There’s a New King of Monsters in Town

Most of us like big monsters, watching these creatures stomp through a city or kill unsuspecting citizens, seeing how the regular humans will possibly deal with them or what new hero can show up to set things right. Still, it’s a genre full of tropes that can get old quickly for longtime viewers. Most of my anime knowledge comes from the ‘80s and ‘90s, but I’ve been dipping my toe back in lately and Kaiju No. 8 immediately caught my eye with the trailer. The art looked fantastic, and the premise seemed inventive, but I wasn’t sure if there was anything behind the roars and hype from this beast.

This one is based on a manga from Naoya Matsumoto, and it follows Kafka Hibino, a man who idolizes the Defense Force and what they do for the people of Japan, protecting them from vicious creatures known as Kaiju. He had a dream, to join his childhood friend, Mina Ashiro, and stand next to each other on the battlefield, but the problem is she made it and he didn’t. Kafka has failed to join multiple times, actually. So now he finds himself working the other side of the coin, doing waste disposal of the monsters in question after the Defense Force has filled them full of holes or caused them to explode. It’s an extremely dirty job, but someone has to do it. After meeting Reno Ichikawa and suffering through some of his bullshit, he decides to try one final time, but after an incident on the job, there’s a new complication: Kafka (appropriately named) has become a kaiju himself–a very powerful one.

I absolutely love the idea of following the people who come in afterward and clean up the mess, who have to carve up and properly dispose of the organic material, it just all sounds so sickening and wretched, but it’s a very important job. The Defense Force has a pretty good handle on killing these things, they’re efficient, something we don’t see in a lot of kaiju stories. Mopping up these dead creatures for years has allowed Kafka to learn about them, knowing their various types, strengths, and weaknesses, which comes into play excellently later when he’s working with a team to kill them. The story quickly becomes about Kafka trying to hide his new condition from the very government body that should be trying to kill him, how to help without revealing himself too much, but that’s not the only thing going on.

The Family That Slays Together

As Kafka fails upwards in the ranks, we get to learn more about the other recruits he’s working with and competing against. At first, we take in little bits, small traits to give viewers an idea about his teammates, but soon after we are told their goals, interests, and many of them even get flashbacks or small moments to show how they’re bonding. By the end, the squad is quite fleshed out and they only had to use one montage to do it. There are a couple of episodes where our main character steps back a bit and lets others do the fighting and talking so that by the end their actions don’t seem strange at all. They handle the passage of time well also, so it doesn’t feel like everything is happening at once and characters have the opportunity to deal with issues and grow closer, which makes some of their decisions feel a bit more realistic. It’s an engaging story overall, and though I was a little disappointed in Mina at the end, I appreciated where these relationships are heading. Season 2 is already in the works, and I’m in. 

The opposition is fierce in this show. The monsters are excellent, varied, and many of them look fantastic in motion, along with designs that seem thought out. Bigger villains that show up are wonderfully creepy and threatening, keeping things interesting, as the Defense Force realizes they are not only being pushed, but targeted. The officers discuss these monsters and some of their own stats like it’s a Dungeons and Dragons game at times, turning the falling monsters into loot, talking about the mechanics of the Kaiju, with varied attacks and fortitude levels, while calling out techniques and combining maneuvers. I appreciated the different types of ammunition the soldiers use and how Kafka figures out he can transform his individual limbs or seriously change his twisted appearance—it makes him seem powerful.

There’s some substance here, good writing, charming character moments, and a couple of emotional moments. Kaiju No. 8 explores themes that we can all relate to. Not everyone is going to make it in life, we all can’t achieve things at the same level, and some of us are always trying to prove ourselves, even if we don’t realize it. There are goofy moments, and a lot of humor, but when the show needs to be serious it’s dialed in. We see issues with parents here, the thought of being content with giving up on dreams, discussions of worth, and this show will make people feel bad for being over 30, which leads me to the show’s music.

Kaiju Skin Deep

I wasn’t sure about the songs used at first. They came across like more standard current tracks that didn’t catch my ears right, but as more episodes played, I realized there was something there. The closing tune, “Nobody” by OneRepublic, is far from something I’d normally enjoy, but it works well, especially setting the tone of the end animation as we look through pictures of all the characters. It’s kind of catchy, but even more comforting, and lingers a bit. The opening track is “Abyss” by YungBlud, another performer I’m not too familiar with, but this song works well for the story and got me a bit hyped, especially in the later episodes. It has an energy to it, the same as the guitar riffs used for most of the combat scenes.

It’s easy to dig this intro. I know it being full 3D animation may not seem as appealing, but I love the visuals. Everything looks slick and advanced, spiraling out of control with the DNA of these monsters, showing their evolution. It’s exciting because the camera never stops, mostly spinning, transforming, showing that the series is going to constantly be going, while the one pause is on the end goal for our main characters. Like it’s telling an origin story, stuff that has already happened or that will soon, but either way this opening animation left me thinking.

A Little Style Never Hurt

The animation in the episodes is stunning, mostly during the kaiju attacks, as the lighting, reflections, and color choices are simply expert work. The areas with light CG use are melded well and the action just feels like a rush. Kafka looks savage in his kaiju form and nice and plain in his human skin, a little different from most other anime hero protagonists—he’s older and out of shape. Like with a lot of these series, when there are jokes or extreme reactions the animation changes to something simpler, more exaggerated, with bigger eyes and jagged teeth, which is not my thing, but it isn’t too distracting.  

I dig the stylistic gore and blood. When it’s needed they do mess well, but other times the scene cuts away to try and make it feel more important and keep key moments interesting. The digitized poop distracted me, because apparently that needed to be blurred, but not the main character pissing from his nipples. Yeah, this show finds a few other ways to be gross, sometimes it’s just commenting on how a character looks like he’s trying to take a shit though. We see some other strong visual details, like Mina using her pet tiger as a brace when she fires her giant gun, have to love stuff like that.

I went in not expecting too much and was pleasantly surprised. By the end I felt something almost like a kinship with the characters, no one was thrown away or killed off stupidly, and I liked that. There’s a lot they could do going forward. Kaiju No. 8 feels like a different type of monster, one I can’t wait to see stomping in the city again.

Disclaimer: I watched the entire season on Crunchyroll, which I pay for myself.

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