Ai no Kusabi

• Volume 1: Stranger
• Volume 2: Destiny
• Volume 3: Nightmare

Volume 1: Stranger

Rating: B+

Ai no Kusabi remains one of the very best BL stories ever created, which makes it doubly unfortunate that the writing style of volume 1 of Juné's official English translation is exceptionally bad. Bad enough to feature in a creative writing course under "How not to write. Ever." That said, this lengthened edition of Rieko Yoshihara's seminal BL novel (translated from the 2001 Japanese edition) offers new character development and improved world building of sufficient interest to please any Ai no Kusabi devotee.

For the uninitiated, Ai no Kusabi is a science fiction story set in a dystopian, eugenically stratified planet populated mostly by men. It concerns the elite Iason's sexual enslavement of "mongrel" gang leader, Riki, and the complex and highly psychologically realistic webs of love, hate, and tragedy this relationship incites for Iason, Riki; Riki's "pairing partner," Guy; Iason's subordinate, Katze, and Iason's best friend, Raoul. Volume 1 is almost entirely devoted to Riki's gang, Bison, with brief appearances by Iason and no Katze or Raoul.

But first things first: the writing. (Disclaimer: I can't parse how much of the linguistic effect is original versus translation, and no doubt some of my discontents derive from different conventions in Japan and the West.) The dominant style wields cliché with the same ham-handed gusto with which young punk, Kirie, flings insults at Riki:

"As outsiders looked on in amazement, [Bison] faded away into that good night with nary a struggle. Isn't [Riki] the one rushing in where angels fear to tread?" (57)

Gives me an image of Dylan Thomas and E. M. Forster trapped in BL novel, Forster averring, "This was not the gay utopia I longed for," and Thomas, grasping E. M.'s tweed-clad arm, exclaiming, "Get me the f--- out of here!" Other lines are simply painfully overwritten: "The slums is a monster that devours the soul of youth and spits out the gristle" (51). The gang bangers sometimes speak more meticulously and clearly than undereducated kids living on the street would, though, in this respect, this edition reads much more naturally than the from-Spanish fan translation. The new translation is, to my American ear, jarringly British. (Even in Britain, is it the norm for teen gang members to call each other "chap"?) The translator, Kelly Quine, was clearly avoiding the word "guy" because there's a character named "Guy," but her solutions were less than ideal. On the upside, the anime sub is also British English, so there's a consistency in this. Grammatical errors are not infrequent. For example, Quine (or her editors) cannot decide whether "slums" should be singular or plural and, at one point, manage to make it both in one sentence. The translation of the title, "The Space Between," is a poor rendering of "Wedge of Interval." The "interval" (ai) is a Japanese pun on "love," the point being that love is a wedge, and it's disappointing that this translation ejects the word matters most. Happily, the original Japanese title is retained in much bigger, bolder letters than the English translation. Most fans will probably feel jarred by the translation of Dana-Bahn as Dana-Burn, again, especially if you have an American ear.

But we don't love this story for its glowing prose. This edition enhances the anime and fan translation of the novel by providing additional character work on the members of Bison. Riki's role as badass of the slums and universal object of desire is highlighted to good effect. It is centrally important to the story that Riki be strong and impressive, and here he is - or rather "was" before his defeated and humiliated return to the slums after three years with Iason. As ever, Riki's sullen, smoldering, often stoned despair is gripping and well contrasted with his former glory. We also get a much deeper look into Riki and Guy's relationship, with stress on its being based on emotional communication, not sex. This emphasis intensifies the contrast between Iason and Riki's sex-driven relationship and also highlights the tragedy of the post-Iason loss of communication and emotional understanding the progressively pulls Guy and Riki apart. Kirie comes to the fore as an important point-of-view character. His strength and charisma are heightened, though his overbearing childishness remains, emphasizing his role as Mini-Riki. Perhaps most pleasing, we are treated to serious character differentiation among Bison members, Luke, Sid, and Norris. Their conflicted relationship with Riki becomes one of the strongest themes in the volume: they are envious, sexually stymied, angry at Riki's abandonment and lack of leadership, yet after deliberately planning, at one point, to rape him while he's stoned, they hold back - because he is still their friend. The small scene resonates powerfully against Iason's inability to view Riki with this basic respect/restraint.

