First Impressions on 'Kaijuu 8-gou': A fun and unique kaiju anime so far

I've always really enjoyed the kaiju genre. It's one that I feel has been heavily neglected in recent times. Though its closest attempts have been more from Hollywood as it reboots certain franchises like Godzilla and Kong. There was also the live action attempts with the interesting Pacific Rim title which killed off all interest in the genre with its disappointing sequel. Since then, the kaiju genre has sort of stagnated. It's one that is similar to the cyberpunk story: it came many decades ago, and it went. Never to return to its former glory. The case of the kaiju genre has been somewhat making attempts to revive itself in the last few years though, but its attempts have been less than interesting to say the least. Netflix was really attempting to pull Godzilla out of live action and throw it into the animated world. The Japanese were using few similarities in certain hit anime shows like Attack on Titan, which I guess could be somewhat related to the kaiju genre given the giants which are roaming around causing havoc on the population. The mecha genre sometimes here and there pulls some kaiju action out, though their narratives are rarely about gigantic monsters and more about the slice of life and mecha side of things with monsters somewhat appearing. So, it's a genre that has seen a few heartbeats over the years. But nothing major to really say it's actually living and breathing.

I do try to keep an eye out for the genres I enjoy the most. The ones I have some great guilty pleasure in enjoying. Every few months I'll scan over them on certain sites and look for something that catches my eye. It's rare that something does, especially in the world of anime at this point where I feel more alienated within each passing year. Almost incapable of watching any of it. But I do want to find good anime shows to watch. And stumbling across Kaijuu 8-gou was interesting, one that seemed to have some good reviews. When I read the synopsis, it reminded me of a game series I thoroughly enjoy that recently starting making waves finally after years of barely having much of an audience: Earth Defence Force. A game in which players are just thrown at hordes of gigantic monsters and insects to which various types of weapons must be used to overwhelm them. A sort of inspired game that is somewhat similar to the idea of Starship Troopers with a more comedic approach. I had that sort of feeling the more I looked into it, the more I glanced over trailers and saw screenshots of the show. It was enough to pull me in: something fun, lighthearted, but still with that central theme.

There may be the odd spoiler from this point on, though this is a first impressions post so it's more a general light summary of plot with some initial thoughts.

Kaijuu 8-gou

Kaijuu 8-gou starts itself off with a quick introduction to its nightmarish world: one where gigantic monsters appear and cause near endless destruction to the city. Colossal amounts of damage are obtained as a result of their presence, but and it's with that we end up with the inevitable after math once they've been dealt with. To imagine the mess created having killed off a monster taller than buildings is something else. And that's not the concept of all the debris, but the remains of the monster itself. All the blood and body parts, organs and such that must be cleaned up and removed. We get the perspective of one of the members of the clean-up crews that has to go in and start removing pieces of the monsters in efforts to tidy up the streets again and return to whatever norm they had. This process requires a series of equipment to hack and cut through everything, but also special uniforms to protect the workers from dangerous liquids, which hold a more acidic form to them. It's during one of these routine clean-ups that our protagonist gets caught up in another attack, to which he's left in hospital after the event.

Within the first episode it roams over the idea of the Defence Force, which is a more elite group of people that handle the action side of dealing with the kaiju that attack the city. Though the first episode turns things a bit more upside down with the flashbacks that show our protagonist was meat to be part of that elite group at one point, to which he never did make it. Things take a weirder turn as he ends up getting a kaiju inside of him, which turns him into a strange humanoid being. This leaves him with the ability to turn, as well as harvest the power of the larger kaiju. It reminded me a lot of the general idea of Neon Genesis Evangelion, an anime that I didn't really enjoy all that much compared to the sheer praise it receives. Though I think this stands out on its own with the more comedic nature it holds, and is often utilised in the animation side of things which exaggerates the emotions and facial expressions of its characters in moments. So it's not that serious of an anime, it sticks true to the general tropes of modern anime in that regard. Still portraying something quite cartoonish. It's main narrative seems a bit generic, however: kaiju appear, man tries to defeat them, becomes one, now can fight them.

I feel that this is a trope that is far too heavily used within the world of anime, one that is a bit stale even if the kaiju genre itself isn't that popular and deep. Even outside it, it's a repetitive trope that leads us down a familiar path within the narrative structure, to a point of somewhat easy predictable outcomes. As things grow too formulaic, it becomes harder to invest in the characters and their stories. Though I'm sticking with this to see if it does manage to stray a bit in its own direction somehow. Even though it does have other typical tropes that are found elsewhere in the anime world. But so far it is the animation that I quite enjoy. In an era of retro-scoping and computer generated animation, it's nice to see something that does feel a bit more traditional for the most part. And I often struggle to find interest in animation that utilises too much of the 3D side of things; which brings me back to that aforementioned enjoyment of the ridiculous and cartoonish moments of the show in which things are more exaggerated.

Anyway, I'll be continuing to watch to see what happens. It's nice to find an anime to watch for a change, I've definitely been a bit out of the loop with it all for a while. It's refreshing to find something that might actually hold my attention.

Join the Movies and TV Shows Community Discord.

Follow our curation trail!

Follow me over on Twitter!