Kaiju No. 8 fans were caught between two emotions when the hit shōnen manga ended on July 18, the day before the anime’s second season returned. Within five years of serialization, it was collected in just 15 tankōbon volumes (with two spin-offs) compared to popular shōnen series. Due to its quick ending, the whole fandom is divided—some are satisfied with the short length, while others will sign up for more. Its mangaka Naoya Matsumoto even admitted on his post that he couldn’t include everything in the epilogue, though there are still many things that he wanted to show. As it stands, we can no longer follow Kaiju No. 8 and the Defense Force in the manga. But we can still relive their journey through the anime adaptation.
Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 returned on July 19, with animation and story structure that look even better than in the first season—and even the manga—so far. With the opening song by AURORA and the ending song by OneRepublic (for the third time), we can witness Matsumoto’s world of dreams, guns, and monsters once more. But before that, with its promising world-building and dynamic, nonsexualized characters that break the mold in popular shōnen, let’s rewind to the beginning and beauty of it all.
Matsumoto’s Metamorphosis
The kaiju in the monster-filled world of Naoya Matsumoto are believed to emerge from deep faults in the Earth’s crust, resembling that of Tomoyuki Tanaka’s Godzilla and similar kaiju franchises like Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim. The titular protagonist Kafka Hibino is loosely inspired by Franz Kafka and his novella The Metamorphosis. The novella follows the story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who wakes up one day in the body of a huge insect, and how he was alienated and dehumanized by his family, leading to his death. Matsumoto’s version of The Metamorphosis, however, ends on a positive note, with action, humor, science, and suspense thrown in between.
Kaiju No. 8 follows the story of Kafka, a 32-year-old monster cleaner who aspires to stand beside Mina Ashiro, his childhood friend and the Captain of the Defense Force Third Division. When they were kids, they promised that they would eliminate all the kaiju together by joining the famed Defense Force, but years slipped by and Mina became a Captain while Kafka can only watch her from the other side. One day at work after saving the new part-timer, Reno Ichikawa, from a yoju (a small kaiju) and ending up in a hospital bed, Kafka decides to chase his dream once more. The only problem is that a small kaiju enters his mouth and he transforms into one himself, eventually earning a numbered name from the Defense Force as Kaiju No. 8.
The world Kafka lives in is plagued with kaiju, but for some reason those in Japan are way too many and powerful than normal. To combat these monsters, a special military organization was established—the Japan Anti-Kaiju Defense Force (JAKDF) or simply Defense Force. Instead of massive mechanized robots, the Defense Force officers neutralize the kaiju by using a variety of equipment and weapons mostly made of cells, organs, and carcasses of kaiju themselves. But they live in Matsumoto’s world, and in it they are not the only ones evolving.
In Season 1, Episode 4, the main antagonist Kaiju No. 9 makes its first chilling appearance during its fight with Defense Force examinee Kikoru Shinomiya. It has a human-like appearance, can talk, and can command the kaiju. It’s during this battle that Kafka decides to transform into his kaiju form to rescue Kikoru, risking his dream of becoming a Defense Force officer. He faces the revived honju (a big and powerful kaiju) as Kaiju No. 8 and storms ahead to neutralize it, leaving the scene in crimson mess before Mina and her Vice-Captain Hoshina Soshiro arrive. At the end of the episode, Kaiju No. 9 with its horrendous appearance transforms into a human and suddenly, nothing is as it seems.
Kafka and Kaiju No. 9 are both anomalies, but Kafka keeps his human heart intact as much as Kaiju No. 9 keeps its core. During his first night as a kaiju, Kafka saves a little girl and her mom from getting eaten by a yoju. When Mina and Hoshina arrive at the gory aftermath, Mina promises the little girl that she will eliminate all kaiju. But the little girl tells her to spare the “good” kaiju who saved her mom and Mina is taken aback. It was only during the raid on Tachikawa Base several months later that Mina came face-to-face with the “good” kaiju, her childhood friend, who risked it all to save the Third Division from a massive bomb of yoju. Kafka’s transformation slowly began to fade from his eyes as he looked at Mina somberly, while she and the officers stood inches away from him and held him at gunpoint.
In that moment, Matsumoto might have reproduced how Gregor Samsa’s family would dehumanize him with the use of firearms, but he was only further building up Kafka’s story and his world. When Kafka was captured as Kaiju No. 8, the Third Division did everything it could to set him free. In Season 1’s finale, Mina described him as a person “more humane than anyone” in front of JAKDF board members and its Director General Isao Shinomiya, who earlier had a fierce battle with Kafka to see what his kaiju form was capable of. Kafka nearly lost to the monster inside him but in the end, he returned to himself and told Isao that his name is not Kaiju No. 8 but Kafka Hibino. Although it was revealed that he has a kaiju core, Kafka’s humanity is still restored because of those who believe in him, including himself.
