Last week, Netflix announced that it planned on adapting Japanese manga Ajin: Demi Human into an anime series. This week, Netflix announced that the first season of the series will have 13 episodes.
Ajin: Demi Human, created by Gamon Sakurai and published in good! Afternoon magazine, is a "seinen" manga, meaning that it's targeted toward boys and men. The manga series began in 2012 and got licensed for English in 2014, where it can be read on Crunchyroll.
The manga's story follows a Japanese high school student who is killed instantly in a traffic accident. However, the boy returns from the dead as an immortal "Ajin." This makes him a target for those who hunt immortal beings, meaning that he must spend the rest of his life on the run, with the only help provided by his best friend.
In 2014, the manga ended up near the top of the list of the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics.
The Ajin: Demi Human anime series will run in Japan starting in January 2016, with Japanese Netflix subscribers having access to each episode three days after television airing. After the anime's initial run ends, Netflix will release the series worldwide in every country where the Netflix does business.
Ajin: Demi-Human is the second anime series streamed by Netflix outside of Japan. Last year, the service had success with streaming Knights of Sidonia and received praise from anime fans and critics: that resulted in the service bringing season two of the series to subscribers. Here's hoping that if Netflix has similar success with Ajin: Demi Human, we'll see more original anime series streaming there.
Ajin: Demi Human is also getting the movie treatment, though, as a trilogy, with the same voice cast providing talent for the series. The first film, Ajin, Part 1: Shodo opens in Japan in November.
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