Looks can deter but content will always prevail, that is one of the things that always surprises me when I watch anime. I, personally, find that anime with good art style and good animation quality pretty much one of the huge factors, if not the main one, that can turn an anime into something pretty likeable and enjoyable. Though I like to look at the facade of the show, I find that the story, at the end of the day, will still be the judge whether or not a show will be a potential favorite of mine.

Ajin, a Winter 2016 anime, is the perfect example that underwent the road down to proving that though bad looks may put you off, the story can turn it around and make the adventure an even better ride than you'd expect it will.

This will be my review on the first "cour" of Ajin. Take note, I'm technically reviewing a first season but I find that "cour" is a much better term as the first season ends on an open one which doesn't completely make it a standalone anime.

Oh and also, this will just be a quick review on this.


Background:

Ajin is a part of my winter 2016 watchlist - which contains shows I'm trying to catch up that were a part of this year's winter lineup.
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Thoughts/Opinions:

Let's get started with the review. First things first, I was put off by how the CGI was done. It wasn't eye-catchy at all. It was my first time to watch something done in full CGI so it might be because of that but I just didn't find it pretty attractive. I got mixed impressions when the whole show started


First, let's start with the animation and art style. For the first episode, it really gave me a bad impression. The CGI looks so choppy at times and I don't know if it's just because of my computer but it was really not a treat for my eyes. A few months ago before watching Ajin, I was already watching a show which implements the usage of CGI (it's Tales of Zestiria the X by the way) and that show's CGI was very beautiful. That show set the standards pretty high in terms of CGI usage and watching Ajin's first episode really wasn't good.




Second, I'll talk about it's OST. This will be pretty short & simple because I didn't find the OST really memorable to be honest. It did it's job well and was decent enough but it isn't something off-excellent quality. The background music played however at the more intense scenes of the show were really effective. With that being said, the opening and ending theme songs were MAGNIFICENT. They were both really good songs that matched the mood of the whole show (go check them out because they're really good).




Third, let's talk about the characters and the story of this show. For me, this is where the show outdoes the bad impression set about by the looks of this show. The concept, though may not be original - a boy gets to become something everyone despises (ehem Tokyo Ghoul), the premise however - a boy who's become despised by everyone (except for his best friend) becomes a selfish person as he avoids battles and uses people, if the situation comes down for it, just for the sake of his own survival - was rather interesting. Which then brings us to talk about more in the subtopic - the characters.


The characters are what shines in this show. The characterization of the main character as well as the other side characters makes this show really interesting to watch. In fact both the story and the characters are the factors that helped me in finishing the first season of this because they always keep you on your toes - not knowing what move/deed will they do next.


Adding personal opinion on this review, the characters tend to annoy me sometimes but I guess that proves how effective they really are. Another note worth mentioning for this show is that the side characters (most especially the antagonist) are the ones getting the most focus rather than the protagonist in this first season (though that is not to say that the protagonist doesn't get it's fair share of screen time).


Overall this show is quite good. If you're looking for a nice story with really good characters then you should try this one out. If you're looking for something your eyes can feast on, I'm sorry but this show might not be for you (unless you like watching choppy CGI then you'll like this he he).


The season two, or shall I say the second cour, just finished airing I think? So I'm off to start watching it within the next few days/weeks and I will probably be giving my part two review on this after watching that.

Expectations for season 2? I don't know because I'm probably going to dive in there blindly hoping that it'd surprise me. I am low-key expecting for more character and plot development though.


Anyways, that's all for now and I'll see you guys on my next post (which will probably be my Top Fall OPs and EDs)



Authors Note:

1. It has been a long time since I last posted and now I'm finally back! This has been in my drafts for a solid few months now and I took a break from writing because I wanted to focus more on my videos as well as catching up with anime.

2. From what I said earlier, I took a break from writing and because of that, my writing skills will probably be a bit off unlike the last time so please bear with me as I try to ease up back into how I usually write. Thanks!