Ajin

Nagai Kei only hears about the Ajin in the news and during discussions in his biology class although they have been known to exist for 17 years since they were discovered in Africa. Considered dangerous because they cannot be killed easily, Kei develops a fear for them when he learned from his class teacher that Ajin are not human. He feels horrified at learning they were used for experiments.

In a freak accident while on his way home, Kei is hit by a truck. With a lot of eyewitnesses present, Kei realizes he wasn’t killed. He recovers fast, still covered in blood, and stands up to look at the people on the sidewalk. He announces to them that he isn’t an Ajin and runs away after stunning the audience with a scream.

Kei just before he was hit by a truck.

Kei is pursued by authorities. Who will he turn to for help?

Kei becomes the third Ajin to be discovered in Japan. A manhunt ensues led by the law enforcement and Tosaki Yuu, a government official of the Ministry of Health.

In this 13-episode series, Kei grapples with the dilemma that he isn’t human after all. No one in the world would be willing to help him. But is an Ajin really not human?

Tosaki Yuu and his assistant

Satou

This type of series has been done before. Although not visually stunning, Ajin far surpasses both Tokyo Ghoul and Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Parasyte) when it comes to story-telling. It’s easier to like Kei than the protagonists of those two series mentioned. Kei isn’t overly emotional and is in fact cold and detached most of the time. That is also his strength, plus he’s a smart boy. There are no emotional strings to tie him down so his point of view doesn’t come with teenage issues about love and growing up and all that brouhaha. What’s even greater is that he doesn’t appear to have a love interest. That makes you wonder if being an Ajin comes with those qualities.

The 13-episode series didn’t give exact details about what an Ajin really is and what were the limits of Kei’s abilities. But in leaving some of the mystery unanswered it was able to focus on another important aspect of the story, something that Tokyo Ghoul wasn’t able to do---examine the psychological and emotional transformation of the character without overdoing it with theatric displays of anguish. Tokyo Ghoul only managed to isolate its lead character. A detached troubled being who doesn’t arouse any emotional sympathy because he was concerned only with his own hurts. Ajin brought down Kei to a more human level because he was able to speak to the audience through his fears, his weaknesses and his strengths. He was superhuman but he was still human.

The supporting cast is solid. Satou, another Ajin, was the most interesting of all. His motivations, which I will not spoil here, also examines an aspect ignored by the two series I mentioned---its effect on the society. The sequence of the action scenes were pretty exciting despite the quality of the animation.

If the animation alone is the problem and the reason to ignore this series, then you’re ignoring the best half of the series. The story more than makes up for the mediocre graphics. Besides, I’ve seen dozens of series with great animation but trashy stories and they don’t really make any difference overall. By the time I was engrossed with Ajin, the animation didn’t bother me anymore.

As an added bonus, Kei was voiced by Miyano Mamoru and the ending song was sung by him. Sometimes Kei reminds me of Light Yagami from Death Note. It’s only appropriate that both characters have the same voice actor. That should be enough to make you watch, right?

Rating: 9 out of 10