Kaiju No. 8 Season 2

Episode 21

Episode 21 of Kaiju No. 8 successfully reconnects Kafka with the rest of the cast during the quiet moments.

This week's lull in the action was a welcome calm before the storm. There are no major monster fights on the card this week, and instead, we get time to let the tension build and spend more time with Kafka, both of which are handled very well. The silence gives the cast time to talk things out and fret about the future, even as the present seems peaceful. They are preparing mentally and emotionally for what's coming, and it's nice to have this time to reflect on what has happened before the end of the season.

Because it is clear that we are approaching the climax. Partially, that's because of the episode count. But there's more to it than just that. The steady increase in strange sightings of new kaiju with previously unheard-of abilities is helping set the stage for an explosive finale. These kaiju are increasingly off-kilter and outside-the-box monstrosities. We've got beasts that suck up tornadoes of ocean life and weird polyhedra with faces protruding from all sides. I like the weirdness here as it calls back to the strangeness of early Ultra-kaiju. It's a far cry from the giant ants and generic mole-beasts that have been the feature of this season, while remaining (mostly) distinct and alien.

Kafka gets a lot of attention this week, too, which is great. I will continue to beat this drum, but I think isolating him for so long was not the best call mid-season. On the flip side, he does get to see that his squadmates actually missed him when he reconnects with the outside world. And we get more insights into Kafka and Mina's early days when they were younger and facing the kaiju threat as mere children. These scenes are welcome, and I like all the little touches (like Kafka's trembling hand even as he's putting on a brave face). It all comes together to make a great stretch of character focus for Kafka.

I do still have my concerns with some of the pacing going into this stretch, though. I'm hoping that Kafka plays some role in the finale, and I assume he will, but the scale of the upcoming fight seems way out of his league. It seems out of his league for what he's learned purely in terms of hand-to-hand combat, and I imagine it will force him to bring out his number 8 powers. I wish there was a bit more emphasis put on his training, so we got a sense of what he had done, except for a handful of scenes with Hoshina that mostly amounted to short workouts. It makes it a bit too obvious how quickly he will have to lean into his number 8 powers, in my opinion.

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Kaiju No. 8 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.