Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2 + Movies 2 & 3 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Ajin: Demi-Human (亜人) is a 2016 television anime series based on the manga of the same name written by Gamon Sakurai. It was adapted by studio Polygon Pictures and directed by Hiroaki Andō with Hiroyuki Seshita as chief. King Records Company Ltd published the series and was first broadcast in Japan on January 2016 as part of the Winter season. The show’s second season was first broadcast in Japan on October 2016.

The films Ajin: Confront (亜人 第２部「衝突」, Ajin Part 2: Shōtotsu) and Ajin: Collide (亜人 第3部「衝戟」, Ajin Part 3: Shōgeki) were theatrically released in Japan on May 2016 and September 2016 respectively.

Background:

“Kei’s stopped running, but his decision to stand and fight comes just as Sato launches his second wave of terror. Angered by the governments’ refusal to admit the truth about the live experiments on captive Ajin, the Ajin terrorist has begun assassinating a list of the key individuals connected to Ajin research, and only someone as unkillable as he is has a chance of stopping the man in the hat.

With Sato being better trained, more experienced, and allied with other Ajins, Kei has only two chances at heading off the final apocalypse: to somehow learn how to better control the Invisible Black Matter being he generates or to recruit other Ajins into the battle. The shadow war explodes and the world burns as the ultimate warriors face off in immortal combat!”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, April 2020

A few years ago I watched the first season of Ajin: Demi-Human and despite being animated completely in CG, it was honestly a pretty enjoyable series and I remember watching pretty much all 12 episodes in one day which is a rarity for my usual anime watching experience. When Anime Limited picked it up I was excited and their set was pretty good compared to Sentai’s rather undervalued and overpriced limited edition set. As an added bonus, Sentai and Anime Limited both managed to acquire the rights to the theatrical version of Ajin.

The interesting aspect of the theatrical films is that they are not compilations of the television series, but rather the exact opposite – the films are the main adaptation and the TV series is essentially a recut/extended version. So in a sense you have two ways to watch the anime; the TV series Ajin: Demi-Human or the film trilogy Ajin: Compel, Confront and Collide. In addition, the films were released in November 2015, May 2016 and September 2016 compared to the TV series airing in January 2016 and October 2016.

Ajin: Demi-Human was among one of the first titles to be part of Netflix’s Originals line-up which technically is more on the lines of being a streaming exclusive. As such, it was held back until the international dubs were completed. Interestingly, Netflix did not acquire the films so those ended up being untouched compared to the TV series. Sentai licensed the home video rights for United States and Canada, while Anime Limited did the same for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

Anime Limited loves providing collector’s edition releases for their catalogue and Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2 keeps the consistency going after its first season had the same treatment years prior.

This release is presented with a rigid box containing a digipack to house the Blu-ray discs for both the second season and the second and third films. The box also comes with a 60-page booklet which has some pretty neat stuff and feels like a continuation from the contents of the first season set. The box has clean artwork with the show’s title on the spine, though much like Aldnoah Zero does not have a mention of the show’s season.

The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99. This is also a Blu-ray only release and is expected to receive a standard edition over time.

So despite being released this year, I was very surprised to find that it was included in Anime Limited’s 12 Days of Christmas sale as part of their Buy One Get One Free offering. Now because I owned a majority of the distributor’s titles, there wasn’t much left for me to consider from the offer. Thanks to a collaboration with a fellow friend in the UK anime community, I was able to receive the set and I am very happy about that (and saves us both the hassle of having to randomly choose another title for the sake of it).

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with digipack packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 60-page booklet

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 27th April 2020

The collector’s edition release for Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2 covers episodes 13 to 24 of the series across two Blu-ray discs, and the films Ajin: Confront and Ajin: Collide on a single Blu-ray disc. The encode and authoring were done by Sentai.

The audio options available for Ajin: Demi-Human include Japanese with English & Spanish subtitles and the SDI Media English & Spanish dubs commissioned by Netflix, while the films Ajin: Confront and Ajin: Collide are presented in Japanese with English subtitles only because there was no English dub or Spanish support provided for them.

The yellow subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are compatible with both A and B for Blu-ray as this came out during Sentai’s geo-locking period in North America.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2: English, Spanish, Japanese Ajin: Confront & Ajin: Collide: Japanese
Audio	Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Ajin: Confront & Ajin: Collide: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Video	Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2: 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio Ajin: Confront & Ajin: Collide: 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio
Region	A B
Subtitles	Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2: English, Spanish Ajin: Confront & Ajin: Collide: English
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2: 2 BD-50s Ajin: Confront & Ajin: Collide: 1 BD-50

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 2:

• Clean Opening “Boku wa Boku de Atte” & “The end of escape” Animations
• Clean Closing “Koutei no Sumi ni Futari, Kaze ga Fuite Ima Nara Ieru ka na” Animation
• Sentai Trailers

Disc 3:

• Clean Closing “innocence” & “The Birth” Animations

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2 is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition on Amazon UK.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)