AnK News
02-07-2012: Very belated news part 1: Vol. 7 of the novel
This actually came as a surprise to me that there is going to be another volume of the novel (yeah, right, shows that I haven't read the latest edition). What is surprising is that the illustrations from volume 6 suggested the end (sharing a cigerette, crying Katze, Iason beating Guy). The news about another volume made me look at the end of volume 6 – there is an epilogue, but it is not the end that we know. Interesting. Anyway, the release is announced for September. Let's hope.
Back-cover summary:
The feelings of anger and jealousy surrounding Riki's status as Iason's pet continues to fester, both amongst the Blondies and their pet. Riki is feeling more and more isolated, as he suffers from a serious stabbing and remains confined. Will Iason be able to keep hold of his beloved Riki, or will Blondie's society tear them apart? And what about Guy? Is he willing to walk away?
Links:
02-07-2012: Very belated news part 2: Four episodes of the anime released
Okay, so I'm probably the last one who saw it, and you all know about the release, but I still feel like announcing it here. So here we go: first four episodes of the new anime have been aired. Good, we're almost one-third way through. The episodes have even been already subbed by our friendly AarinFantasy. You can download them from there or via torrent. I will not link to them from here (Aarin's request), but I'm sure whoever haven't seen the new anime yet, will find the episodes easily. So enjoy.
A few personal impressions:
• This time the authors didn't make the old mistake of skipping the background info. This time we are given all information we need to understand the universe.
• So far the anime goes along with the novel very closely, which is a good thing to me.
• The interaction between Iason and Riki is even stronger than in the old anime. It affected me more than the old version did. We feel the tension, the friction, the mutual fascination. IMO, it is really well played.
All in all, I really enjoyed watching the new anime. I think it is better than the old one - more detailed, but equally strong emotionally.
25-04-2010: Another delay?
The release date of the new OVA (Spring 2010) has been removed from the official site for so far unknown reasons. The running text in the upper right corner of the official site only says now: "About 20 years have past and the staff-members of the previously done ova are doing a long awaited, complete remake!". Please don't panic. There are no news on the production being halted.
And the good news: here is the 8 minute preview from the first episode, translated into English by Ai-chan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk4aG5z4QWE
Taken from: http://ainokusabi.lima-city.de
19-12-2009: Newest novel release dates
Volume 5 of the Japanese edition (published by Tokuma Shoten) came out on 27th November, volume 6 is scheduled on 27th January 2010. It seems it will be the last volume of the novel, which would mean that the rewritten novel will be soon be complete!
19-10-2009: New publisher, new artist
A few facts about the latest novel releases.
The original Japanese publisher of the lastest Ai no Kusabi edition, the one coming out in separate volumes, was Seibido Shuppan (known also as Crystal Bunko). They got the license in 2001 and until now published 6 volumes. This is not the end of the novel.
In 2009 however the copyrights for AnK have been taken over by another publisher, Tokuma Shoten, who started to release the novel from anew – again from volume 1.
So far three volumes came out and volume 4 is planned on 27th November. The four volumes are claimed to cover the content of all six published by Seibido Shuppan and from the fifth one comes the new. It seems that the text itself remained unchanged, but I am not certain about this.
Along with another publisher came a new artist. The Seibido Shuppan publication was illustrated by Katsumi Michihara, just like the very first edition in June Magazine. The artist hired by Tokuma Shoten is Saichi Nagato.
This change puts in question further releases of the English translation of the novel, as the American publisher DMP (Digital Manga Publishing) bought the copyrights from Seibido Shuppan. Having six volumes of the translation released, it is now uncertain whether we would get the continuation.
19-10-2009: New OVAs' release postponed
As can be read on the official site (texts translated into English by dutiful fans), the release of the OVAs – planned originally on September 2009 – has been postponed. The current official release date is spring 2010. Patience, fans, patience.
23-03-2009: New OVAs have a trailer
Yesterday the official site has released a promo video for the new OVAs. It shows more of the characters, and shows them in motion. Here are some screenshots.
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Iason (well, well, not bad after all; actually I now like him more than the original one) | |
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Riki | |
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Guy | |
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Katze | |
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And what is this? A maggot? :-D | |
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The city |
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Hm, in the old version Riki was... more naked in those scenes. Is it going to be a decent anime? |
See more in the promo video on the official site. You can also download it from Megaupload.
(Thanks to RihannonL for the video and screenshots. ;-)
10-03-2009: Catching up
Since there's a lot happening around AnK lately – lots of new releases and announcements – I decided to give it credit here not to stay behind events. After all it's an AnK site, that aspires to be good and informative. The updates of this place will be independent from the rest of updates and I won't inform about them in the Update section. The date of the most current news will be always visible on the top of the menu. Most likely it won't change very often.
So, here are the latest events:
Anime remake
The remake of the anime has been officially announced in late December 2008. The release is planned to start in autumn 2009. It will run as a series of 13 episodes. Akiyama Katsuhito and Onda Noyuki come back as a director and character designer. More info on Anime News Network | Official japanese site
Compare pics of the characters:
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Translation releases
Volume 4 of the translation of the novel has been released on November 4, 2008. Volume 5 is planned for March 11, 2009 (just about now!), and volume 6 for July 22, 2009.
Cover pic and an illustration from vol. 6:
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There are so far 6 volumes planned for translation, all that have been released in Japanese. However there will be more as Yoshihara hasn't finished re-editing the novel yet and volume 6 is not the last one. Details on the translation releases.
New audio dramas
Preceding the release of the new anime, there have also been three new audio dramas made.
Destiny: 25 May 2007
Storyline: A Blondie from the highest pantheon of Amoi and a mongrel from the slum. However, the cast suggests that there's more going on: Iason, Riki, Raoul, Katze, Guy and Alec (from the novel).
Nightmare: 25 April 2008
Storyline: Riki meets Iason again in the black market pet auction and the nightmare begins. Supposedly the large portion of it is not covered in the original OVA. Looks like its more or less the equivalent of Dark Erogenous.
Resonance: 25 October 2008
Storyline: This part deals mainly with the Mimea arc and Iason's gets anger/jealousy.
Cast:
Riki: Kentaro Ito (also: Renji Abarai/Bleach, Chouji/Naruto)
Iason: Toru Okawa (also: Kariya Jin/Bleach, Transformer/Optimus Prime, Uzumi/Gundam Seed, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children/Rufus)
Raoul: Takaya Kuroda (also: Baura/Bleach, Transformer/StarScream)
Katze: Shiniro Miki (also: Kisuke Urahara/Bleach, Yoji Kudo/Weiss Kreuz, Takumi Fujiwara/Initial D)
Here is the site with more info (unfortunately in Japanese): mee-Maker web. If someone is interested how the new saiyuu sound, you'll find the audio sample under the cover of the first CD – Destiny.
(Thanks to Kerklin for translating fragments of the site.)
The next news will be brought to you with more current dates. I just hope that I will have topics to write about.