Ajin

Let me start by apologising, somehow I got the mistaken impression that 91 Days was a horror anime, which it isn't. I'ts a historical thriller. For those of you who were looking forward to my reviewing that, I'll review it in November, but for the moment, let's talk about an actual horror anime. To be specific, let's talk about Ajin. A supernatural horror mystery from Polygon Pictures. Based off of the manga from Sakurai Gamon. I have no idea what to expect from it. I haven't heard anything about it. Let's delve into it.

Story:

The titular Ajin look human, act human and think of ... themselves as human. The key differences are that Ajin can't die. Every time they take mortal damage, a black mass swirls around them and they resurrect. Ajin can also summon black humanoid shapes that are invisible to human eyes. There are rumours about the Ajin. Some say that the government offers a reward of a hundred million yen to anyone who helps capture one. Some say they're subjected to cruel and inhumane experiments once they're captured. Nagai Kei is a quiet, studious lad who doesn't much care for people. After an accident, he learns that he is, in fact, an Ajin. Now, the government is after him and he's on the run, convinced that there's some truth to the rumours.

The biggest flaw with this series is that it doesn't really develop its ideas that well. It'll spend a little time with something and then move on to the next thing without ever returning to flesh out the previous thing. The consequence is that there are a lot of plot points that are allowed to drop and others that could have been considerably more interesting, but aren't given time to build up because they really wanted to get to the next big moment. Not like the big moment they were on mattered that much. It's also worth noting that the “horror” of this series is largely just that it has supernatural creatures. There's all of one moment in the entire thirteen episodes that actually kind of works as horror.

In spite of that, I do like the idea of the series. I like that it has moral ambiguity with neither side of the conflict being moral. And neither one is morally questionable in some over the top or cartoonish way. They have motivations that legitimately work, given the scenario. The narrative does also do a good job of keeping you interested in what's coming next. In spite of its tendency to rush things. Its very good at ending its episodes at just the right moment to get the audience interested in what's coming next.

Characters:

This series is somewhat reminiscent of Phantom: Requiem in that it doesn't have any morally good characters, mostly. It has a couple side characters who seem genuinely like good, supportive people. Its major characters, in contrast, are very much a self-centred group. Each of whom is willing to do terrible things if it serves them or helps them towards their goal. That being said, it is interesting to watch how they respond when their interests clash and they do, largely, come across as actual people, at least in terms of personality. It's also kind of interesting that so many of them act out of desperation at various points in the narrative. That being said, the dynamics don't always work. A big example is Kei and Kaito. We basically see flashbacks of how they used to be friends a long time ago and, somehow, it left such an impact that Kaito is willing to risk himself for Kei. Even though Kei's literally spent years ignoring him. If their relationship troubles had been a recent development, it might be believable, but with that much time it comes across as really contrived. They really needed to show us more of their relationship and why it means so much to Kaito even after all this time, which does tie into the series' general problem of rushing ahead without developing things properly.

Art:

The artwork in this isn't very good. Its not that it uses obvious CG, it's that it uses obvious CG that looks to be at about the level of a Playstation 2 game, and not one like Final Fantasy XII that looked really nice. No, it looks like an early PS2 game when developers weren't even close to pushing the system's limits. It's more than a little distracting to see those visuals when they're trying to have a serious moment.

Sound:

The vocal cast in this is pretty good. Miyano Mamoru, Ootsuka Houchuu, Hosoya Yoshimasu, Komatsu Mikako & Sakurai Takahiro are all good in this. Kanno Yugo did the music for the series and it's decent enough.

Ho-yay:

There really isn't any. Nor is there romance in the series in general, save for one character's motivation.

Final Thoughts:

Ultimately, Ajin is okay. It has some good ideas and it is interesting, but rushing from one major plot point to the next hurts it. As does the generally weak artwork. If the series had had twenty episodes and spent more time on its important plot points, it could have been really good. Unfortunately, it doesn't have that time. So, it's rushed, but still decent enough. My final rating is going to be a 6/10. If the premise sounds interesting and you can forgive the artwork, you might get into it. Next week I'll end this year's horror month with Danganronpa 3: Zetsubou-hen. In the meantime, keep your fabulosity gauge filled.

Ah, this show had so much potential: Unique and beautiful animation, interesting concept, a very cool vibe, the main character Kei is intriguing. He keeps track of his "friends" in his phone as "Friend 1," "Friend 2," etc., lol, because he is quite the sociopath. He has only one friend, to whom he no longer speaks because it would be a detriment to his social standing at school to do so, but when the shit hits the fan, that friend is the only person who's there for him, and Kei ends up making an incredible sacrifice inspired by him. Is Kei managing to break through ... his sociopathy and grow as a person?? wonders the viewer.

Kei is making his way back to his friend when he gets very temporarily waylaid ... and then he and the show both completely forget about this friend and he is literally NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN, I guess because the show has gotten more interested in the (admittedly pretty awesome) villain. Aaand ... this is pretty much how the show proceeds. There is absolutely no consistency of character, especially in the main character. No consistent motivation -- it becomes clear the sacrifice he made supposedly for his friend was actually just some random reason the show tossed out for him not to have just used his power to get himself right out of a horrific situation as he easily could have.