Yet not all of the narrative changes to this edition are for the best. Riki and Guy have always been somewhat deprived of "passionate" writing, and this edition deprives them further. Gone (or pushed to a later volume?) are lines about how "each one knew the number of freckles on the other's body" and "having licked each other's hidden places" (fan translation). Instead, we're told that since their days in Guardian, they had been "physically involved." Gee. The very extent of the detail added to this edition may also work against the overall story structure by generating too much digression from the main plot. The from-Spanish fan translation - though its English is dicier - renders an earlier edition that has more forceful, forward plot momentum.

Its shortcomings not withstanding, this edition offers vastly improved world building. Yoshihara very wisely eliminated dubious argument that Amoy's (as it's spelled here) skewed gender ratio is form of birth control. Instead, she attributes the phenomenon to some physical property of the planet: much easier to swallow. The role of women in Ceres is also clearly explained where, previously, it had been implied. The relationship between Amoy and the broader Commonwealth of other planets is much clearer as is supercomputer Jupiter's theory of government. (I may be dense, but it took this translation for me to realize that the reason the Blondies are so cold and, ideally, sexless is that Jupiter wants to make them like machines: the computer's ideal beings.) Indeed, these sociological explanations are so extensive that they can become repetitive and digressive. On the whole, however, the novel profits from a more internally consistent, clearly elucidated setting.

The volume's illustrations, by Katsumi Michihara, are simple, attractive, quite tame pencil sketches, of which the raciest is the cover illustration with Riki chained and Iason leaning over him. The figures tend to have similar faces, but they are easy to differentiate. These sketches are a nice complement to the text.

If you're an AnK fan, I'd recommend buying this volume. It will give you new information and more time with beloved characters. If you haven't encountered AnK before, I'd suggest starting with the anime (and some background summary reading). To date, the anime remains the most consistently high-quality rendering of this story available in English translation. As for this volume, I'm giving it a B+. That breaks down to A+ for the overall story it begins, A- for its helpful additions to previous versions, and D for writing style.

Destiny

Rating: A-

Damn, this volume makes me remember why I love this story! Though the writing style continues melodramatic, clichéd, verbose, and riddled with awkwardness, grammatical ambiguity, and typos, it is much better than volume 1. In fact, many stretches of dialogue read pretty well, the clichés are fewer and less laughable, and not infrequently Rieko Yoshihara gives us an elegant, original metaphor. But who cares? Forward with the story.

Plotwise, we witness Riki and Iason's first meeting and the development of Riki's fateful career as Katze's courier. Riki's self-respect (sorely battered by Iason) and his relationship with Guy are the emotional cornerstones of this volume. Riki wants 1) to keep his self-respect, 2) to escape from the slums, and 3) to stay with Guy, but he has convinced himself he can only achieve two of these things. Which will he choose? Riki's torn, Guy feels spurned, and Katze reaches out to Riki from motives that are emphatically mixed. And Iason? As Yoshihara informs us none too subtly, he has sealed his own fate without knowing it.

Volume 2 gives our first in-depth depictions of all our four principals: Riki, Iason, Katze, and Guy. Each is spot on: multifaceted and internally consistent without being simplistic. (We see little of Raoul but much of Riki's courier partner, Alec.) This volume belongs to Riki: we sink deep into his thought processes and history. Our access to the other men's perspectives is highly restricted. Indeed, we do not enter Iason's thoughts until the very end--a well-calculated limitation that pushes us hard into Riki's perception of Iason as the inscrutable, implacable, unmovable intruder entrenched in his psyche. Yoshihara's omniscient narrator skillfully shifts point-of-view character, punctuating deep involvement in Riki's thoughts with brief bursts of insight into those around him. Her restraint in depicting Iason's, Katze's, and Guy's points of view will pay dividends as the story gradually peels away the layers of these characters. Foreshadowing is rife and--in contrast to the writing style--often subtle and, for those who know what's coming, deeply affecting.

