Aslan Jade Callenreese

**Aslan Jade Callenreese**, also known as **Ash Lynx**, is the main protagonist of the *Banana Fish* anime and manga.

Aslan is a seventeen-year-old American who is in charge of a gang in New York City.

In the AWA fics, Aslan is set to appear in a future AWA storyline.

## **Appearance**

Aslan is a tall and slender young man standing at 5’11. He has blonde hair, green eyes, pale skin and is extremely beautiful in appearance, as remarked on by numerous characters in the series. His normal attire consists of a white, loose T-shirt, blue jeans, brown belt, and red sneakers. He is shown wearing glasses when reading, suggesting that he’s far-sighted. He is sometimes associated with a green earring that was given to him by Dino Golzine to match the color of his eyes and serve as a reminder of his ownership over Ash. Later, Ash dismisses the earring as an unimportant "gift" when Eiji Okumura asks about it and then trades it for guns and ammo.

In Angel Eyes, Shorter Wong notes that he looks almost like a "boyish girl"; saying that his beauty is almost scary and that he cannot stop staring at him.

Although Aslan is highly aware of his attractiveness and has learned to weaponize it, his beauty often works against him, making him a target of unwanted sexual advances and harassment from older men and women alike. He is also a target of mockery in regards to his appearance and is often underestimated because of his beauty, which he uses to his advantage.

## **Personality**

Aslan has the personality, charisma, and skill to gather large groups of individuals together under his influence. Not only is he excellent in combat and an incredible marksman, but he's also highly intelligent with an IQ of 200. His intelligence lends itself well to solving the mystery of 'Banana Fish' and he has also been stated to be quite well-read, knowing his way around the newspaper's daily columns and political novels- unusual for someone who did not finish middle school.

Along with his remarkable intelligence, Aslan's good looks and charisma allow him to sway the will of people to his benefit in dire situations, and he's well aware of it. Despite the influence he holds over others, however, Aslan is mistrustful and holds most people at arms-length except for a few select friends in his inner circle, including his long-time best friend Shorter, and later Eiji Okumura. He is not afraid of death not because of courage, as he calls himself a coward, but because of his disillusionment with his own life.

Aslan's character is mostly defined by his constant struggle for freedom against his oppressors, his fight to overcome his trauma over sexual abuse, and most importantly, to find his real place in the world.

## **Abilities**

For a teenager of his age, Aslan is a true force to be reckoned with. Not only is he a capable brawler who can fend off multiple assailants at once with little effort even when unarmed, but he is also an expert in close-quarter combat and an even more deadly marksman. His shooting ability is so precise that he can perfectly shoot nearly any target he wishes, even when visually impaired, and can do so with frightening speed that can result in the death of multiple hostiles before they can even react or realize what is happening, or even take the adequate defensive measures.

Being taught personally by Blanca, he is an expert in the art of assassination and claims to know multiple forms of torture that will not kill its victim. His skill is more than demonstrated during the museum battle where he displayed a great ability in moving in the dark, swiftly killing several assassins, all of them equipped with firearms and doing so while only carrying a knife in his mouth despite not being at the peak of his physical condition. Aslan's battle experience and knowledge gives him great situation assessment abilities, allowing him to react quickly and effectively to events that may prove heavily disadvantageous.

Aslan's abilities along with his personality, have put him in a constant state of alert, making ambushes on him nigh impossible to succeed, and has in fact prevented many attempts on his life because of this. His awareness of surroundings along with his incredible sense of direction and memory, allow him to easily discern where he is geographically positioned, despite being kidnapped while blindfolded.

He is also an experienced and hardened gang leader who can guide and order his men with great effectiveness with none of them ever questioning him for his orders are precise, his plans thoroughly thought and his determination strong. His education in several fields including biochemistry, politics, literature, amongst other areas has proven useful when having to put a plan in action or otherwise determine key elements like Banana Fish's purpose, or Golzine's main plot.

Having repeatedly experienced sexual abuse during his life, Aslan is well aware of his attractive looks and has weaponized them several times to gain an advantage, and knows exactly the buttons to press to make his victims fall, making him a skilled manipulator and a devious tactician.

Because of these traits, Aslan is often likened with a wild beast, who grows all the more vicious when angered or when cornered. When Ash is under a severe rage fit, his deadliness skyrockets.

## **Trivia**

* Aslan is afraid of pumpkins.
* It takes Aslan 0.03 seconds to pull the trigger of a gun after he has the target spotted.
* According to Eiji, his favorite food is shrimp and avocado salad.
* It is also mentioned by Eiji that he dislikes hamburgers.
* He is long-sighted.
* The NY public library is his favorite place.
* According to Eiji, when he’s lying he becomes quiet and stops joking around.
* Aslan shares his birthday with the author of Banana Fish, Akimi Yoshida.
* He identifies as bisexual. In fact, Yoshida stated in an interview that Aslan had sex with both men and women.
* In another interview, she referred to Aslan as "onee", implying he prefers to be on the receiving end of sex.
* He appears in the Angel Eyes illustration book in sexually suggestive poses alongside Eiji and less frequently, Blanca.
* He wakes up cranky due to his low blood pressure.
* He has an IQ of 200.
* Despite never making it through elementary school due to his circumstances, his intelligence allowed him to pick up higher mathematics through books.
* In Private Opinion, Blanca points out that he has a faint Irish accent due to being third generation Irish.
* Aslan appears in the audio drama of Angel Eyes, alongside Shorter.
* Aslan, alongside Eiji, appears in one of Akimi Yoshida's other works, Lovers' Kiss.