Experimentation and machinations.
Creative Staff
Story: Tsuina Miura
Art: Gamon Sakurai
Translation: Ko Ransom
What They Say
A bright high schooler has discovered to his horror that death is just a repeatable event for him – and that humanity has no mercy for a demi-human. To avoid becoming a science experiement for the rest of his interminable life, Kei Nagai must seek out others of his kind. But what would a community of them stand for?
Includes the Ajin pilot chapter – File: 00 “The Shinya Nakamura Incident.”
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Following up on the last volume, Kei meets up with his fellow other demi-humans, not quite sure what to expect. Shockingly enough, they actually seem to be pretty decent people who want to live peacefully. Just as Kei is about to ask about the “black ghost,” though, he gets shot with a tranquilizer. In the aftermath, however, Sato and Tanaka show their true colors, as violent revolutionaries who tranquilized Kei in order to hand him over to the other side to toughen him up.
With this, the cruel experimentation on our hero begins. As it turns out, Tosaki seems to know more than he lets on, as he’s explicitly having Kei tortured in the hopes that the black ghost will manifest. Though this does work to some degree and the other demi-humans almost get their wish, Kei turns back from the path of murder thanks to the thought of Kai. This is followed by a rather dark chapter in which a former classmate decides to try his best to help Kei, but ends up giving up in the end, and gets secretly marked by the government for his troubles.
Finally, Tanaka and Sato go on a rather impressive two man assault to break through to Kei. Will they make it through? And just what will they do when he fails to meet their desires? Following this, the volume caps off with a look at the infamous Shinya Nakamura Incident.
In Summary
Though this volume lacks just a bit of the massive punch of the first volume, it’s still got a ton of power to it. The action scenes are absolutely jaw dropping and use the concept of immortality quite well. There are also some rather disturbing bits of torture and betrayal that are pure brutality, coupled with some great emotional elements. Add in a bit of intrigue, and you have another great volume that proves this series is already well on its way to greatness.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Released by: VERTICAL
Release Date: Dec 9, 2014
MSRP: $12.95
