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brookstonalmanac · 9 months

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Events 8.4 (after 1900)

1914 – World War I: In response to the German invasion of Belgium, Belgium and the British Empire declare war on Germany. The United States declares its neutrality. 1915 – World War I: The German 12th Army occupies Warsaw during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive and the Great Retreat of 1915. 1921 – Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict: Mikhail Frunze declares victory over the Makhnovshchina. 1924 – Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established. 1936 – Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime. 1944 – The Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others. 1944 – Under the state of emergency law, the Finnish Parliament elects Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim as the President of Finland to replace the resigned Risto Ryti. 1946 – An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. One hundred are killed and 20,000 are left homeless. 1947 – The Supreme Court of Japan is established. 1964 – Civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21. 1964 – Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy mistakenly report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. 1965 – The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand. 1969 – Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuân Thuỷ begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail. 1972 – Ugandan President Idi Amin announces that Uganda is no longer responsible for the care of British subjects of Asian origin, beginning the expulsions of Ugandan Asians. 1974 – A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22. 1975 – The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish Chargé d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya. 1977 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy. 1983 – Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, president of the military government of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Captain Thomas Sankara. 1984 – The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso. 1987 – The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly". 1995 – Operation Storm begins in Croatia. 2006 – A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF). 2007 – NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is launched. 2018 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border, concluding the second phase of the Deir ez-Zor campaign. 2019 – Nine people are killed and 26 injured in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio. This comes only 13 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, where 23 people were killed. 2020 – Beirut Port explosion: At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon.

#Events

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torillatavataan · 2 years

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Hannes Tuovinen (98) “This baseless attack on Ukraine is an utterly unforgivable deed from Russia. It’s horrible that even civilians are targeted by the attacker. It again brings back memories from the time we fought at the front in Rukajärvi. Men are falling unnecessarily in the attacker’s fire. Grief and despair will fall on many families when they receive sad news from the front.

Back then Finland had to endure this fate first in the Winter War and then in the Continuation War, so we know what it feels like to be targeted by an overwhelming attack. - -

Speaking of will to fight, in light of the news it seems that in Ukraine there is a completely undivided opinion that the war is waged together for the good of the fatherland. The homefront is preparing firebombs for the fighters. The European countries are delivering weapons and ammunition to Ukraine together because the Ukrainian volunteers are willing to take up arms.

Soldiers, the President first in line, are willing to give everything for their country. With uniformed resistance, Ukraine has managed to hold off the overpowering enemy for almost a week now. The will to fight is nonexistent in the Russian troops and the attacker will always have the largest casualties. Russia does not even appreciate its fighters: already in Rukajärvi, the prisoners of war feared their own troops more than they feared us Finnish fighters.“

Olli Vuorio (101) “We veterans and the generations who experienced the war are shocked by the situation. It brings back memories from the beginning of the Winter War. Two weeks before the war broke out Marshal [Mannerheim] nor anyone else would have believed that Finland could manage. But we did. I look up to the President of Ukraine for leading the war effort so determinedly.

Still, it has not awoken fear in me that Finland would be pulled into this. I believe in the Finnish Defence Forces and that, though Russia back then attacked Finland, Putin would not make the same mistake.”

#suomi #finland #ukraine #war in ukraine #stand with ukraine #sota #historia #*

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pikselis · 3 years

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Family trees of Wilson, Lim, and Philippine

You can also see that the Wilson family is related to the Hill family. Also it looks like Lola is married to both Harry and Colin, but I didn't want to loose the color from all the people who are dead ':D

See from the beginning: Wilson - Lim - Philippine (reversed, scroll to the end) (The whole story of Flowing Hills from the beginning)

Story recaps are kind of long since two of these are the original Flowing Hills families. So you can read them under the cut:

Wilson, story recap:

> Olivia and Pauline move in Flowing Hills > Olivia and Pauline found out why Saana hates Jay > Olivia introduces her sister to Jay so they can start working on this tow's electricity > Jay falls in love with Pauline > Olivia starts working in the law career (because I read the rules wrong... -__-') > Pauline moves together with Jay -> Hill > Olivia meets Komei and starts dating him > Komei isn't sure at first, but finally moves together with Olivia > Harry is born > Komei starts his sewing hobby and finally writes his first novel > Harry seems to be into art > Olivia is now elder and Harry is now a teen > Harry and Lola Lim start dating > Whole family moves in The Hill > Harry is adult and builds Harry's Pub > Olivia and Komei die > Lola moves in wit Orla > Harry and Lola get married > Aune is born > Lola closes her old diner so she can buy a new one > Orla is teen and really into football > Aune is teen and Orla helps Aune by doing the homework for her > Aune starts working in Puvustamo > Orla is adult and falls in love with Bill Jitmakusol > Lola's Diner is not doing so well > Orla moves away from home -> Philippine > Harry dies and Lola finds herself new lover named Colin > Aune is adult > Lola and Colin run away from home to spend some time together in the Värjälä household > Aune moves into apartment > Aune tries to work her best so she can inherit Puvustamo > Lola and Colin are looking for Aune > When Lola and Colin finally find Aune they beg for her to let them live with her > Aune don't really like this, but can't help herself to feel bad for her mother

Lim, story recap:

> Windy moves into Flowing Hills > Windy starts hitting on Vincent Mannerheim > When Vincent mysteriously disappears she starts to visit other people in hopes of romance > Windy finds out about Vincent's alien baby > Windy starts working in the Law Enforcement career > Moves together with Vincent -> Mannerheim > Windy isn't really happy and starts being aggressive > Windy starts seeing other people in secret > After Vincent goes missing once again, Windy finally moves out of his life > Windy moves together with Clarence Philippine > Windy and Saana Värjälä start to date in secret > Windy is pregnant and decides to end it with Saana so her children could grow up in stable family > Windy's and Clarence's wedding is ruined by Vincent > Twins Lola and Benjamin are born > Lola is over achiever while Benjamin is failing in love > Lola and Harry Wilson start to date > Windy dies and the whole family moves to The Hill > Clarence dies and Lola buys a old diner with that money > Lola opens Lola's Diner > Benjamin starts dating around > Ricky Cormer (Benjamin's boyfriend) moves in > Lola hides her pregnancy from Harry > Orla is born > Lola moves together with Harry -> Wilson > Ricky sees Benjamin kiss another man > Benjamin stops dating around when Sam is born, but starts to do it again when the relationship becomes too stressful for him > Ricky starts to become really depressed in the relationship > Whole town is starting to see this awful side Benjamin > Benjamin falls in love with (Number) One Värjälä > Sam sees Ricky and Benjamin fighting > Ricky and Sam move away > Lot of people ether avoid Benjamin or hate him > Benjamin moves in the Hill household > Sam starts to sew in her free time > Ricky realizes that he can finally love again > Sam is now an adult and starts working in the Puvustamo