Nothing he (or really, anyone) does makes any sense. You could say there's no one to root for because they're all equally horrible people, but since the show doesn't even try to have any kind of consistent characterization, it's just that there aren't really any characters at all, just a bunch of people who look different but all act kind of the same, with little logic to anything they do.

I've started season two and it's even worse -- worse issues with characterization, plus considerably lower quality animation, and the writing is loose and lazy. For example, Kei ends season one with a grand declaration regarding his plans. Then in the first episode of season two, he dismisses those same plans, saying they would be "impossible." Whoever wrote this seems to have a short attention span.

It can be quite violent. There's a very high body count. But because pretty much everyone on the show is a terrible person, it's hard to be too troubled by the body count, and the show does have lines it won't cross, which was a relief, because it's extremely brutal.

As I mentioned, the bad guy, Hat, is pretty great. There's a fantastic episode in which Hat breaks into a well defended facility to rescue Kei. In this one episode, the fight scenes are awesome, the unique relationship between Hat and Kei is awesome, all the other interactions with people are interesting and real and unexpected .... If the show had maintained the excellence of that episode, it would have been easily one of the greatest shows of all time. Or if it had developed the relationship between Kei and his one friend. Or if anything about ajins and their powers was particularly interesting. Or even if it had bothered to have any sort of realism or continuity or characters. But it didn't. So I'll give it some stars for the things it did well, but it's just not very good. Pretty entertaining, though, if you don't care about character or story.

Painfully average. I've been meaning to watch the second season for about a month, but I just never found the will to do so and instead spent my time doing other things and watching other, more promising, anime.

The story is pretty unique for a supernatural drama/thriller. However, as unique as it may be, it just doesn't feel substantial. Maybe I'm simply not a fan of the genre, but I never got invested into the plot. It felt like I was just sitting in place, consuming the content of every episode, rather than fully processing what's happening in an episode and being hyped to see what ... happens next.

The art is alright. It's a RWBY-esque 3D style, but better. I don't have much else to say about it.

Further making it feel even more average, there was nothing about the sound or music that particularly stood out to me. The gunfire is pretty good, but that's just a fraction of a sliver of the show, and only serves to impress firearm enthusiasts like myself. Speaking of firearms and gunfire, the shooting scenes are very good. Not 100% realistic, but very fun and filled with action. Shame there's only two or three of these scenes in the first season.

Overall, you may enjoy it if you like supernatural stuff. To me, it just felt average, and it didn't get me invested.

Warning: Some minor spoilers

The treatment of oppressed peoples and human cruelty is something that anime as a genre does not seem to take up very often, or at least is not done very well. The only anime I have seen that comes to mind as addressing this issue well are Fullmetal Alchemist with the Ishbalans, and, albeit more indirectly, Now and Then, Here and There. Though the plot to Ajin may look like a fairly standard dark anime plot at first, there is more than meets the eye here; Ajin deals with the topic of oppression in a more philosophical light, by asking the ... question what it means to be human.

Before I go into analyzing the plot too much (and my analysis may include some minor spoilers to some up to around episode 5), let me take care of some preliminaries about the art. Ajin is almost universally bashed for its 3D CGI-based animation that is rendered in a fairly low frame rate, dipping almost below 15 fps at some points. It is commonly remarked that this animation is completely ugly, feels unnatural, and falls into the "uncanny valley" of animation: looking just close enough to realistic, but far away from realistic. I completely agree, I almost universally hate this style of animation and low frame rates, even when done for "cinematic" effect, seriously bother me.

But at the same time, I would argue that the ugliness of the animation is among the best features of this anime. I thought there would never be a situation in which this style of animation would make sense, Ajin has proven me wrong. It is so radical that it has made me rethink what "good animation" actually is. It's a series about a type of people who are on the borderline of humanity and treated as if they are not human at all, and about humans who are betraying their humanity by being entirely cruel to others. It is only fitting, in the face of ugly actions and demi-humans, that the animation should be off-putting, close to truly realistic and familiar, yet so far away. The discomfort it causes truly matches the themes of the plot, it causes an anxiety and discomfort akin to the feeling of confronting the face of the Other for the first time. Sure, it's not pretty; but I appreciate it it for the same reasons that I appreciate atonal music, it accurately portrays the relevant themes. Good art is not necessarily beautiful.

Now for the plot. I find the MAL plot summary a bit lacking, so to give you a better idea, I'll stray outside of convention and give a slightly better synopsis, albeit with minor spoilers. A few years prior to the exposition of Ajin, a special type of people rumored to have supernatural powers and who cannot die were discovered, named Ajins. To the general public, Ajins are just a curiosity to be othered like any other obscure fact. This is how our main protagonist Kei Nagai felt about Ajins, until he discovers he is one. In Japan, any Ajins discovered are taken into government custody. The first few episodes center around Kei attempting to evade government custody, and the media who treat Ajins like a circus in typical sensationalist fashion, until other Ajins get him captured by the government in a bid to get him to detest humans. Then he discovered Ajins are used in brutally cruel, inhumane experiments in which they are tortured and killed over and over again for pharmaceutical and weapons research. Despite this, Kei refuses to kill humans and manages to escape to try to live out a peaceful life in a rural village. (This is where the theme of oppression I was mentioning earlier comes in.)

