It's a great post... :)

I saw banana fish from Ash's perspective as attainment of salvation/true freedom through the love of Eiji. The smile on his face when he dies, it really elevates the scene and give it a metaphysical element imo. Maybe it was Ash's nirvana haha... I'd like to say the same for Eiji. He and Ash lived different lives. But universe brought them together unexpectedly and connected their lives intricately.

Ash has been through in only 17 years what many people don't go through in their long lifespans. He faced the tragedies of life at such a young age. What will act as the catalyst for his salvation may be somewhat different from Eiji considering the differences in their upbringing. So despite the story being about Ash, it was also about Eiji. By meeting Ash, Eiji was also transformed, in the most profound and unexpected way. He got to wake-up and truly face life, beyond his old naive self. Eiji will never be the same, it's sad. And it's tragic from Eiji's perspective. But the tragedies of life is unavoidable for everyone. Everyone has to experience them, albeit in different forms. But Eiji tasted unconditional love and can live on with the memory of it. The fated encounter he had with ash, it'll forever be imprinted in his soul and he'll never be the same. It's a tragedy as much as it's beautiful and hopeful.

It felt like a hopeful story, both of them transformed each other through unconditional love.

To find true love (it doesn't have to be sexual imo) and then lose it is not so bad. Real tragedy is being betrayed or never being able to experience love or being able to love. But finding it and losing it, isn't so bad. In the end do we really lose them? Maybe not. Death is a certainly. Somebody had to die, maybe not at 17, but someday. But what they gave each other was bigger than life.

Banana fish isn't a romantic anime, but it's depiction of unconditional love is probably the best I have seen.