Inspiration

I was digging around in old photos of Stefan Edberg, Swedish professional tennis player and the inspiration for Ash’s earlier design in the Banana Fish manga.

So here are the results:

• BANANA FISH Volume 1 feat. Ash Lynx, English serialization by Pulp.
• Ash in Volume 1. That hair…
• Stefan Edberg after winning the Junior Grand Slam, 1983. Age 17.

• Edberg in 1984, Milan.

And in the Olympics, 1984. Age 18.

In 1987, River Phoenix visited Japan for the premiere of Stand By Me. I’m not sure when exactly Yoshida began shifting Ash’s appearance to more closely match River’s (I’d have to figure out when the volume with the first big style change was published in Japan), but he would have been around 17 at the time of that visit. 

I just like looking at these little comparisons and I hope someone else finds them interesting! I had never seen younger pictures of Stefan until now.