warning 18+ || Ai No Kusabi -BL anime- Eng sub ||Japanese anime #bldrama

Disclaimer:-18+

The Dystopian World of Ai no Kusabi

If you are a newbie to AnK, I would recommend starting with the anime. However, be warned that it would be extremely confusing without any basic knowledge about the world it takes place in. Since it is a sci-fi dystopia set on a distant planet in the future, the plot and the relationships between the characters might not make sense if you don’t have the context. The movie-makers allegedly presumed that most viewers would be Japanese already familiar with the books. Wrong!

So I’ll start this by giving a bit of (a lot of) history and details about the AnK society and the characters.

The story takes place on the small planet Amoi in the system of Glan some time in the future. The planet was barren until a group of scientists arrived determined to colonise it and create a perfect society with the aid of the supercomputer [Lambda] 3000 (generally called Jupiter).

As it often happens in such stories, after awhile the creation turned against its makers. Gifted with a gigantic base of information and intelligence surpassing the human, the computer soon gained enough experience and self-awareness to rebel and submit the humans. It effectively created a totalitarian regime with Jupiter as the ruler.

The computer strictly divided the population in different classes – ones they can never hope to escape. The Elite live in the beautiful but cold capital city of Tanagura. The nobility, artificially created humans, are split into sub-classes (called Norms) as well. Each Norm is created to serve a specific function within the society and is designed with a certain hair colour to showcase which group it belongs to. The caste system is, as follows:

— the black haired (Onyxes) are the lowest among the Elite; they are dedicated to office work.

— the red, green and blue haired (Rubies, Emeralds, Sapphires) are their counselors in these matters; they are divided into Norms in accordance to the degree of their knowledge

— the silver haired (Platinas) are those in charge of each field

— the blond haired (Blondies – don’t laugh!) are the “Elite among the Elite” – the only ones who communicate with Jupiter. These aristocrats are designed to be as similar to machines (Jupiter’s ideal beings, obviously) as possible – their faces and bodies are perfect in beauty, they do not seem to age as normal humans do, and their IQ exceeds 300 points. In creating them to be perfect, Jupiter also tried to breed any human weaknesses – such as emotions and lusts – out of them. The Blondies do not fall in love – although they are not entirely devoid of affection – don’t have sex and are sterile.

In order to satisfy what remains of their baser urges, Blondies are allowed to keep human Pets (slaves) for voyeuristic pleasures only. Pets are kept for about a year, then sold off to brothels, because they are not taught any other skills and presumably are not very intelligent. They are teenagers, either artificially bred in Tanagura’s Pet Academy or are just good-looking boys and girls from Midas.

Midas is the flashy satellite “pleasure city” of Tanagura where the Elite go to have their fun. Unlike the capital city, its citizens breed naturally but are still subjects of Jupiter. They are identified by a chip on their right ear and have ID numbers. Midas is divided into different Areas – most notably Apathia, Mistral Park, Ceres (plus Guardian).

Once, a group of Midas idealists, tired of having their lives ruled by a machine, tried to overthrow Jupiter’s dictatorship. They too wanted to create their own perfect society in Ceres, where they would have “absolute freedom”. Needless to say, their attempt to create a Utopia was as much of a failure as that of the scientists who had first arrived on Amoi. A revolution of sorts ensued – however, instead of the expected bloodbath, they were given their freedom by Jupiter, Ceres was pronounced a separate town and its population was deleted from the Midas registers. However, the euphoria was short-lived. With the loss of their ID numbers the people of Ceres had effectively lost their identity. Without an ID they could not leave Ceres, or get a job elsewhere or do anything else for that matter – Ceres was too small to be independent and without proper structure and leadership, it soon started to decay. When Ceres realised it could not go without Midas, some of its people asked to return. However, the city would not have them back – since they had been erased from the registers, they were no longer its citizens – they virtually did not exist. Thus, over time, Ceres completely corroded and the Slum was born.

The Slum’s population – called Mongrels – is raised in nearby Guardian. Births are (secretly) controlled by Tanagura’s elite to keep the population heavily male – but without affecting its numbers much. Only very few of the Mongrels are granted the privilege to have a last name; they are also the only ones who can afford to marry. When boys reach 13 years they are kicked out of Guardian to live in the Slum. Girls presumably stay at the institution. The lack of women keeps the Mongrels unstable; with no other outlet, homosexual relationships are prevailing. Mongrels spend their days in depressed idleness, getting high on Stout or looking for ways to get their hands on some cash. This is where the Black Market comes in handy. It is a shady organisation controlled by the Blondies where everything – even high-class Pets – is for sale. It’s the Mongrels’ only way to obtain the things they need to live.

The only ones able to escape life at the Slum are those boys chosen to be Furniture for the Elite. They are beautiful teens given the opportunity to take care of the Blondies’ household – including the Pets – as well as acting as living ornaments to adorn the house themselves. In exchange for this privilege, the boys are castrated – so as to avoid any illicit relations between the Furtniture and the Pets. In addition to being pretty, the Furniture are also supposed to be intelligent and obedient; they are given their own computer terminals to control matters in the household easier. This proves essential to the plot at more than one points.