Summary
- Season One of Kaiju No. 8 is a thrilling mix of action, drama, and comedy, earning high ratings on MyAnimeList and IMDb.
- Kafka Hibino's identity as Kaiju No. 8 is revealed, leading to intense moments and a tough decision to save his friends.
- Season Two sets up new threats with Kaiju No. 9 and explores Kafka's return to the Third Division with added stakes and character development.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Season One of Kaiju No. 8, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Kaiju No. 8 may be one of the biggest summer success stories of 2024 following the conclusion of season one, on June 30. The story follows its main protagonist, Kafka Hibino, and his journey to becoming a Third Division officer, where he undergoes a transformation that turns him into Kaiju No. 8 following the accidental consumption of a demon. The combination of action-packed drama mixed with enjoyable comedic moments, tied together with excellent pacing and character development, led Kaiju No. 8 to receive an 8.35 rating on MyAnimeList, while IMDb gave season one a similar score of 8.4, based on over 6,000 user ratings.
After 12 episodes of magnificent story-telling, Kaiju No. 8 reached its conclusion with Kafka Hibino revealing himself as the Kaiju the Third Division team was searching for, leading to some edge-of-the-seat drama in the final two episodes. Having covered up his secret identity to avoid prosecution, Kafka Hibino was eventually placed in a tough spot where failing to use his Kaiju power could have resulted in the destruction of the entire Third Division. The events that followed thereafter could lead to some major repercussions and a different story to tell once Kaiju No. 8 returns with its second season.
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Kaiju No. 8's Identity Revealed To Third Division
How Will Kafka Hibino Deal With the Consequences?
During Episode 10, titled "Secret Revealed", Kafka Hibino and the Third Division are up against their greatest threat in season one when a powerful Kaiju and its Wyvern friends attack the base. While the Third Division focuses their efforts on the Wyvern Kaiju flying around, Soshiro Hoshina, the Third Division vice captain, takes on the powerful Kaiju leading the charge. After successfully holding him off long enough for Mina Ashiro to arrive and take the Kaiju out with her sniper rifle. With the remainder of the Third Division handling the Wyvern, the battle appeared to have been won by the good guys.
Unfortunately, Mina Ashiro's white tiger began to growl, directing the attention of the Third Division to an even greater threat — a giant Yoju bomb in the sky, set to detonate upon impact. With an estimated blast impact of 20 kilotons of TNT, the Third Division was faced with the harsh reality of their demise hanging in the balance. With no time to escape and get out of the blast zone, Kafka Hibino is faced with a crossroads. Either he continues to keep his identity a secret and watch his friends meet their end, or utilize his Kaiju No. 8 powers and handle the Yoju bomb by himself.
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With his choice made, Kafka Hibino rushes to the front lines in order to take out the Yoju bomb. There is a beautiful moment when Soshiro Hoshina calls out to Kafka Hibino, ordering him to stand back, before realizing how fast he is moving and claiming it as an impossibility due to his lack of his suit's combat power. Following his change into Kaiju No. 8 and the successful save of the Third Division, Mina Ashiro places him under arrest. Sadly, she calls out to him as Kafka Hibino before correcting herself by stating he is Kaiju No. 8, painting a grim picture of his future prosecution as a Kaiju and not as a human.
A Weapon Shall Be Used As A Weapon
Can Kafka Hibino Trust Director General Shinomiya?
Following his arrest, Kafka Hibino is delivered to HQ in order to face his punishment for his acts as Kaiju No. 8. While a trial is expected, Kafka Hibino is instead faced by Director General Shinomiya, the father of Kikoru Shinomiya. Ordered for his bindings to be untied, Kafka Hibino is faced with an unfortunate reality that he must face Shinomiya in hand-to-hand combat. Kafka refuses to turn into Kaiju No. 8 in order to show everyone he is human, but is told that if he refuses to transform and use his Kaiju powers, he can die as a human. After taking a few blows from Shinomiya's Kaiju weapons, Kafka has no choice but to rely on his Kaiju No. 8 form.
What follows next is a beautiful bombardment of flashy animation, fast-paced action, and plenty of hard-hitting sequences. Kafka takes more of a defensive approach, refusing to use his powers to hurt Shinomiya, knowing he can eviscerate him with one blow. Shinomiya is not so kind, as he uses his Kaiju weapons to charge up multiple full-powered attacks, some of which are direct blows to Kafka. Shinomiya's weapons are developed from Kaiju No. 2, one of the biggest threats to their city in the past, which creates large currents of electricity. As threatening as he comes off, there appears to be something in the works with Shinomiya and his intentions.
... It looks like Isao is deliberately pushing No. 8 to test him.
Eventually, Kafka begins to lose control and the audience learns of the real dangers Kafka faces if he allows the Kaiju powers to take over. Kaiju No. 8 becomes more menacing and larger in stature, and begins to hurl a barrage of powerful attacks at Shinomiya, bloodying and injuring him in the process. Meanwhile, Kikoru is observing the fight and is crying out for it to stop as her father's life hangs in the balance. Eventually, Kafka regains control in a beautiful fashion, rejecting the Kaiju's need to murder and exclaiming to Shinomiya that his name is Kafka Hibino, and he is a human.
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A New Threat Looms Around For Season 2
What Does Kaiju No. 9 Have Planned?
With his life saved for now, Kafka Hibino is released to the Third Division in order for them to use his power as a weapon. This is something they will desperately need to rely upon, as Kaiju No. 9 is still out there and appears to be setting up for a future attack. As Kaiju No. 9 enjoys multiple games of chess with human players, he reveals that he has the Third Division base figured out, and it's all a matter of time before they launch their counterattack. With him is another Kaiju, who doesn't speak much but is of equivalent size and threatening nature to Kaiju No. 9.
Time to bring the Kaiju power that fell into human hands back to our side.
This ultimately sets up the arc for season two, with Kafka returning to the Third Division to continue his work as an officer, all while under the watch of HQ and Director General Shinomiya. His guaranteed safety for the time being is also sure to boost morale, as Mina, Hoshina, and the rest of the Third Division celebrate his return. Kikoru has her intentions set on becoming stronger to prevent Kafka from hurting anyone if he were to lose control again, setting up multiple angles Kaiju No. 8 could explore in season two.
Watch Kaiju No. 8 Season One now on Crunchyroll.
Kaiju No. 8
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2024 - 2025-00-00
Production I.G's Kaiju No. 8 is a Spring 2024 anime based on Naoya Matsumoto's Shonen Jump+ manga. Set in an alternate version of Japan, the story follows the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force as they try to protect the nation from monster attacks.
- Studio
- Production I.G
- Creator
- Naoya Matsumoto
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.30
