"Sayonara America"

Like one of the main reasons people don't understand the political aspects of it or call it a BL is, I believe, because of the way people talk about it. If people that are passionate about banana fish like myself and already know a lot about it start showing how it isn't a BL and also how relevant the themes are currently (and how they've always been relevant) then new fans will understand it better and there will be no posers and we'll all be one big happy fandom!! It'll also spread awareness of real things happening in the world and such.

It's literally the condemnation of the western society (but I'd say the right-wing capitalist society more specifically AND even the Japanese society, especially in terms of pedophilia) as a corrupt system that benefits the rich and uses the poor

Ash and his brother are the prime victim of this system. A child sold to rich men for their entertainment and a young man who also sold himself just for the entertainment of rich men.

Now tell me if this isn't a current topic with the Epstein's files, the wars never stopping, the prices of everything spiking to the stars, the rising crime rate...

And the victims are always the poor ones or the innocent civilians or the weakest. Kids, women, teenagers, white people, black people, asians. Ash, Griffin, Skipper, Shorter, Jennifer, Yut-Lung, Michael, Eiji, Jessica, even Arthur is a victim of the system. It's so clear, so blatant.

I love this story so much, it was written in 1980, reproposed in 2018 and now in 2026 it's as important as ever. I'll never get tired of it even if it hurts every single time I rewatch it.