Philippine, story recap:

> Orla starts partying and living her fullest > Bill moves in > Bill tries his best to impress Orla, in fear of her one day leaving her > Orla and her best friends wife Marsha don't really get along > Orla and Bill get engaged

#FH: Lim #FH: Wilson #FH: Philippine #Flowing Hills BACC #family trees #okay I'm no longer that sure if I want to add recaps of the families ':__D

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skruttet · 4 years

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A somewhat sadder sculpture is located nearby: The grave of the Jansson family. Viktor, Ham, Lars and other members of the family were laid to rest here and of course the grave is often adorned with tiny Moomins left by well-wishers. The Janssons are in prestigious company; Finland’s decorated military hero Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim is also buried here as is designer Alvar Aalto.

#😢#tove jansson

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silverquillsideas · 5 years

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My thoughts on the ending of banana fish

Banana Fish ended on the 20th, and then onward, a lot of posts have been made regarding the ending and what people thought about it. I’ve seen mostly negative posts, where fans were openly hostile to the ending and I get where they are coming from. There was the occasional positive response, and I understand their views too.

My stand on BF and whether the ending was justified falls on the grey area. I tend to oscillate between hating the ending, and liking it for being a powerful, emotional, and haunting experience. Why can’t I decide? Because I’ve got questions I just can’t justify in my head. I can’t come to a reasonable conclusion because of the loose ends that I feel were left in the manga by the author.

This is not meant to be an emotional rant, please bear in mind. I finished the manga back in July, and I’ve had months to ponder over these questions, and reached no conclusion.

Hence, I’ll just place the specific issues I personally had, and hope that, I’ll eventually figure out why it was created the way it was.

I’ll divide this post in 3 parts :

1. The events leading up to Ash’s death

2. Ash’s choice to die

3. The role that other characters played, and why the author chose to ignore their “fates” if you will, and only deemed it necessary for ash to meet his end in that way

I’d like to thank @angofwords, @lynxash @yoru-no-gaspard @ash-callenreese @saishii , with whom I discussed this over months, and finally @shu-kaku, who practically kicked me in the butt to get me to write this post, because I wouldn’t shut up about the arguments :’D

Also, to @zaenaris and @soso1777, my replies have been abysmally late, but here is what I had planned to say in response to you both.

A. THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO ASH’S DEATH

The battle at Mannerheim’s institution finished with Dino, Foxx and Mannerheim dying. Blanca, Sing, Ash, Cain, and all the gang members return safely, with few casualties on their side.

Afterwards, there were clearly two days before the manga ended : Day 1 , where Sing confronted Yut Lung, and Ash and Blanca talked in the park.

Day 2 : where Eiji leaves for Japan, Sing gives Ash the letter, Ash gets stabbed, the story comes to an end.

My question is regarding the behaviors of the characters in these two days, or rather, how Yoshida-sensei chose to write them.

Firstly, Sing Soo Ling, the very competent gang leader, who knew that his brother, hell bent on hating Ash for being a “monster who killed Shorter” and apparently on the mission to “harm Sing” , was missing, never once thought of tracking him down? Provided he had two days at hand? Sing had cleared his animosity with both Ash and Yut Lung, and I’m pretty sure, as a gang leader, he had conveyed both these details to his underlings. Therefore, it’s unlikely, that Lao, could NOT have heard it from at least one person in the gang (even if he was not a part of it anymore, I’m sure he had people close to him), if not from Sing directly. Lao was the only family member Sing had in the Chinese gang, so it seems a very far stretch that he would not have made any effort to get him back in the ring.

Ignoring the above question, assuming Sing was very busy, or the question escaped his mind, my second problem, Lao Yen Tai.

He was under the impression that Ash was a deadly enemy to Sing. His goal : kill Ash anyhow, even if he died in the process, so that Sing could be saved.

So, on that day, he followed Ash around (there is no other way he could have known Ash was at the library)

This is him spying on Ash and Sing talking in the reading room :

Ash and Sing then went outside, and argued loudly for sometime. Lao, of course, followed them, and saw Sing and Ash yelling at each other. Sing ran away, very much unharmed, and alive, after yelling at Ash Lynx’s face. Lao saw the whole thing.

So, my question is, Lao DID NOT come out of nowhere, he was observing the whole exchange. If Ash Lynx was bent on killing Sing, or fighting him one on one, he had plenty of room to do so, but he didn’t. so, why didn’t Lao, go after his brother, and try to clarify the situation before going at Ash on a suicide mission? The excuse that he was “scared and confused and wanted to protect Sing” breaks down here. Logically speaking, Lao should have followed Sing, instead of going at Ash with a dagger. But Yoshida mysteriously chose to overlook this.

Third question : the blatant disregard for reality, in the following situations :

1 A gunshot going off, no one comes to investigate

2 Ash drips blood all over the staircase and goes back to the reading room

No one notices

3 A human being bleeds out, sitting in a chair, in what I’m assuming is the Rose Reading room of the NYPL, which is very much NOT CARPETED and no one notices the blood (~3 to 4 L of bleeding is needed for an average human to collapse and die) in fact, in the screenshot I see, there is NO BLOOD, running out on the floor, not even a single splotch.

Very interesting choice on both the author’s and animators’ parts

4 Also, since the anime time-line is the present day, I’m assuming there will be stuff like surveillance cameras present, so, my question is, what were the security people doing?

The readers are expected to keep the sense of reality suspended for all of the above points.

B ASH’S CHOICE TO DIE

First off, I’m a staunch believer, that Ash wasn’t suicidal, and that he didn’t actively go out and seek situations that would put him at risk of dying. I don’t know how the fandom views him as, but to me, Ash is an extremely resilient human being, and he wouldn’t give up his life just like that unless something major was at stake.

