Kaiju No. 08 initial review
What’s the one thing cooler or scarier than giant monsters? Getting to fight giant monsters, that’s what! For decades now, Japan has been enamored by the idea of giant monsters, or Kaiju. From the early days of Godzilla and Gamera to Attack on Titan, Kaiju has been a big part of Japan, and so are series that revolve around fighting them. And with Japanese culture becoming more popular than ever worldwide, now is the perfect time for a new anime about fighting Kaiju to come out. And that’s where the newest Shonen anime, Kaiju No. 8, steps in to fulfill all our monster-fighting needs. Or does it?
Yes. Yes it does.
I’m RJ Writing Ink, and after watching the first two episodes of the new Shonen series, Kaiju No. 8, here’s my initial review.
An Unconventional Power-Up
The premise behind the series is similar to that of My Hero Academia. In a world where Kaiju regularly attack and destroy everything they can, some people stand up to fight back and protect those who can’t. In Japan, that task falls to the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force. But while they fight the Kaiju and get all the glory, others have to haul the guts and parts away. And unfortunately for him, that’s where our protagonist, Kafka Hibino, is stuck.
As a kid, Kafka and his friend, Mina Ashiro, promised to join the Defense Force and fight Kaiju together. While she got in and became Captain of an entire division, Kafka failed several times, like Naruto or Deku. Then, just as Kafka decides to give it another try before it’s too late, he swallows this parasitic Kaiju, and it turns him into a Kaiju.
A Kaiju with super-strength, transformation, and can pee out of his nipples.
No, really. I’m not making this up.
Despite all of this, though, Kafka also discovers that he’s kept his human mind intact and, with effort, can transform back-and-forth between Human and Kaiju.
So, despite the massive target on his back, Kafka and his new friend/junior, Reno Ichikawa, still decide to try and join the Defense Force together. And that’s where the anime stands at the time of this writing.
Kaiju No. 8’s Subversion of Shonen Tropes is What Makes it Good
Right off the bat, Kaiju No. 8 sets itself apart from other Shonen series by subverting a big trope: the protagonist. Instead of starting off as a young boy or teen like Goku, Denji, Luffy, Yuji and more, Kafka is 32. He’s already experienced what it’s like to have your youthful ambitions turn into letdowns, and as someone whose closer to him in age than I’d like to admit, that hits pretty close to home. I don’t want to give up on any of my dreams, but as you get older, you can’t help but wonder if you’ve met your limits or are living your life to the fullest. Kafka was going through that when the anime starts, and right when he decides to give things one more shot, he becomes a Kaiju! A humanoid Kaiju with super strength and speed, but one that will get hunted by everyone except for Ichikawa. The brutal irony.
Speaking of which, Ichikawa is also a bit of a subversion himself. At age 18, he’s closer to the Shonen demographic. He has both the never give up attitude you’d expect from a Shonen protagonist and the coldness of a typical rival (at first), yet he’s not the hero. It’s a strange sight to behold, made even stranger when you consider that his English VA is Adam McArthur, the voice of Yuji from JuJutsu Kaisen!
I don’t really know if this series is going to be any good, but given what I’ve seen in the first two episodes, it looks pretty solid. It balances the comedy with the action quite well, and the premise itself is interesting enough to give it a shot. Alas, due to time constraints, I won’t be able to review it episodically. I simply have too have much on my plate as it is. Having said that, I do think that this show is worth watching. This looks to be one of the heavy hitters for the Spring 2024 season!
