Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 3

Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 3 by Naoya Matsumoto
Series Name: Kaiju No. 8
Genres: Action, Sci-Fi
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Viz/ Shonen Jump
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2899-2
Rating: 3.5/5
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Description from the Book

With the highest kaiju-emergence rates in the world, Japan is no stranger to attack by deadly monsters. Enter the Japan Defense Force, a military organization tasked with the neutralization of kaiju. Kafka Hibino, a kaiju-corpse cleanup man, has always dreamed of joining the force. But when he gets another shot at achieving his childhood dream, he undergoes an unexpected transformation. How can he fight kaiju now that he’s become one himself?!

Kafka manages to fight off a humanoid kaiju, rescuing Iharu and Reno. But before he can change back to his human form, Kafka is spotted by Defense Force officers, and the neutralization unit-led by none other than Vice-Captain Hoshina himself-is dispatched to dispose of him. Can Kafka withstand his superior officer’s attacks without revealing his true identity?!

Personal & Info

Like volume two, I borrowed this one from a friend. Unfortunately, I don’t currently have access to any more of these for the time being. More reviews for the series will come as I either buy more volumes for myself or can borrow more. All I can say for sure is that there will eventually be more reviews to come, because I definitely enjoy this series.

Characters

Kafka Hibino is the main character. He’s 32 and finally getting a chance to attain the job of his dreams. Unfortunately for him, he’s going to have to work his butt off if he wants to get there and compete with all his prodigy competition.

Mina Ashiro is the 27 year-old third division captain of the Defense Force. She’s also Kafka’s childhood friend, and basically the strongest on the force.

Reno Ichikawa was a new recruit at the Monster Sweeper Inc. cleanup crew, and has since befriended Kafka. He is now one of the most promising recruits on the Defense Force. He admires Kafka’s spirit and tries his hardest to help protect his secret.

Kikoru Shinomiya is the daughter of the Defense Force director and the most impressive new recruit on the force. She is one of only three people who currently know Kafka’s secret, including Kafka himself.

Haruichi Izumo, Iharu Furuhashi, and Aoi Kaguragi are three of the most promising recruits on the Defense Force. Iharu is growing on me. I’m not yet sure how I feel about Haruichi and Aoi.

Soshiro Hoshina is the vice-captain of the third division Defense Force team, the same team Mina Ashiro captains. Kafka aspires to take his position so he can stand side by side with Mina Ashiro.

Story & Thoughts

This volume is action packed. It’s one thing after another. The book starts where the second leaves off, finishing the action from that particular battle, then going straight into another one before Kafka can change back. The tail end of the volume also starts a new emergency mission to lead into the fourth book.

Comedy in this one is lacking, since it focuses so much on action. The characters get very little down time to recover from their first mission before more things happen. The time gap between events is about two weeks, but to it feels almost same day to me, because of how little happens in that two week period.

Every character the series takes time to focus on, I end up loving. Hoshina is probably the most important character in this volume. We actually get to see him fight and get in his head a little. All of the characters are so great. It’s extremely difficult for me to choose a favorite. That’s not something I can usually say about a series.

I was going to give this volume a three, because of the lack of comedy compared to the other volumes. It’s not bad, but it’s definitely more heavily focused on the action parts. However, I ended up bumping it up to a three and a half, because I like Hoshina, and I’m glad I got to see more if his character to get to know him better.

I’m well aware the series is not specifically a comedy, but based on the first two volumes, it seems like humor is an important aspect of the series. This one feels more serious and tense, because there is less of that breaking things up. Regardless of the amount of comedy, I’m loving the story.

Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 2

Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 2 by Naoya Matsumoto
Series Name: Kaiju No. 8
Genres: Action, Sci-Fi
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Viz/ Shonen Jump
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2714-8
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

With the highest Kaiju-emergence rates in the world, Japan is no stranger to attack by deadly monsters. Enter the Japan Defense Force, a military organization tasked with the neutralization of kaiju. Kafka Hibino, a kaiju-corps cleanup man, has always dreamed of joining the force. But when he gets another shot at achieving his childhood dream, he undergoes an unexpected transformation. How can he fight kaiju now that he’s become one himself?!

The final test of the Defense Force has come to an end, but the examinees’ challenges aren’t over yet. A mysterious humanoid kaiju revives a neutralized honju and sits it on Kikoru Shinomiya. Just when Kikoru seems to be at the end of her rope, Kafka rushes to her defense! But what is the humanoid kaiju’s goal?

Personal & Info

At the time I’m typing this, I don’t currently own this volume. I borrowed this one from a friend shortly after finishing the first one. I’m glad I did, because I got more story faster than if I had waited until I got around to buying it myself. Worth it. I’ll be picking up volume two for myself to own at some point.

Characters

Kafka Hibino is the main character. He’s 32 and finally getting a chance to attain the job of his dreams. Unfortunately for him, he’s going to have to work his butt off if he wants to get there and compete with all his prodigy competition.

Mina Ashiro is the 27 year-old third division captain of the Defense Force. She’s also Kafka’s childhood friend, and basically the strongest officer on the force.