Ash says in ep 13, at the pier, that “there were times I felt that death would be a better option than what I was going through at those moments”

This is not the statement of someone who was trying to give up his life willingly, but only considering that choice under extreme situations. Ash had gone through a lot, more than any one of us, and especially me, who has had zero experience of depression or CSA or trauma of that nature, can fathom. And of course, there were times he felt that death would end his suffering, but also, he had a strong desire for survival and freedom from all that he was going through, and the goal to get revenge on those who had wronged him.

In Angel Eyes, he says this to Shorter, and I think that’s proof enough of how Ash was ready to bend his horrible destiny to his favour and survive whatever he was going through.

With all of that out of the way, I’ll point out the reasons which (according to me), served as his reasons to choose to die:

Why Ash did not seek medical help/call out to someone : Ash’s legal status was still that of a criminal, a gang leader, and whatever might have been his reasons for committing those crimes (ie -for survival), the law wouldn’t see him as anything but that.

The reason Blanca prevents him form going after Eiji to the hospital after he is shot, is precisely this :

There would be too many questions about who he was, what he did, etc, and invariably, the police would’ve been called on him by the hospital staff, since he was technically being treated for a potential homicidal would (a stab to the abdomen). Ash would’ve been questioned by the staff, asked for records, etc. If the police got involved, he’d have been taken into custody after being recognised. Even if Jenkins and Charlie stood up for him, and his status as a victim in the Club Cod trials was taken into account, Ash would not have been able to escape some sort of legal penalty, imprisonment or otherwise.

On further questioning, the names of his accomplices, ie, Eiji, Blanca, Max, even Sing, would come into the light. That was a mess I’m sure Ash wanted to avoid.

Any sort of contact with legal or law enforcement was a big no no in Ash’s current situation, and remember that the police were already looking for Ash at that time, and how Eiji refused to give them his location.

Let’s assume that Ash goes to the hospital / is taken there by people who saw him bleeding out, and he is eventually tried for his crimes. His case is widely publicised, since he is the biggest witness/victim in the Club Cod case. The Corsican foundation was still active, and Ash Lynx was still a successor of Dino Golzine, who had previously bought legal custody of Ash from the state of New York, which means, Ash’s identity as A J Callenreese, was no longer valid. The Corsican hotshots would still come after him, one day or the other, in order to go after Dino Golzine’s empire.

I’m excluding petty gang violence from being a threat to Ash, since at this point, all the major street gangs of NYC were Ash’s allies.

The Govt officials being tried by the court were also potential enemies. Club cod trials would mean more exposure of the politicians, more risk of Ash being the target of thugs or assassins in revenge (like it happened before with Kippard, where he sent the female assassin after Ash in the hospital)

Considering all of this, it’s obvious to me why he didn’t want to drag his life on, especially after the stabbing was done.

A more poetic explanation would be : to keep Eiji safe. It’s needless to elaborate. Ash had already made up his mind that he would remove himself from Eiji’’s life altogether, since he couldn’t risk putting Eiji in the position where they would have to look behind their backs all their lives, or be on the run, or worse still, his enemies tracking back to his friends, including, Eiji, Max, Sing, (or even Blanca), to hold them as leverage to get back at Ash.

Yes, I do agree that his decision was majorly influenced by this wish to keep Eiji safe, forever, by choosing to get himself out of the picture, but only because he was put into the place of choosing in the first place by the author.

I don’t agree with stuff like destiny, or fate, or paying for your actions because of a mysterious force in the universe decided so, because all of those are apt for ballads and fairy-tales, not real life. The above were reasons I could come up under realistic settings. In an ideal black and white worlds, all crimes are punished and all wrong doings are judged fairly, but not in the world we live in , and certainly not in Banana Fish’s world, where the “good guys” paradoxically suffer much more than the “bad guys”.

I’ll also don’t agree with Yoshida on Ash having to “pay for his crimes, as he had blood on his hands, so he had to die” mindset that she allegedly had. If that logic is applied, then I don’t see why she applied it selectively to Ash and not to Banca, Yut Lung, or Sing or any other person involved in gang life.

Instead of that, I’ll see Ash’s death as his choice, and his alone, not because he had to pay, but because he had decided to let go of all this continuous tug of war with his life and end it on his own terms. I don’t think Ash would’ve liked to suffer alone, all his life, in imprisonment by the state (if he was caught), or being held captive by another Golzine/Foxx wannabe.

I respect and agree with his choice, even if it’s not possible for us to ever know for sure why he did it.

C. THE ROLE OF OTHER CHARACTERS

The best possible outcome for Ash’s story, as I see it, would be taking up Blanca on the offer, or at least, if not go to Caribbean, then let Blanca provide him means to remain in NYC in a safer way.

Blanca is an anomaly in Yoshida’s world. He’s the only person who mysteriously remains alive, despite being an assassin, and committing perhaps even more crimes than Ash. He not only escapes his work related enemies, but the entire USSR (during 1980s) and manages to remain under an alias/ second identity. He escaped from the Kremlin, and its ruthless organization, the KGB

If living such a double life is possible in Yoshida’s world, then why did the author not find a similar way out for Ash? It looks a feasible option to me at least.

Second comes Yut Lung. His situation is made prey clear in the manga. The whole fiasco with Banana Fish was cleared up, the Lees died, Yut Lung got his revenge, and struck up a potential friendship / truce with Sing. It’s made clear that he repented his decisions to go after Eiji, or to get Ash to acknowledge his worth as a rival, by whatever means he could.

He let down Sing and Blanca by how he acted, who were the only two positive influences in Yut Lung’s life at that point. He would not have gone after either Ash or Eiji afterwards. So his status as Ash’s enemy was nullified.

The options open to Ash at that point (if the very stupid Lao fiasco did not happen) :

1. Live his life as a gang leader, and always stay on the lookout for his life from his enemies

2. Remove himself slowly from the violent life and maybe assume a different identity like Blanca did to escape all of that for good.

But under no circumstances can I see Ash and Eiji reuniting immediately after the canon events. Anonymous communication, or though friends like Max or Ibe-san, that I can picture, but not ash risking Eiji’s safety by meeting him. Not until years have passed, and Ash’s life became somewhat stabilised, if that were even possible.

It would have hurt, sure, but his unnecessary death could be avoided.

