imagine yakuza with, like, nerf guns or like, little cap guns with orange tips. It's just a threaten. You can't actually do anything with it.

We got water guns, but we're yakuza. We play dirty. We fill it with piss.

Oh dear.

Piss ball.

You better cut that out or they're going to come for you.

I'm not afraid of them. This is a challenge to all yakuza.

Hey, woah.

Yeah, we're not affiliated with him.

They told me to say this. This is all important. We're fine, we're fine, it's fine, we're okay. It's all good. So he lets Eg hold the gun and Skip is like, oh, holy shit. He trusts no one with that. The last drunk guy who tried to play with his gun, he got his fingers blown off. So it's not great. It's bad stuff.

Is that supposed to be Arthur?

Yes, maybe.

Okay, yeah. I wasn't sure if that was intentional or not.

Yeah. So Skip is basically like, oh, he seems to like you more than he likes anyone else, so that's good. Stay on his good side. Something I glossed over because it pops up sporadically and was just vague until this point. We see Arthur and marvin, the bodyguard, start to plan. They're talking about their attack. They're going to team up and try to take down Ash and it all pops off here. Shorter gives Ash a call saying, hey, they're going to try to kill you. They're going to attack you right now. Sorry I couldn't give you more warning than right this second. Okay, bye. Before the call even hangs up, people kicking the door. So it's literally no help happening. So, yeah, a big bar fight ensues. Someone tries to grab Eg, but Skip, being a total badass, just like kicks them in the face.

Hell yeah.

And they try to escape the bar, but they are grabbed and kidnapped. Ash follows because Skip is like his protege, sort of.

Skip is his boy.

Everyone has a crime dad in this show.

Yeah, come get yours.

Yeah. So he runs out, he shoots someone in the backseat of that car and steals shorters motorcycle and goes and chases them. But we see that this is all part of Arthur and marvin's plan and it's going to be a trap. That's where we end.

No.

I do like that. When Skip buys Eg a drink and pulls him aside to talk to him, he buys them on rum and coke. And for a split second I was like, is Skip drinking rum and coke? He's actually nine years old. Like eg 19. I can see that getting by because it's like they're criminals and Eg is like close to 20. skip's nine. He shouldn't be drinking Roman cokes.

Maybe he's drinking coke, who knows?

Who knows? We'll never know.

I think he was, because when Eg is like, this has alcohol in it. skips like, yeah, it's just brum and coke. chill. I drink like four of these a day.

Chill.

This is my water.

It runs through my veins. Oh, boy. So, yeah, that's episode one. Then we get episode two, which is tradition in most stuff. So it opens up with cops cracking down on that bar fight that just happened because as Arthur's gang rushed into attack, then we see Eg and ebay were in there and Charlie, their police contact, was outside, just, like, covering the door in case they get in trouble. So as soon as the gang bursted in, the cops also burst it in, and it was just a battle royale hashtag fortnite.

This is a hashtag pub g podcast.

So we see Shorter kind of getting in contact with all of his guys and being like, yeah, Ash ran off. We got to find him and hunt them down. So Shorter is following up and chasing after Ash and his boys. And then we right around that time, we see Ash arrive at the abandoned factory that is tradition in New York City and where Arthur took the names already, Eg and Skip. So he wants to settle with Arthur once and for all, get this whole bullshit between them out of the way. And then that's right around, we see a garage door open up and marvin's there with each skip. And it's just like this asshole, he.

Was in on it.

He was in on it the whole time. Maybe I shouldn't have antagonized them for years. And Arthur says, like, drop the gun. We know you have it. You always have it on you. And Ash is like, arthur's like, oh, cool, we'll just kill egy. Then he's like, I'll drop the gun. So he throws over his gun, and Arthur just starts wailing on him, saying it's payback for his fingers. And then we had the opening, which caught me off guard because we didn't have one in the first episode.

And it is a pop punk delight.

Very good song.

Yeah, very, like 2004 emo pop punk for something that came out in 2018.

Reminds me of unravel from Tokyo. ghoul.

A little bit comparison. Yeah, I could hear that. So then we get the opening, and then Ash gets beaten up and tied up and he gets thrown into the same room with eugene Skip. Oh, no. He's out in the center. And then marvin's there like gloating braggadocious and takes off his belt and someone makes a crack, and he's like, he's getting horny because marvin's gig.

Ash said that to him.

