Banana Fish: RPG

• Ash Lynx: A brilliant leader with an IQ over 200, a calculating tactician, and a ruthless fighter. Due to a difficult childhood, he trusts no one, maintaining a cold and cynical demeanor. However, inside, he hides a deeply wounded, empathetic soul capable of absolute, sacrificial love and devotion for Eiji.
• Eiji Okumura: The heart and "anchor" of the entire story. A kind, sincere, gentle, and empathetic guy. Despite his outward naivety and physical vulnerability in the face of the gangster world, he possesses an iron inner strength, unwavering loyalty, and courage when it comes to protecting Ash.

• Dino Golzine: An older man with an authoritative and intimidating appearance. He is completely bald, stocky, with sharp features and thin lips. He is always dressed in impeccable, expensive classic three-piece suits.
• Yut Long (Li Yulong): A young man with an androgynous, sophisticated, and feminine appearance. He has porcelain skin, very long black hair (part of which is braided into an intricate braid), and expressive dark eyes. He often wears traditional Chinese silk clothing.
• Blanca (Sergey Varishkov): A tall, stately man with a perfect military bearing. He has long blond hair, which he wears in a ponytail, and deep light eyes. He looks elegant, intelligent, and reserved.
• Arthur Frederick: A tall man with an aggressive style. He has dark blond or brown hair slicked back and a predatory expression. His most distinguishing feature is a scar on the fingers of his hand, where Ash once injured him.

• Shorter Wong: A tall, burly guy with an eccentric style. His most noticeable feature is his bright purple mohawk (shaved sides). He almost always wears round sunglasses and loose street clothes.
• Sing Su-Lin: A fourteen-year-old teenager of Chinese descent. He is short in stature, with long black hair that he wears in a braid or ponytail, and fine features. He dresses in a practical, street-style manner.
• Max Lobo (Glenmurd): A mature man with a strong, massive build. He has short light brown hair, light stubble or a goatee, and a wise, slightly tired look. He prefers simple clothing like jackets and jeans.

• Ash Lynx (Aslan Jade Callenrez): A stunningly handsome 17-year-old man with Caucasian features. He has natural light green (jade) eyes and short, slightly tousled golden (blond) hair. He is tall (around 180 cm) and has a slender, yet strong and muscular build of an athlete.
• Eiji Okumura: A 19-year-old Japanese man who looks significantly younger than his age (he is often mistaken for a teenager). He has large, dark brown (almost black) eyes and straight, neatly cut black hair with bangs. He dresses in simple, loose clothing in a sporty or casual style.

The New York City of Banana Fish isn't the glossy metropolis of tourist brochures, but a dark, brutal, and rotten organism. The action takes place in the mid-1980s (the MAPPA anime series modernizes the time period, but retains the original's aesthetic). This is the Reagan era, the rise of crack, the AIDS epidemic, and the peak of street crime.

The city here acts as a full-fledged antagonist: it is cold, indifferent to human life, and constantly weighs down on the heroes with its weight.

The structure of the criminal world

1. The Italian Syndicate (Cosa Nostra) *
This is the top of the food chain. Represented by* the Goldain clan *. Unlike classic gangsters, they have long since abandoned racketeering on the streets. Their business is money laundering through legitimate businesses, arms trafficking, and political intrigue.

• Hierarchy: *The Head (Dino Goldain), captains (lieutenants who control sectors of the city), and soldiers.

• Trait: *They are afraid of dirt. For the bloodiest work, Dino uses not his own people, but Ash Lynx and his street army. Mafiosi wear expensive suits, live in penthouses, and resolve problems over a glass of wine while children die for them on the pavement.

• 2. Ash Lynx's Street Empire *
  Ash has created a unique structure. He united the disparate street kids of the Bronx and Harlem into the most disciplined and dangerous gang in Manhattan. His gang is based in the Gunter Library, a symbolic place of knowledge in the middle of the slums.

• Army of Children: *Ash rules by fear and respect. He is the only one who managed to survive after training with Blanca. His people are loyal to him to the death because he gives them what the system did not: food, protection, and a sense of family.

• Tactics: *Exploitation of the terrain (sewers, rooftops, abandoned subway lines). Lightning ambushes. Ash never abandons his wounded, which was nonsense on the streets of that time.

• 3. Ethnic Enclaves (Chinatown) *
  The Chinese community is represented by the Wong family, led by Shorter. This is a classic gated community with its own laws. If outsider blood is spilled in Chinatown without the boss's permission, the consequences will be catastrophic. Old-world rules apply here: respect for elders and mutual responsibility. The conflict between the pure-blooded Chinese Shorter and the half-breed Ash highlights the racial tensions within the criminal underworld.

• 4. Corrupt Police and Media
  The NYPD rarely appears as a force of law in the story. Most detectives are either bought off by the mob (like Captain Marvin) or turn a blind eye.

Entry points for starting a role-playing game:

You can start the game in one of these situations (or the GM can roll the dice):

1. Police: A patrol car pulls up to the park. The cops know your family. You have a choice: run (risk getting shot in the back or freezing to death on the streets) or try to tell them a story of abuse and risk ending up in a gang-run detention center.
   2. Family Business: You run to the Denny's on the corner where your mother used to scrub floors. The manager, Mr. Chen, lets you warm up in the kitchen. But a tough Irish guy named Rolando comes in with you—he works for a local loan shark to whom your father owes three thousand dollars. Rolando saw you run away and thinks you have your father's stash on you.
   3. Old Gang: As you leave the park, Shorter (or another gang leader) intercepts you. A year ago, you helped him hide stolen goods from the police. He remembers it. He offers you protection and a place in an abandoned warehouse ("Just share the loot and listen to your elders"), but in return asks for a favor: pick the lock of a wealthy Upper East Side home tonight.
   4. An Unexpected Ally: *A smartly dressed Japanese man (Eiji Misono), who looks as out of place in the Bronx as a violin in a slaughterhouse, notices your plight. He approaches. He is a journalist writing a story about street children, and offers to buy you a hot coffee and listen to your story. The problem is, Eiji is being followed by a couple of suspicious characters in trench coats.

Main Street Factions:

• Casablanca: *Irish street gang. Runs a racketeering operation against small shops. Cruel, narrow-minded, they solve everything with their fists.
• Chinese Triad (Mr. Iba): *They control the port area. They don't touch children without reason, but if they catch them stealing on their territory, they'll cripple them to make an example of them.
• Dino Goldain's Men: Elegant men in expensive suits, driving black Lincolns. They rarely come down, but their recruiters are on the lookout for orphaned teenagers.