JP Nunez
Last week’s episode of Kaiju No. 8 ended with some mysterious new monsters flying into town, and I said in my review that these creatures would almost certainly give the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force some big problems. Well, it turns out I was right, but even I didn’t know how much havoc these things would cause.
In the latest installment of Kaiju No. 8, “Raid on Tachikawa Base,” these kaiju don’t just attack the city. The episode starts with them flying right into the Defense Force base, so it’s all hands on deck as Kafka and his crew try their best to counter this new threat. What’s more, we also learn pretty quickly that these are wyvern-type kaiju, and they usually travel alone.
But not this time. The monsters are attacking the base as a pack, so the talking creature that we saw riding one of the wyverns last week seems to be controlling them somehow. And as if that wasn’t enough, that humanoid kaiju then picks a fight with Vice-Captain Hoshina, the best fighter on the base (the captain is away at the moment), and he gives the vice-captain a run for his money.
All of that chaos makes for an action-packed Kaiju No. 8 episode that’s right up there with “Sagamihara Neutralization Operation at Daybreak” and “Kaiju No. 9,” so after a slight dip in quality last week, the series is firing on all cylinders once again. This installment is an absolute blast, but don’t let that fool you. “Raid on Tachikawa Base” isn’t just mindless fun. The episode uses its crazy action to develop the characters and set the stage for what’s to come, and that just might be the best thing about it.
For example, we find out that Kikoru is the third strongest officer on the base, after the captain and vice-captain, so she’s been given a custom weapon that’s suited to her particular fighting style. It’s a big ax that would make Gimli from The Lord of the Rings proud, and Kikoru uses it to completely obliterate any monsters dumb enough to stand in her way.
Along similar lines, there’s also a cool scene where Kafka looks around at his teammates and sees how incredible they are. It makes him proud to be fighting alongside them and shows us that Kikoru isn’t the only rookie who’s making progress. They all are. Granted, Kikoru is clearly the best of the bunch, but these Defense Force officers seem like they can take on just about any threat that comes their way.
It makes me wonder how powerful an enemy would have to be to force Kafka to unleash his kaiju form again, and if I had to guess, I’d probably say the mysterious humanoid monster leading this attack could fit the bill. As I said, he purposely chooses to fight Hoshina, the strongest fighter on the base at the moment, and he just might be the most formidable creature in Kaiju No. 8.
I don’t want to give anything away if you haven’t seen “Raid on Tachikawa Base” yet, but trust me, the fight between him and Hoshina is amazing. Much like Hoshina’s skirmish with Kafka last week, this one also gives its two combatants plenty of time to shine, but in a different way.
As usual, Hoshina shows off some impressive moves, and if his opponent were just about anyone else, he would’ve won the fight about five times. But this isn’t just any opponent. This creature is nearly impossible to kill, so it looks like he might even be too much for Hoshina to face alone.
I suspect that Kafka is the only one who can take this guy down, and even he might need a bit of help to get the job done. Either way, I have a strong hunch that the next installment of Kaiju No. 8 is going to feature a lot of Kafka’s monstrous alter ego, and he might even let Hoshina in on his secret.
On top of all that, “Raid on Tachikawa Base” also hints that there might be a connection between Kafka and the two other humanoid kaiju we’ve seen so far. Not only can this new one talk as well, but at one point in the episode, Hoshina realizes that the creature seems to be enjoying the fight.
However, kaiju aren’t supposed to do that. They’re just mindless animals, so they don’t enjoy fighting people. Hoshina is once again surprised by how human this new monster appears to be, and he even notes that this is the third human-like kaiju he’s encountered recently. That’s almost certainly not a coincidence, so I’d be surprised if these three incredibly powerful characters weren’t connected in some way.
Granted, I don’t know what that connection is, but I’m sure we’ll find out in future installments of Kaiju No. 8. Hell, we might even start to get some clues next week, but even if we don’t, I can tell you one thing: we’re in for a hell of an episode next Saturday. The fight for the Defense Force base has only just begun, and I fully expect it to get worse before it gets better.
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.
