Kaiju No. 8

[@prince_nox]

interesting, I honestly found the secret being revealed so early to be a good thing on my end, because the show didn't bother wasting my time with constant will-they-won't-they fakeouts 😂 I also really enjoyed that his friends didn't turn on him, it felt like a more human reaction; they looked at this good dude and all the times he did good things and went "We trust him, he's not a monster". In a world of media saturated with the cliche "hOw CoUlD yOu KeEp ThIs FrOm Us We'Re YoUr FrIeNdS" nonsense it was refreshing to see, it was like I was seeing actual bonds built of actual trust that didn't crumble the second some drama happened.

[@justme22154]

Agreed. It felt a lot more natural and refreshing than the usual stuff. The bonds formed by soldiers are stronger than that, and I'm glad they recognize that.

[@SurrealKeenan]

I get your point, but how KN8 handles it is basically the equivalent of there being a romantic "will they won't they" and them deciding that they'll just be platonic friends with no drama. There's so much more that could be done with it and doing basically nothing with it after several episodes of build up is lame.

[@prince_nox]

@@SurrealKeenan I guess that's just difference in expectations, honestly what I expected was a confrontation, and I got one, the badass fight to test Kafka, so it didn't bother me at all that they decided to not linger on it. I can find that kind of drama in most other shows, I'm glad No.8 decided not to ^ ^

[@BobbinRobbin777]

Same, though I would've preferred that the series had a Shibuya Incident-level shift of the status-quo once it happened, instead of being all sunny and consequence free.

[@stbd2773]

It's also better in that a DEPARTMENT full of KAIJU HUNTERS didn't have to wait 3 seasons to pull the plug on his identity it would have really called their aptitude into question. Honestly it still does because they don't explicitly figure it out, he transforms in front of them but it's still better.

[@kaiba9494]

You had me laughing out loud with the gag of replacing Mina from MHA with Mina from Kaiju when talking about MHA as a payoff for the previous joke of replacing Kaiju Mina with MHA Mina

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Thank you, thank you!

[@notthis9586]

The episode where multiple characters have "hey god, it's me" internal dialogue in quick succession while fighting that first human sized villain had me rolling. My roomate and I just kept that bit going for the rest of the arc. Such a fun show!

[@greenwarrior33]

A minor thing I really like is the uniforms. They all wear the same suit, bra and all. In a sea of female characters getting the "Darling in the Franxx" treatment, this is a nice change of pace.

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Good point! I do find the uniform design a little generic, but it's practical and realistic.

[@pheonixrises11]

combat suits: Yes! formalwear uniform: I initially called it a miniskirt, but it could just be a very long top with no pants. I also thought the women were wearing thigh-high boots, but it is actually small black shoes with black stockings

[@deazee2288]

"you're over 30, get your shit together" the anime

[@mahwiiiife408]

"Jack himself" got me good. Thank you exclaimation point and Merry Christmas!!!

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

I was happy with that one, too. Happy Sol Invictus to you!

[@WillTheGreatest]

Watching this in parallel with loser ranger made them very interesting companions pieces with differing perspectives about dreams, heroism, and what it means to be human. Honestly the biggest sin of this show is making me like a song by yungblud

[@hsemicolonc413]

I don't know if I quite get the criticism that Hibino's secret being revealed so early & so nonconfrontational being a bad thing. I found it SO refreshing that Hibino's Spider-Man'ing in a world where spiders are very illegal & very evil didn't result in his friends immediately blasting him apart, they have an actually nuanced, human reaction to the reveal. Hibino makes it incredibly clear that he can keep his kaiju form under control & is willing to spend a good while in solitary confinement with a camera ominously staring at him to prove that he is indeed- A person like the rest of the 3rd Division. Kaiju or not, he's still Hibino. & Hibino is cool. & nobody wants to have him stripped for parts. It's cool.

[@donutholebandit]

Totally agreed! One of my favourite recent lines in shonen manga actually comes from that plot beat, with: "In the entire 3rd division, not a single person considers you a kaiju threat."

[@Alkeeros]

I think Point's point (haha) is less how quickly it happened and more how they built expectations up for "when the secret is out, there will be no hope of escape." And then when the secret did come out, there's basically zero consequences. I think a lot of people (myself included) figured there would basically be no drama- Goku isn't really going to lose a fight, Naruto isn't really going to lose a friend, Asta is never going to really give up... but in a less simplistic show it could have had more consequences other than Kafka basically saying "I promise I'm not a threat."

[@skullinthejar]

I came here for exactly 3 things: Cringy songs, just-stack-them-on-top-of-each-other animation, and incredibly based, thought-provoking takes on media I enjoy. And I was not disappointed. Literally guffawed when you sang "this is a kidnappiiiing" at the end there

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Those three things are what I do!

[@poposao1]

As someone who’s read the manga for how simple the story was, the story really doesn’t get any more elaborate. But I do appreciate the supporting cast not being ignored (that being said, 50% of them stop getting focus, but maybe that why they made a spinoff series)

[@Lykrast]

The kaiju cleanup squad was such a cool piece of worldbuilding ye I wish the show was more on that, but oh well I still enjoyed it

[@hollowman9410]

In the end, no matter how cool a kaiju cleanup series could have been, it would never been as successful as a straight up Kaiju fighting series. Which poetically reflects the story of Kaiju No. 8 very well.

