Ajin (Ajin: Demi-Human) - MyAnimeList.net

Mysterious immortal humans known as "Ajin" first appeared 17 years ago in Africa. Upon their discovery, they were labeled as a threat to mankind, as they might use their powers for evil and were incapable of being destroyed. Since then, whenever an Ajin is found within society, they are to be arrested and taken into custody immediately.

Studying hard to become a doctor, Kei Nagai is a high schooler who knows very little about Ajin, only having seen them appear in the news every now and then. Students are taught that these creatures are not considered to be human, but Kei doesn't pay much attention in class. As a result, his perilously little grasp on this subject proves to be completely irrelevant when he survives an accident that was supposed to claim his life, signaling his rebirth as an Ajin and the start of his days of torment. However, as he finds himself alone on the run from the entire world, Kei soon realizes that more of his species may be a lot closer than he thinks.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Ajin is scheduled to be streamed by the multinational provider Netflix worldwide after the current run ends.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Ajin
Summary:	Ajin Part 1: Shoudou, Ajin Part 2: Shoutotsu, Ajin Part 3: Shougeki
Side story:	Ajin OVA
Sequel:	Ajin Part 2

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Nagai, Kei

Main

Miyano, Mamoru
Japanese

Satou

Supporting

Ootsuka, Houchuu
Japanese

Kaito

Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa
Japanese

Shimomura, Izumi

Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako
Japanese

Nakano, Kou

Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun
Japanese

Tosaki, Yuu

Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

Ogura, Ikuya

Supporting

Kinoshita, Hiroyuki
Japanese

Tanaka, Kouji

Supporting

Hirakawa, Daisuke
Japanese

Nagai, Eriko

Supporting

Suzaki, Aya
Japanese

Hirasawa

Supporting

Miyazaki, Atsuyoshi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Sudou, Koutarou

Producer

Yamazaki, Yoshihiko

Producer

Saitou, Masaya

Producer

Seshita, Hiroyuki

Director

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Opening Theme

"Yoru wa Nemureru kai? (夜は眠れるかい？)" by flumpool

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Ending Theme

"HOW CLOSE YOU ARE" by Mamoru Miyano

Reviews

Apr 8, 2016

ZephSilver

Recommended

"Don't judge a book by its cover": a phrase that I'm sure many of us are familiar with, being one that has long transcended both generational and ethnic background to be used across the globe. A phrase that has taken on several reiterations, but still maintains the same direct message. It's simple, to the point, and always relevant when entering the world of any storytelling medium. As much as many of us would like to think that we could quickly discern the contents of a show solely off of the art cover and synopsis, there are times when we are all proven wrong.

Take the ...

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Oct 19, 2016

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

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.

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Apr 11, 2016

Midg3tLuv

Not Recommended

“Ajin” is the “Batman: Arkham Knight” (PC) of anime.

This show is broken. The show visually assaults your eyes. Visuals are important in visual entertainment. Dismissing visuals in visual entertainment is like dismissing food at a restaurant. You may be influenced to go somewhere because the service rocks, but you won’t go if the food is horrible. The visuals are incompetent at best. I’m going to put this in terms that many people on this site will understand. Some gaming companies restrict games to 30 frames per second (FPS) because they want their game to be more “cinematic”. People complain that games below 30 FPS is ... not suitable for many games. Frame rates under 30 FPS is regarded as a sign of lacking quality. “Ajin” took this concept of low frames as being cinematic and ran with it. They tried to be super cinematic with frame rates dipping below 10 FPS. In scientific terms, this does not even pass the critical flicker fusion frequency. Human eyes/brains register 24 FPS as a fluid motion. Movies are usually shot in 24 FPS and repeat frames to synthesize a 30 FPS motion. Please have the courtesy of doing a little research and finding out what the bare minimum is for entertainment targeted for humans. This is the first time I have ever had a headache after watching something. The manga has more frames per second than this horrible adaptation.

The show is so horribly animated that the studio acknowledges their professional impotence. I’m not talking about how the 5th episode is deservedly named “Trash”. Although in that episode Satou regenerated an arm, pulled his arm out from under him, and shot a dude in a literal 1 frame. In chapter 19 of the manga, Satou was supposed to fly a plane into the building. They knew they couldn’t animate an airplane smoothly so they gave us a different alternative. We got an explosion and Satou riding the building down. The concept of him riding the building down was legit, but it is wrong. People will argue that the animators were being sympathetic towards Americans by not showing the plane like how Pokémon did, but there is another scene where the animators pushed the action out of the scene. Earlier in the series, a train hit a car and pushed the car out of the frame so they could blow the car up without having to animate it. There was a helicopter that blew up off screen because effort is too much to ask for. If the animators cared about their “art” they would not allow the “please buy our DVD/Blu-ray” halfway through every episode. This ad goes on for a full minute and takes up nearly half the screen. There are reasons that this advertisement doesn’t show up in other shows. Any self-respecting animator would be outraged by the blanketing of their animation. People try to defend CG when it is poorly executed in shows they like, but that is being a zealot. Quality doesn’t have sacrificed because the animation style is being experimented with. Over 2 decades ago Aardman Animation, the studio that brought us the British anime “Wallace and Gromit”, has made clay move far smoother than CG because Aardman Animation actually cares about their work and puts time into their art.

The show does deserve some credit. The orchestrated pieces are put perfectly in place. I like Japanese Justin Timberlake in the intro song. The creators of this show are probably good with the ladies, because the mood is set for every scene. Satou is a great bad guy. He wants the world to burn and he has a great personality. You understand his rage and malcontent with how humans have treated him and he wants back at them. The show is best when Satou is around. The story is awesome. Everyone who has seen the anime or read the manga will agree that the story is cool. Corrupt government, explosions, stands (black ghosts), and Satou are all great things to have in a storyline. Great job on the story for knowing who is interesting and when they are interesting. Most people watch stuff for the main character, but Kei takes a backseat in the story so the show can focus on the larger issues.

In the end, the show is a failure. Polygon Pictures horribly executed an adaptation. It is ambitious to animate humans with CG and the studio is not technically adept enough to execute smooth motion with it. Polygon Pictures joins the ranks of the garbage studios. Studio Deen, Idea Factory, and even KOO-KI could make this show better than Polygon Pictures. It makes me sad that the promotional videos for the new “Berserk” anime will also look like an unfinished project. Guts, if he were real, would bitch slap all those animators in the face with “Dragonslayer” for disgracing the well-deserved number 1 rated manga on this site. Real fans hold standards to their favorite series. If the anime does the manga justice, you should love and cherish it. When they fail at it, the fans should voice their disappointed opinions. Fans do not change their profile picture to a character from the show while rating and reviewing the show at a 10 when they have only seen 4 episodes of the series.

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Poll: Ajin Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Apr 8, 2016	259 replies	by WolfWood37 »» Apr 8, 11:27 PM
Poll: Ajin Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Apr 1, 2016	155 replies	by WolfWood37 »» Apr 8, 10:46 PM
Poll: Ajin Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Mar 25, 2016	148 replies	by WolfWood37 »» Apr 8, 10:22 PM
Poll: Ajin Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Mar 18, 2016	81 replies	by WolfWood37 »» Apr 7, 10:13 PM
Poll: Ajin Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Mar 11, 2016	111 replies	by WolfWood37 »» Apr 7, 9:37 PM

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