Kaiju No. 8 Season 2

Episode 15

Episode 15 of Kaiju No. 8 is a solid return to form that gets the show back to its equilibrium state without necessarily excelling in any one area.

Many of my comments from last week carry over into this week as well. The battle in the streets with Kaiju No. 9 continues. Kikoru and Narumi are the characters most readily in the spotlight. Kikoru is on point in the battle for the most part, going toe-to-toe with the beast while the audience gets more insight into her mindset and childhood. This flashback is particularly effective as it paints a heroic but tragic figure in her mother. The idyllic childlike wonder around playful times at home and walking through gorgeous fields of flowers straight out of a dream is occasionally interrupted by doubts about how safe Kikoru's mother is: a worried glance, the edge of a spied bandage, etc. Her death makes sense as the tragic bifurcation point for both Kikoru and her father, as it seems sudden to the audience as well. All we see is her photo at her funeral. The offscreening is an effective choice here. By hiding the details from our sight, we can imagine the most tragic version of events our minds so choose.

Narumi gets less character development this week compared to Kikoru. That's not such a bad thing, as he is a newer addition and got a fair bit of focus last week. His character has a more comedic bent - at least thus far - and probably would not have fit the somber tone of the episode, given that Kikoru's mother's death was in the spotlight. That said, he gets to do cool attacks with cool purple lightning, and it looks terrific. The combat mask helps designate when he's locked in and ready for combat rather than kicking his feet and being a big overgrown child.

Kafka gets past his henshintile dysfunction and manages to transform into Kaiju No. 8 by the end of the episode. It's pretty well done, though not incredible. The focus of these episodes has been giving the new division a sizzle reel rather than anything about Kafka, and that's fine. But it feels a bit strange to have his hangup be trusting in the success of his team when he's always been impressed by the capabilities of his teammates? Or at least, doubting them has not been a hangup thus far. Perhaps you could frame it around Kaiju No. 9's power. Still, it's pretty transparent that Kafka needed to be sidelined and the reasoning was come up with later, handwavingly. Doesn't bring down the overall enjoyment too much, but it does stick out.

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Kaiju No. 8 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.