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History Of Ai No Kusabi

History of Ai no Kusabi

History of media releases for the Ai no Kusabi franchise can be a bit confusing so I will try to give a brief™ overview.

1 – Shōsetsu June Magazine (1986-87)

Ai no Kusabi was released for the very first time in the December 1986 edition of the Shōsetsu June magazine. This was the first chapter of six that would come out in this magazine throughout the next year. These six chapters marked the first version of the full Ai no Kusabi story, which is generally referred to as the June edition.

2 – Cassette Drama (1989)

Published in May 1989, this was the first audio drama to come out for Ai no Kusabi. It contained 22 tracks that retold the story, which was adapted for the format of an acted audio drama. Cast included the voice actors that would then go on to voice Iason and Riki in the original anime adaptation: Shiozawa Kaneto and Seki Toshihiko. The other characters’ voice actors were replaced for subsequent adaptations.

3 – Hardcover Edition (1990)

In 1990, the 6 chapters released in the magazine were collected together, slightly edited and released as one single book. This is the edition we usually refer to as the Hardcover edition. June and Hardcover versions are very similar and differ mostly in phrasing and word choices, with some sentences removed or added in the Hardcover edition. (Note: so far I’ve only translated and compared the 1st chapter, so I can’t confidently speak for the rest yet)

4 – 1992 Anime OVA (1992)

In August 1992, for the first time, the story of AnK was adapted into an anime. This is the cult classic that most of us know and that drew many of us to the franchise in the first place. The story was changed quite drastically and focused on the relationship between Riki and Iason. It didn’t delve too deep into the complex and intricate setting of the story, but attempted to communicate its essence through, what would turn out to be, two 1h long episodes.

Along with the OVA came the first Original Soundtrack featuring music from the anime. Most tracks were instrumental, except for 3 (Midnight Illusion, Iason Mink and Riki) which featured lyrics and/or monologues written by Yoshihara and delivered by the same voice actors that appeared in the anime.

5 – Midnight Illusion (1993)

Midnight Illusion was the first side story to come out. It was a prequel, detailing Riki’s time in Guardian and was initially released in Shōsetsu June magazine in 1993. It would eventually be released as a book in 1996 and contained 11 chapters.

6 – Dark Erogenous & Sense of Crisis (1993)

Following the release of Midnight Illusion, AnK‘s second audio drama CD, Dark Erogenous, came out in 1993. It had 20 tracks and featured more or less the same cast as the 1992 anime. The drama focused on the three years Riki initially spent in Eos, which weren’t covered in the original version of the story (june and hardcover).

Ai no Kusabi‘s second original soundtrack, Sense of Crisis, was also released in 1993. It featured 15 original tracks, of which three (Ai no Kusabi, Iason Mink and Riki) had the same theme as their 1992 OST counterparts, but were still quite different. All tracks but Friction and Tenacity were instrumental, while the two tracks, as before, featured monologues written by Yoshihara and performed by the 1992 OVA cast.

7 – 1994 Anime OVA (1994)

The second part of the original anime came out in 1994 featuring the same cast and crew as the 1992 OVA. It closed the story the first episode started.

Along with it, two more original soundtracks came out, Ambivalence and Sympathy. Like Sense of Crisis, these soundtracks featured mostly completely original numbers, apart from Ai no Kusabi, which featured the same theme as the previous two versions. And as before, most were instrumental, with a few exceptions written by Yoshihara and delivered by the original cast.

8 – Oracion (1995)

Oracion was the 5th, and last soundtrack officially released for the series that wasn’t a compilation of older tracks. While every track on it is in fact a remake of a previously released number, they were reimagined and reworked completely, making them unique.

9 – Shiozawa Kaneto Memorials (2000-01)

Tragically, in May 2000, Shiozawa Kaneto, the beloved voice actor who voiced Iason since the beginning, passed away. Needless to say, this was an incredible loss for the world, and the Ai no Kusabi universe of which he became such an integral part, bringing Iason Mink to life so perfectly. In his memory, the Kaneto Shiozawa Memorial was released later that same year. This was a set of two CDs featuring the entire AnK Cassette Drama, various skits and announcements he delivered both as himself and as Iason, and his reading of the story called Tsumakurenai written by Moriuchi Kei (Tsumakurenai is not a part of the AnK franchise).

