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Oh Ajin. I just wish you actually had something to say.

As far as plots go, I wouldn't exactly say this manga has the most original concepts ever. Some humans achieve the ability to never die outside of old age. When they are discovered by humanity, they are essentially taken from civilized society and used as seen fit. Usually tortured. No one really seems to care that people just vanish, and general society doesn't seem to think the people being essentially kidnapped are in any sort of danger. Sure. Whatever.

Where the story does shine are the conversations the characters have (usually), and the manga's antagonist. ...

That said, I'm not really sure what the point of this manga is outside of ultraviolence. The humans treat demi-humans like trash, kidnapping and torturing most of them for nothing more then financial gain. Yet the main opposing force to this behavior is a literal nutcase who finds glee out of making his life a waking video game CoD expansion.

So who are we supposed to root for here? No one? Well, our protagonist I guess, but he has no real stakes in this fight either outside of some vague "I want to live life in peace so let me help you I guess" sort of attitude. Yet somehow he never had the bright idea to dye his hair? Change his looks? He hardly tried anything to really lay low, and clearly his face isnt very distinct given the fact the manga says quite a few kids look like him and had been dealing with the consequences of that. Of course, by the time the protagonist does develop a real desire to win, its by the end of the story, but it all could have been avoided.

Speaking of protagonists... he's fine I guess. A mess of contrivances, and he somehow knows literally everything despite being a high schooler, but that's manga! At first he was still in the realm of possibility, as most of his actions were just cold rationalizations, but by the end his sheer amount of knowledge and planning reaches absurd dues ex machina levels.

And this is all without even mentioning the gung-ho jingoism in this story. Politicians are nothing but useless lumps on a log, but the military leaders? Well, clearly they should be the ones in charge. They step up when the others are useless, even somehow managing to assemble task forces of the most considerable fighters. Politicians continue to be dumb as logs and wont even authorize police officers to use /tranquillizer guns/? On what are essentially alien forces terrorizing and murdering thousands? Is this a joke? Of course the military has merit when the people "running" the country have no brain cells.

Oh, and somehow no other countries have gotten involved. Because obviously terrorism done by demi-humans, which is an existential threat to humanity, does not matter and whatever just let Japan deal with it. Uh. Sure. Ok. That's manga for you.

How am I supposed to take these adult, very smart characters seriously when there is just an endless mountain of contrivances that let the manga progress? I dunno.

Normally I could ignore all of this and just enjoy the manga as an action spectacle, but over and over the manga continues to bring up the sheer atrocities humans have committed against the Ajin, yet also tries to get us to think humans are deserving of redemption and something about idiot friends who will always be there to support you or something. Which somehow is supposed to make me root for the humans I guess.

This manga tries to act like it's saying something, and I just don't know why its pretending so hard. Either let us turn our brains off and enjoy this action cartoony violence much like a video game, or /say something/. And sadly, Ajin just has literally nothing at all to say.

First off: I want you to ignore every single person who says this manga is about bullying/has bullying. It does not. If you do not think there is any attraction in being submissive to a dominant woman, you will not enjoy this manga. If you do not see Eroticism in humiliation/teasing, this is not for you. And thats fine! Not every piece of media is meant for every person.

Now, this manga is about a D/s relationship. It's not inherently obvious to the fact, because the characters do not look like stereotypes. Or at least, Nagatoro does not. Typically, in anime, most dominant women are ... tall, sexy, bombshells, etc. They usually have whips, or whatever stereotypical thing you can think of.

Likewise, anime has something I like to call "fake dominants". These are women with the outward characteristics of dominant women, yet are actually submissive at heart, and simply need to be "broken in" by the right man. A good example of this is Haruhi Suzumiya. She is demanding, strong willed, and takes charge, but she is still seen as something for Kyon to tame. She is weak in front of the man she loves. This is generally why I dislike the tsundere trope.

