History YMMV / BananaFish

* TheScrappy: Lao is completely and utterly ''universally despised'' for [[spoiler: not just murdering beloved main-character, Ash Lynx, but murdering him ''just as he is about to go to the airport and reunite with Eiji, and try to start over again after such a horrible life.'' Lao is also deeply loathed for being the hammer that smashed Eiji's heart permanently by killing Ash, and also for causing younger half-brother Sing so much guilt-by-association.]] Lao is 100% nonredeemable and unforgivable in the fandom's eyes.

* PeripheryDemographic: The manga was a phenomenon among all demographics in Japan when it first came out, and it's not hard to see why. Boys who usually wouldn't touch shoujo manga found themselves drawn to the action and gritty atmosphere, to the point where even ''Music/{{Gackt}}'' is a longtime fan of the franchise. It also drew in plenty of adult women, despite the manga being primarily aimed at teenage girls ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids even if it doesn't seem like it]]). And despite not officially being a BoysLove manga (as creator Akimi Yoshida has said she doesn't consider it to be such), many of its fans accepted it into the fold, with the series being an influential work on the genre as a whole.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The series is a crime thriller with a lot of mature themes that wouldn't be out of place in a seinen series, with Ash in particular having gone through RapeAsBackstory. Despite this, it originally ran in a ''shoujo'' magazine. Yes, shoujo, not seinen, not shonen, not even josei.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The series is a crime thriller with a lot of mature themes that wouldn't be out of place in a seinen series, with Ash in particular having gone through RapeAsBackstory. Despite this, it originally ran in a ''shoujo'' magazine. Yes, shoujo, not seinen, not even shonen.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The series is a crime thriller with a lot of mature themes that wouldn't be out of place in a seinen series, with Ash in particular having gone through RapeAsBackstory. Despite this, it originally ran in a ''shoujo'' magazine. Yes, shoujo, not shonen.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: '''ASH'''. As the almost stupidly-popular main character, Ash naturally gets shipped with ''everyone''. There's [[OneTruePairing Ash/Eiji]] which is pretty much the favorite ship for either character, but there are also those that support [[TeacherStudentRomance Blanca/Ash]] thanks to their overall history together (and the fact that Blanca asks Ash to [[spoiler:come away with him to the Caribbean at the end of the series]], though this can also dip into underage-territory if [[LoliconAndShotacon Blanca is paired up with Private Opinion-era Ash.]] The sheer obsession Yut-Lung has with Ash is interpreted like this for some fans. Then there are others who will pair up Ash with loveable [[OlderSidekick Max]] due to their chemistry (though it causes major BrainBleach for those who are utterly disgusted by it), and [[MentorShip Chinatown Boss Sing]], who has shades of BigBrotherWorship towards Ash. Ash also gets paired up with fellow GangBangers like [[UndyingLoyalty Alex]], [[NiceGuy Cain]], or even [[CrazyJealousGuy Arthur]] every now and then. Sometimes he's even shipped with [[IncestYayShipping Griffin, his brother!]] This Troper's even come across [[CrackPairing Ash/Akira]] which makes less than zero sense considering by the time Akira appears in the story, [[spoiler: Ash has been dead for seven years.]] Last and definitely least, there are those who even ship Ash with [[NoYay his rapists, Dino and Colonel Foxx]]—but the fandom would rather [[BrainBleach not talk about those fans]].

* AssPull: The ending. [[spoiler: Ash, who can dodge machine gun fire, lift a grown man with one arm, and fight off multiple enemies while starving, wounded, or exhausted, finally dies after being stabbed by Lao, a background character. It seems to come out of nowhere, as Sing told Lao that Ash was forced to kill Shorter, over and over, throughout the story, and Lao himself had barely shown up in the manga at all for several volumes. Making this even worse is that Lao missed all of Ash's vital organs and major blood vessels, so the wound ''wasn't even fatal''. He bled out in a public library for ''several hours'' while making no effort to try to survive, and no one else noticed the giant pool of blood, not even the librarian who assumed he was "sleeping" on the ''visibly bloody'' letter from Eiji.]]