Meanwhile, a group of other Ajins led by a man named Satou plan on using violent terrorist methods to try and get the government to stop the experiments. Good and evil get completely obscured as almost every character winds up having dark, and Kei, at first ruthlessly selfish and pragmatic, begins to discover his own human empathy. A number of great themes are touched on here, the nature of human cruelty, the ethics of revenge, and what it means to be human are all analyzed through a riveting plot that continually has you engaged with suspense.

The characters, though, are where this anime could use a little bit of work. They are engaging enough, but occasionally their motivations and actions are obscured, inconsistent, and contradictory (especially when it comes to Kei, I can't explain exactly what I mean without presenting too many crushing spoilers), especially near the end. I have not read the manga so I do not know what happens next, but a number of these issues could be cleared up easily in the second season (if there is one, which there most likely will be). We'll have to see how the plot progresses to get a full view of the characters.

The sound, also, has its issues. The voice acting in the sub is superb (though avoid the dub like the plague), but the music can be a little unrelated to the visuals. In general, the music is very well done, however there are several parts where the music will be playing an intense, fast pace, suspensful theme and all that is going on in the screen is some dialogue. At several points, it creates the feeling that the show is taking itself too seriously to the point of being campy.

But the directing style is absolutely where this anime shines more than anything else. A number of unique camera angles are taken on at several points. The shots can be awkward in the same manner that the animation is awkward, where the perspective will be obscured by a fence, or from the back of a room, or zoomed up intensely on someone's face, but they add to the viewing experience in the same way the animation does. The animation and directing style together create a sense of anxiety in the viewer that connects wonderfully with the anxiety of the story and themes.

However, there is a drawback to that avant-garde directing style and animation. Though intellectually I appreciate it, it does take down the enjoyment of the anime. It's enjoyable in the an aesthetic sense, but not enjoyable for the sake of entertainment. This is not to say it isn't entertaining at all, the off-putting atmosphere of the anime is made up for in the suspenseful nature of the plot, but I can easily see why many people wouldn't like Ajin, just like I can see why people like Naruto even though I don't think it's particularly good.

Despite it's flaws, Ajin is perfect if you're willing to take on a thought provoking, if dark and uncomfortable, anime with a very original concept and suspenseful plot.

Overview:
Story: 8/10
Art: 6/10
Sound: 7/10
Character: 7/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
Overall: 6/10

Do you enjoy shows with no sympathetic characters? Do you like rooting for a team of protagonists that fail at every possible turn without seeming to learn from their mistakes? Do you like seeing a bunch of people, both complicit in great evil and innocent alike, massacred in sometimes spectacular fashion by the principle antagonist? If so, this show might be for you.

Let me first say that this series is extremely plot-driven. Despite all my issues with it, I felt compelled to keep watching to see what happened next. In that respect, it reminded me on many occasions of The Walking Dead: I'm frustrated to ... death by the decisions made by the characters I am supposed to be rooting for, but I just have to see how this plays out!

We develop some early sympathy for our primary protagonist early on, due to society's willingness to brand him as "other" and "less-than," which may remind viewers of the allegory for the Civil Rights movement that the X-Men represented. It's mostly the story beats that are drumming up our sympathy for him, though - he's victimized and the underdog, so we put ourselves on his side. It's not until 4 or 5 episodes in that we realize our protagonist is... a sociopath. Great. Probably could have been made clearer early on, as that's a pretty central characteristic, but this is emblematic of the lack of characterization we see throughout the series. There are 2 characters in the series who get more than 12 seconds of background, and the rest are hollow. Let me be clear - ALL of the characters in this show are flat. A few are two-dimensional, while most are one-dimensional. There are some HUGE ethical quandaries that could be addressed by this setup - something that X-Men did very well. This show doesn't ignore the ethical completely, but rather than engaging in a real discussion that might allow some characters to grow or change, the complete amorality of the decisions made by the military-industrial complex figures in the show lowers the stakes all around. Our antagonist is out for... revenge? That's cleared up somewhat in Season 2. But if he's killing off these horrible people, do we really care whether he's stopped or not?

Now let's talk failure for a second. It's fun to see protagonists struggle. If they succeed at everything without any real difficulty to overcome (Overlord, Tensei Slime), that makes for a boring story. In this story, the protagonists seem to have a pathological aversion to learning. They are CONSTANTLY failing. The government team that we kind-of, sort-of side with (again, who's our hero here?!) is absolutely useless. They accomplish nothing, and suffer no consequences other than getting yelled at by higher-ranked, equally ineffective people. Our antagonist demonstrates very early in the series how effective one individual with "the power" can be in a battle scenario using tactics that are only possible for an individual with said power. Our protagonists NEVER use these tactics in any engagement with the antagonist. They are consistently ruined by basic stuff that, oh, let's say, one bullet would fix. Worst of all, our chief protagonist demonstrates early on that he understands this capability OUTSIDE of combat, and he's presented as a tactical genius (later in the series, at least), so how are our good guys SO BAD at fighting?

