that is never physically consummated; Eiji's sexual and romantic inexperience is similarly a typical manga protagonist trait. Thompson considers several potential explanations for the largely subtextual nature of Ash and Eiji's relationship, including Yoshida's stated desire to focus on the emotional connection between the characters, that Yoshida did not wish to risk eroticizing the manga's themes of rape by depicting a romantic or sexual relationship, and the potential influence of manga censorship codes in limiting displays of same-sex romance and sex. Gender While the cast of Banana Fish is almost entirely male, several characters – notably Ash and Eiji – are (literally "beautiful boys"), a term for visually androgynous male characters who blend masculine and feminine qualities, and who are seen as desirable to a female audience. This feeling of desirability is not solely sexual in nature, but also appeals to female readers by allowing them to experience romance, agency, and personal autonomy vicariously through male characters that are freed from the constraints of patriarchy. While romance between is tolerated in some contexts and thus "cannot be read as subversive per se", manga scholar Christina Parte argues that Ash and Eiji's status as allows them to "transgress Japanese gender norms" by resisting gender roles typically associated with female Japanese adolescents. Per Parte, Ash and Eiji express a degree of gender ambivalence by alternating between masculinized and feminized agency. Ash embodies typically masculine agency in his position as a leader of a street gang, but is frequently feminized though the rape he suffers at the hands of men. Conversely, Eiji possesses the typically feminine trait of nurturing domesticity – he soothes Ash when he is troubled, treats his wounds, and remains at home while Ash fights – but towards the end of the series, it is ultimately Eiji who takes up arms to free an emaciated Ash from Golzine's clutches. Parte argues that despite the American setting of the series, Ash's quest for self-determination ultimately represents a rejection of restrictive Japanese gender roles: both the "good son" (becoming Golzine's heir) and the "obedient wife" (becoming Golzine's sex slave). Thus, through Ash and Eiji's struggles, the ostensibly female reader is able to "escape from Japanese reality" and "resist the pressures of a highly hierarchical gender and sexual system". Occidentalism The release of Banana Fish in the late 1980s coincided with a period of fascination with New York City in Japanese popular culture.