AI No Kusabi the Space Between Volume 1: Stranger (Yaoi Novel)

by Rieko Yoshihara

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569707820
• ISBN13: 9781569707821
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Loved the book

I loved the world created in this novel. I must admit that having watched the anime on-line helped me better understand the story. That said it is worth while and entertaining read.

Finally the book(s) to match the anime!

I caught the Ai no Kusabi anime on Veoh.com just a few weeks ago and thought it must have been a really old movie since it was obviously a Japanese anime originally on VHS that someone had put onto their computer and subtitled in English. And since most animes are originally mangas or serialized in mangazines in Japan, I did a little digging and found out I was correct by hitting up Wikipedia for a more thorough understanding of what I'd watched. And then to find out that it had finally been released in book form with all the back story--I had to have it! I'm really not disappointed in anything except the price to quantity ratio. Sure there are the occasional errors, but if you buy yaoi and BL books on a regular basis that just seems the norm right now. So until yaoi and BL become mainstream areas of publishing, I'm willing to give a tiny bit of slack. Still, I have a feeling that someone thinks this is a "cash cow" and I'm not saying that it's only the publisher holding out their hand for the funds. Unlike many BL and yaoi stories, this isn't just a bunch of sex scenes or a heterosexual story made into a homosexual story. This is an old story that was liked well enough that it was made into a well drawn, quality produced anime for it's fan base. And like old stories that stand the test of time (the anime still stands as a decent piece of work 15 years later), this story will be one that you will return to time and again in the future. Buy it. UPDATE: I've received up to book four now and I'm greatly anticipating book five. Our writer has tinkered with the book slightly so although we have MUCH more insight into the characters and these changes have definitely made it different from the anime movie of old, the basics remain the same. Now, I was wrong about the price to quantity ratio after having read most of the series. The artwork is the same and yet new. After a few rereads (yes, I had to read them again because they're that good), there are fewer typos than I thought throughout the four books and it was a welcome surprise. Now for those of you wondering (and for clarification), this is a NOVEL with a few page size images of the characters in alignment with action to the story NOT a graphic novel with all drawn panels and some dialogue as if it was copied from stills of the movie or vice versa. I've had a few friends (to whom I loaned the first few books) tell me they were surprised it was a book and not a comic. These same friends had seen the movie and routinely buy Yaoi graphic novels just like I do. I've since told them to stop bending the corners and getting chocolate on my pages and get their own danged books. They're well worth it!! NOW, GO BUY IT!!!!

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!

Ai no Kusabi in words

This a great opportunity to get to know the original source of anime. It has so much more to it, and it's fascinating. The translator has done a great job with making English sound Japanese in kind.

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 h