Product Description: A Blondie takes a street mongrel as a pet?! The entire city buzzes with the scandal! However, Riki, ever the defiant pet, appears to be losing his master's interest. Is he on the verge of being abandoned? And will his pride survive?
Of the subtitles for each of the volumes of Ai no Kusabi so far released in English, "Nightmare" seems to have been chosen most appropriately. This book is one long bad dream of the suffering and near insanity of the characters forced to be involved.
This volume chronicles the specific events of the three years that Riki spent as Iason Mink's "pet" that were previously unknown to readers of the original release of the novel or viewers of the anime OVA. Rieko Yoshihara added most of the contents of this particular volume for the five volume re-release of the story in 2004, which is probably why a number of reports about the book claim it has been "altered" from the original manuscript. This is perfectly all right with me, as I think this particular part of the story is not only very engaging, but also reveals details about societal secrets and character depth that might have otherwise been left unknown.
And if anyone is unhappy with there being "differences" between this release and the original one-volume printing of the novel in Japan so many years ago, I would offer up the fanservice to be found in this book as compensation. Indeed, if Yoshihara-sensei did not add this piece of the story we would never have been able to experience the graphic details of Iason and Riki's early physical encounters. The scenes are grotesque, graphic to the point of almost being psychologically damaging to the reader who is forced to bear witness to the abuse Riki suffers at the hands of his new "owner." Disturbing, yes, but in the same way that one can't help but look on at the carnage of a car accident as they pass by the scene.
Not only that, but we get a much better glimpse into the mind of Iason Mink than has been shown previously. At one point in the book he even bitterly admits the insanity of his uncontrollable obsession with Riki and laments to his Blondy friend, Raoul, that if he admitted his feelings for the slum mongel he would be laughed at.
Additionally, we get another piece of the puzzle of Riki's time at Guardian, particularly some more details about his relationship with the information peddler Robbie, "God's Grim Reaper," and what happened between them back then. Not the whole story yet, but essentially a "promise" for even more reveals in future volumes.
We also learn some startling facts about Katze and the origins of the "furniture" of Eos. As we are treated to the intricate details of the lives and fates of the "pets" of the Tanagura elite, we are also exposed to their marginalization of human beings, something that leaves more than just a bad taste in one's mouth. The terms "furniture" and "pets" to describe human beings, genetically engineered or not, can lead one to question the ways in which our own society uses and understands the same words, or at least it did for me. The "furniture" is an appliance that serves its master without question, and a "pet" is nothing more than an aesthetic status symbol, neither one having any value outside of those functions or freedom to choose its own path in life. Being presented with the real personality and feelings of the "furniture" tasked with Riki's care, Daryl, and his generally resigned "happiness in slavery" attitude, the horror of the Tanagura system becomes all the more apparent.
Kelly Quine again does a superb job with the translation. There were even fewer typographical errors in this volume than in previous ones. Still a few mistakes, but I'm very glad to see this kind of improvement in DMP's novel localizations and hope for more consistently high quality endeavors in the future. Katsumi Michihara's illustrations seemed to hit at their appropriate points in the story all the way through this time as well. I also noticed that DMP did away with the unnecessary extra two maps of Tanagura that were presented in the previous two volumes.
The book jumps back and forth along the timeline of the last four years of the story, so at times it is hard to follow. It is usually clear when the timeline shifts (and generally they are physically separated by an extra line spacing between paragraphs), but as each skip becomes incredibly engrossing in its own right, it is sometimes forgotten that what is being read is actually an "aside" to the events that are supposed to be taking place in the "active" scene of a particular chapter until it jumps back in and you are left a bit disoriented.
As a result, I would definitely not recommend starting this book series with this volume. I highly recommend reading the story as a whole, but starting with the first book and working your way through it to here. I would like to reiterate, however, to anyone looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, or the rainbow at the end of the storm, that this book is a true "tragedy," and if you are looking for a happy ending you are going to be seriously disappointed. However, if you are looking for an incredible story, within a rich universe that pulls you in and keeps you hanging to the very last page, I can't recommend Ai no Kusabi enough.
Loved the 2nd book in the series This is a very well written Science Fiction story and I highly recommend it. I loved the story line about the future world and the division between the classes. The Rikki is a wonderful character and is beautifully written. This is a yaoi story from Japen which means M/M but when you read that they live in an artificial world run by a computer, Venus and that only 10% of the population are female it makes sense.
This story is about people who hope for more and the elite who think nothing of them except what use they have for their amusement.
I can't wait for the next book in the series and if you are hesitant because the first book was hard to read then rest assured this book was much easier.
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