Banana Fish statuette PVC G.E.M. Ash Lynx 24 cm

Quirky phobia: Pumpkins
Quirky weakness: Mornings. He wakes up cranky enough he once punched out a gang member's teeth. Apparently this is due to his low blood pressure.

Ash is the main character throughout the series. He has one half brother named Griffin (whom he refers to as "Griff") with whom he shares the same father. Griffin and Ash are the product of their father's first and second wives respectively. At the age of 8, Ash ran away from his home in Cape Cod to escape social pressures and was taken into the custody of Papa Dino, leader of the Corsican Mafia. Since, Ash was groomed and trained to take the Mafia Head's place, and was granted leadership of Manhattan's largest street gang in order to help prepare him for this goal of which he wants no part. Much of the manga is in fact dedicated to Ash attempting to escape Papa Dino's wishes for him.

At a glance, Ash is what many characters refer to in the manga as "beautiful," with shaggy platinum blond hair, pale green eyes, and a slender figure. However, his personality is much less graceful. He's known for sporting a snarky attitude, recklessness, and seemingly cold ability to kill, landing him his fair share of enemies. At the same time, though, his intelligence and charismatic leadership win him an abundance of connections he is always happy to exploit. Special skills include good marksmanship, the ability to hack 80's computers, and a sixth sense for being followed. Despite never having finished high school, Ash reads voraciously and has managed to teach himself advanced math. Ash can even come across as quite cultured when he wants to.

His later character design was modeled after the actor River Phoenix.