Now, why did I preface this review with all these extraneous details?
That is because this character, Nagatoro, is a true S type. A dom character if I have ever seen one. She does not hold her tongue, nor is she ever seen as "in the wrong" for doing what she does. And while it's not inherently clear from chapter one, the main male character does enjoy this.

Now, let's get into the general aspects of the work.

Story: 6
It's nothing much. Serviceable. The setting is simply a school, used as a vehicle for various scenarios between the two main characters. The story is nothing you haven't seen before; various comedy moments with small moments of character development every couple of chapters. Simple, straight forward.

Art: 8
I've had previous experience with this artists work, mainly in the form of doujins. I can say that this work is his best, artistically, yet. The anatomy is more consistent and accurate then usual, which is great to see. Beyond that, his expressions are some of the best i've seen in years. Full of life and character, it's honestly very inspiring to me as an artist. The character design for Nagatoro is fantastic. She's adorable in every way. The MC, who only goes by Senpai, is cute enough to be able to self-insert on.. though I wouldn't call him just that exactly. Anyway, point is, the art is adorable, and it's a great step forward for the mangaka compared to his previous works.

Character: 10
This is where this manga shines for me. Nagatoro is... perfect. It's rare that I ever feel that I relate to a character, but oh my goodness, Nagatoro is pure condensed sadism. She drives the MC to points of crying, and never once is she put down for it, outside of when she /does/ go to far. And when she does, she apologies. Yet even through her apologies, she still /knows/ that the MC wants more, and will continue her teasing in a more appropriate way. A never once does the mangaka pull back on the reigns. Nagatoro is always in control, and is there to be served/to tease her senpai. As it should be.

As for the senpai character, he's not so bad either. He certainly activates my "cute timid boy I would tease" feelings. His expressions are wonderful. But he's not simply a character to be pushed around. He has goals and things he would like to accomplish. It is because he has passions deep inside for his craft, which leads Nagatoro to take interest in him. The MC has a history of bullying/repression in his past, which isn't at all uncommon in many submissives who turn to being dominated. I won't get into psychological reasons, but BDSM in general can be therapeutic. Because he has yet to accept his desire to be dominated/humiliated, he still mentally pushes back against Nagatoro, but we all know he doesn't mean it, and would be extremely lonely without her. That said, it's more common for submissives to throw themselves wholeheartedly into desiring humiliation/teasing.

Nagatoro always knows that what she's doing is extreme. She brings it up various times in the manga, saying to the MC "aren't I doing some pretty mean stuff?". The MC mumbles in response, as he do not truly desire her to stop. Nagatoro knows this, so she gleefully keeps up their dynamic. There is nothing in this relationship between characters that is NOT consensual.

Enjoyment: 10
Well, I certainly enjoy it. Your mileage may vary depending on how willing you are to accept that Nagatoro's teasing of her senpai is erotic and very much wanted by her senpai, even though he "resists" a bit.

Overall: 9
Personally, I love love love this manga. Can I recommend it to most people? Not really. You have to inherently accept some level of BDSM kink. Due to this barrier to entry, It's going to stay a niche series, but as someone firmly in that niche, I would highly recommend it. Do you like to see cute boys crying in embarrassment from merciless teasing? Do you like to see a cute, small character in control and dominating a boy? Then this is the series made for you! I give it a 9 though because some people still get antsy when series have minimal romantic progress, and this series is more about Nagatoro various methods of teasing her Senpai, rather then growing a relationship within a plot.

EDIT 3-16-2021: Now that a lot of time has passed since I wrote this review, I would like to give my two cents on the direction of the manga since those early few chapters. The manga has broken away from a simple sketch routine of every chapter being more or less a one off situation, and has taken to genuinely develop its characters and their relationships. The characters honestly like each other and enjoy the company of one another. Senpai wants to be around Nagatoro, and Nagatoro wants to be around Senpai. That is very refreshing in this genre, as male protags often act very aloof and go out of their way to mean to the main girl in order to get them to 'leave them alone'. Senpai has said at various points that he wants Nagatoro to stay with him and for them to continue to have fun together. I would honestly Senpai and his development have made him my favorite character in this series. This series has a lot to offer and I hope people would give it a chance as the early chapters aren't full representative of where the manga is now.