Ash said that? Okay. I wasn't sure. Yes, right. No, marvin's taking off his belt to just beat the shit out of him. So then Ash gets thrown into the room with egy and Skip and Egypt there rips as his animated tradition rips a part of his shirt and uses as a bandage that's spot. So he tries to help Ash with any of his wounds as best he can. And then we see marvin come in and kind of like, talk to him a bit. And Ash is like, I want to talk to marvin in private. And that's why Skip pulls the Eg aside and like, yo, marvin's Gay. It's like, yeah, we know.

Yeah, you're hammering this home.

You're really pushing that narrative. We got it. Ash is trying to flirt with him to try and get him by himself. And maybe he'll do something for him to get him out of their wink and try and persuade marvin to getting marvin alone. And all the other goons are dinos guys are just like, all right, you can have your fun, but don't fuck around too much. So they leave marvin alone and knock him out. Ashley Plain he's getting out of there. So he knocks marvin out and they run off. And as they run off, the guards start chasing them. They see him run out and they get to a dead end. It's just a giant brick wall. It's like, oh, weird. So the guards are coming in. They're trying to figure out what they got to do. And we just see Eg rip a pipe off the wall. And skips like, fired up. He's like, hell, yeah. We're going down swing and we're going to flee the glory. We're fighting our way out of here. Like jeez. Skip, calm down. You're nine. But I mean, he is wrapped up in criminals and mafia.

We've already seen him kick one goon's ass.

He's a heavy drinker. We know that. I love how ready he's given us to fight. He's like, oh, fuck yeah. Let's do this.

Yeah, burn it all down.

Energy. And egy said no. I was a pole vaulter back in Japan, so I'm gonna try pole vault over this 20 foot high wall. It's like oh, cool. Good luck with that rusty pipe.

And also landing on the other side.

Yeah, I'm sure there's a big inflatable mat there you can land on. And right as he's getting ready to do that, guards run around the corner and see them. And he takes off and pull off and gets over. He flies right over the wall like a bird and into class. He falls in trash and gets a big glass shard into his arm.

Yeah, someone collected their broken boxes right underneath where he landed, man.

That's where I kept all my Star Wars action figures. He fell right into him.

God, I fell in the pile right between the feathers and the pillow.

So she runs off and is going to get help and let them know where they're being held captive. And once they get Ash and Skip back and holding, they're like, all right, the one guy's game. We got to relocate, get ready to pack everything up and get out of here. And then that's when we see Shorter is, like, hitting up random guys in the city who have connections with Arthur and marvin. And they find ash's location. So we know Shorter is on his way. And then we see egy stumbling down the street, like, bleeding out from the big shirt of glass in his arm. And he goes up to a lady on the phone and he's just like, I need the phone. Give me the phone. And this is when I was like, oh, this is like modern day. It has a very kind of early 80s aesthetic. Like, it running a lot of the Cure and the style and just like a lot of the fashion and colors. And it was a woman was on a smartphone. And so I was like, oh, fuck. It was like modern day. Call me off guard. So he's like, I need to call the cops. And she just screams, throws her phone. So he just grabs it and calls, like, the precinct where he knows ebay is and where Charlie was, who were there working with before the detective. And as he's on the phone, he just starts passing out from the blood loss cops who were talking to the woman whose phone he took. Like, get him. And then we see cuts to the police chief question mark. charlie's boss, detective's boss, whoever that is.

I think they're both just dudes.

He's just like a higher ranked detective.

Yeah, I don't even know that.

I think he's just a guy he works with.

That's what they feel like to me. No, yeah, definitely. They work for the police, but to me, they just feel like averaged, ranked guys as opposed to, like, I don't know.