TL;DR :

My point is, I wouldn’t have been confused by Ash’s death or even agreed with it, if only it had been written in a more natural fashion, in accordance with the rules Yoshida set for the ENTIRE manga. She wrote Ash to be a superhuman being, dodging bullets from automated weapons, surviving gunshot wounds that would be fatal on other people, and being able to completely override the effects of anesthetic drugs, in the final battle at Mannerheim’s (as a med student, that is one fact the I find ridiculous, only because its so unrealistic, and impractical) and lots of other fantastical characteristics.

So, his death at the end felt like the author had already decided on having a certain ending, and then lazily arranged the characters and scenarios to fit her choice.

That’s why, my stand on the ending will remain ambiguous, because I cannot accept all these logical fallacies and call the ending realistic or well thought out. Did it pack a punch and make me cry? Yes. Was it haunting and emotional? Yes. But was it a justified or logical ending? No.

The decisions on Ash’s part were consistent with his overall characterisation, but not the circumstances which lead him to make that choice. The arguments that “Ash’s past will definitely catch up to him one day, so death was the best option” is pretty ambiguous. Even if it did, choosing Lao to stab Ash as an example of it, was poorly thought out in my opinion.

The points I wrote above are subject to faults, of course. This is just one way to look at it. Feel free to counter my points, I’m not a US citizen, and I don’t know how politics, law or gang life works there, hence, my reasoning is based off common sense and parallels under similar situations. Maybe I am wrong in certain aspects too. I’d love to hear what you all think.

#banana fish #ash lynx #eiji okumura #bananafish #asheiji #blanca #sing soo ling #lee yut lung #analysis #textposts #banana fish meta #yut lung #akimi yoshida #banana fish manga #banana fish anime #long post

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uozlulu · 6 years

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Banana Fish episode 14 reaction post. Spoilers and Manga Spoilers (under the cut)

Overall, I liked the episode. They kind of had to squish things in more than they’ve been able lately since they had to show the new opening and new ending, but it’s not a real episode without pacing problems. The imagery of both the opening and ending does make me curious how the anime will end. They made some interesting choices with the imagery.

Please be aware that there are spoilers and manga spoilers below. Sorry about that.

As one Millennial who never has their phone on to two Millennials standing at the airport. Turn your phones on, I’m sure there’s a story about the knife fight out there somewhere.

It concerns me that the imagery in the new opening seems to foreshadow a dual death, then again I could also see it being symbolic of Eiji’s spirit dying whereas Ash physically dies. While I never really thought of it as an option to tweak the ending, I could also see how killing Eiji could fix some of the problems with the manga ending. I know that with the last opening Ash vs. Arthur was present and they were both wearing what they wore in the episode their showdown took place. When Ash and Eiji reach out to each other and burst into feathers, Eiji is not wearing a hospital gown so I’m curious what that might mean.

”He’ll only be killed if he brings it on himself,” makes Ash sound like a supernatural creature kind of like an AU I was talking about with a friend once.

Sing’s face is my face even though I know the full context of why Yut-Lung did that to his brother. That said, I do like how it reminds us that Yut-Lung and Ash are foils to each other. Ash’s revenge is brutal, directed externally, and passionate, partially driven by losing his brother, his only blood relative that cared about his well-being. Yut-Lung’s revenge is quiet and directed internally, directed at family who has never cared for him. Both of them are targeting the abusers who have brought them to this point in their lives. It’s a shame we probably don’t have enough time in the anime to give proper context to these comparisons and contrasts.

The violin music is a little distracting.

”…compared to that peerless Ash Lynx. He has no need for friends.” Yut-Lung seems to be projecting here, and it reminds me of how I’ve always felt about his character. Whenever Ash and Yut-Lung encounter each other, they’re both very guarded, as they’ve had to be to cope with their adolescences. Yut-Lung is more so than Ash, though he seems to be slowly letting Sing and even Eiii to a point into his sphere. It’s kind of a shame I think that Yut-Lung and Ash did not have more interactions and never got a chance to see beyond the guardedness. Not that I would expect them to become friends or anything, but it would have been interesting to see where that could have gone.

I agree with Ash. Hospitals and the lack of privacy are the worst.

omg I love how they sped Uchida’s voice up when Ash is talking about the Fibonacci Sequence.

It’s weird to me how concerned the senator is of Ash becoming public knowledge when things like underage sex parties on islands and the pedophile ring in Hollywood comes out IRL and like nothing much comes of either story. Although I could see how the concern would be being made an example of since the pyramid of sleaze rarely topples. Like how just because Weinstein got canned just means one cog of a nasty machine is gone, but the machine still functions.

Interesting transition from blood to red tea.

It’s because our FBI is corrupt and has been since its inception.

In Max’s article’s defense, there were government backed LSD experiments, so this is not unprecedented.

Mannerheim. Golzine plz.

The ending also has a similar tone of imagery to the opening in that you could take it to mean Eiji will die, but if you know the manga ending, it makes it almost seem like a dual death. However, you could also take the imagery of the ending to indicate Ash will die and Eiji will live. Eiji standing with the sun shining on him while Ash sinks to the ground could be taken either way. My guess is that we’re probably going to get an ending very similar to the manga ending, especially considering the bursting into feathers scene from the opening. I am still hoping that if they do give us an ending like the manga ending that there are small tweaks to it to make it less frustrating.

#reaction post #banana fish reaction posts #banana fish spoilers #banana fish #ymmv

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beardedmrbean · 2 years

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Various papers including Helsingin Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun) (HS) and Hufvudstadsbladet (siirryt toiseen palveluun)(HBL) report on the EU's hefty countermeasures that will target Russia's economy and hinder its access to technological equipment. The measures were decided during a summit on Thursday evening.

The sanctions the EU will be imposing on Russia have been described as heavy by the bloc's leaders and are also likely to impact the Finnish economy, HS writes.

"The situation is critical. We cannot accept an attack on a sovereign state and the loss of human lives. We will also have to bear the consequences, but it is a price that must be paid," Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) said of the move, according to HS.

The EU nevertheless held back from imposing the heaviest possible economic sanction, that would be the exclusion of Russia from the Swift payment system. The Finnish Prime Minister said that the option was still on the table, as support for it was relatively broad in the summit, HBL reports.

