Kaijuu 8-gou 2nd Season Episode 3 Discussion

go watch one p!ss then nobody will care if you drop this 👋🏻🖕🏻

Kaiju no.8 is finally here! Reason #10000 why Kikoru is best girl. She brings out the best in Kafka! Glad we got her backstory and to see what makes her tick. It’s no wonder she’s so kind, just like her mother. She wasn’t old enough to protect her, but she can protect those closest to her now.

“When you’re in a pinch mommy will come help you” 😭the feels man. That had to be some strong ass Kaiju to take Kikoru’s mom out. Even though it was like a 3 minute flashback, I feel like I learned so much about Kikoru so hats off to the staff!

Kaiju 9’s ability to learn and adapt to his opponents behavior mid-fight is pretty scary, good thing we got even scarier people in Narumi and Kafka on our side lol. Being able to see the future is so broken, but it begs the question, how the hell did they kill Kaiju number 1 if it was this OP? Just one of its body parts is ridiculously powerful and it had all of them at once.

Kafka being afraid to transform because he didn’t wanna hurt/disappoint anyone makes a lot of sense tbh. It’s one thing to do this whole transformation when it’s just your division that knows about it, but when the eyes of the world are on you and all the big shots with the Kaiju defense force are counting on you, it’s a lot of pressure. Add to that the fact he doesn’t even know his own strength fully.. it’s understandable. Kikoru convincing him to just believe in his comrades was such a cool scene though. Got to see him unleash a lot of new moves today, is that really the end of Kaiju 9 tho?

Kinda ominous end to the episode, is Kafka gonna be able to end his transformation or did he lose himself in the fight?

There’s the Kafka we know and love, it was very clear why he couldn’t transform since the previous episode but I really liked the moment where he realized for himself, that scene where he killed all his comrades was actually pretty haunting. But thankfully we have a Kikoru, hard to stay bummed with her around lol, but I really loved what she said to Kafka to get him to snap out of it, and she’s right, don’t underestimate the Defense Force, it’s their job to put kaijus down and they’ll do what’s necessary if Kafka loses control. Also, I’m not typically a fan of when shonen anime cut away to show backstory in the middle of a fight, but I liked this one featuring Kikoru quite a bit, it wasn’t super creative or anything but it did make me feel for Kikoru and her family, and it enhanced her badass moment against No. 9, that was a pretty awesome mom she had.

Narumi was also epic in this one, wasn’t expecting him to whip out the eye ability which is from the first kaiju to get a number, No. 1 (would be cool if a No. 0 was a thing tho, just for a cool sounding name lol), being able to pretty much read the future is really cool (not the first shonen character to have that ability this season) and I liked how it made Narumi quicker than No. 9 could learn. And Kafka ended up doing in his No. 9 clone too in a very badass way, he definitely got a level up here, but now I’m just wondering if there’s a real body somewhere for No. 9 because even if there was a struggle, this almost felt too easy of a win, I guess we’ll see about that.

Also, that OneRepuclic ED just hits man, it’s really taking me back to around 2010, it has that old school OneRepublic vibe.

About Kaiju No.1's power, it seems it requires a certain amount of focus. That battle was probably quite costly for the KDF. Kafka's fear has only really built up to this level since losing control against the elder Shinomiya, but the amount of trust built up over the last season, especially with Kikoru, makes enough of a difference. Thoughts are weird enough, and it's amazing how often motivation like this can hinge on one random thing like that. It might not have had to be Kikoru if you had free choice, but it would have to have been one of the 3rd, and she was the only one there, so it had to her.

People hang on in there for some of the strangest reasons, or simplest, logic often doesn't have much of a say. Brains are weird at the best of times. Think on that before you judge a characters motivations in desperate situations.

Kikoru's drive is another one. She promised to come and help her mother, and her mother promised to help her if she needed it. I've seen stories where the child takes the parent's promise to heart and is driven by the breaking of it. This is the other way round, and I don't have any immediate other examples to mind. (There are certainly some, but my memory is terrible, feel free to provide some.) That plus the difference in the way her father is portrayed in the flashbacks it seems her death left the other Shinomiya's with some deep scars.

I'm sure it'll get/it has its own name, but I'll call it
Squadron Style, Kaiju Technique: Meteor Punch
"Let's see you grit those teeth!"

Will Kikoru eventually get the No. 4 weapon? And how in the world was No. 1 even beaten with so many of those eyes!?

Kikoru's mom was an amazing kaiju hunter. Unfortunate that she was killed in battle. But her sacrifice is what fueled Kikoru. Maybe she'll be better than her mom one day.

Narumi's weapon is a sword and a gun. Idk why every numbered weapon isn't like that. Seems like it'd be really convenient in battles. Ig they just have different people specializing in each and Narumi's probably one of the only ones who's good at both.

The first numbered kaiju could see the future? Seemed like the number should've stopped at 1. Because how tf did they defeat that thing? Narumi seemed pretty good with his ability. So I wonder what the humans came up with to defeat it. Anyway, looks like he killed that No. 9 clone or whatever it is.

Kafka's mental block was his accidentally killing his friends after all. But Kikoru talked some sense into him. So glad he's finally back! Did he really kill No. 9?! That was fast. Was kinda hoping for some more action. But the short scene we got was still really cool. Kaiju No. 8 is getting better.

Lmao that post-credits scene. Kikoru's Ai Fairouz can speak Arabic so that bit was pretty cute. Even tho I didn't understand what she was saying at all. The Japanese accent is thick.

This season is so bad

This episode adds "the power of friendship" for Kafka to magically get over his struggle to transform, which the series never relied on in season 1. We have scenes constantly interrupted with actionless moments of exposition and panoramic camera angles. I can't tell if it's filler, or if it's to remind old viewers/explain to new viewers, or if it's just bad directing, or if it's all of the above.

Kafka gets his legs grabbed once and then immediately has it happen again? Kakfa, come on. And #9 is still surprised Kafka breaks out of it the second time, too? There was no exciting buildup like in season 1 when Kafka one shotted his opponents. There's no comedy whatsoever. They're was no showing Kafka previously having doubts, just that season 2 starting dream. But that doesn't match up with Kafka at the end of season 1 being eager to prove himself.

They've ruined what was previously a great show. This is literal mediocrity. WTactualF

Oh, right. And ignore that the kaiju who could see the future - even before the defense force made their next decision/move - was inexplicably killed. Because that makes sense

@TheColonel76 I'm hoping the follow up for Kikoru is even better, she gets another stand out fight as I recall, but it's been a year or 2 since it was in the manga. I forgot the resemblance of sorts Hikari has to Kafka, they're both really fun and optimistic.

They may have cut a bit, since I think Hikari tells Isao that he needs to be someone Kikoru can have fun with, because we see that she trained Kikoru when she was younger. Makes you wonder what would be if Isao had perished instead of Hikari, but Isao's Kaiju weapon is kind of broken even when considering how OP Hikari's is

@holdingnothing I’m always down for more Kikoru content so good to hear, and a shame they cut a little bit from the backstory if they did, but I think it was still pretty well done.

@HagePotPotato

So drop it mae.

This could have been a good episode if the reason Kefka couldn't transform was due to kind of a dumb fear. I swear this show doesn't know how to write a main character.