A quick note on the fighting - the "black ghosts" are not very well defined or differentiated visually, so any action scene that relies heavily on ghosts is weakened significantly. Kind of like watching a fight in the Transformers movies - we can't tell what's going on, so we're just waiting for it to be over so we can see who won. Our characters sometimes suffer realistic damage, while other times they're absolutely smashed in the face and come out looking fine. Sato can die 15 times in a firefight and come out with 2 small bloodstains on his shirt. The lack of detail in the art actually works against the action in highlighting how extreme the fight scenes are.

Needless to say, I found this series (both seasons) extremely frustrating. But I watched it all, so that says something! As others have said, the best thing this series has going for it is the antagonist. He may not be a well-developed character with sympathetic motivations, but he's got a personality that's fun to watch, and the peerless competence he displays is much more satisfying than the floppy, impotent attempts by our hero team to stop him. If that's enough for you, have fun. I can't say I recommend this to anyone.

Ajin is a good choice for you if you're pretty interested in the possible moral dilemma's behind immortality, as long as you don't mind and can tolerate anime CGI.

Because the thing that turns off people most from it's the fact that it's CGI. And I think I can see why. I don't know if it's a common problem in CGI'd anime, but in Ajin, the normal scenes, basically where there isn't any action and there's just the characters casually moving around and whatever the animation looks like it moves like 3 frames a minute, to quote a friend, which kills any chance for the animation ... to look fluid in any of those scenarios. However the animation does have some moments where it does pick up, specifically action bits, because there's movement and the frames aren't mandatory. The only two excuses I can find for the animation being framefucked are these: A) The lightning effects and shadows take a toll on-engine which may lag it. B) The transition to the "ideal" frame rate doesn't translate well. In engine the frame rate probably was far higher but due to the fact the frame rate used in anime on average is 24 frames per second, they lowered it to fit that quota.

Because the CGI choice makes sense for Ajin. I wasn't sold on why it would be a good idea but the way the IBM's are animated looks pretty good and the world does look quite well. What I'm trying to get at that the CGI doesn't look bad because the animators couldn't do a good job. As an example of good animation in the series I'd say you could look at the ending of the series which actually looks quite well as an example. (Which is also not CGI)

I'm basically trying to say that the complaints aren't necesarily only due to style of animation but also the animation doesn't look bad because there wasn't any effort put into it.

But all of this is no excuse for the series looking bad if the series does look bad for you. As I've said, it looks like it moves on 3 frames a minute and nothing does really change that. You get used to it after a while.

What I wanna talk about is the adaptation of the source material being followed with a couple of logic gaps in the series. I'll use some early episodes minor spoilers which shouldn't ruin the experience for you but it does tell you how the course of actions envelop so you might want to avoid this if you don't know the plot of the first episode, although I will try to not give it completely away. I'm saying this primarily for those that read the manga and are interested in the adaptation. So okay, there's these two characters that escape on a motorcycle and head out somewhere and one of them is chased by the police and known in the entire country by face. In the manga, the fugitive wears a cyclist helmet, while the driver wears none. Also the fugitive has some clean clothes on. In the anime? The fugitive has his clothes bloody and torn and while the fugitive does wear that cyclist helmet I have mentioned, guess what the owner of the bike does wear? A motorbike helmet. If you haven't seen a motorbike helmet ever it covers your entire head entirely, there's no chance anyone would recognize you by face. In the manga it looks like two teenagers running away, scared and having no idea what to do. In the anime it looks like two goddamn morons having no idea what they're doing and can't use a little bit of logic. Which is rather important since one of the character's personality is supposed to be that he's a logical thinker detached of other people. And in the first few episodes he looks like a complete idiot.

Anyway, there's many more logic gaps in the series, which either weren't as apparent in the manga or at all there. As an example that is non-spoilery, I'll just give you a minor but broad example. Say you're immortal and your clothes are bloody and torn. Toss them away, don't continue wearing them while you'd easily arouse suspicion. There are also some minor changes from the source material made but they're mostly made to fit the narrative and it's generally pretty faithful and most changes are for the story to make sense or to fit animation. Still most changes in the series, be they cosmetic or for the sake of the story, can be traced to some sort of problem more often than not.

Which makes it the story far harder to take in without rolling your eyes at certain points.

The story's central theme is morality which I have to say it does do a good job on that, (considering the source material) the series providing a cause for the seemingly amoral or poor behavior of someone and their take on it while trying to show their side. Although I have to say most characters don't have a lot of depth and their personality is generally really limited their actions are usually explained by their background and motivation and the series deals a lot with "does the goal excuse the means". They have a purpose and they're representated in that scope. It's often done ok, but given that I don't really remember the source material well enough to make a comparison of which one does a better job on this, I don't know if the character representation has more depth in the manga. But the series does still regardless do a good job with displaying morality.

Other than that, the only things I also have to mention about the series that it does have a solid OST, with a very good selection of themes to set a very good and fitting tone for the series and that the fighting scenes do look good. I'm glad to have seen a variant on screen and the fights do hold up despite the atrocious frame rate chosen for this series, as well as the tactical nature of them still being represented quite well, despite what I have had said about logic gaps previously. I also have watched the english dub over the japanese one because I wanted to make the argument in case it's not as bad as rumored that if you're interested in the premise and you think of CGI as the bane of anime, if the series was done as well as I'd hoped I could've suggested you to watch it dubbed and try not to think of it as an anime to try and avoid some prejudice, but that didn't happen, but I'll the dub some credit that it was better than the average anime dub and the voice actors did sound somewhat decently, even if the character voices were somewhat similar to one another.