As for the sex, Riki and Iason's first encounter is much like the anime and the earlier edition of the novel. It's lurid and succeeds in presenting Iason as really very scary. Riki and Guy get a couple of bed scenes, nothing graphic but highly effective in illustrating both their "definition of normal" sex life and the emotional tremors shaking the foundations of their relationship, not all of which are Iason's fault.

New to this edition is a substantial digression into Riki's childhood in Guardian, including Guy but (significantly) focusing on Riki's early traumas with other friends. Yoshihara expands her description of Guardian itself and gives more insight into relations between the sexes there. She also expands her description of the Black Market, particularly dynamics among couriers. Her sociological commentary remains long-winded and needlessly pedantic in the manner of George Eliot, but happily we get less of this than in volume 1. Riki's chats with Katze are somewhat lengthened to good effect with an emphasis on their kinship as two mongrels who have "crawled out of the slums" into Midas society. Katze emerges as a strong role model to Riki. (Poor Riki.) I believe Yoshihara's grim description of the lives of the illicit pets Riki transports has been slightly toned down, a move that seems to undercut the horror of the society she's condemning. Iason seems wittier in this edition, and he wears his wit well.

Nifty tidbits: Iason's casual dismissal of Katze. (Poor Katze.) Riki's mostly unconscious and subtle but unmistakable dismissal of Guy. (Poor Guy.) Excellent establishment of young Riki as a class A go-getter (he arrives for all appointments ten minutes early!). The contrast between this Riki and the apathetic addict we met (post-Iason) in volume 1 is raw.

Katsumi Michihara's illustrations in volume 2 are much like those in volume 1, but--I'd say--a little better, a bit more focused on the central characters. They remain simple, attractive, non-graphic, and less impressive than any number of fan illustrations. Riki is drawn with gray eyes in flagrant violation of the black-eyed description emphasized in the text. (The text, on the other hand, says Katze has gray eyes, which was news to me.)

Overall, I'm giving this volume an A-. The story is absolutely A+, as Ai no Kusabi always is, but the poor writing sadly still undercuts what could have been a work of true literary brilliance.

Nightmare

Rating: B-

Volume 3: "Nightmare": The worst of the bunch so far. This is a shame because the excellent core story is in full swing in this volume. The plot covers Riki's first three humiliating years as Iason's pet, the events of the Dark Erogenous CD drama, which I highly recommend. A flash-forward subplot involves Kirie's machinations. Here we reach many of the quintessential scenes AnK is justly famous for; sadly, poor writing robs most of them of impact.

Line-by-line use of language is much improved in this volume. The truly embarrassing lines are almost completely gone. This prose is dull but functional, and several dialogues read very well. The translation is smoother and the typos much fewer. The structuring of the story, however, borders on incoherent. Everyone familiar with AnK knows it's non-chronological, and this flashback structure works well to illustrate the cause-and-effect of Riki's psychological devastation. However, there's "non-chronological" and then there's bopping from scene to scene, timeline to timeline, point of view to point of view every few sentences. This radically fragmented narration results in needless repetition (how many times do we need to hear about Mimea?) and temporal confusion (Is Riki dreaming of his past or is this actually happening?). But most importantly, it undermines dramatic effect by depriving the narration of sustained rising tension and progressive character movement. Example 1: We get one, isolated throwaway line stating that Daryl is going slightly mad. This illustrates nothing about Daryl, explains nothing, and serves no purpose but to break the flow of the narrative.