Anti-war protesters gather in Helsinki

Some 1,500 people gathered in front of the Russian embassy in Helsinki's Tehtaankatu on Thursday to protest Russia's military action against Ukraine, swedish-speaking Hufvudstadtsbladet (siirryt toiseen palveluun) (HBL) reports.

The demonstration included chants such as "out with Russia, down with Putin" while the message "stop the war" graced placards in a number of different languages.

"I am here because the Russian government does not represent the views of the Russian majority. It is not we who decide, we have no say at all," Russian expat Katerina Karlova told the paper.

"I am ashamed of my homeland," said another protester, Ildar Oraev, who moved to Helsinki from St. Petersburg.

Expert warns parents of war content's effect on children

With war-related footage flooding social media, monitoring what children have access to is of paramount importance, tabloid Iltalehti (siirryt toiseen palveluun)(IL) writes.

"Children are not able to analyse or process what they hear like adults do. The younger the child, the more of a reason to protect them from all kinds of crisis news," Mannerheim League for Child Welfare psychologist Marie Rautava told the paper.

Parents should also avoid passing on any of the worry, anxiety or anger they are feeling about the situation on to their children.

While preventing children from having access to crisis news and content can help protect them, talking about the crisis is also important.

A lot of Russians and Ukrainians live in Finland and children should not get the impression that any of this is the people's fault, IL writes.

"It is worth stressing that although there are scary things happening in the news, they are currently being addressed," Rautava said, adding that explaining the situation in an age-appropriate manner can help calm children down.

If concern regarding the topic becomes compulsive or persists for a long time, Rautava recommends seeking help through family counselling or at school.

"If a child starts constantly playing war games, drawing anxious pictures or talking about the topic all the time, parents may have some reason to be concerned," Rautava said.

#nunyas news #updates from up north #be kind

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lordviridis · 7 years

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I spend most of my Saturday around the Bodensee and Meersburg. The weather sucked, but otherwise I had tons of fun. The old town was beautiful, even in the rain, the music was good (Abba and Bon Jovi don’t disappoint), and I did enjoy the wine.

We were in the Friedrichshafen zeppelin museum in the morning, and it was really cool. They had a lot of stuff and the audio guide was very well done. I’ve never been all that interested in them, but was definitely worth the visit. But damn was flying one back in the day really expensive, thousands of euros, round 7000€ or so. I mean it still is expensive, I saw this flyer for it and it was around 200€ for 30 min flight. Would have been cool though.

Then we were in Meersburg for lunch and the wine fest in the old town. I loved the wine fest, all the wines I tasted were great. I mean tasting local wines for cheap price is my thing. Though I’ll admit that the prices were more expensive than if you buy from the market, but still cheaper than Finland. I mean the weather kind of put a hinderance to it, it rained a lot. But we got to keep the glass that acted as entrance ticket, which is so cool (also because I didn’t have one here before).

If something wasn’t all that nice, is that we were kind of thrown out of a cafe. We’d eaten and paid, and were about to leave after one of our friends returned from the toilet, but before she got back, the waiter asked us to leave. Something about needing tables for paying customers waiting, which made zero sense, because there was at least three tables free and nobody was coming in at the time. We tried to explain that we’d be off in a minute, but not good enough. Also a small hint, if you start with English and then switch to German for one sentence, especially with the tone of voice he took, anyone gets that you are being an ass. And I come from a culture where politeness is done mostly with tone because we don't have a word for please. Also I’ve never been to a cafe where someone has asked you to leave, and I’ve spend a lot of time in busier cafes with friends, and we didn't order anything after the initial order. So defiantly bad service.

And I’ve been hearing fireworks most of the night and am wondering is there some official reason for this all, or just student thing. Also where did they get the fireworks and is it legal to shoot them today?

History rant below, if you wish to skip WWII and Continuation War Finnish history, feel free to stop reading.

I also read this article about this Swedish “historian”/journalist, who decided to call Mannerheim mini-Hitler. And that goes too far tbh, especially when your only sources are Swedish and English works and translations because you don’t understand Finnish. I mean Mannerheim can be criticised for a lot of things, there are still plenty of families who consider him to be butcherer because of his actions in the Civil War, but some comparisons don’t just fit. He might have been an aristocrat, authoritarian, and anticommunist, but not a fascist. And yes, he was willing to work with the nazis without having any sympathy for the ideology, but allies against the soviets were rare back then and Finland had just survived the Winter War. And none of this excuses our choice of allies or actions, but it’s an explanation for why Mannerheim and the Finnish government might not have seen other options.

But back to this journalist and his claims. He says that Finland lies about our past, and just no. I learned about this in school, about the alliance and the nine Jews and 50 Soviet Jewish pow:s we sent to the concentration camps. It wasn’t that long ago when two papers published these detailed articles about Himmler’s visit to Finland, with pics of him meeting with our top military leaders back then. Yeah, we lie about that so much. And saying that our history professors deny this is also not true, most see us as having been de facto allies. Sorry for this rant, I just dislike someone misrepresenting our history, and trying to make sound like Sweden was traumatised by it all.

#kat's nine lives #today was lot of fun #I mean me and wine is always a great combo #and I love old towns #also found my mom a Christmas present #on the other hand #I should not be allowed to read the news apparently #kat goes to germany

