Ajin (Ajin: Demi-Human) | Manga

Seventeen years ago, mysterious immortal soldiers known as divine warriors appeared on the battlefields of Africa. These life forms later became known as Ajin, or demi-humans, and were considered to be one of the greatest discoveries of mankind. The government declared their existence to be compatible with humans; however, it is rumored that they instead offer bounties for captured Ajin to secretly perform inhumane experiments on these rare beings.

Kei Nagai, an apathetic high school student, is studying to become a doctor and only wishes to live a normal life. However, this simple dream is shattered after he suddenly gets into a deadly traffic accident. Revived at the scene, he is immediately labeled as an Ajin by bounty-hungry witnesses. Unable to understand his immortality or prove his innocence, he starts to live his life on the run and fights for survival. He barely escapes the government's reach when a group of anarchistic Ajin contacts Kei, asking him to join their forces to retaliate against the government. But who is Kei's real enemy, and which side will he take when it comes down to humans versus Ajin?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

In 2013, Sakurai Gamon stated on his blog that he would continue working on Ajin alone from volume two onward. The reason for co-author Miura Tsuina's withdrawal was not given.

Ajin was published in English as Ajin: Demi-Human by Vertical Inc. from October 14, 2014, to December 14, 2021, and as omnibus volumes since October 29, 2024. The series was published in Spanish by Norma Editorial from October 29, 2015, to May 27, 2022; in German by Egmont Manga from June 5, 2015, to July 1, 2021; in Polish by Studio JG from April 5, 2016, to January 17, 2022; in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics from February 25, 2016, to September 10, 2021; in Italian by Edizioni Star Comics from May 9, 2015, to November 10, 2021; and in Russian by XL Media from October 2017 to May 2023.

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Characters

Nagai, Kei

Main

Nakano, Kou

Main

Satou

Supporting

Kaito

Supporting

Shimomura, Izumi

Supporting

Tosaki, Yuu

Supporting

Ogura, Ikuya

Supporting

Tanaka, Kouji

Supporting

Nagai, Eriko

Supporting

Nakamura, Shinya

Supporting

Reviews

Feb 11, 2021

NordicAnpan

Recommended

A psychological character-driven action manga with underlying elements of horror, Ajin is surely not a story for everyone. But for those with suitable leaning it may very well come nothing short of a masterpiece.

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Whilst the anime adaption of this manga did a great job setting the tone, handled their cgi with surprisingly high quality and produced some absolutely outstanding music, they dropped the manga's story only a few episodes in and continued the show with an original plot and ending. For anyone who might still be confused about this and or thus hold preconceptions about Ajin because of that, know simply that beyond the initial ... episodes the two works branch out to become vastly different from one another.
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From the very in your face action scenes varying from a personal scale to the governmental one, the mystery of the demi-humans; what they are and where they come from, to the story onto and behind each character the story revolves around, Ajin plays on a beautiful balance between each element to really tell its full story. Sometimes the scenes are big and bombastic, sometimes they're silent and subtle, but what they all have in common is this eerie feeling that they could be real. Or should I say, that they deal with elements we all carry close to us, all think about and ponder at one point or another, all experience in our own time and ways, that as we read them we know they are real. And that is what makes it so intriguing, so gritty, emotional and scary.

I truly cannot empathise enough the extent Ajin has gone to forge its characters into actual individuals. Characters who are so authentically thought-through and who quite in truth do realistically exist all around us, with real personality-cues which we as a society more often than not shun upon speaking or making mention of. In fact, a large portion of the cast are all like this; individuals with a mask, in one form or another, hiding their true selves away because of society's neglect or even enmity towards what is not seen as normal- despite most of us carrying these very traits or experiences to one degree or another. Despite all of us already knowing this.

When he writes, the author is clearly self-aware, and never inputs a loose string, hint or an element without cause or reason. There is always something to say, always something to be found or to happen, and always a sense of respect towards the readers who are dedicating their time and effort to this piece of work.
Ajin really uses each of its element for a reason; the demi-humans aren't so much a plot point as one might expect; the continous attempts of taking the antagonist down and putting and end to his havoc really isn't what the show is actually about, and the characters' own motivations and history are essentially irrelevant whilst viewed as standalone. It is however precisely because they are all conciously and deliberately woven together, that they are able to create the impact, intrigue and value that they do.

So what's the TLDR, really?
Ajin is an action-packed and deeply psychological manga sure to draw you in and grab you on the hook. Hand to hand combat, guns blazing and explosions? We've got you, fam. Undying humans who restore themselves in the most eerie ways every time they die and spawn violent, inhuman beings who may or may not attack everything they see? Oh you'll like this. And lastly, realistic characters who are all so uniquely real and deal with elements most fiction doesn't even dare to step close to? Oh we've got that too.

- Not to mention the art develops incredibly throughout the span of the series, truly becoming and forging an identity for Ajin of its own.

Altough Ajin might be a masterpiece for a potentially small crowd, I stand by that Ajin is nonetheless a definite masterpiece.

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Mar 6, 2022

Huskkay

Mixed Feelings

Plot
The biggest downside of Ajin is its story and how the narrative plays out. In general, this manga likes to use the "rule of cool" but does not do it effectively enough to warrant this level of storytelling. Throughout the story of the manga, you will experience hiccups in the writing and the reading flow will be disrupted, leaving you questioning if you missed a chapter. Furthermore, some decisions are plainly made to advance the plot even though they make no sense whatsoever. You might scratch your head or roll your eyes, but it is not too bad. A few psychological and moral questions are ...

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Jan 9, 2016

ap1001

Not Recommended

Preliminary (30/84 eps)

I think this manga reflects a lot about the Japanese tendencies to think that everyone is plotting against them and paranoia of the author than anything else.

Sorry, allow me to rephrase that. Ajin is torture porn, the end.

To clarify, it is a torture porn without the porn part, The entire thing showed its brain damage the moment the Ajin were used as car crash dummy, yeah how one dimensional of you mr. bad guy. And I think the author misunderstood the meaning of "grey vs grey", and we got 1-dimensional bad guys (the big bad corporation guy) vs 1-dimensional bad guys (the big bad Ajin ...

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Poll: Ajin Chapter 26 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 5, 2014	15 replies	by UnknownGhost5 »» Yesterday, 9:25 AM
Poll: Ajin Chapter 25 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 7, 2014	14 replies	by UnknownGhost5 »» Yesterday, 8:27 AM
Poll: Ajin Chapter 24 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 6, 2014	11 replies	by UnknownGhost5 »» Yesterday, 8:19 AM
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Poll: Ajin Chapter 22 Discussion Stark700 - Jul 12, 2014	12 replies	by UnknownGhost5 »» Yesterday, 7:49 AM

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