Ajin: Demi-Human vol. 10

Does this volume lead “anywhere interesting?”  Well, it starts off by introducing us to Kei’s mother.  She’s a ruthlessly blunt and pragmatic person who has some choice words for her son in regards to the situation he has found himself in.  For a series that usually winds up going down the most conventional path I appreciated her spiky presence.  We also learn that she fell in love with Kei’s father because he had a softer, sentimental side to him which explains a lot, really.  It’s why Kei projects an outwardly cold and pragmatic personality but ultimately does the right thing as demanded by convention.  Like come back to his fellow comrades to finish the fight with Sato.  This development shouldn’t come off as a spoiler for anyone who has been following “Ajin” up to this point.

Other goings-on in this volume include Tosaki settling things with his formerly comatose girlfriend, a look at the American demi-human research institute, and more about Sato’s backstory.  I’m not sure if that last bit was really necessary to the plot, but it does include the most action in this volume so that’s a plus.  Speaking of everyone’s favorite psychopath, his group has been contacted by the government to initiate secret talks in order to bring an end to his attacks.  While Sato wants to make sure they’re armed as necessary going into these talks, that doesn’t sit well with Tanaka who’s had his fill of bloodshed in this crusade.  It’s a development that’s meant to inject some character-driven drama, but fails to do so because we’ve seen how underhanded the government can be when dealing with demi-humans.  In this case, Sato’s precautions come off as practical instead of bloodthirsty.

Between this secret meeting with Sato’s group and the government, Kei’s final-chapter vow to take him down, and the warning that “The FINAL battle is about to begin,” “Ajin” gives every indication that it’s going to wrap up in the near future.  In theory this should make me excited.  However, if you’ve been reading my reviews of every volume of this title so far it should be clear that this series has been too much of a mess for that to happen.  I’ve followed it this far, so I figure I might as well stick around to see how it ends and if it manages to actually deviate from genre convention at any point along the way.