You probably won't enjoy this series if you really hate CGI, you do get used to it at one point but the frame rate still will probably bother you & if you don't enjoy the occasional logic gaps, in the source material they're not there or not as noticeable. (or justified) The only thing I can say is try to not judge the source material based on the direction its taken and try giving it a chance if the theme of it does interest you, but keep in mind that the odds of tackling these problems lower by a lot if you choose reading the manga instead. Overall, I managed to enjoy Ajin, despite thinking it's a poor adaptation, but there's very little people I can actually recommend it on its own, let alone over the source material.

The first season was very "eh" to me. Most of the show was pretty unengaging, and wasn't good for much more than something to have on in the background, but occasionally something really interesting would happen. The 3d animation was kind of distracting, it looked fine for the most part but the way they did shadows looked pretty bad. There weren't any characters I really liked but I don't think many of them were supposed to be likable. Even considering that though, I still found many of the characters to be inconsistent in their actions and morals. For example, the ... main character seems to be attached to another character for a few episodes, being inspired by that character and worried about the well-being of that character, but then in the rest of the season he's basically forgotten about. The series is pretty heavy on chase scenes and action scenes which I don't get much enjoyment out of but that others might. The actual strength and dangerousness of Ajin is inconsistent to the point were it broke my suspension of disbelief in some of these scenes. They are made to be really dangerous from the beginning of the series but there are many instances were the military seems like it could have easily stopped them and just couldn't because plot armor.

Despite all its shortcomings, Ajin: Demi-Human is a decent addition to the supernatural/mystery genre that may be worth your time.

This is not an anime for the fainthearted as the level of violence is taken to extreme lengths. Without giving away potential spoilers, repetitive killing and torturing children are heavy components of the story. Whilst Ajin employs a lot of elements of suspense and horror, it is not a downright scary show. Rather, what is presented to the viewer is a mysterious premise, with a number of clues along the way. One can either put the clues together or simply just await the shows conclusion for ... a better understanding of the supernatural elements.

Ajin introduces an array of characters that may pique your interest. Admittedly some of the character archetypes feel recycled, and character development could also be considered a weak point of the show. Nevertheless, honestly just one character is mysterious and peculiar enough alone to warrant your attention – you would know who I’m referring to if you’ve already watched the show.

The 3D rendering is also a big talking point of Ajin. Suffice to say, the action scenes are amazing. But this reviewer still found it difficult to watch; movements outside combat appear jerky and stiff. Perhaps with a better budget Polygon Pictures can look to improve their overall CG animation for season 2. One can hope.

For what it’s worth, here’s a summary;
+ Supernatural elements are mystifying and interesting enough
+ Action scenes are mostly well-done
+ Excellent start and a well thought-out ending
- Dip in the middle of the show will give you the shits
- 3D animation is polarising
- Character development is overall weak

For better adaptations of horror/supernatural works, you may wish to see Tokyo Ghoul or Parasyte the Maxim – the latter is often highlighted as the masterpiece of this genre.

It isn't bad, but I do not feel that it warrants anything above a 5.
The story is fine, and the characters aren't bad, but I cannot get over the horrid animation. CGI does not blend well with anime, it just doesn't, the drawing-style does not support 3-dimensional movement. It is a good watch, and would be a fair 7/10 if it was 2D animation.

Visuals are important when a show tries to be taken seriously. This isn't like the One Punch Man webcomic which works because the series is a parody of superheroes, but this one tries to portray it's own story. It simply ... is too lacking to be acceptable.

Wow, I'm kind of surprised this show is resting at such a high rating. I was going to make a review bashing on this show, but after seeing some of the valid praise in the other reviews, I had a change of heart and decided to settle somewhere in the middle. Even though I didn't personally "like" this show, I don't think it's bad per say, and it's something that would normally be right up my alley. Besides, I don't want to become some sort of anime Scrooge.

Story 8/10: The premise, and the story that follows up on it, is probably the strongest aspect of ... this show. Ajin are a group of people that just respawn when they die, they come about randomly, and no one knows if your an Ajin until you cheat death and are suddenly hunted by the government so they can make you their personal infinite lab rat. Some aspects of how they work are never really explained, and they all have these cool looking stands called IBMs they fight with some of the time, but that the story is pretty solid and I have no serious complaints here.

Art 7/10: Meh, the CGI was never bad to the point where it was off putting or particularly immersion breaking, but take my opinion with a grain of salt; I sat through the first 2 volumes of RWBY unphased by the character models clipping through more objects than the framerate. If your a stickler for this kind of thing, it'll probably be a turn off. If you just want to watch your show and turn off your brain, it's not really noticeably bad, it's just serviceable.

Sound 7/10: It was good. The intro was alright, the ambiance was fine, and the voice acting is industry standard. Not much else I can say here, it was all okay I guess.