The Kafka Effect
Kafka is introduced in the anime as part of Monster Sweeper Inc., a disposal company that cleans the havoc left behind by the Defense Force after a kaiju neutralization. We learn that he has given up his dream of becoming a Defense Force officer after failing multiple times. Besides, he’s also past the age limit—at the ripe age of 32. When he sees Mina and her division on national television, he turns it off and assures himself that cleaning is also an important job in helping people. The next morning, he wonders whether giving up is really that bad after meeting Reno at work. A part-time student, Reno is determined to join the Defense Force, but he unnerves Kafka upon learning that he has given up joining. Although they started off on the wrong foot, Kafka looked after Reno on his first day which Reno came to be grateful for. In the end, it was Reno who reignited Kafka’s will to dream again after telling him that the Defense Force recruitment extended the age limit to 33.
Kafka aspires and strives to become someone even when monsters hold him back—only in the body of an adult and with the mind of a light-hearted teenager, a rarity in the world of shōnen. All throughout, we see his resolve affecting those around him.
After their near-death experience at work, Reno overthinks the possibility of his senior dying in the hands of the Defense Force—the moment he found out that Kafka can transform into a kaiju. He knew how badly Kafka wanted to become a Defense Force officer, and his being a monster was not going to stop him. He once transformed into his kaiju form to rescue Kikoru, the strongest rookie, during their kaiju neutralization test, and Reno knew he would do it again whether he’s in his kaiju state or not. He once saved Reno, after all, and he feels more like a true Defense Force officer when he’s Kaiju No. 8. That’s why Reno swore to himself that he would get stronger, so that his senior would not have to transform again.
As Reno reaches his goal, his fellow officer Iharu Furuhashi is surprised by his progress and strives to chase after him too. Kikoru shares that same burning will as well, after she was saved by Kafka who has gradually become like a father figure to her. She and Reno became the only ones who knew Kafka’s secret and they held on to their resolve until the end, even after Kafka willingly revealed himself to the entire Third Division.
Mina remains a key part of the story too, as she’s established as Kafka’s driving force. At 27, she has become the strongest female Captain in the Defense Force and has neutralized hundreds of kaiju in her career. During the Sagamihara Neutralization Operation, we see her acknowledge Kafka for the first time as her childhood friend as she wields her personalized handheld cannon to attack the honju. She gazes down at Kafka and, in her thoughts, tells him that this is who she is now, reminiscing how they both promised to compete to see who could become the coolest officer when they were kids. It turns out Kafka is not the only one who aspires to stand by Mina’s side—she also waits for him. And as she waited for him and strived to even get stronger, we see her influence on the officer who would eventually become her Vice-Captain.
Hoshina, coming from a family of kaiju slayers, is one of the strongest blade specialists in the Defense Force. The long era of swords to combat kaiju is now gone, but Hoshina holds on to his blades like he’s holding on for dear life. During his fight with Kaiju No. 10, we catch a glimpse of his bruised history where his father and superior officer tell him to give up because his swords are useless. But younger Mina believed in his abilities and asked him to join her force. They cannot guarantee the existence of a small but powerful kaiju in the future and, besides, she’s a long-range marksman and can’t even handle a kitchen knife. Eventually, he accepted her offer and became her second-in-command. During the battle, Kaiju No. 10 undermined his swordplay but, remembering his Captain’s words, he was determined to protect the base which she entrusted to him—clearing the path for her to strike the enemy, like always. Mina has indeed become the coolest officer, creating a formidable Defense Force division all thanks to Kafka and their friendship.
Reaching his dream at his age, Kafka might be looked down upon in reality. But he surprisingly received an unusual reception and eventual respect from the Defense Force examinees, especially the elites, namely Haruichi Izumo, Aoi Kaguragi, Iharu, and Kikoru who eventually became his comrades. He resisted the urge to transform parts of his body into his kaiju form during examinations, and instead contributed his knowledge of kaiju anatomy from past experience. His batch joined him in celebrating his promotion from cadet to general officer, and some even went out of their way to rescue him from captivity as Kaiju No. 8. Even Hoshina grew fond of him, although he considered him a comic relief and suspected his identity as Kaiju No. 8 at the same time, and Isao finally called him by his real name.
Matsumoto literally created a big guy with a big heart named Kafka Hibino—a rare, uplifting adult male protagonist that this generation’s teenagers need. He already failed his Defense Force entrance exams four times at 23, only becoming a Defense Force officer nearly 10 years later. And suddenly, as someone whose four youthful years slipped by without having her college goal fulfilled, I believe I’m allowed to chase my dreams again.
