Ajin: Demi-Human Complete Volume 1 Review
Nagai Kei is a seemingly normal high school boy, until one day he’s hit by a van and his whole life changes because he doesn’t die; instead, he gets back up and his wounds heal instantly. In that moment, he and all the witnesses find out he’s in fact a Demi-Human (Ajin), a species of human that cannot die. The species were only discovered 17 years ago, and therefore are a mystery to the public, and hunted down by the government. Kei goes on the run, and hopes to find others like him, but it isn’t too long before he finds out that both humans and Demi-Humans have their own reasons for finding him, and there are very few people he can trust with his immortal life.
Long-term anime fans and readers of this site will remember this series from Anime Limited’s releases of Seasons 1 and 2 from 2017 and 2020 respectively; the series is also on Netflix. I reviewed the first season way back when, but admittedly I’ve not watched Season 2 or rewatched Season 1 since, so this review will not be a comparison to the anime, but a review of the manga by itself with semi-fresh eyes (I have key memories of certain scenes from the anime but not the story). It should also be noted that this release is not a new license or re-translation; Vertical have owned the license for many years now, as the original print-run started back in 2014. This is simply an omnibus edition, with Ajin: Demi-Human Complete 1 covering the first three volumes of the original release (or first 14 chapters). If you’ve yet to dive into this series, this new release will be the perfect opportunity to do so, but if you own the original manga, there’s little reason to repurchase unless you’re a collector.
Clocking in at over 600 pages, this omnibus makes for one heavy tome and a lot happens within its pages, Kei having the ‘inciting incident’ happen within the first chapter and then going on the run. There’s also a ton of different characters and factions and sub-factions that want to get their hands on Kei, so it can feel like a lot at times, with so many characters being introduced at once. But there are a few things that are consistent and keep this series together.
First is the lore of the Demi-Humans: they look human, they just can’t die, no matter how you slice and dice them. But the series does a lot with this simple concept; on the horrific side, the Government test the numerous ways they can die, and also how much pain and limb-loss they can handle before regenerating. The art and panel framing doesn’t hold back on this, you see the gory detail of everything, and it works to make the audience feel the impact of each death-killing blow, despite the fact that we know the character will come back in the next few pages. There’s also a variant of Demi-Humans that can produce ‘ghosts’: a naked-to-the-human-eye humanoid creature that talks sporadically, looks like a walking mummy and can be controlled by the Demi-Human, but not always one-to-one, as things like the mental state of the Demi-Human and the weather (if the ghost is a distance away from them) can affect the connection between the two. I also like the scientific explanation they give to how these ghosts exist, as the Demi-Humans have to reproduce things in their bodies when they come back to life (like if they die of dehydration, when they regenerate, they have to get the water from somewhere) so why can’t they also produce a new substance that can create unique projects such as these ghosts? This unique power is interesting as it allows different stakes for Demi-Human vs. Demi-Human fights, as well as a silent horrifying presence when they’re around humans, but are not overpowered due to the pre-mentioned limitations. The fact that they’re apparently unique to only a few Demi-Humans however is sort of forgotten about midway through the volume, as most of the Demi-Humans we meet seem to have them. Whether this is due to the original writer (Tsuina Miura) leaving the project after the first volume, or due to the humans’ on-going discovery of them leading to that false conclusion, it’s left unanswered so far.
I also like the worldbuilding when it comes to depicting how regular humans treat them. We get a notable classroom scene at the start, where a teacher makes it clear that Demi-Humans are a new species and are not harmful to humans at all, and yet everything in the story shows how humans treat demi-humans like they’re the most dangerous creature in existence and must be treated like animals. There’s also a powerful side story of one of Kei’s classmates seeing the injustice of how he’s being treated, and starting to get involved in online communities that want to give equal rights to Demi-Humans, but ends up running out of steam for the cause when he’s faced with the futility of it. For everyone who’s part of a minority, who feels that they’re screaming into the void fighting for the right to live, this scene may hit quite hard. The nihilism aspect does flow through a lot of this story, to the point of feeling quite a downer of a read, but this chapter felt the most human in a cruel and sad way, that I rarely see other series touch, in such a simple plot element.
