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In this book you finally see how Riki first met Iason. The second book has everthing the first one didn't.
The story didn't flow right because the author was feeding us tons of background information about the world and the people. I was majorly disappointed with the first volume of Ai no Kusabi.
I'm grateful I did. What I really wanted to focus on was Riki and Iason and I felt like they didn't get the recognition they needed to keep this story interesting.
Also, I think that people who have not seen the anime may be extremely confused because the characters' names aren't used when they are mentioned.I had planned to never touch this series again, but I was offered a great deal on the next three books and I decided to give it another chance. More Riki and Iason, a more linear storytelling, and less boring history lessons.
Frankly, I feel that it may have been easier to understand this series if I skipped the first book all together.
It's great and a great read. This is a great series. The Manga are wonderfully written and put you in the middle of the minds of the characters and the situations. Very in depth and intense. Great great great.
What I like about it is the untold part of the story the anime never really touched on. it's about time. All I can say about this is. It adds more to the story itself and gives more depth to the characters. I first saw Ai no Kusabi a few years ago in the anime version and absolutely loved it. The graphic novel is equally as good. I currently am waiting for the rest of this series to come out so I can own all of them. It's a must read.
I liked the first novel and loved the second. I found the second easier to read and understand but still very compelling. Will definately read it again. I have placed an order for the 3rd book with Amazon and this book series looks to have won a place in my collection.
The language is so smooth and articulate that seeing simple typographical errors was incredibly irritating and off-putting. Dark allusions to their unfortunate fate are made, but the details about some "incident" that keeps being mentioned are still elusive. The questions about what led Riki, the leader of Bison, from the slums and into the grasp of the Blondy, Iason Mink, are the focal point of the volume, but as a result even more questions are raised.The biggest question would have to be the details of Riki's time at Guardian and what happened to him and his "friends" there. The story is deep, tragic and so wide-scoping that missing all of the detail contained at the beginning will make it harder to appreciate coming this far. If you're looking for romantic bits, you're going to be disappointed, but there are a few graphic scenes in this volume: one frustrating and humiliating incident with Iason and a scene tarnished by that one with Guy (one of Guy's few appearances in the volume). If you're looking through this review considering whether or not to start reading the series all together, I say, yes, please do, but go back and start with volume 1.
I do have to pose an issue, aside from questions, about the nature of Riki's relationship with Guy. Suffice to say, his own slum roots and connections to the driving plot of this volume are curious and more than a little ominous. It is still unclear how they met, and while it keeps being restated that they are "pairing partners" and trust and devote themselves to one another, anything but that is being shoved in our faces in this volume. Riki continues to drift further and further away from Guy and Guy's lack of presense this time around only leaves us wondering what is going through his head during all of this. Ai no Kusabi Volume 2 concludes with more questions than answers. Iason is cold and calculating, but already by the end of the book we can see his own growing obsession with Riki. It's clear that not only is their chance meeting destined to pull them closer together, but also that this closeness will ultimately result in tragedy for both of them.
Again in this volume, as in volume 1, the translation is fantastic. But also again, as in volume 1, the entire book needs a good lookover by a proofreader. As the restless 15 year old leader of Bison, Riki keeps searching for something elusive with almost obsessed fervor. Also is the question about the black maket courier boss Katze's true intentions, though to pose that question might be too much of a spoiler for those who have not yet experienced the volume. The illustrations this time around, with the exception of one image of Iason towards the end that was two pages ahead of where it should have been, actually hit in the right places for the moments they depicted.
And in case any of that was confusing, volume 2 of Ai no Kusabi takes place entirely in flashback to the time before Riki and Iason Mink ever met by chance on the streets of Midas. Caught by Iason trying to pick-pocket a tourist, and subesequently let go on a whim, Riki, refusing to allow his pride to be indebted to anyone, forces an encounter with Iason that will forever affect both of their futures. I'm glad DMP mostly took care of that problem from volume 1 and I hope they continue to pay attention to that detail in the future.If you're looking through this review, having already read volume 1, knowing where this story is headed and still interested in continuing, the book is worth the read, I assure you.
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