News

Writing paranormal stories set in the modern world can be difficult, as modern technology renders many of the genre's hallmarks obsolete, but that doesn't mean that fantastic modern supernatural manga doesn't exist. And one frequently overlooked dark fantasy series combined the supernatural and the modern world to tell a highly memorable story that put a unique twist on several genre hallmarks.

Ajin: Demi-Human made its debut in 2012, running in Good! Afternoon magazine until 2021. The first volume was illustrated by Gamon Sakurai and written by Tsuina Miura, the writer behind High-Rise Invasion. However, Miura left the project after the first volume, leaving Gamon Sakurai as the illustrator and writer for the rest of the story. The manga did prove popular enough to get an anime adaptation, though it should be noted that this adaptation deviated heavily from the manga's storyline, meaning it is a very different experience.

Related: Why The Death Note...

Anyone keen to point the finger (often fairly) at Hollywood for a lack of creativity and a dearth of new ideas in its global economics-driven industry should take a seat for director Katsuyuki Motohiro’s adaptation of Ajin: Demi-Human. Based on Gamon Sakurai’s manga series and following an animated film trilogy as well as an animated television series, Ajin gets the live action film treatment because it’s a medium that hasn’t been exploited yet. The film also comes from a new tradition of manga-based monster movies wherein humanity is about to be consumed by some kind of creature or has already...