Ajin: Semi-Humano (2017)

I watched Ajin live action when a cinema in my city screened this movie. As a fan of the original manga & anime, I was excited and worried at the same time for this movie. So I went to the cinema with a low expectation, because I don't want to be disappointed, but then I  left the cinema feeling satisfied and wanting to watch it again. In my opinion Ajin - Demi Human is one of the best live action movie honestly (maybe after RK). So I felt the need to post a review.

Story: 7,5
Ajin is a fast-paced movie. The main plot for this live action was the same as the manga & anime, but there were some minor and major differences too. Fortunately, those major changes actually made the movie focused more on the main plot. I think the scriptwriter did a good job, that's why even if you are a picky manga/anime fan like me, I think you'll still able to enjoy this movie.
Action scenes take a big part in this movie, which probably about 90% of this movie. The action choreography is amazing. I was really impressed the whole time. Since most of the movie is about fighting, there is no big character development, especially for the main character. Though it was expected, since movie has limited time. There are not enough scenes and dialogues for us to understand the characters' personality, except for Satou. Also, there is some plot-holes that left unanswered. This movie also ended in an open ending that probably make a chance for a sequel. But I still give 7.5, because I personally enjoyed this movie a lot, and I think the writers succeeded to keep the intense atmosphere from the beginning until near the end.

Acting/Cast: 10
One of the reason why I was excited for this movie was the cast. This movie has a star-studded cast. For me, all the actors and actresses did an incredible performance in this movie.  But the one that really stood out from the rest was Ayano Go. His portrayal of Satou was amazing. Every gesture, expression, and speech was perfect. I think he succeeded to bring Satou into life. His acting felt so real to the point that I forgot that Satou is just a fictional character.  Shirota Yu also did a great job as Tanaka. His sharp gaze was perfect. On the other hand, I think Sato Takeru under-performed in this. His acting was good but I think he could do better. I blame it to the script that made his character seems dull. Despite that, I'm still giving the perfect score because the other casts was amazing.

Music: 8
 I think the music was suitable for the movie. Especially on those fighting scenes, the background music actually made the scenes more intense. Also, I love the ending song.

Rewatch Value: 9.5
Yes, I would like to watch this movie again. The cinematography was great. The CGI was perfectly done, the IBM looks so good and real. The action choreography was really detailed, intense, and amazing. So I don't think I will get bored from watching this many times.

Overall: 9
As I stated above, Ajin - Demi Human was one of the best manga-to-live-action movie in my opinion. Even though some part were changed, the movie still followed the original story. The casts' acting was good. I love the action scenes. My only disappointment with this movie was the main character's lack of personality depth. I hope if a sequel is planned, they can explore his personality more. But overall  I really enjoyed this movie from the start until the end.

(sorry for my English)

Leia Mais

The good parts: Satou , the black ghosts
But the story was supposed to be about Nagai Kei and I just didn't feel that. His character was flat and just went through the motions. The anime is much better and I imagine the Manga is better yet. They got rid of his friend and kept his sister.. probably for that fight scene. Anyway I liked the special effects... there should have probably been more blood, but any more would have made me sick so that was good.
oh yea.. I couldn't help noticing that this version of Tanaka is especially hot. lol That was a little distracting.

Leia Mais

I'm a really big fan of the manga and anime series of this film, so I probably should have gone into this expecting very little of it. The live action remakes of a series are usually quite bad and this one was no different; the plot starts quite a way into the story - giving little backstory, Satou didn't look like his part at all and seemed more like a late thirty-early forty year old man than the archaic person he is supposed to be, and it felt like the entire thing was rushed through.

Honestly the only good part about this was Tanaka was hot, the electro music across the battle scenes were pretty decent and it was at least recognisable as Ajin. A shame; this could have been a really good live action, but I feel like directors just use these as cash grab rather than creating decent content for the franchises.

Leia Mais

[WARNING: the rating and review I give have the possibility to be subjective due to my preference for the genres, scenes or casts]

Insane! I will put [18+] warning in this movie because this movie contains a lot of blood and mutilation things. Not a proper watch for underage.

As for the movie : the storyline is not too strong for me, but the action acts really catch my sense. I can't close my mouth when I finally realize that the Ajin can produce the "ghost" XD

Gou-san, Takeru-san and (unexpectedly) Yuu-san are really good being a bastard. They're good with guns or riffle Σ>―(〃°ω°〃)♡→ I'm bit afraid that the ending will be anti-climax, but it turns out … well, not too anti-climax, but leaving the questions. Who's the person who take Sato's hat???

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

An unexpected hero

I had fun watching this.

Story
After all the torture they put him through I thought he would gladly take revenge but he didn't. He is one of those characters who have morals and conscience.
The story is not developed enough and the characters don't have personalities.
It's fun to watch as something where you turn off your brain.

Things I liked
- The music.
- Creativity in fight scenes. They can't die so it's interesting to watch them fight. There are no limits, they shot themselves and start again.
- The concept of Ajin.
- Cinematography, it's pretty.
- The ending. It's awesome.

That's it. It's a pretty movie without much story and depth.

Things that could have been better
- The characters are one dimensional. They have no personality or character development.
- Nagai starts as a confused and weak guy but by the end of the movie he can fight and he is a great strategist. When did that happen?
We see him train but it's short and not enough to convince us that he can take on Satou who has way more experience than him.
- The sister subplot just takes time and makes no sense. She didn't serve any purpose in the story.
- Why is the bodyguard on human side protecting the bad guy?
- That one scene where the guy dies and Nagai is super sad. Why? Just why? I don't care about that guy, why are you trying to make it emotional? Why should Nagai care about him when he was one of the guys who tortured him. Just kill him and move on, don't try to make it emotional.
- Satou's plan. Why couldn't he just take revenge on people who hurt him? At the end he didn't do anything and that made me sad. I wanted the glasses guy to suffer.