But the first Demi-Human we meet however is Kei, who is the centre of the story, despite a lot of other plot threads going on, most of them lead back to him, whether it’s to capture him, subdue him, or recruit him, Kei is target number one regardless. On the surface, he comes across as your typical teenage boy, but even before his Demi-Human discovery, and whilst on the run, there’s a few small signs of some kind of personality disorder, which makes him an interesting protagonist to follow. He’s shown to have lack of empathy for others, usually only doing the ‘right thing’ when it either gets him out of trouble or makes him look better, and seems to hold no regards for his family or his friends once they’re out of sight. He’s also very technically minded, as he was training to be doctor, and has internal monologues on how best to attack others using his knowledge of anatomy, which is both fascinating and horrifying to read. In my anime review, I mentioned that the anime’s version of Kei had a swerve of character direction that didn’t really work, but I never got that from the manga; I felt it was subtly foreshadowed in the manga, and not to mention the trauma he goes through throughout these first few books probably exacerbated his traits as well. Like I said, I haven’t seen the anime in a long time, so not sure if this is an adaptation issue, or if I simply missed the cues, but it has made me reconsider going back and finishing the anime to see how it holds up today.
On the opposing side of the Demi-Humans are the regular humans, most notably the Government, who are trying to capture the Demi-Humans, experiment on them and find out everything they can about them, maybe even use them for nefarious means. At the start, we follow the white haired Yu, and his assistant Izumi, who led the case and capture, and at first they’re formidable foes, with their own biases and struggles. Unfortunately the ‘antagonist’ side is overcomplicated by the introduction of multiple extra Government employees, as well as the addition of American personnel and their own tactics and information. They come in just as additional antagonist Demi-Humans Sato and Koji come into play too, and it muddies the waters on who’s the bigger threat. On paper, it makes perfect sense that Japan and America will have their own ‘Demi-Human’ departments, their own ways of working, and collaborate together when a new one is discovered. It also makes sense that there would be violent Demi-Humans, as they are treated with cruelty their whole lives, so why wouldn’t they fight back? But as these introductions come in quick succession, and some in the midst of an action scene no less, I found myself lost on who was who, and who wants what. One additional minor aspect I didn’t think worked within the story is the use of Kei’s friend Kai, who helps Kei escape for the first few chapters, but outside a few flashbacks, he’s never seen again once Kei dumps him to try and spare his life. A simple few pages of us seeing Kai waking up and noticing Kei is gone, or him reacting to seeing Kei’s capture on the news, would have been enough to emotionally close that side of the story, but right now its an annoying dangling plot thread, that again might be due to the original writer leaving after Volume 1.
Despite the change in writer, the art is by Gamon Sakurai, who does a fantastic job here. His character designs are great, despite Kei being a generic Japanese high school boy; his expressions are great and you never lose sight of who he is in a crowd. The designs of the ghosts are creepily fantastic too, with every Demi-Human having a unique design too, even just the change of head shape is enough to make them distinct. But I think his strong suit is in the action and building sense of dread, especially how much detail he goes into to make each fight scene feel impactful. An example is when Kei is above Sato and tries to attack with a knife at a specific point to paralyse him. We see him fall down, Sato’s surprised reaction, the physical struggle between the two where Sato tries to shake him off and Kei desperate to hold on. It’s all conveyed brilliantly on the page. In terms of dread, there’s plenty of examples of how Sakurai builds it to a horrifying climax, but without spoilers, the chapter where we follow a new demi-human as he tries to hide evidence of his death to others, and his fear of being discovered, it’s an excellent example of it being done well.
Ko Ransom translates the series and does a fine job of conveying that high emotions and technical wording on the page. A minor gripe is with the flashbacks: the font style changes when we enter a flashback, which is a nice detail, but it’s also inconsistent as not all flashbacks have a full change of font, sometimes it’s halfway through. Volume 2 is due out in January 2025.
Ajin: Demi-Human Complete is a monster of a book in more ways than one: in sheer size, in the gory action scenes and dark tone of the story. I found my journey back into Ajin an enjoyable time, despite the confusion in the back half of the book and the nihilism eating away at you as you read it, which won’t be for everyone. However if this series has ever appealed to you in the past, this new omnibus edition is the perfect reason to give it a go.
Our review copy from Vertical was supplied by Turnaround Publisher Services.
