The store chain Kinokuniya is listing the first Blu-ray/DVD volume from the new Ai no Kusabi video anime series for release on January 18, 2012. The new adaptation of Rieko Yoshihara's Ai no Kusabi boys-love novels was announced in 2008, more than 20 years after the novels' first publication. However, a preview event was cancelled in March of last year "due to various circumstances," and no further updates were made in the last 17 months.

The story is set in the future on Amoi, a planet controlled by a supercomputer named Jupiter. Among the mostly male human population, the light-haired elite class is allowed to temporarily keep the dark-haired "mongrels" as pets. One elite member, Iason, encounters a mongrel named Riki in the slums and decides to take him in. However, Iason keeps Riki longer than it is socially approved, and rumors abound about their possible relationship.

According to Kinokuniya, the following is the new anime's release schedule:

~petere Kanjū~ January 18, 2012 ~pardo Setsuyoku~ Feburary 15, 2012 ~congressus Kaikō~ March 21, 2012 ~retino Inbaku~ April 18, 2012

Shōsetsu June magazine serialized the original novel run from 1986 to 1987, and six volumes have since been written and published. The anime studio AIC (Ah! My Goddess, Strike Witches) already animated the novels into two video volumes in 1992 and 1994. AIC was then slated to launch the new 13-volume anime series in the fall of 2009 before the project was delayed.

Digital Manga Publishing announced its license for the original novels at Yaoi-Con in 2006, and it released the sixth volume in July of 2009.

Image © Rieko Yoshihara, Tokuma Shoten/Ken Media 2009-2010