Reno Ichikawa was a new recruit at the Monster Sweeper Inc. cleanup crew, and has since befriended Kafka. He is now one of the most promising recruits on the Defense Force. He admires Kafka’s spirit and tries his hardest to help protect his secret.

Kikoru Shinomiya is the daughter of the Defense Force director and the most impressive new recruit on the force. She is one of only three people who currently know Kafka’s secret, including Kafka himself.

Haruichi Izumo, Iharu Furuhashi, and Aoi Kaguragi are three of the most promising recruits on the Defense Force. Iharu is growing on me. I’m not yet sure how I feel about Haruichi and Aoi. Those two always seem to be arguing.

Soshiro Hoshina is the vice-captain of the third division Defense Force team. The same team Mina Ashiro captains. Kafka aspires to take his position so he can stand side by side with Mina Ashiro.

Some new characters get brief introductions. I don’t know how relevant they are going to be, but they are platoon leaders for the first mission.

Story & Thoughts

This volume picks up showing the opposite side of events from the end of the first one. Instead of picking up immediately where it left off, we see Reno and Kafka as they realize Kikoru needs assistance. Once Reno realizes Kafka ran off irresponsibly, the scene jumps to where we saw Kafka standing in front of Kikoru at the end of the volume.

I find myself easily getting sucked into this series. All of the characters have strong personalities, which makes sense, because you’d need one in their line of work. In addition to that, there is a fairly large cast. Volume one introduced a bunch of characters at the exam, and this volume is introducing even more now that the exams are over. More of the captains and vice-captains are getting screen time as the new recruits are assigned to teams for training and missions.

As the story takes a little time to show more of each character, I’m growing fond of all of them. I hope that’s not something I will regret, because this seems like it might be a series where characters are going to potentially die later. Regardless, I’m loving everybody on the force, so far.

The story is also picking up. A villain has been introduced, and the action scenes are fantastic. I don’t anticipate Kafka being able to keep his secret for long. This is a bingeable series. I definitely plan to get more volumes.

Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 1

Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 1 by Naoya Matsumoto
Series Name: Kaiju No. 8
Genres: Action, Sci-Fi
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Viz/ Shonen Jump
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2598-4
Rating: 3.5/5
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Description from the Book

With the highest kaiju-emergence rates in the world, Japan is no stranger to attack by deadly monsters. Enter the Japan Defense Force, a military organization tasked with the neutralization of kaiju. Kafka Hibino, a kaiju-corpse cleanup man, has always dreamed of joining the force. But when he gets another shot at achieving his childhood dream, he undergoes and unexpected transformation. How can he fight kaiju now that he’s become one himself?!

Kafka hopes to one day keep his pact with his childhood friend Mina to join the Japan Defense Force and fight by her side. But while she’s out neutralizing kaiju as Third Division captain, Kafka is stuck cleaning up the aftermath of her battles. When a sudden rule change makes Kafka eligible for the Defense Force, he decides to try out for the squad once more. There’s just one problem – He’s made the Defense Force’s neutralization list under the code name Kaiju No. 8.

Personal & Info

My friends have been highly recommending this manga for a while, so I figured I’d try it. One of them ended up with an extra copy of volume one and gave it to me. It took a while to get around to even though it was in my priority pile.

I think the anime is set to release April 2024, so there isn’t long to wait to be able to see that adaptation.

Characters

Kafka Hibino is the main character. He’s 32 and completely given up on his dream to join the Defense Force. He works as part of the cleanup crew instead.

Mina Ashiro is the 27 year-old third division captain of the Defense Force. She’s also Kafka’s childhood friend. I get the feeling they haven’t spoken in a long time.

Reno Ichikawa is an 18 year-old new recruit at the Monster Sweeper Inc. cleanup crew. He aspires to join the Defense Force and he doesn’t have the greatest first impression. Thankfully, his personality gets better as the story progresses.

Kikoru Shinomiya is the daughter of the Defense Force director and the number one applicant to watch.

Haruichi Izumo, Iharu Furuhashi, and Aoi Kaguragi are three of the best candidates for the Defense Force applicants. They’ll probably become important longterm characters later.

Soshiro Hoshina is the vice-captain of the third division Defense Force team, the same team Mina Ashiro captains. They are proctoring the exam for joining the force.

Story & Thoughts

This is pretty good. I like it enough to say I liked it. I don’t quite think it’s deserving of a four, but it’s close. The premise is interesting. I like that it stars a protagonist who isn’t a teenager. That’s not super common.

I get major Attack on Titan vibes from the series. The city is frequently attacked by Kaiju and the protagonist turns into a Kaiju himself. There are also hints that make me think he’s not the only one in this situation. Plus, there’s a special force intended to fight Kaiju. It certainly feels similar. I assume people who like one will like the other.

Unlike what I can recall about Attack on Titan, though, this series has a lot of comic relief. Kafka and Reno are amusing together. The tension never goes on for too long before they do something silly. They’re not trying to be silly, but things often turn out that way.

I think this is a strong start for the series. It explains everything you need to know, and it introduces several characters who are likely to be significant as the series progresses. These parts are done well, and now that they’re out of the way, the series should be able to really get going. I’m looking forward to continuing the series.