Example 2: How to take a great character moment and ruin it. (Minor spoilers follow.) One of the memorable scenes of AnK is when Iason catches Riki masturbating to a porno-hologram and beats him senseless out of sheer, unreasoning jealousy. Psychologically, this scene is highly reminiscent of a scene in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World in which Linda beats John up for calling her "mother" because, like Iason, she lacks the emotional tools to process her feelings for him in a more mature way. Here's the end of that bit from BNW:

He saw that she was going to hit him again, and lifted his arm to guard his face. "Oh, don't Linda, please don't."

"Little beast!" She pulled down his arm; his face was uncovered.

"Don't, Linda." He shut his eyes, expecting the blow.

But she didn't hit him. After a little time, he opened his eyes again and saw that she was looking at him. He tried to smile at her. Suddenly she put her arms round him and kissed him again and again. (p 127)*

Here's the end of the scene from AnK:

Aroused by his own naked anger, he [Iason] struck Riki in a blind, reflexive spasm.

All Riki had been doing was pleasuring himself to a naked picture of a bitch [female pet]. It drove a spike through the heart of his pride as a Blondy, a spike of burning sexual desire.

The rumors about Riki and Mimea only confirmed the reality of those emotions. [Onward to more on Mimea.] (p. 41-42)

Leave aside that Huxley's "showing" is more compelling than Yoshihara's "telling." Leave aside the "spike-through-heart-of-pride" melodrama. What's missing? Iason's counter-motivation, the part that knows his actions are stupid. The power of scene where a person loses control is the fallout from the clash between his/her conflicting impulses. Huxley wrenches our gut by juxtaposing Linda's immature, Brave-New-Worlder lashing out with her instinctive maternal love and need for John. For Iason, the conflict lies between his icy self-control and his violent rage, his distanced superiority and his desperate obsession with Riki. But Yoshihara gives only one half of the conflict: a lackluster account of his fury, followed no engagement with how either he or Riki processes this attack in the light of his usual, implacable veneer of self-control.

Riki and Iason's story is the great casualty of this ramshackle narration. The movement of their relationship--Iason's mounting emotional involvement and Riki's gradual descent into hopelessness--is almost impossible to track, in part because their story keeps getting interrupted by more minor characters.

The great beneficiary of these interruptions is Iason's furniture, Daryl, who, to my knowledge, has never been so fully developed in any version of AnK before. This volume offers welcome insight into the details of both pets and furniture, and Daryl, in particular, is richly drawn. In fact, he steals the limelight from Iason as the chief source of Riki's misery! Riki's dislike for him contrasts effectively with Daryl's genuine affection and admiration for Riki. As furniture tales go, Daryl trumps Katze in this volume. Indeed, Katze's famous discussion with Riki in which he describes his past as furniture, is literally sliced in two by a long digression into Riki's attitude toward Daryl. Apart from the way it detracts from other story elements, the fleshing out Daryl's character is powerful and welcome. Other pleasant surprises include a fun scene furthering the old rivalry/mutual understanding between Riki and informant, Robby, and some nice plot development for Guy. This volume also contains Riki and Luke's game of "giggolo," a good character-building event, though this edition seems to underplay Riki's discomfort with the game, which is the main allure of the scene.

Katsumi Michihara's illustrations are beginning to disturb me: no character looks older than twelve, including Iason, which is just weird and wrong. For hardcore BL fans, the illustrations are getting racier.

BL content: it's graphic, sadistic, and disturbing--yet strangely unmoving, owing mostly to the failure in narrative follow through that I've described in the Brave New World comparison.

On the whole, this volume is a mess. It contains many of the series' most memorable scenes, but it conveys most of them with a sloppiness that denies them their rightful emotional impact. Good points include several of the extended dialogues, which showcase nicely the individual voices of Iason, Riki, Katze, Guy, and Daryl, among others. I'm giving this book a B- for stylistically butchering a brilliant story.

* Huxley, Aldous. [1932] Brave New World. New York: Perennial Classics-HarperCollins, 1998.