AJIN [SEASON 2]

The second season of Ajin finished airing just about ten days ago. Those of you who haven’t yet caught up on the anime after the season one cliffhanger, get ready to jump on the hype train! [Spoilers ahead for those who haven’t seen S1]

So the first season ended with Nagai Kei and his new companion Nakano Kou making a break and escaping the clutches of Tosaki and Shimomura. And in the meantime, Satou has issued an ultimatum to the Japanese government to include provisions for ajin to be treated as normal human beings, and to stop using them as guinea pigs for experimentation. The alternative being that Satou and his fellow ajin go after 15 officials who are the main culprits regarding this matter. The second season picks up from there, with Satou beginning to make good on his promise. On the other end, Nagai and Nakano want to stop Satou from executing his master plan, but they are severely lacking on manpower. Nagai comes up with the idea of pairing up with one of the main officials in secret so that this issue ceases to remain an issue anymore. And guess who that is… Tosaki himself!

                                                                  Way too OP…

The story is pretty fast paced, as it was in the first season. And it doesn’t waste time in pleasantries of any sort. The action keeps moving from Satou’s perspective to that of Nagai and Tosaki, and these switches have been handled well, so that the viewer is not distracted in the least. And as it was in the previous season, the action scenes are amazing; especially the ones where Satou goes berserk in killing people, they are truly badass moments in the show. The characters have been further developed, and some backstory for Tosaki and Shimomura comes in too. Nagai and Co. are great, no doubt about that. But my favorite character would be Satou, as is only to be expected. The guy says so many awesome things in his trademark nonchalant style; the writers did a fantastic job with this particular role. It’s as if he is the anime version of Vaas from FarCry 3. And just in case you don’t know this guy, let’s just say he is still the best villain I’ve seen in a game yet.

The only real issue with Ajin is the same as it was with the first season; the frame rates. I know that the production crew decided to do it the hard way and make it a 3D animated show, and I laud them for it. The actions are remarkably human-like, as a result. But more than occasionally, you’re left trying to see if you can differentiate one frame from another during some of the quieter moments of the show. Other than that, the show is pretty slick.

In conclusion, I would personally recommend Ajin to anyone who watches anime, and have done it on numerous occasions already. If for nothing else, just for the amazingly haunting background score that plays at the beginning and end of each episode…

RATING : 9/10

PROS :
– good plot pacing
– action scenes are even cooler
– amazing background score
– Satou-san OP
– improved 3DCG

CONS :
– frame rate is still a bit unsatisfactory

 

 

 

 

 

AJIN

Ajin is the anime I came up with when I wanted to watch something serious and atmospheric. So, how does this anime fare?

Mysterious human beings imbued with immortality are discovered for the first time in Africa. These meta-humans, called Ajin, resurrect themselves whenever they get killed so that they are back, as good as new. Fearing their potential for destruction, the governments of the world decide to capture them to prevent any possible harm to the society, and start experimenting on their capabilities in order to better understand them.

Nagai Kei is a high-schooler who spares no thought to anything other than becoming a great doctor, and studies hard to make his wish come true. One evening, deep in thought, Nagai fails to note a speeding vehicle, and gets crushed underneath it. But unknown to even himself, Nagai was also an Ajin; his body resurrects itself and he is able to start moving again. But now there are a bunch of witnesses who have seen this other-worldly phenomenon, and are they ready to inform the government about him. Fearing for himself, Nagai uses a high-pitched shriek which immobilizes everyone in the area, and makes his escape from the scene. Thus begins the three-way game of cat-and-mouse between Nagai Kei, the government and a mysterious person called the Hat Man, who is a suspect in the recent disappearance of an Ajin from a governmental facility, and whose plans for Nagai are unknown.

The concept of resurrection may seem like old news at the outset, but Ajin treads new ground with it. The plot is pretty solid, and its progression is nicely paced, with no unnecessary developments and byways. The whole anime world is set up neatly, with realistic depictions of school-going kids to employees and beyond. The animation is really well done; the scenes of Ajin resurrecting themselves, and the mysterious IBM[Invisible Black Matter] creatures created by the Ajin are excellently rendered. The coolest parts are the action parts though, with fights almost taking on a cinematic flair. The opening and ending themes are absolutely fabulous, and this is one of the few shows where I never, I repeat never, skipped the themes. But special mention has to be made to the background score; it’s just flat-out godly, and really gives viewers the chills whenever a particular music comes on.

This kind of stuff happens throughout the show…

The main issue I had with Ajin, though, is also related to the visuals. Or more specifically, the frame rate used throughout the show. The show runs at a frame rate of below 30fps easy, with the viewers actually being able to make out the changing of frames in the non-action scenes. This is pretty annoying, and although you may kind of get used to this 3-4 episodes into the anime, this isn’t something you can wholly unsee. And i think the animators tried to emulate human motion with the anime characters, but it doesn’t always work out for the best.

Anyways, I would recommend Ajin to anyone who wishes to see an anime with supernatural elements, or an anime which refuses to pull its punches in general.

RATING : 8.3/10

PROS :
– plot progression is fluid
– great action scenes
– well-developed universe
– awesome opening & ending themes
– godly background score

CONS :
– frame-rate issues
– movement-related 3DCG is somewhat hit-or-miss