Got you. I didn't grab his name when he was introduced, so I just started calling him Chief. But he's not into much, so we can move past it. He's there, and he's there already when Charlie and ebay come up. And he's just like, oh, yeah, Eg is recovering now. We got them all patched up. He told us about Ash. He told us about his fight with dino. He told us about how they were kidnapped and taken to this place by marvin. And he kind of spilled old beans, told him everything. So he's like, great. And ebay goes in there and kind of consults them saying like, you did good. You got out of there, and just comforting Eg. I'm losing that name real quick. Hence that we see Ash come back to Ash, trying to get the gang guys to let go of Skip. He's like, you can have Skip to get me here. Now that I'm here, you don't need Skip. Let him go. He's a kid. And I forget, they say I think they're just like, no, we're going to hold on to him just in case for security measures and trying to pull any other shit. And Reds are saying that they're trying to put Ash into a car to relocate them to move to another spot. And that's when Shorter appears with his gang of guys and they start taking out all of Arthur's guys and start fighting their way through trying to rescue Ash. And then right at the same time, we hear cop sirens. So the cops showed up with Charlie. So it's just like, oh, shit, it's going down again. It's the bar fight, part two. And that's when marvin turns around and has a gun on Ash. And I see what he's saying. He's like, kind of just trying to get him into the car, like, all right, we got to get out the fuck out of here now. Like, no more fun and games. And Skip starts charging at marvin to try and get the gun off of him. And that's when marvin turns around and pops Skip twice in the chest. marvin is dead to me.

He was dead to me from the game. This guy fucking sucks.

Yeah, he's a piece of shit. But Skip skip.

Boy Skip.

Oh, God. Yeah.

I was like, who? Skip is my favorite character.

There he is. Gone.

That was basically my thought process. Okay, cool. Great.

It's like Game of Thrones. I'm starting to like this flag.

Yeah, let's kill the one named Black character. We have great good stuff.

And the child. Got to get them both. So Ash sees this and just loses his mind and charges marvin, starts wailing on him, but Ash is still tied up. And as he kicks marvin out of the way, he goes to Skip and he's like, Skip, you could be okay. We actually see the light die from skip's eyes. And just like.

She'S sad.

She is rough when you're a crime lord. Yeah. And so marvin gets in his car and just takes off. And Ash sees that and sees another guy, like open up his car door, getting ready to follow. And Ash still tied up, like, still his hands behind his back, and he would just kick the shit out of that guy, knock him out and steal his car. So he gets in the car and chases out marvin at the same time, we get cut away to seeing dino getting a call, kind of saying, like, shit's gone down. marvin fucked up, and it's getting out of hand. Dean just kind of like, well, all right, time to take care of this myself. So calls enough for you guys? And it's getting ready to make some plans, make some moves. And Ash we see Ash following marvin to an apartment building, and we later find out it's his. So he's slowly going inside, being very cautious to not get the drop on him. At this point, he's taking the duct tape off, so he has his hands free. Excuse me. And then from around here, he goes into the apartment building. He opens up the door and sees, like, oh, he must be in here somewhere. And opens up the door to the bedroom and oh, there's marvin. Dead. There's a whole lot of gunshots in him.

Bye.

Killed off camera. My vengeance isn't quelled.

Rest in pieces. shithole.

You big flaming asshole. You dumb piece of fuck. God. Marvin sucks. He sucks and sucks so much. So Ashwalks sees him. He's like, oh, fuck, he's dead. Turns and sees the gun. He's like, fuck, that's a killing him. And right as he sees that, cops kicking the door and tell him to freeze and have the gun on him. He's like, fuck, I've been framed.

He's been set up. It was all a trap.

It was an accident.

You see, he fell on those bullets. He left love lying around. He's a pig. And yeah, this is when Ash is like, fuck, I didn't do it.

It was set up.

I was framed. And that's when you see Charlie and his boss, like walk in. Like kind of seeing what the crime scene is now that they have Ash and handcuffs. And they're like, yeah, he had a motive. He broke in. He killed the guy. Case close. Real simple. And we see another detective, like, walk out from a different room. Was he smoking or was he did he have a lollipop?

I think he was smoking.

I've seen so many censor to anime where it's like, ah, this cigarette is now a lollipop.

Oh, no. We see so many cigarettes in this show.

Yeah. So another guy walks out, and the other types are just like, Evanstein. And he's like, yeah, it's a real open and shut case. This guy shot marvin. And now, you know, he's got a criminal past. Real simple. Like and it's like, well, can we just come with you to invest? Like, to interrogate him? Like, we've been following this hash guy. And like, I don't know if he'd be up to this. It's like, nah, it's definitely this guy. I'll prove it to you. Suddenly, cut to the interrogation room with this Evanstein guy. Evanstein interrogating Ash, and he's just like, we did a background check on you. You and marvin got history. You have motive to kill him. He's like, I don't know what you're talking about. And he just whips out this big bag. He's like, well, we found this in marvin's room. And lo and behold, it's full of child pornography. So wow.

He just keeps getting worse.

Marvin is somehow shittier.

