Ajin: Demi-Human

What would you do if you become an immortal and can kill yourself to death only to be alive well again to kill yourself to be alive again? Ajin the live action tells the unusual story about half human half immortal beings or the demi-human called Ajin who seeks acceptance of their existence and rights from government through a series of terrorism after they are exposed to the world. It was based on a manga with the same name as the title. The story concern a nihilistic man named Nagai Kei (Takeru Satoh), who doesn't know that he is an ajin and later found out and get found out by people during an accident. Because they cannot die, people are treating them with fear and confusion, so he is being hunt and captive by the government for experiment purpose. During his confinement, he is tortured and then saved by a group of Ajin terrorist led by a charismatic ajin leader named Sato (Go Ayano). Nagai who only wants his peaceful life with his sister back and doesn't want to follow ajin revolution that sato proposed, and so they are now fighting against each other. It was human vs Ajin, with Nagai Kei the Ajin acts as the ace on the human side. As you know, that Ajin cannot die and will always be resurrected in their prime form after the death. So, the action promised on the film was top notch, you can see action that will not be possible on normal human action film. The interesting fact is that how creative they use their ability to not die to fight each other. And as Ajin they have a unique black particle Monster called BIM which they can control. It was pretty fun to watch how they use their limited power to control a fight and try to fight authorities. I personally watched it because I like takeru satoh since Kamen Rider Den-O and have always followed the manga since the beginning. And at first I think casting Go Ayano as Satoh seems like a mistake because he is a bit too young for playing satoh. But Hot Dang I was mistaken, he managed to bring unique charisma and charm to Satoh as a character. I really applaud for both of their acting in this film. For the moment the manga is still continuing, and if you want to know further about the difference between the live action and the manga you should read it. As for the live action itself, I really enjoyed it, the soundtrack used is pretty good ,the action is done pretty good, and most of all the action are so enjoyable because how creative they are. There are not many films that can adapt fantasy concept of a manga series, but I think that this live action for once managed to deliver it very very well. I really recommend it for those that like Japanese film or action film in general. It was an awesome ride even though the plot seems to be moving too fast.

I haven't read the comics or seen the cartoons, so I went into this clueless - no idea what it was about whatsoever.

The lead, Nagai, is in hell: he is experimented on, he has limbs amputated, he is killed and... he comes back to life again, fully healed. This torment goes on and on - and this being the film's opening, we don't know how long he's suffered this cruelty.

Sato is another Ajin - which is what Nagai also is, hence the never-ending cycle of death and life; he busts Nagai free, gleefully slaughtering everyone involved in the experiment and asks Nagai to join his crusade of bringing down such evil facilities, so their kind will never again endure these ordeals. The catch? Sato wants Nagai to kill a few scientists to prove his loyalty.

Okay, so after going through hell, why not get some payback? Nagai refuses and illogically fights Sato to save those who had butchered him relentlessly... seemingly for chuckles. This is the first head-scratching moment in a streamlined film which skips the majority of character development to concentrate on the action. And why not?

The problem is that, by condensing - good only knows how many - comics into something like 80 minutes (which is actually 109, but it goes so fast!), Nagai's character and his bizarre choices don't make a great deal of sense - a massive pity, because the action's great and there are a lot of cool ideas to more than make up for a lack of Hollywood production money.

Ultimately, the decision to cut 10 or 20 minutes by omitting the reasoning behind Nagai's stupidity/irrationality (take your pick), along with that of a certain female, hurt the film much more than slowing the tempo slightly or pushing it over 2 hours ever could. This film easily could've been a 9/10 but as it is, a 6 is fair and a 7 generous - and since I liked the concept so much, I'm being generous.

The concept of Ajin is pretty much like Tokyo Ghoul but instead of Ghoul we get a new kind of supernatural being with healing factor and can summon their own personal bodyguar Ajin in form of a human shape shifting smoke.The movie is very hollow with not enough development for me to care about any of the characters so the only thing that keep me interested in the story is the action and most of the time it above average when it involving gun fight.They really hold back with the blood and gore in Ajin cause some of the scene clearly begging for a bloody mess

The live action nailed it! Sure there are some cut scenes from the anime but the important details were not left out. The whole movie can stand alone and even those who haven't seen the anime yet could surely understand the whole plot. The characters' acting are spot on. Takeru Satoh's (Nagai) portrayal is effortless. It is so natural and convincing. Sure, there are times when I wished he'd say "amakakeru ryu no hirameki" but that is only because I was so affected by Gou Ayano's (Sato) acting as a villain I wanted him to be dead for sure but this is Ajin; Die and be alive. Gou wcompleted the ambiance of the movie. To sum it up, everything, from characters to the plot were all stitched perfectly I could not ask for a better adaptation.

As I haven't watched the anime or read the manga, Ajin live action was my first experiance with the story. The plot introduces the Ajin universe quite well and it explains it decently. However, the movie did what most of the live action movies based on manga-anime do: try to fit in too many elements in a few hours length movie and, in the end, the story feels flat. There wasn't time for the characters to develop or be presented in depth. Their motives were unclear at some points. However, the performances were really good and the action scenes entertaining. So, 6.5 out of 10.