Been busy and feeling under the weather all month so I’ve been sitting on covering this episode and before I knew it, Season 2 finished airing (same goes for the other Summer anime I want to cover but one thing at a time). I got some catching up to do now.
As Kafka continues his training with Soshiro, Kikoru pulls some strings so that Kafka can have his phone/”terminal” back, having had the device confiscated following his arrest at the end of Season 1. This enables Kafka to contact all of his friends in the Third Division though understandably, he’s hesitant to do so in light of his big secret being out. There’s a solid joke here where Reno calls Kafka and Kafka accidentally hangs up on him. When Reno uses Iharu’s terminal, he of course gets annoyed when Kafka answers this time around. Part of me wonders if this scene would’ve worked better if it happened at lot earlier in Season 2, when emotions are lot higher for everyone. It is nevertheless a neat having Reno assure Kafka that everyone supports him and seeing that claim be immediately validated by all the messages Kafka receives from the others.
There’s a couple of brief scenes revealing that Isao is kind of, sort of alive. Like, he appears to still have a sense of self but it’s gradually fading as he assimilates more into Kaiju No. 9. The show conveys this with a visual metaphor, where the Director General’s body slowly drifts deeper in an ocean. That Isao is still able to resist No. 9’s assimilation has me thinking that Isao might somehow still play a part in the next battle but I imagine he’ll truly be gone by that time the action kicks in again so I’m 50/50 on what happens next with him.
The episode then plays a montage of a very surreal phenomena occurring throughout Japan, all of which are seemingly triggered by the presence of new daikaiju. Each and every monster disappears before the Defense Force can even respond, thus putting everyone on edge. While the creepiness is quite effective, I am a bit annoyed by the amount of text that scrolls across the frame to explain each daikaiju sighting. I suppose it makes the scene more overwhelming but I would’ve maybe preferred seeing a news report or an extra’s recording of the event instead. Maybe this scene is easier to digest if you’re fluent in Japanese though oddly enough, the original Japanese text scrolls diagonally and not entirely in frame while the English subtitles are presented normally so I’m not entirely sure if it would be easier.
As the Defense Force prepare for the next battle, we see Kikoru receive the Numbered Weapon 4. If you recall, this is the same power suit previously used by her mother. I figured Kikoru would get a Numbered Weapon. There’s no way the show would have her fall behind Reno and giving her a Numbered Weapon would be the easy way to close out the power gap. In hindsight however, I should’ve anticipated her inheriting her mother’s personal weapon. That’s such an obvious, poetic thing to do. I also like the idea of Kikoru drawing on her mother’s power to either save Isao or at least give him peace. My only gripe is that Kikoru simply gets the new suit as if it’s a hand-me-down, which I guess is technically true, but I wish there’s more hype to it. I suppose she does earn it after working really hard but even that mostly happened offscreen and it feels a bit mundane.
Random note but I really like that we get to see the mother and daughter Kafka saved way back in Episode 2 again. They could’ve easily disappeared from the plot but it’s really heartwarming to see that Kafka’s first achievement with his powers really did pay off. Also, much respect to the little girl, she started rooting for Kafka before it was cool.
After another training session with Soshiro, Kafka takes a lunch break on the roof and is surprised to see Mina there. Mina tells Kafka to stay and since no one else is around, she even lets him talk to her as his old friend and not his superior officer. I’ve frankly been surprised by how limited Mina’s screentime actually is but that kind of works in the show’s favor as it makes moments such as this matter more. As the two chat, Mina recalls how Kafka used to look out for her and how she saw that selflessness again when Kafka saved the Third Division from Kaiju No. 10. It’s kind of crazy to think how at the start of the show, Mina sounded resentful of Kafka for failing to keep his end of the bargain by joining the Defense Force. That feels like an eternity now but it does make sense since Kafka came back and showed Mina that he remains the same person she admired all those years ago.
I think my favorite part of this scene is Mina telling Kafka that she’s now strong enough to help him as opposed to the other way around when they were kids and Kafka forces a smile in response. On one hand, Mina is a Defense Force Captain so it’s not like she’s a pushover by any means. That said, they’re likely going to face Kaiju No. 9 and Kafka knows all too well how insanely strong it is. Given how rational Mina is, I like to think that she is fully aware that No. 9 won’t be an easy opponent and she’s actually trying to put on a brave face because that’s what Kafka did when they were kids. And yet, despite her effort, it still feels like Kafka is the one assuring her that things will be alright, further proving that Kafka is still the friend she remembered and admired.
Elsewhere, we some bystanders encounter a teenager girl who appears to be lost, only to discover that the girl is actually one of the mysterious daikaiju reported earlier in the episode. Once the daikaiju drops its disguise, it proceeds to murder all the people in the area. I was actually taken aback by this moment. Kaiju No. 8 tends to have extras evacuate or get saved in the nick of time, presumably to keep the show’s rating in check and avoid ruffling too many feathers. It’s very shocking then to see people get the axe this time and in such graphic fashion no less. To the show’s credit, it does sink in just how much of a threat this new character poses. Also, I avoided it up until now but this kaiju does look an awful lot like Kikoru. I’m guessing since No. 9 assimilated Isao, some of the Director General’s memories had an influence in its experiments. It sound a bit silly but there’s some potential symmetry with having Isao’s own daughter face against one of his doppelganger’s creations. I also find it interesting that the kaiju is dressed like a high schooler. Perhaps it’s alluding to the life Isao wished for Kikoru to have, to live as a normal girl rather than a soldier. That a literal monster now uses it as a disguise almost feels like an insult to the Director General’s memory.
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