Kaijuu 8-gou Movie

Translated by AI, not generated.

Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon is a movie summarizing the first season of the anime of the same name, with the addition of an extra episode titled Hoshina’s Day Off. Both the series and the movie have received very positive reviews, which encouraged me to give them a try.

Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon tells the story of a future where Japan is overrun by kaiju—monsters similar to Godzilla. After the battles, someone has to clean up the remains of these creatures—and that’s exactly what our protagonist, Kafka Hibino, does. His name is no coincidence—he was named after the writer Franz ... Kafka. In one of Kafka’s stories, The Metamorphosis, the protagonist faces a fate similar to Hibino’s, but I won’t spoil anything here. Kaiju No. 8 is best watched without any spoilers.

The movie hooks you from the very first minutes. A lot happens right from the start. As Alfred Hitchcock once said: we begin with an earthquake and then build up the tension. We kick off with a battle against one of the monsters—one that might not look very terrifying but at least has an interesting design (later beasts are much more grotesque). We are also introduced to another important character: Mina Ashiro, a big shot in the JAKDF—the Japanese force protecting civilians from kaiju. Mina and Kafka were childhood friends and promised each other that they would both join the army. Unfortunately, Kafka was too weak to pass the entrance exams, but a certain event reignites his determination to try again. This time, he succeeds.

The "zero to hero" trope is extremely popular in anime… if not too popular. In many series, it's presented in a dull and clichéd way or taken far too seriously (one of the more recent examples being Solo Leveling). Fortunately, Kaiju No. 8 avoids these pitfalls. On the contrary, the theme is handled with similar grace and humor as in One Punch Man. Kafka doesn’t immediately become the world’s savior or a legendary warrior. He must keep his newfound power a secret, leading to situations much like in One Punch Man—he defeats a monster, but someone else gets the credit. The humor and approach to the protagonist’s new abilities are definitely strong points of Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon.

Another strength is Kafka’s relationship with his co-worker, Ishikawa. Thanks to him, Kafka regains hope and motivation to once again pursue his dream job in the JAKDF. Both of them enter the entrance exams together. Their dynamic makes you feel like you're watching a true buddy comedy in the spirit of Bill and Ted or Wayne’s World. Overall, the locker room scenes at JAKDF were among the funniest.

There weren’t many weak points—really, probably just one: the character Kikoru. Maybe she was created specifically to have someone to hate—she’s irritating from the very first second she appears on screen. She's the classic "know-it-all brat" who also loves showing off her physical strength. She’s given an exceptionally shrill voice, making her even more annoying, which leads me to believe this was deliberate. She’s reminiscent of Beatrice from Re:Zero, although Beatrice is undeniably a far more interesting and complex character. And while we’re drawing comparisons—Hoshina, on the other hand, feels quite similar to the titular character from Mob Psycho 100 (which is a huge plus).

I wholeheartedly recommend every anime fan to go watch Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon in theaters—young and old, beginners and veterans alike. If you're looking for a fun, engaging, and spectacular movie that will make over two hours fly by in an instant—this is the one. And for those craving even more, the second season of the series is ready to watch right after the movie.

Have you watched Kaiju No.8 Season 1 ? If yes then there's no actual point of watching this its S1 trimmed in 90 mins ntng else like ntng. Better just watch the special ep " Hoshina's Day off " and you're good to go ! .. idk why they even made the movie when they added litreally ntng . ATP idk what even to rate it I don't wna rate it low cus i like Kaiju No.8 anime but rating this seems wierd cus its ntng new.

If they even had like made better visuals or animations i could have appriciated it . Idk if most ... of the audience will enjoy this after watching S1 .

It’s literally just a recap movie. And not only that, but it skips out on about 80% of the most important intricate details of the actual show. If you watch season 1, I can assure you it’ll be peak. If you were to ask why, it’s simply because they gave it enough time to flesh out everything. 12 episodes amongst 4 hours worth of content actually makes it incredibly enjoyable.

It took about 4 episodes or so for Kafka to actually swallow that Kaiju bug in the hospital, then turning him into one. However in this movie, it only takes about 16 minutes in for it ... to happen. That’s how condensed this is.

Hoshina vs. Kafka (Kaiju No.8) was skipped here. Kafka (In Kaiju form) vs. Shinomiya (Kikoru’s father) was skipped here. Basically anything about Kaiju No.9 lurking in the background and conjuring plans and shit was skipped here. Y’know, all the stuff that gave season 1 more depth and entertainment/ interest.

The whole film basically went like this: Kafka is apart of the cleaning crew. Reno then joins as a newbie. They almost got eaten by a giant kaiju not too far into their job. They get saved by Mina, but Kafka had his leg broken so they’re already in the hospital. This (as said before) happens in like 10 minutes, when in the anime this would’ve been 3 fleshed-out episodes worth of content already. Anyways, Kafka then eats the Kaiju parasite? Bug..? And becomes Number Eight. Kafka and Reno then freak the hell out and escape the hospital. It then weirdly cuts to 3 months later out of nowhere just a bit later and shows that Kaiju No 8 is still lurking about. Then we skip to Reno and Kafka doing training to become officers instead of staying on clean-up duty. Then number 9 shows up, does that one thing he did (reanimate the Kaiju bodies) and then he disappears. And within the 6 minutes he was on screen for this “film” he never shows up again. At all. Guess they thought he was extremely unimportant.

Anyway, it cuts to a few days later after being an officer now, and those fireballs rain from the sky with the bird-like Kaiju. Then Kaiju No.10 shows up to beat the shit out of Hoshina. It then gets solo’d, but that giant egg-jelly-like blob in the sky shows up that’s about to blowup like a nuke. Kafka then immediately turns into a Kaiju to save everyone. Just shifts forms in-front of everybody to push it into the sky. And mind you once again, this is like 9 episodes or so into the actual anime that they did in like 1hr-ish? Which was terrible skipping. Kafka then gets like, immediately arrested after that incident and thats it. That’s the end of this terrible trash. 1hr 35mins of terrible skipping with no importance whatsoever just to waste your precious time. And they don’t even show Kafka meeting Kikoru’s father ever. They show him talking with Mina 1 to 1 in the back of the officer vehicle AS A POST CREDITS SCENE for like 3 minutes, before then ENDING. Roll credits apparently! And that’s it.

“Oh, but.. isn’t this 2hrs? What does the last 25min consist of?” Well, none other than that “brand-new” special episode they decided to bundle into this for no reason. To be completely honest, the special is actually more important/ way more interesting than this ass recap film itself. Just watch the “Hoshina’s Day Off” thing separate from this film if you have a developed frontal cortex. And if you’re gonna watch Kaiju No.8 for the first time ever, watch the anime. I love season 1. I don’t love this. But hey, what can you really do when it comes to a shitty recap? I heard the Hoshina’s Day Off episode is animated a little worse than the actual anime, but it *is* an extra thing. So don’t expect it to be on the same level of quality.

Please skip this.
(My final note, if you really insist watching a recap of this after not seeing it for awhile before season 2, rather watch a 40min YouTube video of some dude with an actual brain explaining everything detail-for-detail, or just REWATCH SEASON 1. It ISN’T HARD. SAVE YOUR TIME.