You know, I had thought to myself that it’s a little silly that Mina lacks a Numbers Weapon. Like, most of the major characters in the cast — Gen, Soshiro, Kikoru, and Reno — all use one now. And obviously, Kafka can transform into a Numbered Kaiju himself. Mina meanwhile doesn’t get anything that fancy. Admittedly, watching the opening action scene of this episode has me thinking that Mina is probably doing just fine. Is there anyone else who can use a giant rail gun to one-shot kill daikaiju 20 kilometers away from them? Not really. Mina pretty much has that niche to herself. Also, this scene is awesome. The sheer power Mina displays can be a sight to behold and I just love the visual of the cannon rounds zipping across the city and hitting their marks.
With kaiju dying left and right, the battle begins to die down but anyone familiar with Kaiju No. 9 suspect that there’s a catch. Sure enough, No. 9’s daikaiju creations, now dubbed Kaiju No. 11 to 15, finally appear on the battlefield, each targeting one of the stronger members of the First and Third Divisions. No. 9 pretty much played everyone like a fiddle. Its true goal with the initial wave of kaiju was to split up the top dogs in the area, leaving them to fend off the numbered kaiju on their own without any support. To make matters worse, it appears that each of the numbered kaiju are tailored made to counter their target. For example, Gen squares off against Kaiju No. 11, which can manipulate water and therefore negate Gen’s Numbers Weapon, which relies on reading the electrical signals of a kaiju’s brain to enable Gen in predicting their movements. Guess all those online chess matches weren’t for nothing.
As you might’ve guessed, Kikoru has to square off against her doppelganger, Kaiju No. 15 (Fairouz Ai). In a weird way, it’s almost a compliment that No. 9 considers Kikoru powerful enough to design a daikaiju capable of killing her. Oddly enough, Kikoru hardly acknowledges No. 15’s resemblance to her but I suppose in her defense, she’s too busy fighting and staying alive. True to her character, Kikoru rises up to the occasion and tries to take on No. 15 by herself (it’s not like she can get backup anyway). To her credit, she does manage to put up a good fight at first. True to her power level however, a daikaiju is still too much for her to handle. I hope Kikoru eventually comes out on top. It’s cool how Kikoru faces a tough opponent just as much as an easy one but at this point in the show, it’d be great if she can finally defeat something powerful on her own. Let this poor girl win already!
Elsewhere, we see Tokuda and the other guys at Monster Sweeper safe in a shelter. As people begin to worry that the Defense Force might lose, Tokuda and his pals decide to keep morale up by helping the soldiers stationed in the shelter deliver supplies. As brief as it is, I think it’s really cool to see the Monster Sweeper crew help in their own little way, especially when you consider that their work tends to go unnoticed. It’s also neat to see the battle from the civilians’ point of view.
Kafka assists with the evacuation effort, all while hearing on the comms how the battle is turning against the Defense Force’s favor. While directing civilians, Kafka notices a young girl showing her Defense Force trading cards to assure an elderly woman that the Defense Force will be able to defeat the kaiju. It would’ve been very funny if Gen’s card is a worse rarity than Mina’s. When everyone has to be rushed into the shelter, the girl accidentally drops her cards. Kafka helps her pick up the cards, all while sharing her sentiment about the Defense Force. Before Kafka heads off, the girl tells him that she’ll collect his trading card if he ever gets one. The scene is maybe a little cheesy but I really like how it exemplifies what Mina said about Kafka earlier, how he can effortlessly light up the room and raise people’s spirits up. Having the girl trust the Defense Force so much is also a good way to set Kafka up for what he’s about to do next.
The episode cuts to Rin fighting a losing battle against Kaiju No. 13. Rin ended up being one of the less prominent characters in Season 2 so it can feel too little and too late for the show explore her character at the last minute. Still, it is a cool moment to have her fend off against No. 13 on her own, even if she’ll die trying and all she can accomplish is buy time for her men and the civilians. Kafka then saves an injured Rin from No. 13 and against his commanding officer’s orders, he decides to transform into No. 8. Kind of funny that the plan is to still hold off using Kafka’s powers. Like come on, you guys are clearly losing. I think now is a good time to bust out the last resort. And really, I didn’t think Kafka would stay idle anyway. It’s just not in his nature to do so; he’ll always want to repay people’s faith in him and do everything in his power to help others. Of course, transforming does come with the caveat of alerting No. 9 (and not going to lie, the dude looks a little too happy when he senses No. 8) but I guess we’ll worry about that later…and I do mean later.
So go figure, this is where Season 2 ends. The big battle ends on a cliffhanger and the credits roll in. It’s a bold choice to say the least. Earlier this month, the production committee announced that the rest of the manga will get animated, presumably as a third season, so we don’t have to worry about the anime going unresolved. I must say, it’s really funny that they chose to announce a continuation a couple months after Season 2 finished airing. Like, Kaiju No. 8 seems to be doing fine commercially so it was a safe bet to think the anime will continue. But how odd that they chose to wait and give fans nothing but radio silence.
To be honest, I enjoyed Season 2 a tiny bit less than Season 1. Looking back, I think Season 1 was evenly paced and benefited from everyone being in one place. By comparison, this season was moving rather slowly at first and awfully quickly towards the end. It didn’t help that our heroes were divided up into different platoons and that forces the show to divide its time between different perspectives or neglect certain characters. Pacing aside however, I still really dig Kaiju No. 8 for its premise and action and there’s some new additions to the cast and the lore that I enjoyed. I also think this season does a good job raising the stakes from Season 1, establishing No. 9 as a particularly formidable antagonist and making the bold choice of writing out the Defense Force’s strongest fighter. Needless to say, I’m still invested in this show so I’ll be checking out the next installment when it releases.
Watch Kaiju No. 8 on Crunchyroll
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