Now he's dead. The world is better without him.

I really wish we saw him die.

Yeah, that would have been nice.

Give us satisfaction.

Watch him suffer.

Yeah. Just a real fucking irritable piece of shit. So the detectives just laying in Ash. And you can see Ash flinching and clearly knows what it is and is repulsed by it and has some baggage with this. And the detective is like, oh, yeah, what about this movie? This is an interesting one. And he puts it in a Player, shows it on his TV. And Charlie and the other detective are just like they're like, oh, God, this is revolting. Why are we watching this? And evan scenes just like, oh, hey, that kid looks familiar. That kid's you, isn't it, Ash? And that's marvin. So it's like, oh, wow. Just impressive how monstrous he is for the two minutes of screen time we've seen. So everything is just like, yeah, there's your motive. That's why Ash wanted revenge. That's why he killed him. Open and shut case. And it's just like oh, God. So we know he's being set up. And the detectives were like, it's like, there's all the evidence, but I still don't think Ash would have done it. And we cut away, and we see evanston in his office talking to dino. Surprise, surprise, the mafia leader has connections to corrupt cops.

What? Who would have in New York?

No way.

What? I thought cops were our friends.

And can't live on a police pension by itself. I'll definitely take that dirty money you're laundering me. And satino hangs up with him and picks up the phone again. He's like, all right, call me the judge. We're expediting this shit real fast, and we find out the judge was able to make the call in a very special circumstance of not even taking Ash to court and just immediately throwing them in prison. So she's like, wow, great. And when dino hangs up, you see a scientist. Yeah, a scientist is in the room, and he's saying, like, oh, yeah, we only have one good sample of the stuff, and it's the sample that got stolen. That must be what Ash has now. So then you see dina saying, like, banana Fish is being quite a handful. Very weird hearing the name over again, despite it being the show's name. These words don't make sense in context. So that we see Ashes after interrogations all patched up and laying in bed and, like, the precinct, and Charlie is asking him questions, but Ash ain't playing along because he ain't a snitch. He knows how this game works. And we cut away to Charlie at lunch with ebay. And eg saying, like, we got to convince Ash. And you guys said you had some sort of connection with Ash, like, when you were talking with him at the bar. Maybe eg can help us out here and get Ash to work with us. He's just like, I don't know. But he ends up going anyway. And when he talks to Ash, saying Ash is like, I'm not getting sucked into all this. I don't want to help out the cops and make it more complicated. But Ash calls Et. Out, saying, like, Your shit is lying. You and your dumb face can't lie. Your dumb, pretty face. It looks so much as saying he's like, I'm kind of envious of you, Et. Like, you can just fly. Meaning you when he pull vaulted over the wall. And also, he's just kind of free, and he could travel from Japan to America and stuff. And eji comes out of the room after talking with Ash, and he's just bawling tears. It's like what happened? He's like, I couldn't do it. I couldn't convince him. I couldn't turn him.

He's just a boy.

He's just a boy. He's so innocent. And this is when they find out ash is just being transferred right to the prison right away, and not even doing a trial. And it's like, oh, fuck, we don't have as much time as we thought. And the one cop just like, ebay, call your buddy Max. He's in that prison that Ash is getting transferred to. We got to have him on the inside looking out for Ash because he's got a big old target on his back now. He pissed off dino. He's definitely got guys in that prison. And then we cut to a scene of the warden of the prison who is also corrupt. Amazing. Who would have thought? Wow, it just keeps going up and definitely fictional.

These anime writers have such good imagination. The corrupt prison system in America.

That never happened. Nowhere near my home tilly in Pennsylvania. No, didn't it happen? And the warden's got three guys in there who's just like, make sure you take care of this Ash fella, and we might as well just be tossing up his big bag of money. He's so fucking evil. And yeah, we end with a shot of Ash walking into prison. Fun. Good stuff.

Yeah, great wholesome yeah, just good wholesome content. In episode three, we start with Charlie AG. And I missed his name. So I kept calling him Magazine Guy. But ebay, they're at the prison to see Max. And this is where they ask Max to keep an eye on Ash, keep him safe. And AG is just like, I want Ash to be safe. He saved my life. And I'm like, that's gay. And then Ash is put into a cell with Max. How convenient. Great.

Lovely.

Yeah. And then they introduce themselves, talk about how old they are. And Ash teases Max for being old, even though he's only 32. It's just that Ash is 17, so everyone's older.