Character 5/10: Oh boy, this is where I stop being positive. The main character, where do I even begin with this kid? It's fine to have an MC that is nervous, or scared or worried or any other number of negative traits. It's even fine to make him an antihero or paint him as the villain altogether. What's not fine, is making him unwatchable, unrelatable, and unlikeable. He's whiny, he slows the plot down, and he's WAY to much of a dick then what any situation warrants him to be the show will, from time to time, make scenes that force him to be a good person but it just makes things worse by forcing the MC to be out of character. Which sucks, cause the other characters range from being almost as shitty as the MC, underdeveloped to the point where it's actually kind of embarrassing they're even calling it a backstory, to surprisingly awesome characters that honestly feel to good for the people they have to share screen time with. The only reason why this category isn't like a 2 or 3 is because of the main antagonist and maybe 1 or 2 others, he's fucking epic.

Enjoyment 7/10: It's fun, I enjoyed it, but the MC left such a bad taste in my mouth is was hard to really focus on enjoying the show past the first few episodes. As someone who loves this kind of fast pace, high intensity action to the point where I gush about it in every review I give pretty much, this show gives me what I crave to see in an anime and still leaves me disappointed.

Overall 6/10: A good story coupled with a better premise that pulls you into a well thought out plot, complete with an evenly paced story tied together with high entertainment value show. However, as someone who comes from the philosophy of "just turn your brain off an enjoy it" it pushed me to my limits and became undoable when the MC is utterly repulsive to me as a human being in every way.

I recommend this show to those of you who can watch this with a group and shoulder some of the pain the MC will give you, other than that, have at it an have fun.

Ah, Ajin. Such a divisive anime of the 2016 batch. I admit that the visuals are....sufferable at best, and that the story/characterization is muddled at times. However, it can succeed in the latter two aspects, along with having some decent soundwork.

[Story - 5]

There are really two stories at play in the first season, despite one whole narrative being advertised - one is a teenage boy running away after being exposed for a secret he didn't know about himself. The other follows the struggle of Ajins (immortal humans) and the inevitable law enforcement tasked to capture them for research.

While I enjoy these concepts alone and was ... intrigued to see how they would be interwoven, I'm left a bit disappointed with the execution. I honestly found it really lacking in finesse, with sudden jumps from one story to the other, and very few firm connections established between the two. I'm glad there is a second season to follow up on these connections, but I'm otherwise not impressed.

[Art - 4]

Probably the most universally-loathed aspect of the anime. I'm not necessarily against CGI entirely, as it can be used skillfully. However, this is not the case for this show - the characters' renders look rather incomplete and most of the action is not done in a 'fluid' manner. While I admit that there are successful aspects (character design, Ajin rendering + action, backgrounds/scenery), we are ultimately left with a rather weird-looking anime.

[Sound - 7]

This was probably my favourite aspect LOL. I admit the OP is edgy, but I do believe it suits the show well for creating a tense and dramatic atmosphere. The ED is appropriately less intense and more sorrowful (with surprisingly well-done visuals). The OST isn't uber unique, but it does serve the purpose of creating an atmosphere of dread and desperation.

The SFX aren't /amazing/ in my honest opinion, but I mostly blame that on the editing of these SFX to the awkward animation. If it was for a more smoothly-drawn show, I would be more lenient.

The voice acting is really hit-or-miss for me. Kei, the teenage protagonist, sounds a bit too old for his age, but he conveys the personality perfectly. Sato's seiyuu is deliciously manipulative and confident, and Tosaki has the cold, dedicated demeanour that oozes from the very first scene he is in.

[Character - 6]

Characterization in this show is....intriguing. There are certain stand-outs, of course, but everyone else just seems to be Potential Unrealized.

Kei is an example of the former. He may seem like another Whiny High Schooler who should know better, but quickly reveals himself to be rather cold and calculating (which begs a rather relevant question brought up in the show). It's truly interesting to see just how far he will go to preserve himself, and what type of roadblocks can actually stop him. Sato is another example, but less powerful - while (at the moment) he's just another Extremely Maniacal But Intelligent antagonist hellbent on world domination/destruction, it's undeniably fun to see just what will he do and how it will be done.

However, there's the other side of the coin - Take Tosaki and Izumi for example. Perhaps this is because of the source material dictating which details are revealed when, but they just.....don't quite cut it for me. I do enjoy their scenes and I'm invested in the show partially to see how they become more fleshed out, but it's understandable why they may not appeal to most at first. They have rather bare-bones personalities, with few but intriguing hints to their pasts. It's a shame more details about their motives and pasts weren't revealed in this season, but hopefully the second season will deliver.

[Enjoyment/Overall - 6]

This wasn't as terrible as people said it was, honestly. The artwork /does/ suck, amongst other flaws, but I see why other people like this show (whether or not they read the manga). I would recommend this if you're not too critical of artwork, and just want to see some interesting characters with good plot hooks.

Being Japanese, I grew up on anime. While Ajin was somewhat entertaining for a season with fun twists and turns, new characters, etc., by season two, it just became unbearably predictable and overly dramatic with minimal to no character development that I only watched it just to be done with it. Literally, just left it running in the background while I was working and would flip to it if it sounded like there may have been a cool action sequence. That was really it.

