Ajin: Demi-Human (2017)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Kei Nagai (Takeru Satoh) finds out that he is an Ajin, an immortal, after coming back alive from a fatal traffic accident. The Japanese government imprisons him and uses him for medical experiments, cutting off a limb every day and observing how it grows back. Fellow ajin Sato (Gou Ayano) rescues Nagai but Nagai refuses to join the homicidal Sato. Sato threatens to release nerve gas over Tokyo if the government doesn't give Tokyo to ajins. Nagai joins the government to thwart Sato's evil plan.

***

The good news is that Ajin's pacing is fast and they do explore the idea of ajins and their immortality. The bad news is that there is little character development and the exploration of immortality is taken to its logical ridiculousness. 

(This is a review of the 2017 movie. I have not seen the TV series and will not draw any comparisons with it.)

Production I.G, who animated most of Mamoru Oshii's movies, is involved somehow. I assume in animating the black ghosts. It's decent work but unfortunately the swirling particles seem ripped off from X Men.

The plot is inventive but somehow failed to grab my interest. The whole subplot with Nagai's sister doesn't go anywhere or reveal anything and can be cut from the movie with no impact on the story. The same goes for the black fighting ghosts that the ajins can summon, and the undercover ajin who works as a government bodyguard. Take them out and the story still works.

The characters are flat. In conventional storywriting terms, Nagai has no character arc. He doesn't learn anything or is changed at the end. He doesn't even have any flaw or personal issue to overcome. Call it Hollywood formula if you want to, it works.   

Hard science fiction fans are going to have issues with the ajin. Not only do they regenerate limbs without seeming to need to sacrifice any existing muscle to do so, they can actually regenerate an entire body starting from a single limb. So where does all that new body tissue come from? 

They can also blow their brain out with a bullet, and then regenerate their brain without losing any memories. The only way to account for all this is to have some kind of supernatural explanation, which the movie doesn't even hint at. Death Note was believable because it was supernatural in nature. Ajin is just ridiculous. It's actually comparable to Tokyo Ghoul - weak but with different flaws.