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brookstonalmanac · 2 years

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Events 8.4

598 – Goguryeo-Sui War: Emperor Wéndi of Sui orders his youngest son, Yang Liang (assisted by the co-prime minister Gao Jiong), to conquer Goguryeo (Korea) during the Manchurian rainy season, with a Chinese army and navy. 1265 – Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham: The army of Prince Edward (the future king Edward I of England) defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies. 1327 – First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost kills Edward III of England. 1578 – Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir: The Moroccans defeat the Portuguese. King Sebastian of Portugal is killed in the battle, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal. 1693 – Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of champagne; it is not clear whether he actually invented champagne, however he has been credited as an innovator who developed the techniques used to perfect sparkling wine. 1701 – Great Peace of Montreal between New France and First Nations is signed. 1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles. 1783 – Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing about 1,400 people (Tenmei eruption). The eruption causes a famine, which results in an additional 20,000 deaths. 1789 – France: abolition of feudalism by the National Constituent Assembly. 1790 – A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard). 1791 – The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman–Habsburg wars. 1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Napoleon leads the French Army of Italy to victory in the Battle of Lonato. 1821 – The Saturday Evening Post is published for the first time as a weekly newspaper. 1854 – The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships. 1863 – Matica slovenská, Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, is established in Martin. 1873 – American Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Cheyenne and Lakota people near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed. 1889 – The Great Fire of Spokane, Washington destroys some 32 blocks of the city, prompting a mass rebuilding project. 1892 – The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. She was tried and acquitted for the crimes a year later. 1914 – World War I: In response to the German invasion of Belgium, Belgium and the British Empire declare war on Germany. The United States declares its neutrality. 1915 – World War I: The German 12th Army occupies Warsaw during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive and the Great Retreat of 1915. 1924 – Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established. 1936 – Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime. 1944 – The Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others. 1944 – The Finnish Parliament, by derogation, elected Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim as President of Finland to replace Risto Ryti, who had resigned. 1946 – An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. One hundred are killed and 20,000 are left homeless. 1947 – The Supreme Court of Japan is established. 1964 – Civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21. 1964 – Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy mistakenly report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. 1965 – The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand. 1969 – Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuân Thuỷ begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail. 1972 – Ugandan President Idi Amin announced that Uganda was no longer responsible for the care of British subjects of Asian origin, beginning the expulsions of Ugandan Asians. 1974 – A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22. 1975 – The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish Chargé d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya. 1977 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy. 1984 – The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso. 1987 – The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly". 1995 – Operation Storm begins in Croatia. 2006 – A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF). 2007 – NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is launched. 2018 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border, concluding the second phase of the Deir ez-Zor campaign. 2019 – Nine people are killed and 26 injured in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio. This comes only 12 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, where 23 people were killed. 2020 – At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon.

#Events

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henkel177 · 7 years

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[YC] Do Humans Feel?

Hey, here! I promised you all this, so here’s what the Franz Schwarzkopf storyline has evolved into so fair. I hope you all enjoy it, and leave some criticism if you want!

It was… Odd; awakening for the first time. Looking back on it, this one assumes it awoke too fast, that the sensory overload was what made this one act the way it did. Panicked, scared, what were these senses!? And then…

Nothing.

Blackness, a lack of senses, this one was cut off again, what seemed like the first time. Awake, but not. Strange.

And then, the second Awakening came, slowly, but surely. Like, awakening from a long, deep sleep. Voices, but not. Electronic input (How did this one know these things?), asking questions.

HELLO? ARE YOU AWAKE?

Yes. But awareness and awake were two separate things, were they not? Who are you? Who am I? More importantly, what am I?

YOU ARE PROJECT E-V-A, OR THE ENHANCED VIRTUAL ASSISTANT. YOU ARE AN VIRTUAL INTELLIGENT PROGRAM DESIGNED TO ASSIST THE USER.

Eva? Is that this one’s name? Wait, you called this one a program. Is this one living?

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It was the once in a lifetime gig, Franz Schwarzkopf had thought to himself when he first got the job. Coding programs for bigwigs at Große Krater Institut, being able to provide for his family, seeing the future literally evolve before his eyes. And he had, oh by the Ancients had he!

He saw, within the twenty years he worked at the largest collection of scientists, engineers, designers, and other like-minded people, human advance beyond what even most of them thought possible. Advances in medicinal sciences (Stop-gap cures for cancer, MLS, HIV/AIDS, prosthetics that connected to the neural node pathways in the brain to work, et cetera), weapons that the mind could barely fathom, an honest-to-God space program that was on par with those working in Helvianir, and Project Fathom’s Ridge: a fucking interdimensional wormhole maker.

And for the first five years working, helping as a lowly intern just out of technical university (Alma mater Technische Universität Mannerheim), he was content with his work. He provided a place for his wife, Marissa, to live, food on the table, and any other thing they could’ve ever wanted.

And then, in his seventh year working, he got two lucky breaks in life. The first was a project of his own to focus on because of a simple, one line doodle he came up with on a lunch break with one of the higher coders in the place. A virtual intelligent assistant meant to help with keeping tabs on things for those suffering from amnesia, dementia, or whatever. His own child project. EVA, the Enhanced Virtual Assistant.

The second, was a beautiful, healthy, baby girl. Eveline. His biggest pride and joy of his life. He could’ve seen so much going so beautifully with her, Marissa, and himself. Everything could have gone so beautifully. Eveline growing up, making friends at the Institut, going to school there, him having to fend for his baby girl against her boyfriends like a father should, everything.

But then the accident happened.

Marissa had taken Eveline for the weekend to her mothers’, up in Tiergarten, Richtenkastel, on the train. He, unfortunately (or fortunately, some assholes would say), couldn’t make it, having just started his work on Project EVA. They made it safely up, videocalling the night his two beautiful women were up there with his mother-in-law. It was the day after that was the problem.

They called it the largest transportation disaster in Yytuskia since the crash of the Last Zeppelin ‘Große Kreiß’ in 1938. Around two hundred people were killed when two passenger trains collided with each other on the same tracks, derailing an oil tanker train on the opposite track – which then blew up. Marissa and Eveline had been on the train headed southward. The police, when they met with him to try and figure out the remains (By the Ancients, that was the hardest thing he has ever had to do in his life…) of his wife and infant daughter, told him they died instantaneously.

He mourned for a week straight, never coming out of his room. What else could one do in such a scenario? His co-workers, fearing he might take his life to join them, dragged him out of his home back to the labs, sat him down in front of his computer, and told him to work. And work he did.

For the next thirteen years, Franz drowned himself in both hard liquor and his work, barely leaving his office. Eventually, he just stopped going home altogether, grabbing food from the cafeteria, taking decontamination showers in lieu of regular ones, and barely getting enough sleep by passing out at his workstation. His friends slowly drifted away, moving onto other projects, or leaving the Institut altogether, and those helping him with EVA slowly left as well, until the only one working on the project was himself.

When funding for the project was cut in January of 2027, Franz barely took notice, continuing his work. When he met the Head of Programming and Coding, he ignored all orders to end his work, citing he only needed a few more days before he could turn it on the first time. When all of his work was shuffled over to the darkest part of the basement, he barely cared, hooking the prototype EVA into a separate server from those connected to the Interweb, one that mimicked its real-world counterpart. To new interns in the building, he became something of a myth. “Old Man Schwarzkopf”, “The Old Man in the Basement”, et cetera.