Also, the singing in season two's end theme (by CreepHyp?) is so horribly off-key, I actually dreaded the end of the episodes ... I would start checking how much time was left. Really, if you're musically inclined, you'll know what I mean. It actually made me physically cringe...and I'm not alone on this.

Overall, not great. Disappointing considering how promising Season One was.

(No spoiler)
This show leaves me with the feeling that they wasted a good idea. And it's hard to organize my thoughts to write a review, because most of the time I want to say : that was god but...
The problem is this "but"

Story 6/10
I was really hyped by the beginning. Humans with a strange ability that prevent them to die... like a new path for human specie ? The pace was good, each ep was a reason to watch the next one.
And then I lost it. Do you know this feeling ? As if the story was already written and had to take the path ... they want to, but don't bother to be logic. As if the characters could have the better possible plan it won't work because the scenarist decided that it wont ? It makes the whole story hard to believe and superficial.

Art 3/10
Painful... Before starting this anime I had this inner battle about : The story seems good but the art makes me cry. What should I do ?
I gave it a chance, and the art was painful all the way long.

Sound 7/10
Opening and ending are good, I liked the sound effect they gave to ajins, One of the good points of this anime IMO

Characters 3/10
In this anime you have two kind of people : the extremely lame ones, who can do nothing, and the extremely badass ones, who can ignore the elementar rules of this world.
There is no real development of the main protagonists, they go through events but don't really change their ways according to their experiences. And Kei, the main character lack consistency. It feels like they wanted to give him a personality but sometimes they can't stick to it because it would make him be to bad. He ends up being superficial too.

Enjoyment 6/10
The pace is good, and without the problems I already told you about, I could have really enjoyed it. I was getting really fast from "waaw that was cool" to "Oh please, why would he do that...". So it's kinda hard to tell if I liked it or not.

Overall 6/10
Well. I would have dropped it if I watched it alone but it would be a lie to say that it was really lame. I wouldn't recommend this to a friend, but I wanted to see where the story would go.
So if you have time to lose and nothing else to watch, that could be a good choice, mostly because it's not that bad.
If you don't need a story to be logic, or characters to be deep, that could be a good choice.
If there is a second season, I wont watch it.

Contrary to the manga, I found myself more easily hooked to the show. Mostly because of the prospect that I only have to watch 13 episodes. But just like manga it didn't make me connect with the characters. Some characters I am more interested in, but because the manga was slow-paced I don't believe I'll be reading it to get to know the character.

What I like to commend is the art style. It's refreshing, even though it needs some time getting used to it. After the first few minutes you forget it is a bit laggy. Having watched other 3D animated shows like Teenage Mutant ... Ninja Turtles and Green Lantern: The Animated Series. It was such a relief that a anime was made in 3D.

Something I like to adress is the cast of voice-actors. If you have watched more anime in the past and especially very popular ones like Naruto or Death Note, you are going to find a few familiar voices. And the familiar voice can be a bit offsetting when you watch it further.

I have high hopes for 3D series. And Ajin is a great show to start with.

A strong meh. Very generic 'chosen one' type plot, so formulaic that we already know exactly how it's going to end in future seasons. It's not bad, but it's nothing groundbreaking. Despite the R rating, it still fails to escape the very worst anime trope of "everyone's a high schooler." We're going to have to watch high school kids take out the big bad guy and change the perception of his kind in the eyes of everyone else.

This is compounded by very poor animation.

One thing that's pretty inventive about the show is the way that the Ajins fight--strategically committing suicide to heal wounds, for ... example. The two best scenes in the show were both fight scenes, because the added dynamic is pretty interesting. Unfortunately, in 13 episodes, there were only a few.

Overall, unless there's a drastic shift in future seasons, this is just a mediocre show.

Haven’t had reviews in a while, so bear with me.

Before reading further, please be warned that these may contain spoilers. I’ll try to lessen as much as I could.

Ajin: Demi-Human, or simply “Ajin,” is the story of Kei Nagai, a seemingly normal high school boy who discovers he is an Ajin, a mysterious life form deemed to be powerful and immortal. As his existence is publicized, certain people and organizations took an interest in him, all of which has plans to use him and his abilities for their own purpose.

Tokyo Ghoul would be the first thing to pop inside your head by reading ... Ajin’s synopsis. With a great number of similarities, it’s not uncommon for a comparison. That way, people could get to weigh which is better, or build their own standard. I’ll try my best not to compare for the purpose of having Ajin an unbiased assessment.

Story: (4/10)
There really isn’t much to it. It took a hasty pace as it started, rushing to the discovery of Kei being an Ajin. Then it kind of slowed down as it progressed.

Conflicts are thrown out here and there, hoping to give the viewers a possible outcome inside their head on what would happen next. Yes, you may anticipate, but it’ll ultimately just be useless. Often, holes were left open and eventually untouched, even when you’re expecting the next episode should have covered it somehow. That is the thing that Ajin mostly lacked: a resolve. There are times that a cliffhanger isn’t effective.

Art: (7/10)
The animation is a breath of fresh air actually. Polygon Pictures took a risk of animating with 3DCG. But unlike Boku dake ga Inai Machi and Dimension W, which clearly offered smooth and great animation, Ajin can be (rather, was) easily set aside. Although the animation itself was good in its own way, there were cases that it was unsettling and had your eyes barely on the screen.

