Shorter Wong

Shorter Wong
NAME
Kanji	ショーター・ウォン
Rōmaji	Shōtā Won
CHARACTERISTICS
Gender	Male
Age	Unknown (17 - 19)
Height	6' 2" 183 cm (6'0")
Hair color	Purple
Eye color	Black
Blood type	B+
PROFESSIONAL STATUS
Nationality	Chinese-American
Languages	Chinese English
Affiliation	Ash Lynx Lee family (by threat), Chinese mafia
Family	Nadia Wong (older sister) Unnamed parents (deceased)
MEDIA
Anime debut	Episode 01
Manga debut	Chapter 01
Japanese voice	Makoto Furukawa

Shorter Wong is Ash Lynx's best friend and partner. He is the leader of Chinatown's mafia, but has shown to be united with Ash's gang. He frequently looks out for Ash, spying for him and rescuing him when necessary. He later helps him and uncover details on Banana Fish as threats close in around them.

Profile

Appearance

His most notable feature is a large purple mohawk style hair that covers largely the top and right side of his head. His distinctive style affectionately earned him the name 'pineapple head' from Ash. The shaved sides of his head could possibly be his natural hair color though this cannot be stated with certainty, more so with his eye brows being a light brown shade.

He has a silver cone eyebrow piercing on the left side and sports semi-rimless sunglasses. He wears a long sleeved white shirt underneath an orange body sweater with an interior green collar (similar to Ash's eyes) and pocket linings. He also has bluish colored trousers of which the knee sections are torn and white trainers with red parts on them.

Personality

Shorter is quite lively and extremely loyal. Despite being in seperate gangs, Shorter takes the initiative to interrogate gang members to discern Ash's location when he went missing and was the first to attempt a rescue before police. He is shown to care deeply about his family, even hiding his predicament with the Lee family from Ash in order to protect his sister when Yut-Lung Lee threatens her.

He is also protective, as shown when he puts himself at risk to help Ash and the people he cares about when directed. Shorter is prepared to go to drastic measures to save Eiji from a horrible fate as Golzine's toy, and keep his promises to Ash.

History

Shorter met Ash in juvenile detention, where he attempted to protect Ash from harassment and frequently mused about Ash's beauty. In the end, he determined that Ash looked like an angel, similar to a Christmas card his sister had given him. The two became trusted confidants to one another, and eventually came together to strengthen their gangs against Arthur.

Story

Main Article: Shorter Wong/Synopsis

Relationships

Ash Lynx

Shorter Wong is seen to have a very close friendship with Ash, with may be interpreted as romantic interest. Shorter has shown to be deeply concerned about Ash's relationships with Marvin and Golzine. He helped him fight Golzine's men and warned him of Arthur's betrayal as soon as he learned of it, and proceeded to go to great lengths to rescue Ash when he was kidnapped. In addition to being a great partner, Shorter proves to be an excellent right-hand man. Both have a deep sense of trust for the other, demonstrated when Ash left Shorter to protect the house while he and Max left Yut-Lung's mansion. It took Ash some time to realize Shorter had (only with his sisters well-being at peril) defected to Yut-Lung's side. Though Shorter never fully cooperated, Ash immediately forgave Shorter, blaming himself for not sensing Shorter's distress. Ash deduced Shorter did it to protect his family in New York, showing Ash and Shorter's deep sense of camaraderie and love for each other. At the end of his life, Ash's voice was able to temporarily free Shorter of the hallucinations of Banana Fish. Upon hearing Ash call his name, and seeing an angel statue in the execution room, Shorter begged Ash to set him free and trusted him to end his life painlessly.

Eiji Okumura

Shorter is very protective of Eiji, covering him on multiple occasions such as intervening on his behalf when Arthur captured him. Shorter also embraced Eiji to dispatch a gun man near them, to seizing Eiji to make sure he could escape with them. Though he was forced to transport Eiji for the safety of his sister, he held him close at all times. Under dire circumstances, Shorter stated that if the worst was set to happen to Eiji, Shorter would "set him free" and then kill himself to escape an undoubtedly grim fate, a testament of their extreme situation.

Nadia Wong

Shorter's older sister where they work together at their restaurant with Shorter wearing his disguise. Shorter is shown to be loyal to and protective of her to the point he would co-operate with Yut-Lung and defects to his side in order to protect her.

Episode Appearances

• Episode 01 A Perfect Day for Bananafish
• Episode 02 In Another Story
• Episode 03 Across the River and into the Trees
• Episode 04 This Side of Paradise
• Episode 05 From Death to Morning
• Episode 06 My Lost City
• Episode 07 The Rich Boy
• Episode 08 Banal Story
• Episode 09 Save Me The Waltz
• Episode 10 Babylon Revisited
• Episode 14 Tender is the Night (Brief hallucination of Ash)
• Episode 15 The Garden of Eden (Shorter's remains were stored in the facility for study)

Image Gallery

Main Article: Shorter Wong/Image Gallery

Quotes

(About Ash) "His face when he laughed was cute, and childlike, and totally angelic."

(To Ash) "It's my problem too! If you go alone, you'll just be killed. You'll die for nothing!"

(To Eiji) "I won't let you go alone, Eiji."

(To Ibe) "I'm sorry, Ibe, but believe me when I say this: I'll die before I let them lay a finger on Eiji."

(To Ash) "Ash, I can't anymore. Set me free. I'm in so much pain."

Trivia

1. In the episode 4 preview, it is revealed that Shorter used to have green hair, and got called "pineapple" for it. He was deeply upset by the incident.
2. According to Lee Wang Lung (episode 5), Shorter frequently talks about Ash.
3. In the official artwork for the first anniversary of Banana Fish's anime adaptation, Shorter is shown to be holding a bouquet of purple lilacs, which according to the Japanese language of flowers represent first love. This can be interpreted as Shorter being Ash's first love.