Ash Lynx is already “dead”, he had a new identity as Chris, since they faked his death once , if it was found out he was alive, he would most certainly be sent to prison, Ash has way too much blood on his hands.
He had Dino’s money but it was Dino’s money, just because Ash stole it and Dino was dead you think the Corsican mafia would just back off ?
Ash’s whole world is gang violence and fighting, that wont just stop overnight, its a part of him, whatever he like it or not. YutLung is always an enemy ,no matter what he says and does ,he is the head of the Chinese mafia, if Ash lived their paths would be destines to cross again, also YutLung knew about Eiji , he could use Eiji against Ash no matter where Eiji is, YutLung has the reach and power to get it done.
What about Sing ? The Chinese gang is still out for blood , sure at this point they can explain them the whole Banana Fish deal ( since it was destroyed ) but how many people do you think would believe them ? how many would go rouge and try to hound down Ash ?
Things may have looked neat and warped up now who is to says they would stay that way if Ash had lived.
Ash was loved by the people around him , to Max he was like a son , to Eiji he was everything.
I wish he took Blancas offer , Blanca would have protected him, he might have been the only one who could.
To explain how everything that happened was foreshadowed in the manga lets look at this scene from Vol. 12
Ash is willing will let himself be destroyed for the sake of his and Eijis happiness. Now when Blanca says destroyed he dose not just mean physically as in dying but also being destroyed emotionally..
This is where this next scene from Vol 17 comes in….Eiji is shot and dying and Ash would rather die at that moment if it meant saving Eiji….
It all comes down to Eiji and how deeply Ash loves him.
If all the events of Banana Fish still happened but the only difference being that Ash never fell in love with Eiji, I can assure you Ash would have lived at the end ,he would have been fighting Lao and gotten help.
Its not the stab wound that killed the Lynx it was love.
Letting Eiji go in Vol.19 was the hardest thing Ash ever had to do , it took all of his restraint not to run after him to the airport and look how easily that changed after reading Eijis letter. Eiji is a part of his soul and his happiness but also his weakness.
The reason why Ash chose his own death was because no matter how much he and Eiji tried to be happy together, tragedy would always find them and Ash couldn’t bear to live in a world without Eiji Okamura , it hurt to much the first time he almost lost him. Ash had a taste of what true happiness felt like and then realized he could never have it ,all he could do was stay away, to keep Eiji alive and safe but for how long ?
Ash knew he couldn’t be with Eiji and he knew Eiji wouldn’t stay away and he knew himself well enough and how weak his love for Eiji makes him and that he couldn’t protect him if it came down to it again. When they where together they where happy but also vulnerable…one of them would have died, this is why Ash died willingly when he was offered the opportunity by Laos lousy assassination , thinking of Eiji in his final moments was what Ash wanted , this was his happiness, it was very selfish at his part but as long as Eiji lived Ash didn’t care what happened to him.
Ash would never know how much his death would impact and change Eiji forever.
To us Ashs end seems senseless and tragic , not at all happy and fulfilling…but to Ash that is exactly what it was.
