Banana Fish has really got it going on this season. I was apprehensive about it due to the fact that it’s Josei which means with pretty boys comes hardcore BL. However Banana Fish is doing is right by towing the line perfectly.

This week we see Ash trying to recover while getting blackmail and Eiji at his side. It has this whole sort of homoeroticism to it without actually being gay. Dare I say, this is a actual, wholesome friendship? Ash likes to mess with semi-pure Eiji and it’s funny and disarming, not awkward and gay. Maybe what I am trying to say as I take it in, is that this series isn7t plagued with toxic or fragile masculinity. Ash is unabashedly who he is regardless of what happened in his past, and doesn’t let that affect his relationship with Eiji. Still though, some things don’t change in this episode. It always ends in some sort of violent/dark act, and this week again was no surprise. Ash has played with some serious money and now Dino is in a lot of trouble. We see what’s coming next week with Arthur and his mission, but this is either the full departure of Dino and he’s gotta hide overseas while trying to fix this, while Arthur becomes the main villain, or Arthur is going to be disposed of in a few episodes. Either way, I can’t wait!

Well, I’m back and it’s been heck trying to catch up on anime! My pick of the week has to be Happy Sugar Life, a series that really drives me nuts with all the stuff going through. The characters may all have their own psychological problems but damn, Happy Sugar Life has got my own sprouting up. Anyway, the moment of the week revolves around Shio’s flashback to the situation with her mother, who we’ve seen popping up in her head and creating trouble here and there for Shio mentally. As we can see very briefly, Shio’s mother was in an abusive relationship with Shio’s father who is consistently physically and verbally abusing her. Despite all of the hardships, Shio’s mother does her best for Shio. She just waits and waits, hoping for her husband to die rather than running away. Then we see Shio’s mom crack as she goes back and forth between waiting and taking the abuse to losing it. The tipping point was when she slapped Shio to get her to understand that she can’t go outside.

This is very reflective of real life where many of us just tolerate whatever abuse is thrown our way until finally, we crack. This is what happens when people endure any type of abuse. You think you can last. You do it for some sort of greater good like to protect people or to save your parents from your shame, etc. etc. You have an idea of what the tipping point will be i.e. someone dying or high school being over. Then finally, you snap and someone gets hurt. While the way it’s shown in Happy Sugar Life is a bit crazed and all over the place, it’s true to life in the end and we have to applaud the mangaka and anime producers or how it was done!

After the last episode being one of the cutest so far, High Score Girl opted for avoiding the corny love story in spite of a sadistic one, and they did it brilliantly. Did you think that finally settling down, studying, accepting his feelings and spending time with the girl he likes, would make Haruo's life finally come close to perfection? YOU'RE WRONG!! All that time away from video games made him a total noob, not even able to win a single round against Koharu without cheating. Truth be told, the girl has been practicing to finally unleash her true skills, her last resort to get Haruo's attention.

Now with longer her and a cockier attitude, Koharu mopped the floor with Haruo without even trying, pulling combo after combo with a smile on her face. Damn, you could feel Haruo's self-esteem running away from the scene! At least for me, the best-yet-kind-of-shocking part of the episode was Koharu's inner monologue about learning to play just to impress Haruo, admitting that she will repeatedly beat the hell out of him until he notices her, and then proceeding to neg him by telling Haruo to go play Yie-ar Kung Fu. LOL!

With Akira now in love and Haruo out of confidence, looks like Koharu stands a real chance against the more experienced gamers. Hey, she may still be the third wheel, but she's not giving up without putting up a fight... a virtual one, at least!

After receiving their exam results, and Bakugo finding out he failed, he calls out Izuku for a private conversation and confronts him about having received All Might’s powers.
All Bakugo wants is for Izuku to prove to him that he is worth the power of the hero they both admired as children. And so, Izuku is begrudgingly pulled into a shounen rival battle that will surely grace at least one of our future lists.

During the fight, Bakugo keeps thinking of Izuku chasing him and always being weaker than him, he remembers how All Might told Bakugo he has what it takes to be a hero, and he remembers when All Might hit the nail on the head when he said “I know you’re angry because of Midoriya’s improvement”. He remembers that All Might encouraged him and told him Level 50 (meaning Bakugo) and Level 1 (Izuku) can’t improve at the same rate, thus reassuring Bakugo that he is indeed strong enough and All Might recognizes his talents. And yet.. He’s still so angry. But why?

From the beginning, we’ve been wondering exactly why Kacchan hates poor little Deku so much… And after an all-out attack from his childhood friend, Deku decides to use his strength and push Kacchan away with a strong yet gentle block/shove. Deku can stand on his own now and that just pisses Kacchan more… (why are you so angry, kid!?)

Izuku sees his friend on the ground after his defensive attack and reaches out to help Kacchan up. Of course, Kacchan swats his hand away wondering why he’s helping him and not fighting… why?

And it finally happens, Bakugo spills his guts and faces all his issues as they come out like uncontrollable tears on a shoujo heroine’s face.
“Why did I end up chasing someone who was always behind me? Why did you get strong and become acknowledged by All Might while I… ended All Might!?”. There it is! The angsty teen finally voices his emotions and we all get to understand. He feels responsible for All Might losing his powers because he was weak and got captured by the villains, thus leading to All Might losing his power and retiring.

Bakugo cries and cries and all you want is to hug the poor boy. He admits to his feelings and not knowing what to do and his overall feeling of helplessness. And then, once the boys have said and heard enough, they decide to continue the fight, but it’s different this time. It’s a proper shounen rival battle!

It’s exciting to see Bakugo grow out of his immature anger issues and (hopefully) backing off of Izuku. Things can only get better if these two finally become the friends they should be!