Schodt notes how the series reflects the Japanese perception of 1980s New York as a "modern Wild West" characterized by rampant crime, drug use, poverty, and racial tension that was "a symbol of everything that was wrong with America", but which at the same time "seemed symbolic of America's raw energy and exciting individual freedoms". Within the New York of the story, Eiji functions as an intermediary for the Japanese reader, echoing earlier manga such as Fire! that used Japanese characters to link works in American settings to their Japanese readership. Parte argues that it is "tempting to see in Eiji the personification of reverse orientalism" as a Japanese character who is captivated by an American, but that his status as a representing a blending of male and female traits allows him to embody a "female internationalist occidentalism" wherein the female reader can vicariously experience an "exotic American setting" that has fewer limits on personal expression. Beyond its American setting and characters, Banana Fish features frequent allusions to American literature: Blanca's character arc is drawn from Ernest Hemingway's Islands in the Stream, Ash compares his life to Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and the title of the series itself is a reference to J. D. Salinger's short story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish". The "bananafish" of Salinger's story are fish that eat to excess until they are unable to move, and the story ends with the sudden suicide of the protagonist. The symbolic meaning of the bananafish within "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is the subject of debate, and the significance of manga's title as an allusion to the story is similarly obscure, as there are few direct references to "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" within the manga. Anderson writes that "there are perhaps connections to Golzine's self-destructive greed and Ash’s seemingly suicidal tendencies, but these connections are tenuous at best." Thompson considers how "both the manga and the story involve life's cruelty, and traumatic experiences, and sudden death", while Parte considers the manga's banana fish drug as symbolizing "male greed, materialism, and destruction". Critic Hisayo Ogushi considers a less allegorical explanation, noting that the protagonist of Salinger's story commits suicide after he envisions the bananafish, just as characters in the manga lose control of themselves after they are given the banana fish drug. Violence The action-oriented plot of Banana Fish, characterized by frequent fight scenes, multi-chapter action set pieces,