Yeah, that was also a thing I had an issue with. Like, he's 17, let's put him in a Max adult prison.

Yeah, he's baby.

He's also the crime leader of a big crime gang, but also the judge who made those orders is corrupt as fuck.

I know, but still.

Yeah. And then Max asks him a bunch of questions, and he's like, oh, I'm a journalist. You know how it is. I just want to know everything. And then Ash says, oh, you wrote this piece? And he was like, yeah, I did. You know it. And he was just like, yeah, this other guy's writing is better, but you should stick to your columns. He's just a big baby boy.

Big old baby.

Well educated baby boy.

Yes. Very handsome, very beautiful, well educated boy. And then Max is kind of walking Ash around the prison and thinks that he's not really what he expected. He kind of expected him to put up a fight and he's like, he's so young and pretty. He'll be easy to deal with. It'll be hard to keep him safe, but he'll be easy to deal with. And he tells Ash not to wander around by himself because of how pretty he is.

Young guys are called dolls in Prison, which is not good. This show is rough.

Yes, this show is rough.

And then they're eating lunch together. And man I refer to as Scary Snake tattoo guy. Oh, yeah, garvey. It's like Harvey, but with a G.

Yeah, it's an Irish ravy.

Yeah.

Something I wanted to touch upon was the very wild choices they have for American names.

Listen, I'm going to get to that later because boy, oh, boy.

I've known some Garvey, so I'll let that one slide. That is a real name. But there are some bullshit names we can touch on later.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. So there's Garvey, the Snake Man, and he kind of goes up to them and propositions Ash. Like, says, come to my cell later, whatever. And Ash fucking loses it. Which is fair because of his path, he deserves to lose his shit. And then Max is like, oh, maybe this won't be so easy.

He starts laying into I mean, even without his past, it's fair because fuck this guy.

Yeah. And then Ash gets tossed into solitary. And we see that he has a fork. He stole a fork. And then we are with the doctor. Dr. meredith is the one that Ash gave the little vial of drugs to. And he's saying that essentially it's lsd. Like, it seems like the chemical makeup is like lsd. But the rats that they tested with the drug aren't displaying the symptoms of having used lsd. And then we're back in prison. And I don't remember the context of the scene, but I just said, Ash just wants fucking revenge for everything, for.

Just kind of just him in solitary rethinking like, I'm going to fucking kill dino.

Yeah, because dino pretty much he's the one that saw him when he was younger and plucked him off the streets and ruined his childhood and then kind of killed Skip. And then Ash is let out of solitary the next day and he's sent to do some chores. And then Max is, like, on the phone with Charlie and lets him know that Ash is causing some trouble. And while he's on the phone, Ash is outside by himself. And the three guys that the warden talked to, including Garvey, they go up to him and take him. I guess we don't really see. And then Max goes back outside and he turns to some guys, and he's like, where's Ash? And then he's like, he went up to the library with those three dudes. And Max is like, oh, shit. And then when Max gets there, the three of them are leaving. And he says garvey says something about Ash not putting up a fight. Like he's surprised that he didn't put up a fight. And then Max runs into the library and finds Ash undressed in, like, an aisle in the library. And I think it looks like they beat him with some books. All bad.

Implied sexual assault.

That too. Yeah, he's undressed, and then he is taken to the doctor. And the doctor says he's not hurt too badly, just kind of banged up. And he asks for a painkiller because he has a headache. And then the doctor's like, oh, he says he says, I won't take powder, and I won't take tablets. I don't like them. And he's the doctor's like, oh, what a princess. So he gives them a pill, but he doesn't take it. He pretends to take it.

Oh, looks amazing.

He's got a collection going, a fork, and this.

Give me in for a big night.

It's like a point and click adventure game. You just got to collect all the random bullshit until it becomes yeah, King's Quest going up.

And then Ash is given a tray of food, and Max reaches for his banana. And Ash is like, no, this is mine. And while he's eating it, he just cryptically says out loud, banana Fish. And then Max is like, Why do you know that?

Who the fuck told you that name?

Who told you that? And then Ash how did you know my name?

Screen name, my whole aim instant messenger.

Ash tries to play it off as, like, the salinger thing. And he's like, no. Max says, like, I know what it is. How do you know? And then later on, they're back in their cell, and Max reveals that he knows that Banana Fish is either a person or an organization, and it's related to drug trafficking. And there is, like was it, like, an unpublished article that Max just, like, has? It's, like, unclear to me.

