This is the ONLY anime I'm aware of that has actual gay sex in it (instead of the usual angsty moping and shoujo-esque sparkly kisses), and if you lay that out beside the innumerable straight or lesbian hentais, it's just a *little* unbalanced. Be warned, of course, that if you're not into pretty guys making out then you should probably stay away from this title.

I sat down to watch this show expecting it to be basically your average 'Plot? What Plot?' hentai, only with guys. I was surprised to find that it actually *had* a plot, and a well-developed one at that. The story and world are fleshed out and complex, even down to very small details of architectural and prop design -- it's not a regular hentai with a thin veneer of a 'sci-fi' setting thrown on top to make it 'different'. I found myself torn between impatiently waiting for the sex scenes and getting caught up in the interesting story and characters. Granted, it isn't a classic work of literature, but it's pretty good. You can really tell that there's a lot of back story that was explored in the previous novels and radio dramas--for this reason you should watch the Lupin Gang version as it has a detailed explanation of the world before the show begins, so you know what the hell's going on. Apparently the people who made Ai no Kusabi assumed that anybody watching the anime was familiar with the novels.

The music is pretty much average synth BGM, and the sound effects are really silly sci-fi 80's stuff. Character designs, on the other hand, are a big plus, as the guys are all really attractive, unlike Zetsuai or most yaoi anime with their freaky spider-boys. Animation quality, since it's an OAV, is pretty good. The voice acting is top-notch; Iason's seiyuu, Shiozawa Kaneto (D from Vampire Hunter D and Larva from Miyu), is just soooo smooth, and of course Seki Toshihiko is just delectable as Riki. It's almost worth seeing this show just to hear Seki-san say 'Do it to me' in that incredible voice of his.

As for the sex, it's on early hentai levels, i.e. all suggested, with no actual naughty bits shown on-screen. This is somewhat telling, I think, since AnK isn't that old and contemporary *straight* hentai shows pretty much everything. Even so it's still pretty steamy, and beggars can't be choosers.

On the whole, you shouldn't go into this show expecting non-stop sex like I did; you'll spend the whole first episode frustrated and annoyed, since it doesn't get really hot until the second ep. Sit back and enjoy the interesting plot, and then watch Riki get screwed. Then rewind the tape. ^_~