i’m rewatching banana fish with the new dub and i’m once again so annoyed they decided to move the setting to the 2010s instead of the 80s. it’s not completely detrimental to the plot but there’s a few details that always ruin the immersion e.g. ash using a magnum revolver, marvin having physical cp instead of just a dodgy hard drive, and then larger set pieces that just seem like they couldn’t occur in the 2010s like the gangs managing to have an entire turf war with subway stations and trains as a setting followed by an open air knife fight on coney island. if you know anything about modern american history and politics, the US government where pulling crazy shit with experimental drugs in real life in the 70s anyway and new york was a massive hub for gang activity. in the manga, griffin and max served in vietnam, not iraq, and again in real life the US government actually did use experimental weaponry. the mind control element, obviously a reference to a salinger short story like they explain in ep 1, is also most likely based off MK Ultra and similar programs which occurred roughly mid 60s to early 70s but was exposed in 1974. what was the need to move it 30 years forward? it just contextually messes up the details when the context is so insanely important. also the literary references feel a lot more topical with the original setting, salinger published in the 40s-50s and if you’ve read any of his work, the new york he’s writing about aligns much more with the 80s than literally trump 1.0 era america.
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