Despite being an 18-year-old skinny pretty boy, Ash commands respect and fear from everyone in New York’s underground. He’s affable on the surface, but just underneath hides a stone cold determination that gives him the focus he needs to take out anyone who dares cross him.

Even the leaders of the black and Chinese gangs listen to him, knowing that he’ll stay off their turf and lend them a hand if they do the same. He has an army of fiercely loyal subordinates who he treats like family, just as long as they don’t betray him. In other words, he’s not to be underestimated.

Ash is mainly seen wielding a Smith & Wesson Model 27 revolver, which he gets plenty of opportunities to use in the series. He learned how to shoot when he was young as a means of self-defense against rapists and, by now, he’s such an expert that he can survive an ambush on a crowded train by strategically gunning down each assailant one precise headshot at a time.

No matter what it is, if there’s anything he can do to give himself a leg up on his enemies, Ash will do it. He’s made connections all over the gang world, used his sex appeal to gain trust and get information, and even prepared a hacking program to get into a computer that contained secrets on Banana Fish. He may not have much of a higher education, but his street smarts and willingness to throw away his pride for any kind of an advantage make him a slippery opponent.

All of Ash’s gang members follow him not just because of his powerful aura, but because he genuinely cares about each and every one of them. And when Eiji arranges a Halloween party to prank him (due to Ash’s childhood fear of pumpkins), the group spends a fun evening acting like normal teenagers for once.

He also loves his estranged father, even though he’s too stubborn to say it outright. To keep up appearances and hide his loved ones from danger, Ash pushes his feelings down deep and faces his opponents alone if he can possibly help it.

Ash sees himself as an irredeemable murderer who coasts by on a façade of cool-headed seriousness. He can’t show his true weakness to anyone else for fear of them taking advantage of it but Eiji breaks down his barriers enough to see some of it trickling through in quiet moments.

Eiji notices that Ash cries in his sleep for his mother, envies Eiji for not needing a gun in his life, and loses a bit of his soul every time he pulls the trigger. Eiji supports him through all of it and gives his friend the strength to continue walking his bloody path until he can finally be free.