Yeah, because he was definitely like Max was investigating it, and he was piecing together whatever he could find. And he said the rumor stopped around 2007, that just, like, any written documentation of it just disappeared. But he knew one guy that was still looking into it.

Yeah. Okay, so he is like, oh, yeah. So, like, the writer of this article that I have, he got a lead in Los Angeles, and I want to meet him someday, so, like, I can get more information. And then Ash flips to the back, and there's a picture of the writer. And it's the guy that died in the first episode. Yeah. So Max will not be meeting him. And Ash asks Max why he wants to know about it, like, why he's looking so deeply into it. And he talks about when he served in Iraq and what happened with Griffin. And Ash is like, that's my brother. You want to know my real name? And this is where this is just bullshit. His name is aslam, like, the fucking lion.

His parents were big fans of narrow.

I didn't even write down their last name.

Oh, I'm on the media page because I needed to find it. His full name is aslan jade callan reese.

That's not a name. That's not reese.

Not a name. Especially not an American name.

No. Have you seen that list from that Japanese baseball game where they made up a bunch of American names? That's what this is.

Like bobs and doughnut.

Yeah, it's so hard because there's a lot of very serious stuff happening in the show and then it's just like, this is my name. And you're like, no, it's not.

That's not anyone's name.

That's not real.

Also, I have max's last name is Glen Reed Glenn Reid. You just heard American sounds and just smashed them together.

Yeah, fair. I mean, I knew a kid in high school named cornelius cosmos. harkin. So.

Like this but not everyone has like, a highly formal fancy lad name.

Everyone's a fancy lad.

Okay, real quick. Arthur. Can you guess what his last name is?

Jazzy Son.

That's not ridiculous for this show.

I could fully accept that trick question. His last name is Arthur because his name is Frederick Arthur.

Oh, my God.

God damn it, you got me for a second I thought you're going to say a trick question. His name's Arthur. Arthur. Like Mario Arthur?

Arthurson Montgomery.

Montgomery.

My mom works with a guy named William Williamson.

So, like, they're possible, but not everyone also shorter. His given name is shorter. Shorter long.

Oh, God. The skip actually named skip. Yes, skipper.

All we got on the wiki page is just Skip.

He only has one name. He's like share.

Yeah, sorry to interrupt. Anyway, we needed to talk about these walkers names.

Yeah, but so it's then that Ash is like, so you're the one that shot my brother's legs and left him there to die and now he can't walk and he's all mad about it, but in my mind, I mean, it is shitty that they left him there to die, but Griffin was killing a bunch of people. He had to be stopped.

So, like, freaked out.

That's what happened. But also, yes, he should not have left him there to die.

Yeah, well, I got a little confused at this point because Max was like, no, he was taken back to the States, like, right after. So it sounded like from his side he didn't actually leave him to die. So I don't know if there's like, miscommunication since Griffin can't really tell his side of the story since he can only say banana fish. So I don't know what truly happened there.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was like, Ash thought like, oh, you left him literally out in the desert to die and rot, or if it was just like you never followed up with him and didn't follow him back to the States and find out what's wrong with him. You just left him?

Yeah, it could just be Ash, like being emotional, projecting, and just making assumptions. Yeah. So Max tells Charlie the next day while he's visiting that he's just like, I quit. And Charlie is like, what? But we don't really hear their conversation because then we see AG and ebay talking to Ash. And Ash is like, oh, are you still doing the article? Are you still taking pictures of my guys? How are they doing? And ebay says, oh, we can't. It's too dangerous now. And then Max has, like apparently told Charlie offscreen about ash's brother and the past and stuff and why he doesn't want to be the one to watch over Ash anymore. And then the three of them get up to leave. And then Ash thanks AG for coming in, like the gatest way possible by reaching up and touching his face with his hand and running his fingers through his hair. At which point I was like, hell yeah, I'm about this. And then he tells him to come alone next time. And then he just fucking kisses him. And I was like, okay, here we go. This is it. And then he slips him some tongue. And then I was like, oh, he's just trying to get the painkiller in his mouth.

Dang.

What this is I mean, take the gay kiss. At the gay kiss.

It's probably still gay.

He was transferring the pill over, but that tongue was still in there.

Tongue was still in there. And also they're gay. I mean, come on.