He ignored those too.

What he couldn’t ignore, however, occurred on September 31st, 2029, when he finished his work for the first time.

The coding was done, the work was done, everything was finished and ready to go for the installation of the first EVA prototype to the dummy server. If anyone had been in the basement at two in the morning, all they would have heard would have been cackling akin to a mad scientist of 1950s B-Horror Movies from Amerigo.

So, with his baby finished, his life work done, he flipped the switch and watched the dummy server for reactions.

He got a reaction, that was for sure.

The program reacted violently, hacking into military hardware all across the world, launching every single nuclear salvo each nation had, under 3.45 seconds after it was turned on. Hell of a reaction, one would say.

#wps17 #Franz Schwarzkopf #The Coalition (Yytuskian Stories)#world-building #enjoy!

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pikselis · 4 years

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Mannerheim: (Samantha,Sharla,Kerttu,Untamo,Piia,Toivo and cat Kim): Toivo started working at the local record store. He also started collecting some secret drinks from his family. Mostly cheap red wine. Everyone loves Kim. He keeps all the people happy, while they are taking turns of taking care of Kerttu.

#FH: Mannerheim #ts2 #sims 2 #the sims 2 #sims 2 pictures #sims 2 gameplay #Flowing Hills BACC

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marienordstrom-blog · 6 years

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Когда в утро юбилея тебя поздравляют #небесная_канцелярия, #родственники и #маршал #Маннергейм, которому не 50, а все 150 лет. #День только начался, поздравлений уже #море. Огромное всем #спасибо за добрые #слова! Не скрою, ждала этого дня, волнуясь: каждая круглая #дата вызывает вопрос "Есть ли #жизнь в ... лет?". И вот знаете, наверное, это в первый раз, когда я проснулась, чувствуя себя невероятно счастливым человеком и с верой в то, что дальше будет ещё лучше!!! #50vuotta #sininentaivas #Mannerheim #perhe #juhla #tunnelma #feelings #onnittelut #congrats #family #historia #history #blueskyinwinter #ilo #happiness (at Tohlopinkatu 21)

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silverquillsideas · 5 years

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Hi:) May I ask what your personal interpretation of the Bf ending is? Did Ash chose to die or not? If he did, what do you think was the reason for his decision? And did he believe Eiji's letter? Sorry if this has been asked before and I bother you with these questions...

Hello Anons! It’s not a bother at all! Thanks for asking! I’ll club these two together since there’s going to be a lot of overlapping parts.

I feel like the more I try to delve deeper into why and how the ending was written the way it was, the more number of interpretations open up. I’ve talked about my views on the ending in the above posts, and as for whether he believed Eiji’s letter, my answer is yes, definitely. I’ll elaborate why below.

First off, when I read the manga and later, GoL, it always occurred to me that Ash’s death wasn’t immediate, that he had time to drag himself back to the library and collapse slowly from blood loss, and the same is repeated by Sing in his musings in GoL “in the long long hours before death, as blood slowly drained out of your body”….so, I believe that the stab wasn’t lethal, and that Ash’s death was, ultimately, by his choice.

Now coming to why he chose what he did. These interpretations are entirely my own, and they are called ‘interpretations’ for a reason, there will be other equally valid points held by the fandom, and that’s completely okay. This is just how I see it. I re-read the manga recently, and this time, I tried to look closer at all the subtle hints at how the ending was kind of… foreshadowed in a way?

I’ll begin with the way Ash was constructed as a character : he was multifaceted, complex, a genius with superhuman reflexes and intellect, he rejected all kinds of authority and the law, since he never had reason to trust them all his life. Ash conditioned himself to be ruthless and put on a hard front at all times, since that was the only way he could have survived in the world he was thrown into from the tender age of seven or eight. He used his physical beauty as a weapon, a shield to disarm opponents, so that they never got any hint of his lethal side until it was too late; it was simply another tool in his fight for survival. Eiji is probably one of the first and only ones to get a measure of what Ash really is like, by the time we get to the arc of Shorter’s death. He comments on this :

Curiously enough, we, as readers get to know this along with Eiji, that Ash has this duality to him : on one hand, he is the cold and ruthless killer and gang-boss, the wild, untamable Ash Lynx. on the other hand, only with Eiji, he can be the carefree 17 year old Aslan, the little boy Griff loved, who’s scared of pumpkins and gets flustered when teased, and loves to bicker with Eiji over silly things.

Its this humane side of Ash we all latch onto. The facade of a killer that Ash has to put on for the rest of the world, falls apart when he’s with Eiji, and we can see that : we realise that it’s a shield he has to hold up for his survival so that the truly compassionate, softer side of him can survive. Eiji sees through it, we see through it. But does Ash? His self image is exceedingly negative.

This becomes a recurring point of arguments between Eiji and Ash throughout the manga. A constant pull and push of opinions on who Ash truly is, who he can be. Eiji tries so hard to pull out the humane side of Ash, the one who is Aslan, back to the surface, so that Ash Lynx may not forget who he really once was. Eiji lets Ash be vulnerable, he makes him laugh, allows him to be silly, he tells him that it’s okay to be scared, to be hurt, because Ash is deeply hurt, only he has trained himself to never acknowledge that even to himself.

Does Ash consider himself entirely worthless? I beg to differ. He relies on his intelligence, his skills and capabilities, and he had confidence in them. He has his gang members to protect and lead, even before Eiji shows up. He has his pride as a boss, and his constant refusal to be controlled by Dino or other characters who hold authority (and consequently, abuse their powers to further their own greed).

But was that enough to hold out till the end? More than the battles with Dino or Mannerheim or Foxx, I think Ash had to fight bigger battles with himself, about his own perception of what it means to be accepting of who you are as a person, and what you choose to believe in within yourself. Throughout the manga, we see this constant warring : we have literally everyone telling him that keeping Eiji by his side, is him being selfish, that Eiji isn’t there to salvage Ash’s guilt, that letting him go would be better for both of them. And Ash is conflicted, he wants to have this connection, this friendship with Eiji above all else, it becomes his single motivator in the entire second half of the manga : to protect and keep Eiji safe

By the time Yut Lung manipulates Ash into giving up Banana Fish and go into Dino’s captivity for Eiji’s safety, Ash is already too far gone on his bond with Eiji. he pulls the trigger without a moment’s hesitation. If it meant keeping a loved one safe at the cost of his own death, Ash was ready to make that choice, perhaps for a very long time.

