Product Description

In the future, on a distant star lives a new society. Ruled by a computer system named Jupiter, men are divided into classes based on their hair color. The Blondies, genetically altered by Jupiter, are the highest class and occupy the capital city of Tanagura. Those with black hair, Mongrels, are forced to live in the slums, Ceres. Iason, the leader of the Blondies, encounters Riki, a mongrel, in the streets of Ceres one night and sets out to own him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #253992 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781569707821
• BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Reviews

A good start...
Many yaoi fans are familiar with Ai No Kusabi. It was originally a japanese scifi novel that was adapted into an exclusive and now very hard to find anime. Many fans credit this anime for starting the yaoi craze in the US. So, naturally I was very excited to learn the original novel was finally being translated to English!

The bad part first: I received the book and finished reading it in about 45 minutes. Granted I read fast, but this book was SHORT. The Amazon info says about 300 pages but it is actually half that. This appeared to be only the first several chapters. So, it's very expensive for the price.

The good part: The story lives up to it's reputation. The author introduces a lot of philosophical themes regarding class distinctions, humanity's willingness to look at certain people as less than human and the divide between haves and have nots. This theme pops up in scifi often, but this is the first M/M scifi I've found to address it. The book opens with a powerful scene of erotic torture of an unknown captive by an unknown man. Riki was head of a powerful street gang, then he abruptly disappeared for 3 years. Now he is different. Though it is only implied, Riki was once the "pet" of a high class blondy called Iason. But why is he back? And is Iason following him? We don't get much relationship development beyond this. The rest of the book is taken with the introduction of this futuristic society. Jupiter is an AI who has taken control of Tanagura because humanity is not as intelligent as it is. Jupiter has divided people into classes, many of which are genetically engineered or altered. The high class blondys rule, but are sterile. There are also engineered sexual pets. Mongrels, dark haired, live in the slums.

I enjoyed the book very much, I just wish the price had reflected its content - especially since this looks to be at least 5 volumes. Recommended - if you don't mind the price. Ai No Kusabi The Space Between Volume 2: Destiny (Yaoi) (Ai No Kusabi the Space Between), Ai No Kusabi: The Space Between - Nightmare Volume 3 (Yaoi Novel).

A Must-Read For Any Yaoi Fan!
This is, without a doubt, the best DMP novel localization they have yet released. God bless, and long life to, Kelly Quine (previously of, The Man Who Doesn't Take Off His Clothes) for her superb translation. In some small way I would like to believe my constant rantings about the low quality of DMP's English edits have actually resulted in a stiffening of their standards (though I'm sure it was a collective laying into of the publisher for the sub-par offerings thus far). There are still some simple typographical errors to be found in this volume, but gone is the awkward English form (though decidedly British flavor to the language), bad use of punctuation and several typos on each page. The language is smooth, artful and draws you right into the story. My only real complaint is in the decision to capitalize some words in reference to proper nouns that are not, in fact, proper nouns. It's clearly a publishing or editing decision and easily looked past. I can only assume this particular translation takes some liberties with the original script, but who cares? It is a fantastic read all around, really. I hope Ms. Quine continues to do the job for the rest of what appears to be a five volume yaoi novel series.

My only other complaint with the localization is about the illustrations. Firstly, they are far too few and far between (and the three maps of Tanagura at the beginning are repetitive; they could have had just the one most detailed one). The actual illustrations (by Katsumi Michihara, an artist I am not familiar with) are nice enough a distraction from time to time, but I didn't feel any attachments to them, as if the novel didn't need them to fill the imagination of the reader. Secondly, they are not spaced appropriately. Some images come a chapter behind the moment they are depicting. The picture of Iason Mink, of a scene that occurs in chapter 4, but is found in chapter 5, comes to mind. DMP has done this before, in just about every novel localization I have seen as of yet. I don't see how difficult it is to rearrange the illustrations to better pace the difference between English and Japanese in print. They need to take better note of this in the future.

Now, a lot of people will notice that this volume is particularly slim. The original hardbound release of this novel in the 1980s was rereleased in Japan, broken into smaller paperback editions and re-edited by the author a number of years later (2001). This is the release that we are receiving in English localization, which Yoshihara-sensei explains in the afterward. It took me a few, partially distracted, hours to get all the way through, and the end of the volume makes it clear that this is only the beginning of what will be a wide-scoping story.

