Ai no Kusabi (2012)

Ai no Kusabi (2012) is the newest adaptation of a light novel of the same name published in 1986-1987. It’s first adaptation was airing in 1992-1994 and it had 2 OVA’s. This adaptation consisted of 4 OVA’s so double the fun, right? Well, yes and no, unless you call unfinished work fun. In that case it’s yes and yes.

Story: 9/10
It’s set in a fictional world with mostly men because of some genetic issues. The society is divided into castes where elites are at the top and mongrels at the bottom. The story revolves around an elite and a mongrel but don’t get the wrong idea, ... this isn’t a Romeo and Juliet spin off.
Iason Mink, an elite of the highest degree, encounters Rikki, a mongrel, in slums. He finds him interesting so after some events, takes him in as his… well… pet (read: sex toy). After 3 years of captivity, Riki’s rather restless and keeps making Iason trouble. That’s where the first OVA starts. Riki unsuccessfully tries to escape and Iason, pressed on by other elites decides to free him for a year, hoping he would come back on his own.
Don’t expect any sort of cheesy romance without point or the usual falling in love after being raped thing. The story follows Riki as he tries to fit back in into slums and regain his past reputation. However, stuff don’t go as easily since everyone keeps asking him where he was for the past 3 years and his former lover is trying to get back together with him at all cost. It all gets even more complicated when Iason decides that Riki had enough freedom and tries to get him back.
The only complaint I have about the story is, that it’s unfinished.

Art: 10/10
Truly amazing, one of the best things about the anime. It shows that it was done recently. Character designs are also very interesting, even of the side characters.

Sound: 10/10
Incredible opening and ending, both fit perfectly to the anime. VA’s are very good and I don’t think they could have picked better for those characters.

Characters: 9/10
Characters are about the most interesting part of the story. Riki is strong, prideful and arrogant. His nature is part of his inner struggle to figure out his feelings towards Iason. He hates him for imprisoning him and treating him like a toy. There’s even a moment when he spaces out obviously in fear from his memories after seeing him after a long time. At the same time it’s clearly shown by his actions that he is attracted by Iason ever since they met but he isn’t and doesn’t want to be aware of that.
Iason, on the other hand, is completely aware of his feelings for Riki but it never happened to him before so he’s confused by himself.
Other characters have a role in the story. We have Gai, Riki’s former lover who tries to make Riki open up and return to him, Kirie a boy who wants to become a pet and enjoy life full of money, Katze mysterious guy working in black market who was once Iason’s servant so he keeps in touch with him and the rest of Riki’s former gang.

Enjoyment: 9/10 (AKA yaoi scenes)
This is a true gem in the yaoi world. I don’t think I’ve seen a yaoi that would do them better than this. They didn’t feel forced, they weren’t randomly thrown to please fans and it wasn’t the typical girly, unexperienced and shy uke with the perverted and experienced seme. They were both perverted and at some points Riki seemed more experienced than Iason. Censorship is there but it doesn’t feel awkward and it never made me want to hit my fist through the screen unlike many other yaoi.

Overall: 9.5/10 (rounded to 9 because of no ending)
If you are bored with stupid and annoying romance in usual shounen ai like me. Then this anime is exactly for you.

I'll be blunt: if you have already watched the 1992-1994 Ai no Kusabi, listen to me, don't waste your time watching this.

Of course it's -almost- the same story with absolutely the same characters, but this rendition is not as intense as the old one. It doesn't add anything, possibly it waters down the story and the tension.
Note that the story in these four OVA is not complete. It was in the two OVA old version.

I like the concept of Ai no Kusabi, the plot, the set, the characters, and I'd like to watch a very extended and complete version of it, but I think I ... gained nothing from watching this.

Five words: A complete waste of time.

If you're into yaoi like I shamelessly am, you've probably heard of Ai no Kusabi or even watched the original. Yes, Ai no Kusabi (2012) is a remastered version of an adaptation which was released in 1992. When the words "remastered" or "rebooted" are thrown into the mix, one might expect that this new version would either tell the story better, or pair the same story with better art. Due to the fact that the entire duration of both adaptations are relatively the same, with this one being four 24-minute episodes and the original being two hour-long episodes, ... I honestly didn't think the story would be altered that much. Unfortunately, I was crushed to learn that the story I fell in love with was heavily mutilated.

The reason why I loved the original so much was because it took a different route most R18+ yaoi anime seem to take, one where it focuses more on developing a start-to-finish plot rather than simply adding in spicy sex scenes when things get slow. It was literally an anime where I could say, "I only watch this for the plot ;)" and ACTUALLY mean it. In this new version, only half of the plot is delivered, meaning that those who haven't read the light novel or seen the original might be confused about what the hell is happening in this fictional universe. Also, remember that intense, tragic ending that was shown in the original and gave closure to the story? It's nowhere to be found. Not only that, but the plot elements that WERE saved from the cut and weren't replaced with sex scenes were placed completely out of order as well. Character backstories are shown in the final episode, when they should have been shown in the first episode, etc.

This new plot that we're given just seems to be all over the place and horribly configured. I almost see it as an insult to the original anime, because what Ai no Kusabi (2012) does is that it completely erases everything that made the story stand out from other animated yaoi and seems to only serve as a thirst trap for fans who watch these types of shows for the sole purpose of the more intimate scenes. There's no longer anything special to be appreciated about this anime, making it easy for it to blend in with all the other yaoi out there.

The only redeeming quality this anime seems to have is its art style. Having been made 20 years after the original's release, the art does a great job modernizing the overall look of the characters and scenery. I don't want to say that this version necessarily has BETTER art compared to the original - because there's no denying that they were released during two different eras of animation styles - but it was definitely not an eyesore to say the least. Unfortunately, the positive change in art does not overpower the negative warping of the story.

In general, watching this anime was a huge let down. The whole story was laid out perfectly once before, so having it drastically changed in the way that it was makes me feel like I was robbed. If you're the type of yaoi watcher who cares more for plot rather than intimacy, I would strongly suggest using these two hours to watch the original instead. However, if you're not too keen on seeing a story develop and only want to see the intimacy part, then this one might be perfect for you. When compared to other 2-4 episode yaoi anime out there instead of comparing it only to the original, I definitely will agree that this is one of the better ones.