Name: Lots of teamwork, kaiju, action, and humor. What else could you ask for? This show is a must watch.
Item: Kaiju No. 8
Rating: 95
Author: TicTacTacitus

Waifra

Lots of teamwork, kaiju, action, and humor. What else could you ask for? This show is a must watch. · Waifora

I stumbled upon Kaiju No. 8 while scrolling Crunchyroll for something to put on in the background. Turns out, I became the background. At first, I figured it was either going to be some continuation of Pacific Rim, perhaps an animated blend of Attack on Titan and Kaiju stuff, and most likely nothing like Kaiju Preservation Society (book, written by John Scalzi). I didn’t even bother to read the summary of the show, I just saw “Kaiju” and clicked play. This show is so good, and feels like a mix of Ultraman and My Hero Academia. There are hints of Attack on Titan (with some of the kaiju designs) and One Punch Man, particularly with some of the fighting and humor.

This show went from zero to tied for second highest rated show for me. I watched it all in a single day. Why?

First, the humor is on point. If you don’t like laughing or giggling, this show isn’t for you (but also, what’s wrong with you?).

Second, I really appreciate the attention to the fact that once a giant monster gets blown to bits, someone has to clean it up.

Third, I appreciate that this story is built around a 32-year old man who’s basically a washout, but then gets motivated to figure it out. But not without some help from a subordinate gone rival gone superior gone peer again. (This will all make sense once you watch the show.)

Fourth, the camaraderie. (This is why I make the specific reference to My Hero Academia.) While there are clear instances in which rivalry is a theme for betterment (as is with many other anime), this show turns that theme way down, and turns teamwork all the way up.

Perhaps I’m just tired of seeing the world burn around me because people choose too often to fight, and bicker, and disagree, with nothing really to show for it other than more conflict, and no solutions. But it was great to see the main character on multiple occasions be excited that he’s found a group of people that he is excited to work with. It’s not even about dying with them (which I think is cliche comment that is very often made in shows like this). It hits different when the main character, after nearly being annihilated, says things like “I get to work with the coolest freaking people in the world!” (paraphrasing).

Spoiler, click to view

Case in point, in Episode 2, Reno Ichikawa (who was introduced in Episode 1 as the new member of the kaiju guts cleaning company that Kafka works for) tells Kafka that the whole reason he joined the company was because of the teamwork that they showed every time they had to clean up monster guts. And he felt that this would make him more qualified, fit, and ready to be accepted into the Defense Force. Call me mushy, but this whole idea I think gets skipped over often, and in favor of, rivalry and conflict in most other anime. It's probably a smaller element in the show than I am perceiving it to be. But shows that highlight that, such as My Hero Academia, Black Clover (which has more rivalry in it), and Fire Force, I think are better shows for highlighting that element of humanity over the idea that conflict is the sole route to success and self-improvement.

Or, later, after the officers faced their first major battle, Aoi Kaguragi (a JGSDF officer who joined the Third Division) says to Haruichi Izumo (son to the owner of the company that makes the equipment used by the JGSDF) that: If possible, I want to bring everyone back alive, every time. Sure, it's a little naive, and highly idealistic, but it was sincere, and it was refreshing to see that said instead of some overused sentiment like "I'd die in battle with any one of you," which, to my recollection, wasn't said even a single time in this show.

Few shows elicit any kind of emotional reaction out of me, but this one succeeded, if even for a second.

Spoiler, click to view

The start of Episode 11 got me, man, when Mino Ashiro told Kafka that no one in the third division thought of him as anything other than a comrade, and a member of their unit.

Even after hiding the fact that he’s Kaiju No. 8. And then, when Kafka asked if there was any chance that he could still keep his promise to Mino to fight Kaiju by her side, and her response was simply a subtle smile and “I’ll be waiting.” And then Soshiro Hoshina (Vice-Captain of the Third Division) had the entire team solute the truck as it went away (even though he said it was directed at Ashiro, when it obviously wasn’t.

Basically me after:

I don't generally take the creator's vision or creative process into consideration when rating content, but I think this show deserves an exception. For one thing, it isn't very common to see the protagonist of an anime in their early thirties. Most of the time the older characters are support characters like teachers, mentors, and parents, or they are villains. But Naoya Matsumoto, when asked why he made the protagonist so old, this is what he had to say:

There is a large part where I projected myself into the story. At the time, I couldn't make a living from my manga either, and I was earning a living in a place that was close to my dream but far away. Every time I saw my manga friend doing well in magazines, I had mixed feelings and wondered, "Why am I on this side?" I think that Hibino Kafka was born naturally from within me.

I share this as context, because I think that Kafka's character is the most human character in the entire show. You can probably look at all of the rest of the characters and pin-point a similar version of them. From YuYu Hakusho to Jujutsu Kaisen, and everything in between. But I think Kafka's character is done in such a way that it skirts the tropes without diving headlong into them. This is further reinforced by most of his peers in the Third Division calling him "Old Dude."

Adding to this is the fact that Kafka, as mediocre as he is, isn't expected to be anything other than himself. Dude is praised for just being a normie that wants to succeed. Surprisingly, even when there are opportunities to skirt away from that, it doesn't happen, instead focusing on teamwork and how he can succeed without the use of god-like powers.

Spoiler, click to view

There were so many chances that the author and director of the show could have said, "hey, let's have him take out that kaiju, and that kaiju, and that kaiju," but instead they went with humans who have no special powers at all and emphasized moments of teamwork to takedown enemies. Even when there were chances, or they were going to do the cliche thing and have Kafka go help, they didn't. The built the concept of restraint into the main character, through character growth, and his friends that know his secret supporting him in just being norman, and as Ichikawa would tell him during their first major fight, "trust your teammates. I'm fairly certain that we get most of Kafka's kaiju mode in the last episode, with the rest of the incidents being the initial, and last resorts."

I haven't read the manga series yet (which, as of writing, appears to be 15 volumes), though I plan to. I can't wait for the second season.

I encourage you to give this show a try, and embrace it for what it is, which at times is certainly cliche, but not at the expense of being endearing.