Maybe Ive just run out of patience. After fifteen years of seeing/reading queeradjacent stories that think this kind of subtext is good writing that refuse to just spit it out and make it official thats a distinct possibility. But even with that taken into account Banana Fish is one of the most extreme examples Ive ever seen. I started watching this anime because drug mystery intrigue with gang wars and two guys falling in love among the chaos? Sign. me. up. However around the halfway point I started to get the feeling that they were either A. heavily delaying the inevitable or B. never plan on turning the subtext into text. So I looked up what to expect even though Im violently antispoiler and Im extremely happy I did. Because if I had to watch gun shooting lessons draped in sunsets declarations of Ill wait for you forever super zoomed in closeups of deeply affected reactions to what the other was heroically doing tongue kissing for strictly plot purposes tearful confessions of guarded secrets in the dead of night one of them thinks the other is dead tropes etc etc etc with no actual romantic payoff I would have been livid. At some point calling it a friendship becomes irresponsible writing. If youre treating it like a romance developing it like a romance and giving it all the emotional cues of a romance but dont turn the corner and make it a freaking romance that is bad writing. Thats setting up viewer expectation and not delivering. At all. May as well pull the rug and yell sike while youre at it. And whats more apparently the original manga that came out in the 1980s for crying out loud called a spade a spade They actually called them gay So why not the anime? The whole thing is baffling especially since the rest of it is damn compelling. Sure some of the twists and turns arent terribly surprising or imaginative but its sourced from the 80s. As a whole it keeps you engaged keeps things moving and throws more obstacles at the main characters than they know what to do with. Ash got hit with the Tragedy Porn in particular but again...80s. They had a solid entertaining captivating thing here all of it cheapened by robbing the core relationship of the show of its due.