Too bad the story is just reskinned My Hero Academia with hints of other classics of the genre. The similarities are not about the monsters themselves, but the character progression and the characters themselves. Both guys who end up using ice based abilities have the same personality and visuals, for example.
It gets to a point of ridiculous, that now i think about all male leads in Shonen being just an author's self-insert in a kid's body. Because in Kaijuu 8 the main lead is a 32 years old man who behaves exactly as every middle school main lead. We also have general cliché, a smart loli with praise kink, whose supporting role is to be a second romantic lead. Then, the love interest is some chick main lead has a childhood past with, but never interacts at all, because she is the end game and their romcom starts after the comic ends, or something. The only time it was fun to observe was Bakuman. Other than that, it is idealization of a crush main lead has and uses as motivation precisely because she is so perfect in his memory and he doesn't know anything about her as a person now.
Reads like story generated by AI based on all popular titles, and polished to look presentable. All the boxes ticked, exactly like Bakuman teached, but it is bland in the end.
Compared to Dangers of My Heart, Kaijuu 8 first episode with a misleading premise doesn't lead to anything better. Dangers of My Heart draws in with obscure premise it overwrites and becomes a cult classic instantly. Kaijuu 8 presents and unique idea from the get go, seemingly, and then shoves it into a standard Shonen box, losing everything that felt interesting in the first part. Makes me recall such titles like Dorohedoro, that were completely strange story wise and may not be exactly fitting the genre, but they actually had a unique personality and were true to themselves from start to finish.
There are A LOT of titles that do the standard Shonen better. This isn't one, it feels too inspired by everything else that came out before it. I genuinely wish I could like it, it is refreshing to have an older main lead. But few chapters in, the guy turns into a Naruto clone. Every single character around feels eerie familiar because it is a reskin of some other popular character. There is a lack of substance and depth, they are all cardboard cut. That will NOT stop the title from being popular, though, because it fits exactly into Shounen.