Contrary to its style though, the ending animation was quite appealing. It was minimalistic, yet reflective enough to captivate a viewer, unlike its opening that featured mostly excerpts from the whole show itself. Lazy, I may say, but it did shine its own light.

Sound: (9/10)
Usually, even a bad anime can be remembered with a great soundtrack. Take that away and you’re left with only the black cookie part of a cheap knock-off of an Oreo. Ajin clearly has put on the table an opening and an ending that fitted perfectly with the Kei’s struggle. By estimation, I’d say that 89% of people who gives an eff to an anime’s OP and ED would sing along to the ‘Yeah’ part of Flumpool’s “Yoru wa Nemureru Kai?” and have a soulful connection with Mamoru Miyano’s voice in “How Close You Are.” Furthermore, the background music and other special effects gave Ajin a fighting chance soundtrack-wise.

Character: (2/10)
The goals of the anime were all crushed and beat down by a crappy set of characters. And like what I’ve said, Ajin completely lacked the concept of a resolve. New characters are introduced here and there, shining a light on a possible great turnaround, went into a tragic mess of list of characters that may already be regarded as dead.

It had a set of characters who pretty much contradict each other’s ideas, all resulting to a lot of disagreement and eventually flamed more war.

There were characters that deserved to be significant in the series, but were just set aside, and ended like they never really were a part of it.

Izumi Shimomura had the potential of a likeable character. She was kind, amiable, compassionate, and sensitive. Unlike the main character. A major turn off from her is her total uncertainty and an innocent ignorance.

It also didn’t focus too much on Kei, considering he wasn’t really a likeable character to begin with. Who was once a reserved, goal-oriented, caring guy, had become this bland type of a main character that is messed up, undecided, and thinks in utter disorder. Okay, so we’ll have the whole Ajin thing accountable for it. But, take Kaneki Ken (from Tokyo Ghoul). At least he had an objective. (Score 1 for Tokyo Ghoul. Sorry.)

Oh, and “Kaito who?”

Enjoyment: (7/10)
Ajin promised great action. The visuals took advantage of the 3DCG and benefitted from it entirely, providing a thorough and remarkable stunning fight (and encounter) scenes that glue you to your seat and watch what happens next. Expect greatness here, action-wise.

However, although minimal, it still had flaws that it would have been prevented easily.

Overall: (5.8/10)

I really feel that the main problem of this anime is backstory. It shouldn’t have focused too much on quickly starting a war itself, rather, to show and carefully build tension. Although it did end on the edge of a cliff (literally), I still am curious as to how Kei would face the real antagonist. I might take a shot on watching its movie counterpart and sequels to grasp more from it. Until then, this would be one of those animes that would be pulled out from your favourite list.

In the end, although it consistently begged even from it itself, Ajin: Demi-Human did fulfill their end of the bargain.

Should you watch Ajin? No. This is one of the first anime id ever watched, and i liked it until I watched actually good anime. The story isn't that bad, but it is very simple and easy to predict. The characters are all very boring too, usually there's a few characters that stand out as being poorly written but Ajin manages to try and make you mind any character that is well written. The art style is very underwhelming as well, but if you ignore all of that then you can probably enjoy the show. But I wouldn't recommend watching it, there are a ... ton of better shows than this one.

After reading the synopsis I was like, Oh, interesting, I might just enjoy this. Having no other anime to watch currently, I decided to watch this. At first, the Main Character became an Ajin and I was like, I am so sorry for you, sweetie.
Then I decided to take that back.
Something's just wrong with this show. The Main Character is just too non-ordinary with sadistic traits and literally ruin the whole show for me.
Every other character were like, the boy is unusual. To hell with it. I don't even get why his friend decided to help him escape. That boy should have ... just die. He was trying to be a nice and wonderful person, but instead, he is rotten to the core.

Anyways, the first few episodes were enjoyable, but if you aren't looking for twisted personalities, I advise you to not continue any further than necessary.

Awfully mediocre, forgettable and full of holes.


What appears to be a great premise and plot quickly turns into a drivel directed and written by sugar-rush dazzled 10-year olds.

[story]
The plot lines tend to start up interesting but lose any sort of progress or meaning just after 1 episode - it's as if the creators were working on something else, weren't happy with the product and cut the whole thing up into this Frankenstein of a monster.

[presentation]
While the 3D animation looks weird and jank at some points at others it looks surprisingly well. On rare cases in managed to capture the ... indifference of citizens the show is aiming to portray.

[enjoyment]
Overall I found the first few episodes to be quite intriguing, while the rest was boring, bland and pointless. I wavered through the remaining episodes to get some answers regarding the plot line just for it to end on a semi-cliffhanger for season 2.
What a waste.

An unfortunate adaptation of a fantastic manga. While the 3d animation lends justice to the black ghosts the characters produce, it often creates uncanny motion instead. The plot of the manga is mostly preserved in the first season though it deteriorates quickly as it goes on for the manga is not even finished by the time I'm writing this. I hate to be an elitist but the best way to enjoy the story of Ajin is by far through the manga which is definitely worth a read. The anime, while still okay in the first season does not improve upon the manga.