Ajin (亜人) is a 13 episode super natural action series based on the manga of the same name by Sakurai Gamon. The series was produced by Polygon Pictures and released over the winter of 2016.
Seventeen years prior to the start of the series the existence of humans who were unable to die became public knowledge. The governments of the world began to seek these people out for various uses, and in many countries they were presented to the general public as monsters to be avoided and reported to the authorities.
Nagai Kei is a normal high school student in Japan who discovers his identity as an Ajin after he is hit and killed by a truck. Understanding that his freedom is in danger he immediately flees to avoid capture. As he escapes into the mountains he makes contact with another Ajin hiding from the government, a man named Satou. He meets Satou and a recently escaped Ajin named Tanaka, but is soon captured by the government.
While in the governments hands continuous and merciless experiments are performed on him. Satou facilitated Kei's capture as a way to mold his mind to his own will. After a time he breaks Kei out of the government facility, ready to make him a soldier in his soon to begin war on normal humans. Kei refuses his ideals and escapes. In hiding he watches as Satou begin a campaign of terror and destruction in a bid to control all of Japan. Kei must decide if he will continue to live in hiding or put a stop to Satou and his goal of genocide.
Polygon Pictures does full CG animation using motion capture technology for the characters movements. While still not as natural and fluid as traditional animation is, their level of detail is amazingly high. A lot of people hate the animation Polygon does but I think we need to get past the fact its full CG, especially when so much of the animation out now is CG. As they keep pouring money into the technology and techniques it will become more natural. In recent years they have made a name for themselves for producing anime so they are seeing some success. That said, the anime sticks closely to the look and feel of the manga, which is an import aspect.
Ajin is an interesting take on the standard super human story. Much of it deals with questioning societies biases and the rationality of humanity. The rest is an over the top action vehicle with twists and turns at every corner. Kei is a pretty weak leading character and not the reason I watched the anime or read the manga. I could really care less for his plight. Fortunately he isn't exactly the under dog hero that is typical in this type of story. You're not going to see some Naruto type personalities or progress out of Kei. Everything he does is for selfish reasons and he spends most of the anime avoiding conflict.
Satou on the other hand is what makes this series enjoyable. He is one of the best villains I have ever seen in an anime or manga. Cunning, crafty and purely unsympathetic to everything but his own ideals. The series boils down to how well either party can out think the other one. Satou has no qualms and in fact revels in murder. Everyone else is auxiliary to these two characters and only offer themselves as convenient tools.
If you are reading the manga the anime does a decent job of following what has been written. The most glaring alteration was how Satou attacks a pharmaceutical companies head quarters. In the manga he hijacks a commercial jet and crashes it into the building. I won't spoil how he does it in the anime, though I still like the manga version better. The anime covers about the first 20 or so issues of the manga and ends with it wide open to be continued at some point. They are probably waiting for the current major arc to be completed before starting work on a second series. Polygon Pictures also released a movie version covering part of the TV series in November of 2015 and a second movie is releasing in Japan in May of 2016 and a third later in 2016.
The anime is currently available on Netflix in North America. The manga is available on Crunchyroll and in hard copy by Vertical.
Seventeen years prior to the start of the series the existence of humans who were unable to die became public knowledge. The governments of the world began to seek these people out for various uses, and in many countries they were presented to the general public as monsters to be avoided and reported to the authorities.
Nagai Kei is a normal high school student in Japan who discovers his identity as an Ajin after he is hit and killed by a truck. Understanding that his freedom is in danger he immediately flees to avoid capture. As he escapes into the mountains he makes contact with another Ajin hiding from the government, a man named Satou. He meets Satou and a recently escaped Ajin named Tanaka, but is soon captured by the government.
While in the governments hands continuous and merciless experiments are performed on him. Satou facilitated Kei's capture as a way to mold his mind to his own will. After a time he breaks Kei out of the government facility, ready to make him a soldier in his soon to begin war on normal humans. Kei refuses his ideals and escapes. In hiding he watches as Satou begin a campaign of terror and destruction in a bid to control all of Japan. Kei must decide if he will continue to live in hiding or put a stop to Satou and his goal of genocide.
Polygon Pictures does full CG animation using motion capture technology for the characters movements. While still not as natural and fluid as traditional animation is, their level of detail is amazingly high. A lot of people hate the animation Polygon does but I think we need to get past the fact its full CG, especially when so much of the animation out now is CG. As they keep pouring money into the technology and techniques it will become more natural. In recent years they have made a name for themselves for producing anime so they are seeing some success. That said, the anime sticks closely to the look and feel of the manga, which is an import aspect.
Ajin is an interesting take on the standard super human story. Much of it deals with questioning societies biases and the rationality of humanity. The rest is an over the top action vehicle with twists and turns at every corner. Kei is a pretty weak leading character and not the reason I watched the anime or read the manga. I could really care less for his plight. Fortunately he isn't exactly the under dog hero that is typical in this type of story. You're not going to see some Naruto type personalities or progress out of Kei. Everything he does is for selfish reasons and he spends most of the anime avoiding conflict.
Satou on the other hand is what makes this series enjoyable. He is one of the best villains I have ever seen in an anime or manga. Cunning, crafty and purely unsympathetic to everything but his own ideals. The series boils down to how well either party can out think the other one. Satou has no qualms and in fact revels in murder. Everyone else is auxiliary to these two characters and only offer themselves as convenient tools.
If you are reading the manga the anime does a decent job of following what has been written. The most glaring alteration was how Satou attacks a pharmaceutical companies head quarters. In the manga he hijacks a commercial jet and crashes it into the building. I won't spoil how he does it in the anime, though I still like the manga version better. The anime covers about the first 20 or so issues of the manga and ends with it wide open to be continued at some point. They are probably waiting for the current major arc to be completed before starting work on a second series. Polygon Pictures also released a movie version covering part of the TV series in November of 2015 and a second movie is releasing in Japan in May of 2016 and a third later in 2016.
The anime is currently available on Netflix in North America. The manga is available on Crunchyroll and in hard copy by Vertical.
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