Riki is NOT consenting.Īt least not in the first 3 years of their relationship. There are some flashbacks from the time when Riki was 'trained' and he's clearly distraught just thinking about it. He doesn't want to be Iason's slave, and he's even scared of him. You can clearly see the hope vanishing from Riki's eyes as Iason tells him he's not free anymore. Then he decides to set Riki free for a year, but goes back on his promise after Riki gets in trouble. Iason has kept Riki as a slave for three years, breaking him down into obedience. Don't get me wrong, I can still enjoy a love story even though it's abusive and/or somewhat wrong, but this one is too much. The story is interesting and I like the world they live in, but there's just something about Iason and Riki that I can't like - their master-slave relationship. After reading so many good reviews about this anime, I had my hopes up pretty high when I started watching Ai no Kusabi, so maybe it's my own fault I didn't like it that much.

The ending completely destroyed me, but at the same time gave me the shivers (in a good way) and I found myself smiling while crying.

Another important thing, at least to me it is, is that they weren't young boys but pretty young mature adults, which made it all more interesting and fascinating. I really liked how the characters were designed, they weren't the common stereotype of yaoi characters (very feminine and emotional), they were very manly, they were strong, cold and sometimes even a bit sadistic, but they never failed to express their emotions and feelings of love (because there's not just one couple in the whole story, no spoiler). The love story between Iason and Riki is movingly perfect, a union of love and pain, power and weakness, will and need, hurt and care they're constantly denying their love for each other (Riki does more than Iason, who clearly admits Riki's not just a pet to him anymore), hiding it behind a convenient sexual relationship (which is part of the whole game, but there's more behind it). I have to admit that I already loved Iason before he even apparead in the anime, but while watching, my love for him only increased there were some moments I felt slightly disappointed with him, but those feeling were soon wiped away by his adorable behaviour.

At first I was unsure about whether to choose the old or the new version, but then I just went with the first one, and I have to say it was a wise decision even though the design and the animation are pretty old, and you can see that by the drawings and everything, it was very great no matter what, and probably it was even better just because the characters where the way they were. I had been wanting to watch this anime in forever, but only managed to a few weeks ago I watched the old version, but I'm probably watching the new version too.

Anime Ai No Kusabi sub indo