The bullying has been reigned back a lot now that Nagatoro and Senpai are more or less 'equals' to each other, verses Nagatoro more or less having the upper hand in all interactions. Your mileage may actually vary on this; I won't lie and say I do miss some of the more 'intense' teasing but given the fact the manga has become much more mainstream, it does make sense. If Nagatoro's earlier behavior turned you off, I would say it does get turned down a lot, so give it another try :)

Clickbait: The Manga

Story: MC lives a shitty life that was caused by his own laziness. He 'rebirths' in the worst way possible, after getting a second chance at life. Honestly, the story isn't anything new, but the way the author tackles it is fairly unique. Basically, instead of actually trying to 'remake' his life in a meaningful way, he decides that he's just going to try and sexually assault his childhood friend. He thinks about doing something actually worthwhile for a total of one whole page. The story spirals downwards from there. It's a unique story in that the MC is a piece of human ... garbage. Halfway in, another MC technically takes over, which lets us distances ourselves from the first MC, who basically becomes a demon.

It's all paced fairly fast, which isn't a bad thing. This manga mostly lives on shock value, and there are only so many times you can be shocked by the same thing over and over. The mangaka had good sense to make this a fairly short story. Assuming the early chapters don't turn you off too badly, it keeps you hooked in basically because you want to see the punishment that will be bestowed on the original MC.

The story receives negative points on the setting. The MC basically gets thrown back to elementary school. Why? Because... pedophilia is more shocking I guess? The characters would all make more sense if they were older. Literally nothing would be changed if the mangaka put them at least in middle school, but he sacrificed character personalities for shock value.

Art: Did the job, and I've seen much worse in big publications. The mangaka was able to pull off the big moments that matter, and there weren't any glaring anatomy errors. I find these kinds of amateur-esq styles amusing.

Characters: None acted like children, that's for sure. The series felt like it was written by someone who just assumes how children act. These kids are supposed to be in the 10-11 year old age range. One female character was obsessed with being sexy on a level that is not reasonable. The other was giving bullshit reasoning for why it was ok to be assaulted. It's one thing if an adult is coercing a child, as adults have 'auras' to children that make them nervous about speaking out. Other children have no such power. I've seen kids turn on friends for MUCH less then what the MC did to one of the female characters. It's always annoying when characters aren't consistent with the rest of the kids in their age range.

Anyway, me suspending way too much disbelief aside, the cousin character was interesting enough, and the MC was a very good level of completely batshit crazy. Certainly worth rooting against. I suppose it can be a bit refreshing to read a story with a complete piece of human trash as the main character, but he really exists as shock value. He has no real human qualities expect being a loser who was lazy, and being 'burned' by love. I hesitate to even use 'burned' because that would imply that he at least put himself out there, but no, he was just bitter that Nana didn't love him for all of his abundant flaws. That she didn't magically wake up and decide to love him one day.

Obsessing over one person basically your whole life might make you go off the deep end, but I'm pretty sure that most people would choose another if the opportunity presents itself, as it does in the manga. His 'love' for Nana is pretty thin anyway, or at least the feelings that we are shown at in the first chapter. It's less about loving someone, and more being sad for yourself that your not loved by /someone/. So his obsession with Nana felt pretty annoying.

Overall, it was a quick read that I don't regret. If you're not used to series like this, the story might come as a bit of a shock, and you might wonder what kind of sick person could write a story like that. But honestly, the story wasn't even that gruesome. I found it to be a bit over rated, honestly. Only one part made me feel actually uncomfortable. So if you're used to series like this, don't expect anything unique in terms of shock value. That said, it's still decent to read if your just looking for something quick, and if you want to see what the hype is about. After a few chapters, you just accept that this can only end poorly.