In 2001, the compilation soundtrack album called Music Best IASON was released in his honour, featuring all the tracks where his voice could be heard, as well as some instrumental tracks that were tied to the character, for the total of 20 previously released tracks.

10 – Expansion and Re-release of the Ai no Kusabi novel (2001-2010)

What is probably the most important moment for the franchise, along with the release of the first two anime OVAs, is the re-release of the Ai no Kusabi story. The entire story was reworked by Yoshihara, and a significant amount of original material was added to it. This resulted in a series of light, paperback novels that most of us are familiar with, and that represent Ai no Kusabi‘s final form, so to speak.

In October 2001, the first volume of this new, paperback edition, which corresponded to chapter 1 of the June/Hardcover edition was published by Seibidō Shuppan. In total, between 2001-2007, 6 volumes of this expanded version were released, however they were incomplete and didn’t cover the entire story.

But in 2009, Seibidō Shuppan sold the publishing rights to Tokuma Shoten. Under Tokuma Shoten, the previous 6 expanded volumes were released (although released as 4 volumes), and two more new volumes were added, for a total of 6, thus completing the Ai no Kusabi story.

11 – Audio Drama Trilogy: Destiny, Nightmare and Resonance (2007-08)

In 2007, the franchise was once again revived with the production and release of an Ai no Kusabi audio drama opus. A whole new cast was recruited, and the plan was to retell this new version of the story through a cohesive set of audio dramas. We can’t be sure how many releases were planned, because after the third CD (Resonance) came out, the work on these dramas was discontinued. Destiny (2007), Nightmare (2007) and Resonance (2008) cover the period from the beginning of the story, to the point Riki was released by Iason for his “one year of freedom,” after spending the 3 years in Eos.

12 – Ai no Kusabi Anime Remake (2012)

The talk of an AnK anime remake started way back in 2008. The initial report said that it should come out in 2009 as a 13 episode anime based on the paperback novel edition. Several previews and trailers were released in 2009, teasing the release and confirming that the cast would be same as it was in the audio drama trilogy. However, due to various circumstances including the global economic crisis and production issues, the anime was postponed to 2010. Numerous promotions and events were held in anticipation of the anime, however, the actual anime itself was nowhere to be found and eventually it was clear that nothing would come of it. The project seemed to be scrapped.

Fortunately, in September 2011 news came out that the anime would finally be released, starting from January 2012. Sadly, due to various issues that compounded with the problems from back in 2010, it was decided the anime would be scrapped after 4 episodes.

The 4 episodes that came out are very loyal to the paperback novel, with most scenes being taken directly from the novel, and even dialogues being almost identical. However that also meant that the 4 episodes covered only a fraction of the story and ended abruptly, offering no meaningful ending.

13 – Ai no Kusabi Side Stories (2010-12)

Since Midnight Illusion came out in the 90s, there have been no side stories published for the franchise. That changed when several of them came out in the period between 2010 and 2012. They were mostly part of various promotions and celebrations.

Illusion Night (2010) is a short story that takes place around the time Riki was in Apathia. It was given as part of their publisher’s Obsessive Love Fair promotion as a free gift to people who bought the publisher’s BL novels.

Cal’s Sighs (2010) is a short, three part story from Cal’s perspective, given as a bonus to those who bought the then freshly completed AnK novel set.

Musk (2012) is a short story that takes place while Riki is in Eos, published in volume 25 of Chara Magazine in anticipation of the remake’s first episode’s release.

File-0 (2012) is another short story released as part of the remake promotions. I has 4 chapters which cover Daryl’s perspective around the time Riki came to Eos.

Kizu (2012) is a short story released to commemorate the release of the audio drama trilogy set. It was included with the Resonance CD and is set right after Riki meets Iason for the first time.

14 – The End? (2023)

The cancellation of the anime marked the end of all things Ai no Kusabi, at least officially. There have been no releases of anything since 2012, we didn’t even get a soundtrack along with the anime. All that’s left is for us to hope that eventually it might get picked up again. Until then, at least we have many lovely fan works to keep us going.

History Of Ai No Kusabi

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