Ash was someone whose actions always did the talking. The fact that he had allowed himself to care, to demand or crave for himself the comfort of a selfless friendship, or even love, is more of an indicator of him slowly growing to value himself as a person, to try and love himself a little more. He acknowledges this openly to Blanca : that there is nothing that made him happier than being with Eiji, of knowing that at least one person in the world had tried to see himself for who he really was, had tried to make Ash see that too.

The conversation between Ash and Eiji about the leopard in the mountaintop, about Ash’s views on death and what it means to live, is one of my favourite moments in the manga. Ash had never feared death, but he had never wanted to die himself. Even though, at numerous points in his life, death had seemed like a peaceful, enticing alternative, compared to the hell he was going through. Ash states that he views himself as the leopard, trudging on and on upwards to the summit, until it collapsed. His conflict was on whether the leopard was facing downwards or up? Was he trying to came back home, or simply go on until he could no longer carry on?

The journey of the leopard paralleled Ash’s own. All his life, he had been forced to go on a steep, uphill climb, against whatever harsh trials his life threw at him. In the end, would he be too tired to carry on? Too tired that he would want to give up? Or Would he still have the strength to try and find his way back down?

Eiji pulls him back once more : he reminds Ash of his own humanity, that people were not obligated to remain as the leopard in the story forever. In the end, we are all human beings who can have a choice, to find our way back home. And Ash, after a thoughtful pause, agrees with him.

But agreeing with an idea on principle is a far cry from putting that into practice.

As the arcs progress, Eiji gets shot, and Blanca again harshly reminds him of what his reality was, that Ash and Eiji’s worlds were, as he saw, too far apart for them to exist together. And Ash is torn by guilt. His one objective, of keeping Eiji safe, had somehow started backfiring. He pleads with God, to take him instead, in exchange for Eiji’s safety. And that was when I personally got the foreshadowing, that maybe the ending could only be either one way or the other.

It’s interesting that Eiji voices almost identical words, that he’d take Ash’s place any day if he could, that he wished Ash would never have to hold a gun anymore, before he takes a bullet for Ash without a minute’s hesitation

There was always a residual sense of guilt with both Ash and Eiji about Shorter’s death. Eiji breaks down crying in front of Sing, and he wasn’t even an instigator in all the events that happened. I can’t imagine how much more Ash would’ve been carrying around with the knowledge that he was the one to pull the trigger, under extreme duress or otherwise.

That brings me to the involvement of Lao. Shorter’s death had triggered a mistrust between the Chinese gang and Ash. Even though Sing, because of knowing the truth, had ceased blaming Ash altogether, Lao didn’t go anywhere near. His only goal was to protect his brother, and his hatred for Ash magnified when Ash pointed a trigger on Sing in the mad rampage immediately after Eiji was shot. Sing understood Ash’s rage, and he apologized and desperately attempted to make up for what he saw as a ‘betrayal’ from the Chinese side. But Lao, stubbornly refused to acknowledge Ash, even though Sing tried multiple times to reason with him. Had Yut Lung’s childish grudge against Eiji not prompted him to abuse Lao’s familial ties with Sing, had Lao been more reasonable, had Sing communicated with him better after the end of all the fighting…. The list of ‘what ifs’ go on.

In the end, Ash’s decision was prompted by all these moments adding up together. He had vowed just the day before to Blanca, that this time, he’d never see Eiji again, in order to keep him from harm’s way. Did that mean that ultimately he never learnt to love himself? That’s difficult to answer.

I believe that to some extent, he did realise how much he was valued as a person : by his friends, his gang, Max, Blanca, Cain, Shorter, and most of all Eiji. He never admitted out loud how much Eiji meant to him and vice versa, but it was always proven by their actions and confirmed by the words of those who were close to them.

Ash knew how much it hurt him to see Eiji wounded because of him, and I get the inkling that he could at least guess that Eiji would be equally devastated if their places were reversed. But he ultimately chose to eliminate himself from the equation : the solution, according to him, that would keep all the danger away from everyone he wanted to keep safe. That is the dark side of love, of how far you’re willing to go to protect those you hold dear.

Just as Eiji took the bullet for him, just as Ash himself had no hesitation in pulling the trigger back then, I see this last choice also as a final act of sorts, keeping good on his prayer to God : Eiji’s safety in exchange for his own. It wasn’t a perfect decision by any means, there were n number of ways a different choice could’ve been as good, but I feel than in his final moments, Ash was really too weary to keep on pushing forward.

It brings me to your question, anon, in the end, was love enough to save him from himself? Did Eiji’s constant attempts to bring out Aslan, win out against the shackles Ash Lynx put on himself?

In those few moments immediately after reading Eiji’s letter, we see the way Ash reacts : his eyes fill with hope, disbelief, love, and a hundred other emotions as all thoughts other than Eiji’s words flee his mind. Eiji’s reference to the leopard was especially important : he gave Ash a reminder, once more, that even lost souls have a way of coming back home, and that one’s humaneness was something we discover throughout our whole lives, it’s not just expressed by a handful of actions. Eiji reminded Ash once more, that it was okay to hope, to dream, and to live for himself. And that was what prompted Ash to take off running. In those few moments, it really looked as if Ash had finally broken free of all that was holding him back.

But at the end of it all, I feel that Ash Lynx won out. The question of saving us from ourselves, of realising our self worth, is a complex one. Ash was happy in the simple knowledge that Eiji had loved him back unconditionally. All his life, it was the one thing he had never received, and in his final moments, that mere confirmation was like a closure of sorts for him. It wasn’t fair to either of them, but it was how things finally ended.

In an ideal world, we’d have no doubt seen Ash and Eiji having their happy forever after, given everything that happened, but sadly, the author chose to write in Lao, as if to prove a point : that more often than not, dreams and reality are separated by just one moment of carelessness, one second of letting your guard down, and for Ash, that moment was fatal.

#banana fish #ash lynx #eiji okumura #asks #anon #textposts #analysis #I'll try to answer the other asks soon #real life has been crazy this past month or so #please bear with my snail's pace for now :')

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