Name: Had a really good setup... and I think that's what caused so many problems.
Item: Kaiju No.8
Rating: 50
Author: JujujusGuyfriend

Waifra

Had a really good setup... and I think that's what caused so many problems. · Waifora

So I was there when the first chapters of Kaiju No. 8 were released, before even Viz or Manga Plus picked it up. And as a story goes, it really does scratch the itch of things that the manga fanbase has been begging for. We've gotten so many manga about people who are the chosen one or who have some powerful legacy in their teens, so making the protagonist a burnt-out guy in his 30s working as a janitor for overgrown monster corpses who is jaded and regretting his life choices just like us fr fr and then giving him a chance to become someone is a legit good concept. Of course, the twist of some random monster giving him kaiju powers is neat - people were already thinking about how the initial concept brings to mind western superheroes like Spider-Man, folks down on their luck who are given great power and then actively seek to make the world a better place. And of course, it ran in Jump+ - which has a penchant for their titles being a bit different from Weekly Shonen Jump titles. Not that Kaiju No. 8 would be seinen or anything like that, but that it would be different from the Black Clovers and the My Hero Academias we already have. So when it immediately got licensed, I could definitely understand why.

The problem, and why I personally was upset by the series, is that while Naoya Matsumoto hasn't been in Weekly Shonen Jump since 2010, it certainly feels like he's never actually left.

Kafka is definitely 32 years old, but in the manga he definitely doesn't act like one - take away the occasional drinking and jokes at his potbelly, and he easily passes for a teenage shonen protagonist. Any wisdom he'd have from being an adult is just... not there, and his jaded personality crumbles when he becomes a member of the Kaiju Defense Force. His childhood friend Mina is certainly capable, but honestly her existence as a character isn't much besides being Kafka's "goal". Her goal is just to save people from kaiju... and that's it.

Hell, that goes for most of the supporting cast. Matsumoto-sensei definitely spends a ton of time on the other KDF cadets, but despite all the panels they get they don't actually... do much. Reno, Kafka's closest friend and confidant in the force, gets a couple moments where he shows aura and then nothing else. That applies for everyone else, really. Kikoru has a good character arc, at least, so I can't fault her for that.

The concept people were really hoping for - Kafka being a vigilante hero a la Spider-Man - gets dashed pretty quickly when Kafka reveals his kaiju form early on. From then it feels more like a generic "good guys with guns fight against mindless monsters" series that Starship Troopers lambasted decades ago.

Kaiju No. 9 is... a really annoying main villain. Not like a villain who is intentionally meant to be annoying so that you can watch their downfall in real time - no, at first No. 9 starts out as what you assume is just like a side boss or something. While Kafka uses overwhelming power as No. 8, No. 9 instead uses cunning and subterfuge to get his way. This could be an easy way to make a good foil, but no No. 9 just manages to come across Kafka every single time and manages to escape by coincidence every single time until he gets overwhelming power by eschewing all of the character traits he started with and wait okay it turns out he's the big baddie all along. We don't really get any introspection about his character besides "he existed one day and likes to see what humanity is" and that's it. That's everything.

If you have just started reading Kaiju, you may think I am making mountains out of molehills, and in a sense I am - but only because of how I experienced the manga. At first Kn8 was on a semi-weekly schedule until pivoting to a biweekly schedule, which is tough because Matsumoto-sensei LOVES to drag arcs out. I'm gonna focus on the back half of the manga here, so spoilers abound.

Spoiler, click to view

The final "arc" of the series took almost three years to complete, and the chapter schedule aside it's because Matsumoto learned from Bleach that every chapter should have like five displays of hype aura. This leads to a reliance on large panels - seriously, you'd be lucky to find a page with more than five panels - and an abundance of spread pages that lead to like one action. If you're binging the manga you'll probably skim it in five minutes, but remember that we had to wait two weeks between chapters. Sometimes more. It was a slog.

And this arc is mostly just interchangeable fights. First Hoshina has a fight that lasts three chapters. Then Narumi has a fight that lasts three chapters. Then Shinomiya has a fight that lasts three chapters. If you were reading week by week, that was a solid 4-5 months of the story grinding to a halt because Matsumoto-sensei cannot get into conflict. Oh, Shinomiya is winning the fight, she has a ~~power level~~ suit reading of 90%! Oh no, Kaiju No. 15 has her on the ropes! Oh, Shinomiya uses a new move to turn the tides! Oh no, No. 15 reminds Shinomiya of her family trauma and she's on the ropes again! Oh wait, Shinomiya escaped that trauma with the help of (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ HER FRIENDS ♥ and she decapitates No. 15! But wait, in the five seconds while No. 15's head was soaring through the air, it turns out that she has daddy issues like Shinomiya so she's actually sympathetic! I'm gonna be honest, even Black Clover fights are more mechanically complex than these.

Finally, after months upon months of waiting, we finally got the ending and... it was basically the equivalent of a wet fart. Kafka spends like three chapters in a row throwing a singular punch. There is about one chapter's worth of an epilogue, which doesn't really provide closure to any of the characters (aside from Kafka) nor the conflict the series was built upon. How do kaiju exist? Fuckin' leylines in the earth that is never explained. Why do kaiju attack humans? Fuck if we know. Will there ever be a time where the conflict between kaiju and mankind is resolved? Nope, Kafka and Mina are just gonna be protecting the populace until the end of time. Kaiju No. 9, as much as the series hyped him to be the leader of monsterkind, was nothing more than a raid boss, and afterwards the defense force went right back to exp farming. If you were expecting any type of post-finale release, any rush of dopamine that makes you go "hell yeah, I made a good choice reading this manga", you won't find it here.

Hell, I thought there was at least one potential conflict out there - the fact that Kafka's goal was never to actually defeat the kaiju or even stop them, but merely to protect people from them alongside his childhood friend. If kaiju kept attacking for the next 100 years, he wouldn't care because his only goal was to be on her level - the underlying causes of why kaiju exist or attack mean nothing to him. You could write something about that, maybe tie it into criticisms of a society whose life is built entirely on just killing beings that aren't them, but it just... doesn't happen. Hell, Kafka doesn't even have any romantic feelings for her, which normally I would be excited over but here it just amounts to "he's on her level now, the end".

Now, I'm quite aware that most of the issues I have with Kaiju No. 8 are actually of my own doing. If I had merely seen that, yes, this is just a mindless series about guys punching monsters, there's no deeper meaning hidden inside like a plum in a pie, then I could have had a happier time reading it. And hell, if I had just binged it instead of waiting chapter by chapter, I would have not experienced so many bad pacing issues (they'd still be there, but any thoughts on a chapter would immediately be overwritten by the next one). But I had higher expectations for this series and I did read it in the way that Matsumoto-sensei intended, so I will judge it based on that.

Again, if you go in knowing what you're getting into, you'll probably have a decent time. But if you're expecting any more than that, you might as well turn around and walk away.