Yeah.

And then AG the ash leaves. And then AG is like, I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick. And he opens up.

Just jerk off real quick.

Just give me a second. And then he opens up the pill and there's a note inside. And it's Ash asking AG to visit Shorter in chinatown. And he wants him to get Dr. meredith to put the vial of drugs somewhere safe.

He was able to cram a really big message in a very small pill.

Yeah, it was long, very long strip of paper. And then they're like back at the apartment. They're staying at AG and ebay, and AG is going to leave. And then ebay is like, oh, be careful out there. Will you bring me a Sunday? And I was like, oh, that's me.

Hey, while you're out, just real quick, just close this ice cream shop, wherever.

It's fine, it's fine. And then Arthur and dino are talking about AG. And essentially what we get from the conversation is that if they can't get Ash, they will take AG, probably to get to Ash. And then AG is in chinatown, and he asks some street dudes about the place that Ash told him to go to. And they're like, what do you want? Why are you here? What do you want to do with that place? And he says, Ash sent me. And they're like, oh, okay.

Oh, shit.

And they say, like, oh, Shorter isn't here, though. And then he goes into the restaurant that he was supposed to go to, and the owner sits with him and they talk about something. He tells him that right now, no one knows where Shorter is. Pretty much, yeah.

Basically, he basically went into hiding since everyone's looking for him to get to Ash.

Yeah. And at this point, it's made clear that someone has been following AG because we, like, see him in the background a couple of times, but he's in the restaurant, and he's, like, texting someone. And AG decides to go find Dr. meredith himself because he couldn't get any info about him. And then we're back in prison, and Ash is, like, staring down at Max, just being like, you killed my brother. I'm brooding now. I'm a brooding teenager now.

He is 17.

Yeah. And then Max kind of has a ptsd esque episode where he he sees Ash and, like, looks in his eyes and like, all he can see is Griffin. And he lunges at him and starts choking him. But he snaps out of it, and he's like, yeah, I got to transfer cells. This isn't happening anymore. And then AG gets to Dr. meredith's office, but Arthur is there waiting. And that's where we're frederick Arthurston. Arthurston.

Fredericker arthur B. Frank frankfurt, art frank frankfurt, art student.

Frankfurt. Anne, that's that oh, boy. I mean, I was kind of right. Gay crimes are here, so gay crime.

There is some gay crimes.

Anyway, it hit all the needs I had.

Gay crime.

Sometimes you got to live in things up a little. Yeah, but dugan, are we there yet?

Yeah. This is interesting. I like that they're doing a lot, which in the past has not been good, but I feel like they're interweaving things. Well, like, so much is happening, but I never felt lost, which is good. It all feels connected and coherent, and I'm liking that. I like the characters. Fairly certain this is our first set in America anime. Can you guys remember any others?

Let me run through the list and I will try to think. No, none that are coming to mind. What's your ass? Well, I mean, it was mostly said in Japan, there are just a few international moments. I'm going to go with no jamon.

No digimon movie was in America. Sure.

There are kids in America. They played that. Sorry.

We are the kids in America.

We are the kids in America.

Yeah, I think with that territory, seeing it because a lot of stuff we watch is based on, like, Japanese culture and isn't quite as connected because we don't live it every day. But it was fun seeing some of the with the names and all that stuff, like the americanization of things. But with that sort of writing into a different culture, you also accidentally step into some potholes. Like with killing the one black character in episode in you act like that's.

Something Americans don't do well.

I'm saying sort of like these are tropes in America where like, yeah, we're now coming to terms with it and starting to say, hey, let's not try to do this anymore because this is very American action, like crime drama. So there is a lot of strong comparisons to American media which comes with those pitfalls of saying, oh, Americans do it, it's probably fine because also the two confirmed gay characters also are both pedophiles. So that's also bad.

Wait, too?

Like marvin and the Garvey? Okay, so yeah, that's not excellent.

Great.

I want to see where AG and Ash go because they could have romance, but right now it's feeling a little queer, baby. So the story and narrative stuff is all good, but I have some cultural hangups for it.

Yeah. Oh, sonic X was in America too.

Forgive me.

Yes. Digibon and sonic X, the most American.

Are two stronghold, American institutions.

I could definitely see Ash and Easy like storyline setting up and Ash like playing it off like, nah, I was just using you to get out messages and like to contact shorter and stuff. But you know, he feels something, but I feel like they're trying to hit that trope of like, nah, I just used you, but then I fell in love with you.