* AssPull: The ending. [[spoiler: Ash, who can dodge machine gun fire, lift a grown man with one arm, and fight off multiple enemies while starving, wounded, or exhausted, finally dies after being stabbed by Lao, a background character. It seems to come out of nowhere, as Lao's boss (and ''brother'') Sing told Lao that Ash was forced to kill Shorter, repeatedly, throughout the story, and Lao himself had hardly shown up in the manga at all for several volumes. Making this even worse is that Lao missed all of Ash's vital organs and major blood vessels, so the wound ''wasn't even fatal''. He bled out in a public library for ''several hours'' while making no effort to try to survive, and no one else noticed the giant pool of blood, not even the librarian who assumed he was "sleeping" on the ''visibly bloody'' letter from Eiji.]]

* AssPull: The ending. [[spoiler: Ash, who can dodge machine gun fire, lift a grown man with one arm, and fight off multiple enemies while starving, wounded, or exhausted, finally dies after being stabbed by Lao, a background character. It seems to come out of nowhere, as Lao's boss (and ''brother'') Sing told Lao that Ash was forced to kill Shorter, repeatedly, throughout the story, and Lao himself had hardly shown up in the manga at all for several volumes. Making this even worse is the reveal in "Garden of Light" that Lao missed all of Ash's vital organs and major blood vessels, so the wound ''wasn't even fatal''. He bled out in a public library over the course of ''several hours'' while making no effort to try to survive... and no one ever noticed the giant pool of blood, not even the librarian who assumed he was "sleeping" on the visibly bloody letter from Eiji.]]

* AssPull: The ending. [[spoiler: Ash, who can dodge machine gun fire, lift a grown man with one arm, and fight off multiple enemies while starving, wounded, or exhausted, finally dies after being stabbed by Lao, a background character. It seems to come out of nowhere, as Lao's boss (and ''brother'') Sing told Lao that Ash was forced to kill Shorter, repeatedly, throughout the story, and Lao himself had hardly shown up in the manga at all for several volumes. Making this even worse is the reveal in "Garden of Light" that Lao missed all of Ash's vital organs and major blood vessels, so the wound ''wasn't even fatal'' and he bled out in a public library over the course of ''several hours'', without struggling to survive... and ''no one noticed the giant pool of blood''.]]

* AssPull: The ending. [[spoiler: Ash, who can dodge machine gun fire, lift a grown man with one arm, and fight off multiple enemies while starving, wounded, or exhausted, finally dies after being stabbed by Lao, a background character. It seems to come out of nowhere, as Lao's boss (and ''brother'') Sing told Lao that Ash was forced to kill Shorter, repeatedly, throughout the story, and Lao himself had hardly shown up in the manga at all for several volumes. Making this even worse is the reveal in "Garden of Light" that Lao missed all of Ash's vital organs and major blood vessels, so he bled out in a public library ''for hours'' with no struggle to survive and ''no one noticing the pool of blood''.]]

* AssPull: The ending. [[spoiler: Ash, who can dodge machine gun fire, lift a grown man with one arm, and fight off multiple enemies while starving, wounded, or exhausted, finally dies after being stabbed by Lao, a background character. It seems to come out of nowhere, as Lao's boss *and brother* Sing told Lao that Ash was forced to kill Shorter, repeatedly, throughout the story, and Lao himself had hardly shown up in the manga at all for several volumes. Making this even worse is the reveal in "Garden of Light" that Lao missed all of Ash's vital organs so he bled out in a public library *for hours*, with no struggle to survive and *no one noticing the pool of blood*.]]

* AssPull: The ending. [[spoiler: Ash, who can dodge machine gun fire, lift a grown man with one arm, and fight off multiple enemies while starving, wounded, or exhausted, finally dies after being stabbed by Lao, a background character. It seems to come out of nowhere, as Lao's boss *and brother* Sing told Lao that Ash was forced to kill Shorter, repeatedly, throughout the story, and Lao himself had hardly shown up in the manga at all for several volumes. Making this even worse is the reveal in "Garden of Light" that Lao missed all of Ash's vital organs so he bled out in a public library *for hours*, with no struggle to survive and *no one noticing the pool of blood*.