ANIME REVIEW - Kaiju No. 8: Season 1
By The Masked Medic
I have to say, since starting Jujutsu Kaisen, my interest and willpower to explore more anime has only skyrocketed. I feel as though the child in me, who used to love watching Japanese cartoons, has finally found a way to thrive again. That being said, I have wanted to start something new, and it took me a while to find that something!
Season 1 of ‘Kaiju No. 8’ introduces us to a world where Kaiju (giant monsters) regularly attack. In Japan, there is a specialised military, the Japanese Anti-Kaiju Defence Force (JAKDF) - quite a mouthful, I know, so for the purposes of this review, we’ll just call them the Defence Force. We meet Kafka Hibino, a 34-year-old man who works for the disposal team that removes remains of the Kaiju that have been destroyed. However, he has dreams that one day he’ll be a member of the Defence Force and stand side-by-side with his childhood friend Mina Ashiro, who is now captain of the Third Division of the Defence Force. Big dreams which have come crashing down several times, since he keeps failing the exam. Then one day, a new kid, Reno Ichikawa, joins the disposal team, explaining that he too wants to join the Defence Force. During a Kaiju attack before their exam, Kafka is attacked by a small parasitic kaiju, which turns him into a human/kaiju hybrid. Kafka soon learns that he has an intense amount of power and is colloquially nicknamed Kaiju No. 8. However, with an entire nation that both fears and hates the ever-powerful Kaijus, he must keep his newfound abilities a secret or risk elimination. Can Kafka survive the tests and make it into the defence force? And just what is causing the increase in intensity and quantity of Kaiju attacks in Japan?
Initially, I was worried that I would struggle to find animes that I enjoyed as much as ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ and would be left just wondering if I had already seen the best thing I was going to watch. If you’re now looking for me to tell you if ‘Kaiju No 8’ is better or worse, then you’re not going to get an answer. It’s a completely different cup of tea, but one that highlights a number of common themes to me. Growing up watching Western cartoons and shows, it was always the case that I loved the mysterious characters and very rarely liked the talkative heroes because I saw them as secondary. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve started to want to watch things where I can relate to the characters more in terms of personality. From that perspective, ‘Kaiju No 8’ was a perfect watch. Kafka is funny, outgoing, selfless and sometimes completely deluded, but he’s a fun character to watch. Most of all, he seems deserving of the power that he is granted, because he only wants it to save the lives of others. But it’s not just him, the characters around him, including Reno Ichikawa and the confident Kikoru Shinomiya, are all likeable in their own ways, so you get a feeling that you’d like to be a part of this defence force. I think if I had to give some criticism, it’s that the show does well to introduce characters, but doesn’t necessarily give them enough backstory moments. I’d also say that the scope of the work that the Defence Force does is rarely touched on. Are they just based in one place? How many divisions are there? Lots of questions to be answered!
This first season of ‘Kaiju No. 8’ is only 12 episodes long, and although it takes maybe 3-4 episodes to get dug in, it flies by once you’re in the midst of it all. It certainly ramps up nicely, and you can get invested quite quickly. Given that the plot isn’t very complex, I think that 12 episodes is an apt number, because we really don’t have any filler episodes. It’s all story. The animation style was decent, not my personal favourite, but I was a fan of the way the characters are drawn, especially Kaiju No. 8. The music is certainly a high point, with lots of American artists jumping on the bandwagon to create both the opening and ending theme. Overall, I really enjoyed this first season, and I hope that the next season begins to tie up some of the loose ends from this season!
Rating:
Story: ★★★
Character Development: ★★★★
Animation and Visual Style: ★★★½
World Building: ★★★½
Enjoyability: ★★★½