Yeah, I don't have too many spoilers from the wikipedia page, so I'm not going to spoil anything. But they mentioned in ash's character, he is definitely interested and likes AG, but they don't specify like, romance and AG says nothing about being into Ash, so I don't know how one sided it is or if it's an actual genuine crush or just he has a soft spot for him right now. It feels a little like we're not going to get the payoff and that is queer bait.

Yeah.

So yeah, I'm interested to see where it goes. I don't know if I'll continue watching it because it's just a lot, but yeah, I did enjoy these.

I think we'll enjoy more when we're not taking notes on them.

Yes. It took me so long getting through that first episode, having to pause every 2 seconds because like three new important pieces were introduced. Literally half of my first page was from the first six minutes of the show.

Oh, jeez.

Very long. But yeah, I was pleasantly surprised at how I felt about it because looking it up and reading the description, I'm like, oh, this is not what I'm about. Controversial. I don't enjoy Breaking Bad because it's just not my thing.

Yeah, now not into the drama.

Yeah, like I was worried that's what this would feel like, but this is different.

Idea.

I don't know, I liked it. I'm curious, but we'll see. We'll see what happens.

It's helpful when we still have but it's helpful when we still have like anime trope of, oh, he's a bad boy, but he has a heart of gold. He says, dino don't kill people. He just wants to clean up the.

Streets, make him a pure good crime. Wholesome crime. Yeah. I enjoyed the style of it. The style is very different than what we watched recently. And it reminded me a lot of akira, the way they've drawn, especially the men and stuff, and looking it up. The mango is actually from 85 to 94, so it's old.

There you go.

I like it. But yeah, that would definitely be like prime akira time. So it was probably influenced by that a lot. But, yeah, I enjoyed it. I could definitely see where it goes. I think it's like 20 some episodes.

24 24.

So it's a good run for an anime, but it's definitely gotten, like, praise. But I don't know if it's going to get more seasons. So that might just be a good self contained series. After that, I'd be on board with logic, but yeah, it's definitely like the polar opposite of laid back camp where I'm like, oh, this year is nice. I was like, oh, man, this year is stressful.

I am tense, but I kind of like it.

I enjoy it, but it's like, this is not a wind down show at all. Don't watch it before bed?

No.

I ran out of coffee. Better pop on an episode of Anaphys. Get my blood pumping.

I need some adrenaline.

Dugan, I want that report on my desk by fire tomorrow. All right. Anime. Got to get this done.

I got to not work and watch this anime real quick so I can play more.

Ba. I liked it. So it's a good quality show, but then it's just up to your personal preferences.

Yeah. Worth watching if it's something you enjoy.

Yeah, it's done well, but yeah.

So what do we have going on next week?

Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy.

No good show ever gets that shim.

No.

It's always a bad sign when I'm happy.

Brendan'S feeling giddy.

I've had plenty of shows in the past where I knew it was going to be a train wreck and I did it for me. And I picked it just for a selfish reason. But this one, this one I picked for dugan. This isn't my show. This is a show for dugan. And it's going to delight you because I know there's a few things in there you really enjoy. So I'm excited for us to watch episodes one, two and nine of rave Master.

I'm so scared.

It's going to be great. It's going to be so good.

I've never watched it either.

I'm nervous it's pop because that's garbage and I'm so excited.

Oh, no.

What a time we'll have.

Starting off the new year, right? Same old bullshit.

Back on our bullshit in 20 2019.

I'm unapologetic about bullshit.

My resolution is to that's raised my bullshit.

Yeah. Leaving it harder. sarason. May awaken something in me. I'm I'm just going full force into it.

All right, well, if you have a show you would like us to watch, because we got a fresh list for 2020, send in your recommendations to Rweebaria@gmail.com, or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram at arweebarriet. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Mr. Patrick dugan.

You can find me on Instagram at queen. Period. weibo. And on Twitter at Queen underscore weebu and Queen underscore weebu art.

You can find me on Twitter at abts. Brendan. It stands for almost better than silence, which we just hit our five year mark on hoga time. Fly high and I'm turning to dust. But it's a video game play if you want to check that out.

Thank you to camille ruley for our artwork. And thank you to Louis zong for the use of our theme song stories off the album Beats. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime, be gay, do crimes oh, shit.