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Title:  Ai no Kusabi: The Space Between Vol 1 Stranger

Author: Rieko Yoshihara

Illustrated by: Katsumi Michihara

Publisher: Junè

ISBN: 9781569707821

May Contain Spoilers

This is so obviously part of a larger work that it’s hard to recommend it on its own merits.  More a world building exercise, this volume of Ai no Kusabi sets down a foundation for the story that is to come.  We meet Riki and the members of his gang, Bison, but more than anything, the city of Ceres is examined in minute detail.  Teaming with poverty and desperation, gangs battle for supremacy as people try to eke out a humble life.  On a world ruled by the computer, Jupiter, destitute Ceres rubs shoulders with Midas and its glittering Pleasure Quarters.  Ruling over all is Tanagura, where the elites, the Blondies, live, working with Jupiter.  With a caste system that is determined by hair color, the Blondies are at the top of the pecking order.

Riki, the leader of Bison, had abruptly left three years earlier, stepping away from the gang while they still ruled the roost.  He returns just as mysteriously, refusing to speak of his whereabouts over past few years, content to waste his days in a drug induced trance.  Riki is such a shadow of his former self that you wonder constantly what or who caused this drastic change in him.  From a self-confident, fearless leader, to his current indifferent state, he is content to laze about downing stout and dreaming in an intoxicated fog.  Kirie, the youngest member of Bison, is appalled by the reality of Riki. Having joined with Bison after Riki left, Kirie only knows this ineffective, pathetic loser.  Chafing at the other members’ deference to their former leader, Kirie wants to break free from the chains of poverty that are binding him and holding him back.

When I picked up this book, I was expecting a steamy BL read.  Despite the promising first chapter, that’s not what I got.  This volume is almost purely a foray into the realm of sci-fi.  The inter-personal relationships are almost strictly limited to the Bison members as they try to re-adjust to this new Riki that has returned to their fold.  Kirie is the most passionate character, as he strives to rise above his mundane existence in Ceres.  The world is fascinating, and I want to learn more about it, but I hated how the book just…stopped.  It was so frustrating!  It was like losing power at an amusement park right when the roller coaster is about to crest the first hill.  Argh!

Grade: C+

Review copy provided by Junè