A student survives an accident that should have killed him, revealing him as an immortal Ajin and turning him into a target for authorities and people seeking a reward.
Kei’s discovery changes his public status as abruptly as it changes his understanding of his body. Assistance from a childhood friend offers a way through an immediate pursuit, but the wider conflict includes state control, research interests and other Ajin with their own methods. Immortality removes neither captivity nor the danger of becoming useful to someone else.
The quiet classroom face shows how little a person’s outward appearance can disclose about his new status. His direct stare in the identification portrait offers another view of the same apparently ordinary student. The Ajin label changes the terms on which others claim access to his body. It is this loss of control, rather than an uncomplicated promise of endless life, that makes the premise threatening.