Kaiju

Whoa, it’s a Kaiju!!!

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , ,

DanDaDan S2 Ep 11 Review

Japan may not have invented the concept of giant monsters, but it turned it into an art form, complete with its own name: Kaiju. Since 1954, Japan has cemented itself as the giant monster capital of the world, with names like Godzilla gaining international fame long before anime established a foothold in the West. With DanDaDan essentially being a love letter to all things supernatural and sci-fi, it was only a matter of time before we got ourselves a Kaiju. And just like how most humans are in the movies, Momo, Okarun, and that new guy Kinta are completely outclassed as they face down this terror from the stars! They’re going to need all hands on deck just to survive this fight!

Or maybe a giant robot.

Kaiju Approaching!

Just when Momo and Okarun thought they had a lead on the latter’s missing nut, not only did it turn out to be a dud, but it’s led them to be facing down some kind of alien Kaiju. The upside is that it doesn’t shoot atomic breath at them. The downside? It shoots bolts of lightning like it’s a thunder god. And with tagalong Kinta unable to defend himself, the pair are forced onto the backfoot until Aira and Jiji show up. While Jiji takes Kinta away, since neither of them can fight, Aira, Momo, and Okarun try to fight the Kaiju…with disastrous results.

There is a lot of unresolved tension between this growing group throughout the season, and a lot of it has to do with Aira. She’s kept insisting that she’s the leader of this “Family,” something that the others have either ignored, like Okarun, or flat-out rejected, like Momo. Thanks to that, their lack of team coordination means they’re not able to fight as effectively as they can. Not that that matters, since they’re fighting a Kaiju. You have to be as freakishly strong as a Saiyan, ninja, or a pirate with Conqueror’s Haki to take that down.

It also doesn’t help that there’s the tug of war that Aira and Momo are caught in over Okarun. Look at what Aira did this episode to one-up Momo!

Diabolical!

Meanwhile, Jiji fares no better with Kinta. Thanks to the latter’s stubbornness, Jiji winds up turning into the Evil Eye, and he doesn’t change back. For the rest of the episode, he’s serving as comic relief, complaining about wanting to fight someone, but he can’t. It’s not Tuesday! Admittedly, it is funny to see the Evil Eye acting all pouty because he can’t fight Okarun, but since he can’t fight the Kaiju (Takakura points out this is a bad idea), comic relief is all he’s good for. Which is fine in this case.

As entertaining as this, though, there’s still space-Godzilla headed straight for them. And with Turbo Granny nowhere to be found and Seiko a guest on some show, they’re on their own. Luckily for them, they have the means to fight back!

Even if I didn’t know the basics from the manga already, I would’ve guessed that rebuilding the Ayase house out of memory-shape nanomachines was an important plot device. Technology like that plus raw imagination means someone could think of anything, and the machines would make it a reality. And there’s only way to stop a Kaiju without getting another one to fight: giant robots. And this is when Kinta comes in clutch, using his otaku knowledge of all things mecha to create this!

This is Voltron meets Pacific Rim with the Buddha thrown in, for good measure! Some people may say that giant robots are a waste of time and money, but they’re probably just jealous they don’t get to use one. This could make for an amazing finale next week as the gang fights the giant Kaiju! I’m looking forward to seeing what happens! Assuming, that is, they can pilot it!

I Give “Hey, it’s a Kaiju” a 4/5

Kaiju No. 8-Like MHA, but With Giant Monsters

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kaiju No. 08 initial review

What’s the one thing cooler or scarier than giant monsters? Getting to fight giant monsters, that’s what! For decades now, Japan has been enamored by the idea of giant monsters, or Kaiju. From the early days of Godzilla and Gamera to Attack on Titan, Kaiju has been a big part of Japan, and so are series that revolve around fighting them. And with Japanese culture becoming more popular than ever worldwide, now is the perfect time for a new anime about fighting Kaiju to come out. And that’s where the newest Shonen anime, Kaiju No. 8, steps in to fulfill all our monster-fighting needs. Or does it?

Yes. Yes it does.

I’m RJ Writing Ink, and after watching the first two episodes of the new Shonen series, Kaiju No. 8, here’s my initial review.

An Unconventional Power-Up

The premise behind the series is similar to that of My Hero Academia. In a world where Kaiju regularly attack and destroy everything they can, some people stand up to fight back and protect those who can’t. In Japan, that task falls to the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force. But while they fight the Kaiju and get all the glory, others have to haul the guts and parts away. And unfortunately for him, that’s where our protagonist, Kafka Hibino, is stuck. 

As a kid, Kafka and his friend, Mina Ashiro, promised to join the Defense Force and fight Kaiju together. While she got in and became Captain of an entire division, Kafka failed several times, like Naruto or Deku. Then, just as Kafka decides to give it another try before it’s too late, he swallows this parasitic Kaiju, and it turns him into a Kaiju.

A Kaiju with super-strength, transformation, and can pee out of his nipples. 

No, really. I’m not making this up.

Despite all of this, though, Kafka also discovers that he’s kept his human mind intact and, with effort, can transform back-and-forth between Human and Kaiju. 

So, despite the massive target on his back, Kafka and his new friend/junior, Reno Ichikawa, still decide to try and join the Defense Force together. And that’s where the anime stands at the time of this writing. 

Kaiju No. 8’s Subversion of Shonen Tropes is What Makes it Good

Right off the bat, Kaiju No. 8 sets itself apart from other Shonen series by subverting a big trope: the protagonist. Instead of starting off as a young boy or teen like Goku, Denji, Luffy, Yuji and more, Kafka is 32. He’s already experienced what it’s like to have your youthful ambitions turn into letdowns, and as someone whose closer to him in age than I’d like to admit, that hits pretty close to home. I don’t want to give up on any of my dreams, but as you get older, you can’t help but wonder if you’ve met your limits or are living your life to the fullest. Kafka was going through that when the anime starts, and right when he decides to give things one more shot, he becomes a Kaiju! A humanoid Kaiju with super strength and speed, but one that will get hunted by everyone except for Ichikawa. The brutal irony.

Speaking of which, Ichikawa is also a bit of a subversion himself. At age 18, he’s closer to the Shonen demographic. He has both the never give up attitude you’d expect from a Shonen protagonist and the coldness of a typical rival (at first), yet he’s not the hero. It’s a strange sight to behold, made even stranger when you consider that his English VA is Adam McArthur, the voice of Yuji from JuJutsu Kaisen! 

I don’t really know if this series is going to be any good, but given what I’ve seen in the first two episodes, it looks pretty solid. It balances the comedy with the action quite well, and the premise itself is interesting enough to give it a shot. Alas, due to time constraints, I won’t be able to review it episodically. I simply have too have much on my plate as it is. Having said that, I do think that this show is worth watching. This looks to be one of the heavy hitters for the Spring 2024 season!