If you aren't familiar with Ai no Kusabi, it is often touted as one of the pinnacle early yaoi stories ever told. Popularized in America by the hard-to-find anime release (it has never been officially released here, but I would not be surprised to see Media Blasters or Kitty Media or Central Park Media pick up the license in a bid to capitalize on the book's release in the next year or so). Set in the backdrop of a faraway star-system ruled by an arrogant, totalitarian sentient computer who has imposed a rigid caste system involving "breeds" of people by hair color (blonde being at the top), Ai no Kusabi tells the tragic story (yes, there will be a sad ending) of a "mongrel" (non-engineered, lowest of the low, caste) gang leader of the Ceres slums, Riki, and the Blondy who becomes obsessed with him, Iason Mink.

In the city-state of Tanagura, it is trendy for the high caste (and supposedly sterile) to take "pets," usually bio-engineered young boys, as symbols of their prowess; the low female birth-rate (hinted at having something to do with the Jupiter computer system's meddling), affecting the nature of human society down to the way people pick sexual and life partners. Riki's "pairing partner" was Guy, until his fateful encounter with Iason Mink, who steals Riki away to be his pet, an action that is quite taboo in the society because not only is Riki a "mongrel," but also several years older than the average pet (he is 20 years old at the beginning of the novel, which is three years after Riki's first encounter with Mink).

Yoshihara has written a masterpiece with Ai no Kusabi, not falling into the more recent pitfalls of yaoi titles: favoring the pairings and graphic sex scenes over the development of plot and background. A very real and very detailed picture is painted of the universe of this novel. Even in the first six short chapters of the story found in this first volume we get a real sense for what it is like to live in Tanagura on the planet Amoy, in the rigid society for both the upper caste forced to live by a computer's law and for the lower caste, all but completely abandoned to the slums.

Those who are looking for graphic scenes are going to be fairly disappointed. Aside from a heated, however vague, piece in the first chapter, there is virtually nothing of note in this book. They certainly make reference to male pairings all over the place, but no one is actually "getting it on," so to speak. I get the impression most of the book will be this way, so if you're looking to this story to quench any of those types of desires, you are best served elsewhere.

In the end, I would go so far as to argue that any BL or yaoi genre fan worth his salt has to read this novel. It is a seminal work in the genre and will appeal to just about any taste (unless the eventual tragic end is going to turn you off, but even so, you should grin and bear it to experience this master work). DMP has done a fine job this time, so I really have nothing to say against it that would change anyone's mind about giving it a try.

Far better than I ever imagined!
I first saw Ai No Kusabi in it's anime form SO many years ago. It entranced me, but I did notice that it seemed like it was missing something. So, I looked it up and discovered that it was originally based on a novel. No surprise there. The anime lacked what the novel had - a back story. And lots of it. I scoured the internet and finally found a fan translated copy. "Finally!" I thought. I read it - and it was great. It really filled the gap that the anime was missing, but still, it wasn't all that well written, you could say.

Well, fast forwards years later and what do you know, Ai No Kusabi FINALLY made it to America in an official release. I figured, "Sure why not, I'll pick up the copy and re-fresh my memory".

WOW. Just Wow.

This is NOTHING like the fan translation. It's a thousand times BETTER!! I was utterly blown away! I usually read very fast and finish books very quickly, but I found myself re-reading entire pages, not because I needed to, but because I WANTED to. It's simply an amazing story, but it's written so well too! As soon as I finished, I started reading it again!

This is the first book in the series. And, like I mentioned earlier, it packs a lot of back story. If you want a condensed version, go watch the anime first, THEN come back and read the novel. Trust me, you'll LOVE it.

It's like the story of Romeo and Juliet... Except, with bondage and whips. And it's between two guys. One master, the other pet.

Again, novel one has most of the back story to set the atmosphere and explain the world it takes place in. It's not rushed and it feels so well thought out, the way it flows. Novel two starts the more juicy parts, but they'd be meaningless without reading the first novel, so pick it up. Seriously, this is one amazing story!