though works that depicted homosexuality by artists unassociated with the group such as Fire! (1969–1971) by Hideko Mizuno depicted unidealized American settings, and frequently included one or more Japanese characters that served as a point of reference and identification for Japanese readers. Banana Fish creator Akimi Yoshida made her debut as a manga artist in 1977, having originally been inspired to pursue a career in manga after watching a revival screening of the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy while in high school. The film, which depicts the relationship between a con man and a male hustler in New York City, had a profound impact on Yoshida, and influenced her to create works that replicated its themes of close spiritual and fraternal bonds between men. Yoshida would first explore these themes in her debut serial manga series California Story (1978–1981), which depicts themes of homoeroticism in a New York City setting, and which manga scholar Yukari Fujimoto regards as a narrative and thematic precursor to Banana Fish. Development Yoshida did not have a fixed composition for the plot of Banana Fish from its outset; while she had a general idea of the series' story, the particulars of plot and characters were developed throughout its serialization. Owing to the influence of Midnight Cowboy, Yoshida sought to create Banana Fish as story focused on an emotionally intense relationship between two characters, who became Ash and Eiji. Originally, Ash was conceived as an upbeat character inspired by manga protagonists, as Yoshida sought to contrast the moody protagonists typical of her other works, while Eiji was originally conceived as a female character. In the latter case, Eiji was made male due the character's largely passive role in the story, and Yoshida's personal dislike of inert female deuteragonists in manga who exist solely as a source of conflict or romance for the male protagonist. Yoshida's style as a manga artist – as exemplified by Banana Fish – deviated significantly from typical manga of its era in terms of narrative, character, setting, mood, and visual style. Writer and translator Frederik L. Schodt notes that while Yoshida's works adhere to certain conventions of manga as textual and subtextual homoeroticism, she at the same time adopts "a completely masculine art style, eschewing flowers and bug eyes in favor of tight bold strokes, action scenes, and speed lines". She forgoed many of the conventions made popular by the Year 24 Group