Ai no Kusabi


Ai no Kusabi is a Japanese novel written by Rieko Yoshihara. Originally serialized in the yaoi magazine Shousetsu June between December 1986 and October 1987, the story was collected into a hardbound novel that was released in Japan in 1990. This futuristic tale is set in a world where the Elites are assigned various social classes based on their hair color in the city of Tanagura. Iason Mink, a high-class "Blondie", runs into Riki, a black-haired "Mongrel", and makes him his "Pet", which Riki resents being. As Riki learns of the dangers Iason faces by keeping him, he finds himself developing feelings for his master. Focusing on the relationship between Iason and Riki, Ai no Kusabi also explores issues of caste systems and social exclusion.
The novel was partially adapted into a two-episode original video animation by Anime International Company, with the first episode released in August 1992 and the second in May 1994. In November 1993, an audio drama entitled Erogenous Dark was released focusing on a time period left unexplored in the original novels. A new twelve-episode OVA adaptation, also from AIC, was scheduled to begin releasing in Japan in the spring of 2010, but was cancelled for financial reasons. The project was picked up again and was released on January 18, 2012. However, the series was once again discontinued after four episodes.
The novel is licensed for an English language release in North America by Digital Manga Publishing, which published the novel over an eight-volume series.

Plot

Setting

Ai no Kusabi takes place on the world of Amoï, which is ruled by a computer named Jupiter. Jupiter has introduced a number of strict social rules to society: Elites of Tanagura, Midas citizens, and Mongrels from Ceres. The Elites are genetically engineered by Jupiter, are of the highest social class, which is determined by hair color, and occupy the capital city of Tanagura. Under Jupiter's restrictions, the Elites are sterile and forbidden from indulging in sexual activities. They keep "pets" for about a year, for purely voyeuristic purposes, before discarding them. Further emasculation is seen in the "Furniture", adolescent boys who serve the Elites.
Outside Tanagura's walls is the satellite pleasure city of Midas, which is heavily occupied by rich citizens and tourists alike. Near Midas is an independent slum area called Ceres. The mostly male population of Ceres lives in high poverty; therefore, they are often called "Mongrels" by both Midas citizens and Tanagura elites and are looked down upon.

Terminology

Amoï

Amoï is the twelfth planet in the Garan star system and was once a small, barren planet. Amoï was first settled by a group of scientists who sought to make a metropolis society unconstrained by political pressures and religious taboos. They created Tanagura as their central city and made the supercomputer named "Jupiter." Jupiter eventually attained a consciousness of its own and seized power over Tanagura. Over time, Amoï constructed the city of Midas near Tanagura and developed many independent city states, with Tanagura as the planet's governed capital.

Tanagura

Tanagura is the metallic city under the direct and complete control of Jupiter, who rules over Amoï. In Tanagura, Eos Tower is the palace where Jupiter's android-like elites live and work while Jupiter itself resides in its Jupiter Tower. All elites are physically perfect and beautiful, with immortal bodies and long hair, along with strength greater than normal humans. They are sterile and their highly advanced brains are the only organic part of their bodies. Tanagura applied a hair-color caste system called "NORAM" to those who work there:

Main

Novel

Written by Rieko Yoshihara, the individual chapters of Ai no Kusabi were serialized in the yaoi magazine Shousetsu June between December 1986 and October 1987. The chapters were collected and published as a single hardbound novel in 1990. The series was later released in a revised and greatly expanded paperback edition from Seibidō Shuppan under their Crystal imprint, however the Crystal edition is incomplete, covering only six of eight books. The series was then acquired by Tokuma Shoten and a complete edition was published in six volumes under their Chara imprint; the first four are semi-omnibus and the final two are the previously unreleased material. The novel was licensed for an English language release in North America by Digital Manga Publishing. The English edition from Juné was originally based on the Crystal edition, and will have eight volumes.
The first volume was released on November 20, 2007 and the sixth on July 28, 2009. After a long hiatus, caused in part by re-negotiation required by the change in Japanese publisher, the remaining two volumes, Volume 7 and Volume 8, were released on August 29, 2012, and on April 24, 2013, respectively. In June 2009, DMP made the first volume of Ai no Kusabi, Stranger, available as an Amazon Kindle e-book.

CDs

The first spin-off from the novels was an audiobook released on May 31, 1989.
Five soundtracks were released:
The first drama CD was released in November 1993 under the name "間の楔 DARK-EROGENOUS". Three more drama CDs were later released by a different company throughout 2007 and 2008.
created a two-episode Original Video Animation adaptation for the series. The first episode was released in August 1992, and the second in May 1994. Directed by Akira Nishimori and Katsuhito Akiyama, the episodes were based on a screenplay written by Naoko Hasegawa. They featured character designs by Naoyuki Onda and music composed by Toshio Yabuki. The plot slightly differed from the novels' storyline, but kept the main story points intact.

Remake

A second, twelve-episode anime OVA adaptation, also from AIC, was scheduled to begin releasing in Japan Fall 2010. Due to financial issues, production was cancelled for a period of time, but has now been taken up again and was scheduled for January 18, 2012 instead. Akiyama directed again and Onda provided the character designs. The screenplay was written by Yoshihara herself. The Blu-ray release of the OVA included a new short story by Yoshihara.
Since the eight minutes preview, the first four episodes have been released. Anime licensor Media Blasters announced they licensed the remake first four OVAs for North American release in December 2012. However, on November 28, 2012, they notified retailers that it will be delayed until April 23, 2013. On October 11, 2017, Media Blasters announced they will be re-releasing Ai no Kusabi on Blu-ray with English dub, which was released on December 19, 2017. On September 20, 2018, Toku adds Ai no Kusabi to its streaming service, allowing viewers to watch the OVAs in Japanese with English subtitles.
Since the fourth episode's premiere in 2012, the remake have been discontinued for unknown reasons.

Reception

Mania's Danielle Van Gorder felt the prose of the first novel was "florid", and criticized the finishing point of the second novel as anticlimactic. She found the characterization of Iason in the third novel to be realistic and compelling, and felt the theme of the fourth novel was power. Jonathan Clements compared Yoshihara's writing style to "Ranpo Edogawa's sexually charged mysteries" and felt Ai no Kusabi shared themes with Shōzō Numa's science fiction.
Patrick Drazen has described the Ai no Kusabi OVA as a "magnum opus" of the yaoi genre, and the setting as dystopian, similar to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy liken the society of Ai no Kusabi to that of Ancient Greece, where power was restricted to a class and women do not figure significantly. They consider it ironic that Jupiter is a feminine computer, and describe her as being like Ghost in the Shell's Motoko Kusanagi — Jupiter is "a man-made idea of the female in a world run by masculine elites". Anime News Network's Maral Agnerian praised its interesting, well-developed plot and "fleshed out and complex" work. She also praises it for being one of the few series from its time to contain "actual gay sex in it instead of the usual angsty moping and shoujo-esque sparkly kisses", while noting that the scenes are primarily in the second episode. Anime News Network's Justin Sevakis highlighted the OVA as a "Buried Treasure", calling it "one of the best yaoi anime". He described Riki and Iason as both being "alpha-males", rather than a seme/uke pairing, and noted how the costuming was elegant for the higher echelons of society and revealing for the lower classes. He criticized the OVA's adaptation of the story, explaining that it was assumed all viewers would be already familiar with the tale through Shousetsu June.