Ajin: Demi-Human
Ajin: Demi-Human is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Good! Afternoon from July 2012 to February 2021, with its chapters collected in seventeen volumes. In North America, it has been licensed for English release by Vertical.
It was adapted into a 3D anime film trilogy by Polygon Pictures between November 2015 and September 2016. An anime television series adaptation, also by Polygon Pictures, aired between January and April 2016, with a second season aired from October to December 2016. A live-action film adaptation was released in September 2017.
Plot
Ajin presents the story of a student named Nagai Kei, who discovers he is an "Ajin" when he is fatally wounded in a traffic accident. In the world of Ajin, a small number of humans possess immortality and extreme regenerative abilities that trigger upon death, allowing them to completely recover from any mortal injury in a matter of seconds. Ajin can also create "black ghosts", highly dangerous combat-oriented entities that are only visible to other Ajin. "Black ghosts" are resistant to physical injury, exhibit extraordinary physical strength, and have sharp teeth and claws. Different "black ghosts" have varying degrees of intelligence: most are completely reliant on their Ajin for directions, and others, such as Kei's, are more independent and likely to engage in self-initiated actions.Consequently, Ajin are considered dangerous and inhuman by the public, and most are captured by governments. Governments claim to protect Ajin, but in reality, most use them as subjects for cruel and inhumane experiments, as their abilities to completely recover from fatal wounds provides an unlimited source of organs and bodies in dangerous tests. As a result, Ajin that have escaped from government custody are bent on exacting revenge on governments. Kei, however, wants no part in the emerging Ajin–human conflict, but forms an agreement with Japanese governmental agents to fight Satou in exchange for his freedom from government experimentation.
Characters
Kei's Group
;Kei Nagai;Kaito
;Kō Nakano
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
;Yū Tosaki;Izumi Shimomura / Yōko Tainaka
;Sokabe
Ajin
;Satō / Samuel T. Owen;Kōji Tanaka
;Masumi Okuyama
;Takeshi Kotobuki
Others
;Eriko Nagai;Ikuya Ogura
Media
Manga
Ajin: Demi-Human is written and illustrated by Gamon Sakurai. Initially, it was written by Tsuina Miura; however, his name is not mentioned in the credits after the first volume, and Sakurai had been creating the manga himself since. The series was published in Kodansha's manga magazine Good! Afternoon from July 6, 2012, to February 5, 2021, and was collected into seventeen volumes.In February 2014, Vertical announced that it had licensed the series for English release. On March 15, 2014, Crunchyroll began to release the series on their manga service under the title Ajin: Demi-Human, starting with the first two chapters.
Volumes
Film
Plans to adapt the series into an anime film trilogy were announced in June 2015. The films were directed by Hiroaki Andō and written by Hiroshi Seko, with animation by Polygon Pictures. The first film, titled Ajin: Shōdō, debuted in Japan on November 27, 2015. This film is a compilation of the first six episodes of the TV series. The second film, titled Ajin: Shōtotsu, debuted in Japan on May 6, 2016, and the third and final film in the trilogy, titled Ajin: Shōgeki, was released on September 23, 2016.Anime
A television series version of the anime films premiered on January 16, 2016. It is produced by the staff that produced the film trilogy. It aired on MBS, TBS, CBC and BS-TBS, with 13 episodes. The series was streamed by Netflix, starting on April 12, 2016, along with English, French, Spanish, German and Brazilian Portuguese dubs. The series is licensed by Sentai Filmworks for home video release in North America. An OAD was bundled with the manga's 8th limited-edition volume, which was released on May 6, 2016. A second OAD was bundled with manga's 9th limited-edition volume, which was released on October 7, 2016. A third OAD was bundled with manga's 10th limited-edition volume, which was released on April 7, 2017. A second season premiered on October 8, 2016, and continued the original numbering sequence, and premiered on Netflix on December 27, 2016.Live-action film
The production of a live-action film was announced in November 2016, with release on September 30, 2017. The director is Katsuyuki Motohiro, with Takeru Satoh in the lead role. The action scenes were planned by the team behind the Rurouni Kenshin films, which also starred Satoh. The additional cast includes Tetsuji Tamayama, Rina Kawaei, Minami Hamabe, Yuu Shirota, Yudai Chiba and Yuki Yamada.Reception
The Japanese manga news site Comic Natalie awarded the series third place in its poll of the best manga in 2013. The third volume ranked 6th on the Oricon manga chart on the week of its release. In a survey of 400 manga and publishing professionals for the manga guidebook Kono Manga ga Sugoi!, the series was rated 3rd place in a list of top 20 manga for Male readers. The manga had over 4 million copies in print as of December 2015.The series was listed as a nominee for the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's Readers Award, and in the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards for the general category.