The trial of Hibino Kafka is on.
Of the final two episodes of the season, 11 is mostly the squad reacting and deciding, more or less, that they still like Kafka and want him to be spared. This is pretty good to see, especially when it comes to the main face individuals who we’ve followed but who weren’t in the know.
Ultimately, the decision comes down to Director General Shinomiya – Kikoru’s father, and a very impressive fighter in his own right. At the turn of the episode, he chooses to 1v1 Kafka. At first, it’s a one-sided beatdown, but as Episode 11 ends, he pushes Kafka’s body over the line, proviking a full transformation… under the control of the parasite Kaiju that seems to exist (symbolically or otherwise) within Kafka.
Episode 12 is mostly dedicated to this fight going the other way, with Kafka’s body giving as good as it gets, and ultimately fighting down the Director General in a berserk rage. At the last moment, though, when it looks like Kaiju Number 8 is going to kill the man, Kafka manages to break through and punch himself through the chest instead. With the Director General being unable to continue the fight and Kafka ending up de-transformed and out of commission, the evaluation of the kaiju is over.
The vague council of calling the shots is pretty clear that they want to go through with disposal. They call in Mina to give testimony, but flagrantly don’t want to hear what she has to say when it would involve giving Kafka a chance, as she and the rest of the Third Division had been more or less campaigning for since his arrest.
The Director General, though, is impressed. Probably with Kafka’s own performance. Overruling all objections, he declares that #8 can be controlled, and that he intends to defer any disposal to a later date, when and if he proves to not be useful.
Thus, the season ends with Kafka on parole, and a hint that #9 is planning some new big move, as the mushroom man is wont to do. Season 2 has already been announced, but I might or might not do write-ups for it when it appears.
On the whole, the show used the last two episodes rather well, to make this feel like the end of an arc and the proper end of the season, even over and above Kafka initially outing himself. So, for that I give it credit.
The material overall is big time shonen action. Kaiju No. 8 lives on flashy combat and extreme power, and most of the interest in it can be bound up in the fighting. And the fighting is good.
However, that doesn’t make Kaiju No. 8 a good show… on its own. What makes Kaiju No. 8 a good show (and indeed it is one) is that it still has the emotional play and character development alongside that. True, most of the characters have somewhat simple motivations when you get reductionist on them: “I want to protect humanity”; “I want to get stronger”; “I want someone to acknowledge me”. These are basic and open-ended motivations, but the characters don’t start and end with them.
Ichikawa wants to get stronger. That is his main driving goal. But it’s not as though he lacks likes, dislikes, or side-goals. He feels for people, particularly his senpai Kafka, and has a personality beyond the maniacal desire to train you expect out of that sort of character in Shonen works. Hoshino finds it very important to be at the top of his game, but he’s given a compelling backstory that explains why Mina’s appreciation – and continuing to prove himself useful – means so much to him. And Kafka of course has his goal to stand alongside Mina. In another work this could be an excessively lame dogged nice guy romantic thing, but because of how both characters are written and played it’s more earnest and more supported than that.
This is a show that would be easy to sell short. If I were the kind of reviewer who thrived on negativity and baiting clicks by hating on every new and popular thing to come out, I could come up with some pretty cogent arguments. But being more honest, the execution is extremely solid in just about every regard. The mystery of the main plot is probably the weakest element right now, and of course that’s going to have a slower start, since not knowing the truth of the Kaiju seems to be something of the point. But the action is excellent and the characters are good. Throw in a different setting that homages classic tokusatsu, characters that have a different vibe and message to them than the ones that constantly get repeated, and a decent sense of fun, and the result is this: Kaiju No. 8 stands head and shoulders above the reprocessed dreck that a malicious review could otherwise lump it in with.
If you can’t stand action anime where you spend a lot of screen time on fighting, sure this isn’t going to be your cup of tea. Otherwise? Check it out if you haven’t already, I think you’ll be entertained.