News

Sentai Filmworks Licenses Ajin: Demi-Human Anime for Home Video

Sentai Filmworks announced on Tuesday that it has licensed Polygon Pictures' Ajin: Demi-Human anime for home video and video on demand. The company will release the series on Blu-ray Disc and DVD with special content and extras.

The first season of the television anime premiered on January 15 and ran for 13 episodes. Netflix streamed new episodes in Japan three days after they premiered on Japanese television, and it began streaming the entire first season outside of Japan on April 12. The second season premiered in Japan on October 7, and Netflix streamed the season on December 27.

The series is based on Gamon Sakurai's Ajin: Demi-Human manga. In the original manga's story, an immortal first appeared on an African battlefield 17 years ago. Later, rare, unknown new immortal lifeforms began appearing among humans, and they became known as "Ajin" (demi-humans). Just before summer vacation, a Japanese high school student named Kei Nagai is instantly killed in a traffic accident on his way home from school. However, he is revived, and a price is placed on his head. Thus begins a boy's life on the run from all of humankind.

Aside from the television anime, the manga has also inspired 3D CG anime film trilogy and three original anime DVDs by Polygon Pictures, who also animated the television anime. The first film, titled Ajin: Shōdō, opened in Japan in November 2015. The second film, titled Ajin: Shōtotsu, opened on May 6. The third film, Ajin: Shōgeki (Ajin: Crash), opened in Japan on September 23. A live-action film starring Takeru Satoh has been green-lit and will premiere on September 30.

Sentai Filmworks also licensed both seasons of Knights of Sidonia, another anime by Polygon Pictures that streamed on Netflix.