Ajin (Ajin: Demi-Human) | Manga

Seventeen years ago, mysterious immortal soldiers known as "divine warriors" appeared on the battlefields of Africa. These life forms later became known as "Ajin," or demi-humans, and were considered to be one of the greatest discoveries of mankind. The government declared their existence to be compatible with humans; however, it is rumored that they instead offer bounties for captured Ajin to secretly perform inhumane experiments on these rare beings.

Kei Nagai, an apathetic high school student, is studying to become a doctor and only wishes to live a normal life. However, this simple dream is shattered after he suddenly gets into a deadly traffic accident. Reviving at the scene, he is immediately labeled as an Ajin by bounty-hungry witnesses. Unable to understand his immortality or prove his innocence, he starts to live his life on the run and fights for survival. He barely escapes the government's reach when a group of anarchistic Ajin contacts Kei, asking him to join their forces to retaliate against the government. But who is Kei's real enemy, and which side will he take when it comes down to humans versus Ajin?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

In 2013, Sakurai Gamon stated on his blog that he will be working on the series alone for volume two onward. The reason for co-author Miura Tsuina's withdrawal was not given.

Ajin was published in English as Ajin: Demi-Human by Vertical Inc. from October 14, 2014 to December 14, 2021; in Spanish by Norma Editorial since October 29, 2015; in German by Egmont Manga since June 5, 2015; in Polish by Studio JG since April 5, 2016; in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics/Planet Manga since June 2016; in Italian by Star Comics since May 9, 2015; and in Russian as Нелюдь by XL Media since October 2017.

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Characters

Nagai, Kei

Main

Nakano, Kou

Main

Satou

Supporting

Kaito

Supporting

Shimomura, Izumi

Supporting

Tosaki, Yuu

Supporting

Ogura, Ikuya

Supporting

Tanaka, Kouji

Supporting

Nakamura, Shinya

Supporting

Nagai, Eriko

Supporting

Reviews

Feb 11, 2021

NordicAnpan

Recommended

A psychological character-driven action manga with underlying elements of horror, Ajin is surely not a story for everyone. But for those with suitable leaning it may very well come nothing short of a masterpiece.

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Whilst the anime adaption of this manga did a great job setting the tone, handled their cgi with surprisingly high quality and produced some absolutely outstanding music, they dropped the manga's story only a few episodes in and continued the show with an original plot and ending. For anyone who might still be confused about this and or thus hold preconceptions about Ajin because of that, know simply that beyond the initial ... episodes the two works branch out to become vastly different from one another.
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From the very in your face action scenes varying from a personal scale to the governmental one, the mystery of the demi-humans; what they are and where they come from, to the story onto and behind each character the story revolves around, Ajin plays on a beautiful balance between each element to really tell its full story. Sometimes the scenes are big and bombastic, sometimes they're silent and subtle, but what they all have in common is this eerie feeling that they could be real. Or should I say, that they deal with elements we all carry close to us, all think about and ponder at one point or another, all experience in our own time and ways, that as we read them we know they are real. And that is what makes it so intriguing, so gritty, emotional and scary.

I truly cannot empathise enough the extent Ajin has gone to forge its characters into actual individuals. Characters who are so authentically thought-through and who quite in truth do realistically exist all around us, with real personality-cues which we as a society more often than not shun upon speaking or making mention of. In fact, a large portion of the cast are all like this; individuals with a mask, in one form or another, hiding their true selves away because of society's neglect or even enmity towards what is not seen as normal- despite most of us carrying these very traits or experiences to one degree or another. Despite all of us already knowing this.

When he writes, the author is clearly self-aware, and never inputs a loose string, hint or an element without cause or reason. There is always something to say, always something to be found or to happen, and always a sense of respect towards the readers who are dedicating their time and effort to this piece of work.
Ajin really uses each of its element for a reason; the demi-humans aren't so much a plot point as one might expect; the continous attempts of taking the antagonist down and putting and end to his havoc really isn't what the show is actually about, and the characters' own motivations and history are essentially irrelevant whilst viewed as standalone. It is however precisely because they are all conciously and deliberately woven together, that they are able to create the impact, intrigue and value that they do.

So what's the TLDR, really?
Ajin is an action-packed and deeply psychological manga sure to draw you in and grab you on the hook. Hand to hand combat, guns blazing and explosions? We've got you, fam. Undying humans who restore themselves in the most eerie ways every time they die and spawn violent, inhuman beings who may or may not attack everything they see? Oh you'll like this. And lastly, realistic characters who are all so uniquely real and deal with elements most fiction doesn't even dare to step close to? Oh we've got that too.

- Not to mention the art develops incredibly throughout the span of the series, truly becoming and forging an identity for Ajin of its own.

Altough Ajin might be a masterpiece for a potentially small crowd, I stand by that Ajin is nonetheless a definite masterpiece.

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Apr 20, 2021

Dante012

Mixed Feelings

I watched the Ajin anime when it aired, and I loved it despite the weird graphics. It was a great concept, with a very nice execution. Its characters were awesome, and I was looking forward to reading the manga once it would be finished.
Sadly, it didn't live up to my expectations...

STORY
Ajins are immortal beings. They revive as soon as they die. Of course, such a phenomenon would be the target of governments around the world. They capture known Ajins, and experiment on them.
One day, Kei gets run over by a truck. But he doesn't die. Everyone now knows he's an Ajin. He has to run ...

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Jan 9, 2016

ap1001

Not Recommended

Preliminary (30/84 eps)

I think this manga reflects a lot about the Japanese tendencies to think that everyone is plotting against them and paranoia of the author than anything else.

Sorry, allow me to rephrase that. Ajin is torture porn, the end.

To clarify, it is a torture porn without the porn part, The entire thing showed its brain damage the moment the Ajin were used as car crash dummy, yeah how one dimensional of you mr. bad guy. And I think the author misunderstood the meaning of "grey vs grey", and we got 1-dimensional bad guys (the big bad corporation guy) vs 1-dimensional bad guys (the big bad Ajin ...

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Poll: Ajin Chapter 86 Discussion G_Spark233 - Feb 4, 2021	35 replies	by Major_Gilbert »» Feb 21, 9:35 PM
Poll: Ajin Chapter 20 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 15, 2014	10 replies	by DomLucon »» Feb 16, 1:27 PM
Poll: Ajin Chapter 18 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 19, 2014	8 replies	by DomLucon »» Feb 16, 12:58 PM
Poll: Ajin Chapter 42 Discussion G_Spark233 - Aug 6, 2016	16 replies	by GavrocheN7 »» Jan 16, 6:59 AM
Poll: Ajin Chapter 27 Discussion Stark700 - Jan 6, 2015	14 replies	by GavrocheN7 »» Jan 15, 7:56 PM

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