Kaiju No. 8 is a pretty awesome manga and anime. The anime adaptation follows the manga pretty closely and this is one of those cases where both are really good. You can't lose in either medium whether you are reading or watching. I started reading the manga first, well before the anime came out, so I'm way ahead of it, and I eagerly await the next manga volume and welcome season 2 of the anime whenever it releases.
The series takes place in a Japan that is regularly invaded by giant kaiju. An anti-kaiju defense force protects Japan with super-powered battle-suits, kaiju-derived weaponry, and soldiers who have superior syncing abilities to draw the most power from their suits and weapons. Kafka Hibino is our hero, a 32 year old man, who is a monster sweeper that cleans up the carcasses of kaiju. He has ambitions to join the defense force but has failed the qualification exams for years. This is the last year he can apply and he does so after being inspired by a young sweeper named Reno Ichikawa who is also planning on joining the defense force. Kafka wants to join because he wants to be by the side of his childhood friend and defense force superstar, Mina Ashiro. Kafka swallows a small kaiju against his will (who mysteriously says "found you") and gains the ability to become a super-strong kaiju to battle other kaiju.
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| Reading manga on the Kindle. |
You would think the premise of Kaiju No. 8 is typical shonen with lots of action, and it is, but it is executed very well with an older primary protagonist (Kafka) and characters you care about. There is the classic shticks about calling out attacks, the childhood friend, unmet goals, people leveling up, and even Kafka being able to transform into a kaiju. On a side note, it would be funny if these transformations were like magical girl transformations - just kidding. There are elements of many previous kaiju or tokusatsu type shows in this manga too, but they are freshly dressed and are original in their own right. Kafka being able to transform is like Ultraman or even Attack on Titan, but I found the story to be more human and well developed.
I've been reading Kaiju No. 8, Delicious In Dungeon, and Witch Hat Atelier. I'm glad that all three of these great manga have been made into anime as they are worthy. When I started reading Kaiju No. 8, abbreviated K8 from now on, I was pretty much hooked after the first volume and bought the second one to read right away. I liked the characters, crisp art work, story, and even the world building. Monster design is also a highlight in this series. Lots of cool kaiju and there are some interesting mushroom and grotesque blobby types. This is a series I've re-read once already, which is a good sign of its quality.
I don't buy paper manga anymore and buy the cheaper ebook volumes for the Kindle as they are more convenient. One of the problems with most paper manga is that they are printed on pulp which turns all brown after decades (I have a large paper manga collection - so I know) and it takes up too much space. A Kindle Fire allows me to put all my manga and other books on it with a cheap 500 GB memory card and I can read entire pages of the manga on it without zooming or anything. Funny thing is that mangaka Matsumoto has even said he tries to make his layouts easy to read on smartphones! If you're in Japan, in the old days, you would see people reading paper manga on the train, but these days, everyone is on a smartphone.
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| My Kaiju No. 8 volumes. |
There's a lot more than action to this series. There is constant character development and relationship building between Kafka and his team mates. Kafka starts out as a man who has given up on his dreams, but you know he has a good heart all the way through from his actions and caring for the people around him. Kafka's good nature and being the "old man" of the unit are important elements to the story. Kafka also has many internal obstacles to deal with (like the fact he is no longer human) and I found myself cheering for him as he overcame all the problems in his path. The relationship between Kafka and Reno, the much younger sweeper who encourages him to reach for his dreams, starts as a sempai and kohai but becomes a much deeper friendship with fun comedy relief. Kikoru, a fellow cadet antagonizes Kafka at the beginning and is an unpleasant character when you first meet her. After an incident, Kafka's good nature eventually befriends her too, and she also becomes a much more sympathetic character when you learn about her background. Lot's of good characters in K8 with many personalities and backgrounds that can be fleshed out as the story progresses.
The anime adaptation of K8 is wonderful too, with the same fantastic art and character development. They did a great job of bringing the manga to life. I don't particularly like the opening title with the odd CG graphics, but the music for the OP and EP are quite good. Even people I know who don't like as many anime as I do have found this show to be engaging so it is doing something right in the fight against giant monsters. The action sequences are well done though and the battles get more epic as the show progresses, so viewers aren't going to get bored.
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| K8 anime. The art matches the manga pretty well and it's in color! Kaiju No. 8 at the top, Kikoru middle left, Kafka and Reno middle right, and Mina at the bottom. |
For the shows I like, I try to buy some figures or other merchandise. For K8 I picked up a few S.H.Figuarts action figures that were available. I also try to buy used (usually they are unopened) prize figures, but there wasn't much available at the time. At the time of writing I've got a few on order now. I rarely buy the expensive figures now as I have been collecting for over 25 years and PVC is one of those things that is hit and miss for aging in the paint jobs. Most of my figures are in good shape, but some aren't and I really don't want to pay $200+ for figures these days. It was much cheaper when I started collecting and I have my own golden age of anime I guess.
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| S.H.Figuarts of Mina and Kafka as Kaiju No. 8. |
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| Back of the boxes showing all their accessories and many poses. I like the fact that Kafka has the surprised kaiju face and Mina has the mean face that goes with her cannon. |
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| Boxes up close. I open them up to remove any plastic sheets. |
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| Mina with her mean face! |
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| The figures out of the boxes. They're pretty poseable. |
I don't usually pose a lot of the newer figures and tend to keep them in the boxes. I have a lot of the older Revoltech mecha models on display, but not the figures of people.
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| The figures in their regular standing poses. |
These are pretty nicely done action figures. The joints don't disrupt the appearance of the figure too much, especially on Kaiju No. 8. Mina on the other hand has the typical larger joints on figures, but because she is wearing a black/grey uniform it doesn't look too bad.
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| Closeup of the faces. These are pretty good. I was actually going to order some popup parades, but Kafka's face didn't look right, so I put off ordering it. Instead I have a used Sega prize figure of Kafka coming along with Kikoru for cheap! |
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