Alright, let’s get this season over with it.
So that ominous ending with the daikaiju that looks an awful like Kikoru? I guess Kaiju No. 8 is saving that for later because that girl doesn’t show up at all this episode. I’m assuming that character will appear in the season finale but I’m 50/50 since it has been established that these daikaiju like to show up, make some noise, and then disappear before anyone can fight it.
For now, Season 2’s final battle has the Defense Force dealing with an unprecedented amount of kaiju appearing all around the country. Being stationed in Tokyo, the First and Third Divisions respond to the various attacks sightings in the city. The two divisions are effectively on their own since the other divisions are preoccupied fighting in their own designations and therefore can’t afford to send any reinforcements for now. Admittedly, that’s somewhat of a moot point when you have powerhouses such as Gen, Mina, and Soshiro and rising stars such as Kikoru and Kafka but I digress.
I’m kind of mixed on the opening scene of this episode. In this moment, one of Kafka and Reno’s old co-workers at Monster Sweeper, Masahide Tokuda (Yutaka Aoyama), sees his daughter Chieko get married, only for the wedding to get interrupted by a giant kaiju. I appreciate the attempt to involve a more familiar face to better sell the gravity of the kaiju attacks. However, I’m also trying to remember when Tokuda ever mentioned his daughter, let alone the wedding. If he did, it was seldom mentioned so either way, it’s a little hard to feel invested in the scene. Also, not that killing off any of these supporting characters would work, but Gen saving them all in the nick of time is pretty predictable. This show has done that trick a bunch of times by now.
Since our heroes can hardly afford to pull any punches, they of course break out some fancy new toys to better deal with the kaiju outbreak. To start off, Kikoru receives a new axe and, more importantly, gets to don Numbers Weapon 4 for the first time in battle. Aside from enhancing her abilities, the power suit also gives her the ability to fly, which greatly balances out her fighting at close range. Coming off of Reno taking three episodes to get hang out of Numbers Weapon 6, it’s kind of cheap for Kikoru to seemingly get the hang of her new power suit offscreen and after just one episode of being introduced to it. Conversely, this is Kikoru I’m talking about here. What did I expect? Nitpicking aside, I really like how Kikoru gets to flex whenever she gets a power up. This one is even better than when Kikoru busted out the axe for the first time because now, she really feels overpowered. All the jobbers trying to provide her with cover fire feel so superfluous now when Kikoru can just fly around to slice and dice. Honestly, just give her some bottles of water and she’s probably good to go for the entire battle.
We then see Soshiro test out the newly created Numbers Weapon 10. Since it’s technically still alive, Kaiju No. 10’s conscience is embedded in the suit, leaving Soshiro to contend with a talking power suit (which isn’t a funny image at all). There’s an argument to be made that this fight is the more interesting showcase than Kikoru’s. It’s a no brainer Kikoru would get the hang of her power suit. She’s Kikoru after all. Meanwhile, Soshiro has to acclimate to his new suit and contend with No. 10 going against his wishes so his first fight with the new power up isn’t as straightforward. I really like seeing Soshiro try to work with or work around No. 10’s personality. Sometimes, he goes along with the daikaiju’s bloodthirsty whims. Other times, he goads it to do his bidding or gets it to obey by asserting himself as the stronger fighter. Soshiro is a smarter fighter than he lets on so it’s natural that he’d quickly figure out something with No. 10. Also, considering how much Soshiro loves to mess with people, there’s something funny about him being stuck with someone that completely gets on his nerves.
At the end of the episode, Kafka offers to take on a group of supermassive kaiju but his plan is shot down by Rin as transforming into Kaiju No. 8 will alert No. 9, leaving Kafka’s power as a last resort. When the kaiju attack, Mina boards a large cannon to assist. Even knowing that Mina is a captain, it’s a little funny that Rin needs a stronger soldier who is also good with guns to help her. Joking aside, I think it’s neat how, in the last episode, Mina assured Kafka that she’s strong enough to help him, and in this episode, we see her being true to her word or at least trying to do so.
It dawned on me that I haven’t talked about the “Hoshi Night Japan” shorts that play after almost every episode this season, with this episode being the last one to feature it. These are basically Soshiro interviewing the other characters in chibi form for a radio show. I didn’t really talk about it since they’re very short and inconsequential but for what it’s worth, they have been pretty funny and a nice break from the more dramatic stuff going on in the main show. This episode’s short is pretty funny since it’s Soshiro once again messing with Gen though I think the award for the best short goes to Episode 20’s, if only because it takes a good jab at Horiuchi and Aoi’s hilariously low screentime this season.
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