JP Nunez
If you’ve been following my reviews of Kaiju No. 8, you know how disappointed I was with the fifth episode, “Joining Up!”. It was the show’s first real hiccup, but I was confident that future installments would get back on track. I ended up being right, but even I’m surprised by how good the series has been lately. I thought last week’s episode might’ve been the best one yet, and this latest installment, “Kaiju No. 9,” is somehow even better.
It picks up right where “Sagamihara Neutralization Operation at Daybreak” left off, with Ichikawa and Iharu, one of his fellow Anti-Kaiju Defense Force rookies, meeting the mysterious humanoid kaiju we’ve seen brief glimpses of before. As you can probably guess, they start to duke it out, but it’s not much of a fight. The evil creature gets the better of them pretty easily, and they only survive the encounter because Kafka steps in at the last second and joins the fray in his kaiju form.
If you’re looking for super fun monster action, you’re going to love this episode of Kaiju No. 8. Much like the previous installment, this one is pretty much nonstop fighting from beginning to end, and it’s an absolute joy to behold. In particular, it does a great job of showing us just how powerful this new monster is, and in a certain sense, it even reminds me a bit of the second episode, “The Kaiju Who Defeats Kaiju.”
Instead of resorting to boring exposition dumps, “Kaiju No. 9” lets us learn about this mysterious villain by watching him show off his impressive abilities, and he has quite a few of them. In fact, I suspect that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg with him, so I’m sure he’s going to pose some serious problems for the Defense Force moving forward.
What’s more, when Kafka finally joins the fray, this episode of Kaiju No. 8 gets even better. I’ve said before that I think this mysterious new monster just might give Kafka a run for his money, and I was kind of right. I don’t want to give anything away if you haven’t seen “Kaiju No. 9” yet, but suffice it to say that the fight doesn’t quite turn out the way I thought it would.
The end result is a bit more layered and complex than I was expecting, and I absolutely loved it. It sets the stage for some really juicy storytelling possibilities, so I can’t wait to see how the dynamic between these two powerhouses evolves in future episodes.
All that being said, this latest installment of Kaiju No. 8 isn’t just 23 minutes of macho monster action. It features a couple of genuinely emotional moments as well, and it develops the character of Iharu in some surprising ways. Before, he seemed like little more than a jock who only cared about being the best, but he shows a surprising amount of growth and maturity in his fight with the villainous new kaiju. I’d even say he’s one of my favorite characters in the show now, so I’m really interested to see what role he plays in the story moving forward.
On top of that, “Kaiju No. 9” also features a great joke that I didn’t see coming. See, this installment of Kaiju No. 8 is pretty light on humor, and understandably so. It’s much darker in tone than the other episodes have been, so for most of its runtime, comedy would feel out of place. However, once Kafka shows up, things lighten up a tiny bit, and that makes just enough room for a few seconds of humor. And trust me, the gag is pretty hilarious.
Last but not least, we have to talk a bit about how “Kaiju No. 9” sets the stage for what’s to come. I can’t say much without spoiling the episode, but I will say that the show is finally picking up the pace. We knew from the get-go that Kaiju No. 8 would largely revolve around Kafka trying to gain the trust of his Defense Force comrades despite being a kaiju himself, but up until now, he’s kept his monstrous alter ego a secret from everybody except Ichikawa and Kikoru.
To be fair, he doesn’t just come out and tell everyone he’s a kaiju in this episode either, but the final few scenes heavily imply that they’re going to find out sooner rather than later. In fact, “Kaiju No. 9” ends with Kafka being hunted by one of his superiors, so I’m sure that the next installment of Kaiju No. 8 is going to lean heavily into the drama between him and the rest of the Defense Force.
The only problem is that I have to wait an entire week to see it, but all things considered, that’s not a bad problem to have. A good TV show should keep you wanting more, and that’s exactly what Kaiju No. 8 has done yet again. I’m dying to see what happens next, so I’m already counting down the days until episode eight finally comes out.
Kaiju No. 8 premiered its first episode on Crunchyroll on April 13, and the streaming service is set to roll out new episodes every Saturday.