Overall, a cool movie. I think it's worth watching.
It would be nice if there is a sequel because there is so much potential in the story.

Leia Mais

Here's another movie of Satoh that made me like him more. Since I have seen the series of this anime, I would say he gave life to the character where you can totally enjoy the action and tension.

Honestly, I like the movie more. I feel like playing a video game where the fighters have a countless number of life potions and an enemy that is hard to defeat.

While tangling with the questions of humanity and morality, you can ask yourself who the true villain is. And since this is the battle of immortals, having both special abilities to reset their life after being killed, the thought of how is one supposed to take another down will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Overall, this movie is well executed with a superb combination of flying moves, fast-paced plot which retains the originality and effective characterization.

Leia Mais

The action in this movie was absolutely incredible but I missed some deeper character moments. Like...

Were the Ajin truly colder than humans? What happened to Kei and Eriko's parents? Why did Izumi work for Tosaki and the department that experimented on Ajins when she was an Ajin herself, how could she have just stood by and watched them do that to people like her? Etc. etc...

I think my favorite moments were the back-n-forths between Nagai Kei and Satou because Satou was a fantastic villain, deranged, sure, but you got where he was coming from and why he was so gung-ho about killing humans. Their scenes were the best part of the movie.

And then the scene at the end, when Tosaki betrayed Kei. Did he actually feel regret? We didn't really find out anything about Tosaki's motives so it was hard to say for sure but... did he feel regret about betraying Kei after everything he had done for them? It sure looked so but, well, he was as disgusting as everyone else who participated in those experiments, Izumi included, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But honestly? I was glad that both Kei and Satou escaped at the end. I usually like for the bad guys to get what they deserve but here...

Leia Mais

Kudaranai!

Ajin is a prime example of what happens when movie producers, writers, and filmmakers don't respect the original material and just create a live action adaptation of a popular manga/anime series for the cash grab. I can think of only one word for the movie, “kudaranai”, which means pointless. Although it has a great cast of actors, none of them (except one) are appropriate for the parts. With the exception of Tamayama Tetsuji as Tosaki, the rest of the cast don't look or act like the characters in the original series. Nagai Kei is supposedly a 17-year-old high school student aspiring to become a doctor and yet they chose to cast a nearly 30-year-old Sato Takeru. Instead of casting a suitable actor for the part, they changed the character into a 26-year-old med student to fit the actor they've chosen. I would have been fine with this change if they had bothered to actually give depth to the character and explained his motivations instead of just making him an unusually intelligent young man whose intentions are not quite clear.

Nagai is not your garden variety ajin, his IBM and black ghost first appeared when he was just a baby so he has an excessive amount of the stuff, allowing him to call upon his black ghost multiple times unlike most ajin. He also has low emotional intelligence, making him almost emotionless, cold, and indifferent. But he's incredibly smart and observant, allowing him to think more logically and strategically. None of those things are explored in the movie. Shirota Yuu as Tanaka is just a waste. With the way they wrote the character, he could have been played by basically anyone, there was no need for them to hire a popular actor. Shimomura is reduced to a mere sidekick, not one bit of character background is given. But my biggest disappointment is Sato. Ayano Go may be one of the most popular actors in Japan these days but his acting talents simply cannot make anyone believe he's actually an elderly man. Sato is not even Japanese! His real name is Samuel T. O'Brien (Owen in the manga), Sato is just the name he used when he came to Japan. He was born in the 50's and he's a war veteran with exceptional combat skills. He also appears to be a friendly and kind old man, that's why Nagai initially trusted him. He may be brutal and calculating but on the surface, he seems calm and respectable. By changing the age of the character, they completely scrapped this aspect of his persona. Ayano's portrayal comes off as psychopathic and warlike, the complexities of the character lost in his John Wick-like gun-fu. It's probably one of the worst casting choices I've ever seen.

Tamayama Tetsuji's portrayal of Tosaki is the only thing that remotely reminds me of the source material. But even his character has no real depth, his motivations are also unclear. The rest of the characters are as pointless as this movie, just mere fodder. The special effects are decent but could have been better. Why Japanese film producers continue to hire the same old popular actors instead of holding auditions and finding the perfect actors for the roles, escapes me. I am now utterly convinced that the anime stage play productions are so much better at adapting anime/manga series for they really try to remain faithful to the source material and cast the most appropriate actors they can find.

Leia Mais

STORY: well, it is not the most unique of stories but it gets you captivated and always thrilled because you don't know what is going to happen next (even if I read the manga). Honestly, even though the lead was Takeru Sato I didn't expect much from this movie but boy they delivered. The cast, action scenes, writing and even the music was great!!!!
Acting/Cast: Honestly, I came to watch this movie because of Takeru Sato but I fell in love with the movie because of Gou Ayano (the way he portrays Sato was so on point - for me at least)!!! I so love the part where he re-appeared using his right/left? hand and started gunning people down naked!!! His abs were so fine I kept on replaying that part I almost broke my mouse!!! HAHAHAHA
Music: Even the BGM were on point with the scene especially when they doing the action scenes, I love it!
Rewatch value: Well, I would def rewatch this! Just because of Takeru Sato and Gou Ayano
Overall: This was actually worth my time and I had fun watching this!!!

Leia Mais