NOT FOR YAOI-HATERS! DON’T WATCH, AND DON’T JUDGE :P

Still reading? Don’t blame me, I warned you.

One of the oldest tales in this genre, “Ai no Kusabi” is rather deep as far as yaoi goes, showing a sadistic romance and the cruel side of forced love. The background story is well-set, dealing with interesting issues such as power abuse, corruption, Stockholm syndrome and the like; also, it’s a sci-fi/dystopia – not an all that realistic once but nonetheless undeniably my cup of tea :P
As the anime’s only two hours long however, it is highly fast-paced and to me felt quite rushed as the background topics are barely grazed. The whole anime focuses on the sex/love relationship; sure, this one is well set, gets well wrapped up in the end, and is interesting as far as the genre goes; still, to me, too much background potential seemed to be left untouched. Can only hope the 2012 adaption surpasses that one (heard it’s supposed to run for 11 eps, but I’m not sure).

The characters are unique… and all male. Fodder to the imagination of all yaoi fans. :P Personally, I would’ve appreciated a woman at least as a side character, but no changing that, I guess. (Female feminist => I appreciate bishounen but if it’s only men taking up the spotlight, I get annoyed. *lol*)

The dialogue’s well done overall, not a pain in the ears but not really special.

For an anime of two hours, there’s lots of action/violence in here, but oh well… it’s old, and the animation truly isn’t today’s level.

Probably still good for any yaoi/dystopia lover who doesn’t mind the animation (>.>) but personally, I found this anime far too crammed in as I expected more of a spotlight on the mentioned background themes. This anime has more potential than it shows. Keeping my hopes up the 2012 release surpasses this one! (show less)

ai no kusabi is ste in a world where your social status is decided by your hair colour, and the "blondies" who rule together with an AI called jupiter have complete domination over the city; having pets (sex slaves) and living house slaves known as "furniture."
riki, a mongerle from the slums somehow gains the attention of on of the most painful blondies and they embark on a troubled romance where their respective societies are hell bent against it working.
as far as yaoi goes, its actually pretty deep, and deals with interesting issues like power in relationships and corruption in government; abuse of power and sotckholm sydrom.
that being said, while it stretches over two hours, it somehow seems like its all been rushed through to just make a backdrop for the relationship. the themes of the story are really interesting and deserve to be explored.
thankfully, a new, extended 12 ep series is coming out this year which will hopefully do this.
has a lotta potential but its probablly worth waiting for the new series (the animation of figures is not fluid at all- shoulders stay block like and hardly move!) (show less)