okay wow.... I could literally write entire books about this but I won't because no one's gonna read this anyways but still... I LOVE the way Ash's and Eiji's relationship is handled. It's left more or less ambiguous whether their love was platonic or romantic.... because it doesn't matter. Their love trancends any kinds of categories and descriptions. What I love even more is that their relationship is 0% sexual, not even kisses (the one in prison doesn't count because it wasn't to express love but to deliver a secret message so don't @ me) which makes perfect sense due to the years of rape and sexual abuse Ash had to endure since he was a child. It's only logical that his sense of sexuality would be in ruins. For him, sexuality and love have nothing to do with one another. To prove this, you only have to look at one of the many scenes in which Ash starts acting sexual towards people. Notice that he never does so out of love or any other emotion, without any exceptions, he always uses sex as a tactic (e.g. letting the guys rape him in prison, secuding security guards etc). The real romantic moments are when he is alone with Eiji and he completely drops every wall he built around himself to protect himself (of which there are many) and makes himself complete vulnerable. Or when he risks everything to save Eiji or ... I could go on and on about this. The point is, I see so many people complaining about it not being clear whether their relationship was romantic or not and that there were to little kisses and whatever. I on the other hand was very glad it was written the way it was because otherwise Ash's entire character would've made no sense at all and this way we got a heartwarming but also heartbreaking story that touches you directly at the soul. Goddammit I love this.
I'm still not over the ending tho tbh
Banana Fish