AKA: 怪獣8号, Kaijuu Hachigou (Japanese)

Genre: Action / sci-fi

Length: Television series, 12 episodes, 24 minutes each

Distributor: Licensed by, and streaming on, crunchyroll

Content Rating: TV-14 (lots of blood and gore)

Related Series: Kaiju No. 8 season 2 (upcoming)

Also Recommended: Attack on Titan; Neon Genesis Evangelion

Notes: Based on the manga by Naoya Matsumoto, currently running in Shueishia's Shōnen Jump+ magazine.

Rating:

Kaiju No. 8

Synopsis

Giant monsters (kaiju) are attacking Japan. (I know, I know, what else is new?) But one thing that IS new is that our story starts with the guys who has to cut up and dispose of the monster carcasses, in particular one practitioner of this thankless art; Kafka Hibino. (I took his name as a somewhat heavy-handed reference to "The Metamorphosis" considering subsequent events, in which he's attacked by a small, flying specimen that wants to merge with him.) Well, some people will swallow ANYTHING, and our hero ends up able to turn (fully or partially) into a kaiju himself, which doesn't endear him to others. But using his new kaiju powers might be the ticket for this "old man" (of 32) to get into Japan's Anti-Kaiju Defense Force, whose Division 3 is headed by Mina Ashiro, a childhood friend he'd vowed to fight kaiju with - IF he can use those powers "on the sly" to pass the fitness test.

Review

There are a lot of familiar shounen tropes here, but I still had a great time. So we'll start with the clichés, and then get to the better stuff.

First, both of the show's main female characters are well-worn stereotypes. Mina is an all-business, no-nonsense, rigidly by-the-book military discipline type who studiously avoids even acknowledging her childhood friend at first, though in a later one-on-one moment she is a little less cold to him. (We gather there's no expectation of privacy in the JAKDF, so that might have been an issue here.) She has a "pet" white tiger that she also deploys against the (smaller) kaiju. (I kept thinking of an old Monty Python sketch, and am absolutely sure that if the kaiju were no more threatening than a human armed with a banana, her feline surrogate would win every time even WITHOUT the rest of the team.) She ALSO wields the show's requisite Big Gun.

The other prominent female character is Kikoru Shinomiya, a twintail blonde who initially appears as just a swaggering egomaniac (though admittedly one with "skills"). But, as it often turns out to be true in these things, she's over-compensating, and secretly trying to win the favor of her demanding father, the leader of the anti-kaiju forces. (I counted at least three characters in the show with "issues" with their wealthy fathers.) In this season she's given the usual comically oversized implement of destruction, and (slight spoiler from the manga, some of which I bought after watching this) she'll eventually receive a "Numbers Weapon", which are suits, or gadgets, constructed from the remains of the "numbered" kaiju. (While there are myriads of kaiju running loose, the major ones are numbered; Kafka becomes, of course, the titular Kaiju #8.)

The principal adversary of our heroes is Kaiju #9, a sentient kaiju that can take human form (and memories) by absorbing/eating humans, and seems almost impossible to destroy. In its kaiju form, it has a head that looks like a mushroom or toadstool. (The manga author says the head design was inspired by a silk hat, but admits the mushroom resemblance.) #9 seems to want to learn more about humanity, presumably so it can destroy us more effectively.

By the way, the appearances of the kaiju often don't fit the usual reptilian model. There's another walking-fungus one (a truly GIGANTIC one in fact, with numerous offspring), while others look like giant birds. Kafka's own kaiju form is more a hulking brute with a devil/demon face - quite a bit different from the genial, somewhat goofy vibe that's still him, even when he's wearing the face of a monster. (He's got a big heart, though his opponents in the JAKDF insist it's been replaced by a kaiju "core".)

While I was not entirely pleased with either of the show's leading ladies, I was kind of fond of Konomi Okonogi, who runs the communications system (and maybe provides the "Fortitude" ratings of the kaiju; I have no idea how they determine those). She makes an appearance in the end titles as well. Both the OP and the ED songs are, for a change, in English (their performers are, respectively, from England and the U.S.). I honestly loved the closer "Nobody" by a group called OneRepublic, which has a simple but infectiously cheerful melody. (It reminded me of some Pharrell Williams songs.)

And now the characters I really liked.

Kafka is the kindly Everyman character, but he's not too bright and is careless with his mouth. Fortunately, from all the way back to his monster-disposal days, he has a younger sidekick named Reno Ichikawa. Kafka joins a list of characters (many of them Hanna-Barbera leads like Quick Draw McGraw and Yogi Bear) that had the advantage of sidekicks who were a lot sharper than themselves. There's a hint of a friendly rivalry growing between Reno and Kikoru as they're both highly competitive prodigies, and I thought they might be well suited for each other, if Kikoru could ever get over herself (just a LITTLE).

And then there's Soshiro Hoshina, the vice-captain (under Mina) of Division 3, who's really my favorite character here. Some crunchy readers describe him as Attack on Titan's Levi but with a sense of humor. (He and Kafka both help give the show a lighter, much less oppressive tone than so many other shounen shows have.) He can also do Levi's acrobatics, with his favorite weapons being a pair of short swords. He initially backs Kafka's membership in Division 3, according to him, strictly for the laughs. (Later events make his feelings about Kafka take some major turns.) I won't spoil too much from the manga, but Hoshina's humor does continue (some of it at his own expense, similar to Kafka's situation), and the story DOES continue its interesting blurring of the line between human and kaiju.

Some other things:

I don't think I've really heard a satisfactory explanation for the nature/existence of the kaiju in the first place. Understanding their purposes really should begin with some understanding of their origins, and we kinda NEED to have this.

When Kaiju No. 8 begins, the cityscape we get looks pristine. If these attacks have been going on as long as they apparently have (at LEAST a generation), I'd expect to see some scaffolding or other evidence of ongoing structural repairs. Though there IS localized destruction in the vicinity of the kaiju corpse we first see Kafka helping dissect, at least. (It's a running gag that they always gave Kafka the most unpleasant task in THAT job.)

I'm a little unclear about the thing with everyone wearing face masks. Do the kaiju (1) contain infectious bacteria or viruses, (2) emit toxic fumes, or (3) just smell bad?

The show's sometimes outrageous humor makes this maybe less "profound" than the shows I recommended to my right, but it makes it much less pretentious and fun. Kafka, Ichikawa, and Hoshina are all interesting characters, as are maybe two or three of their other teammates that I haven't mentioned. Maybe I'll even warm up to Kikoru in time.

An overall fun shonen show, despite clichés and some annoying characters. — Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: crunchy's content advisory says blood/gore (OH YES, there are impalements and amputations aplenty), smoking, and violence (the latter is not really a separate issue from the blood-and-gore part, but OK).