[@dudeist_priest]

I love the singing you've been doing, almost makes me forget that you reminded me I'm in my 30s.

[@chickenhunter4694]

I will never forgive dexter for having one of the best hooks of a story that i have ever heard with the first four really good seasons and then completly dropping the bal going forward

[@JacksonJinn]

I feel Kaiju no. 8's biggest strength is being approachable as a gateway anime. For people who haven't seen literally dozens of shonen monster punching anime before. Who just noticed Chainsaw Man breaking into the public consciousness but didn't want to get involved with a 'degenerate loudmouth' protag. For people who are indeed over 30 and perhaps haven't *seen* an anime since they were a teenager. This goes a ways to explain breaking the Episode 1 premise over its knee in favour of a straightforward monsterpunching series from 2 onward. And, yeah, considering how much of a blowout smash hit the manga was in Japan, I can see why they went all out on the music and animation for the show. This was built to be a more ground-level, and dare I say _mass appeal_ show, I can say with a degree of confidence. You wanna know my best evidence, though? Stalwart refusal to dive deep into female fanservice. We get *one* bath scene with Mina, a few gym scenes with the girls, and a cougar boss who harasses her younger peers sometimes. That's it. The ladies aren't running around with special skimpy suits, no one even approaches the topic of male/female relations (or physical relations at all!) on a military base, they're given the exact same respect and idealized perspective the men do. This is not a show aimed at otaku aiming to buy figurines of the girls in bunny suits. This is a show you're supposed to be able to watch with your kids *and* parents. And that's strong, as a premise. Greatest of all time? Of course not, I agree 7/10 is a solid score for this on average. Nothing seriously *wrong* but it falls short in different ways. But that's a 7/10 you can give to practically any age range, gender identity, or interest group, with a damned good OneRepublic song as the closer. And that's impressive in its own way, imo.

[@philiphockenbury6563]

You’re so right about it not being aggressively sexual. It’s so nice to have a show I can watch in public and not have people looking at me funny. It also helps that they don’t need to rely on sexual appeal to attract the teen boys when the main character can punch monsters so hard they explode!

[@Vile_Oreo]

I wouldn't be surprised if Explanation Point released an album that was just him covering openings and endings to shows.

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

I've got about half an album's worth by now!

[@elijahdixonowens5036]

20:13 I dont think your overall point is wrong, but this analysis is missing some important context in why the Kaiju are on a scale of 1-10, mainly that the kaiju are an unsubtle metaphor for earthquakes and natural disasters. Its most obvious in the language they use for the small kaiju monsters, "Yoju", or "residual beasts" which is similar to the japanese word for after shock " Yoshin" which use similar Kanji. And in chapter 58, theybsay the Kaiju are born from the energy of Fault lines in the earth. So when they give them a fortitude number of 5, its the equivalent of a magnitude 5 earthquake. One of the things that drew me to the series was that they had personified natural disasters and said: "What if we could punch the great Tohoku earthquake in the face!?".

[@kbbd6999]

@@elijahdixonowens5036 FairPoint but he's only talking about the anime, anything you would learn from the manga holds no weight in this discussion as ideally adaptations are supposed to stand on their own.

[@liamwhite3522]

@@kbbd6999 Counterpoint: they probably *do* mention in the anime that the small kaiju are called Yoju, but then don't point out that it's spelled similarly to Yoshin, and to someone who isn't fully immersed in Japanese might not make the connection, especially if they are only hearing it spoken and not seeing the two words written side-by-side to compare.

[@johnathanmonsen6567]

Similar to Pacific Rim ranking them by Hurricane Categories, as Del Toro was making them a metaphor for climate change.

[@elijahdixonowens5036]

@@liamwhite3522 Thats what I assume! I also forgot to mention that the Big Kaiju are called “Honju”, which uses similar Kanji to “Honshin” meaning “Main quake”. So in episode 1, when the Honju is destroyed but a Yoju comes out of its corpse later that day to attack the main character, it is a visual metaphor for a big earthquake making a bunch of property damage, and then when first responders come to clean up the mess, an unexpected after shock comes and fucks shit up. Again I don’t think this invalidates the videos overall points, but I find it so cool and want more people to realize!

[@elijahdixonowens5036]

@@johnathanmonsen6567 I didn’t even make that connection! It makes so much sense for kaiju to be used as these types of comparisons, since the O.G. Godzilla was a metaphor for Nuclear devastation, a man made disaster.

[@infinitefes2812]

If i remember correctly the limiters limit the power you can access, and with them removed is the power you can pull, but the suits/the person can't sustain it long term, so the limiters keep it down untill its needed, its not just a i need more power button anyone can pull, only those who's base power is too much for the suit/themselves to handle long term

[@declangallagher1448]

Wasn't expecting to love this series. Glad I gave it a chance.

[@jr637-1]

Wait... IS THE BEGINNING A POWERTHIRST REFERENCE?! Holy crap, I haven't thought about Powerthirst in a decade.

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Powerthirst inspired, maybe. The reference is in another video.

[@jacksamson1239]

4:38 this joke gets funnier the more tou watch it, was not prepared for it

[@ThatNerdKM]

1:49 your actually a pretty good singer!

[@themelancholyofgay3543]

with just a proper instrumental, it would be perfect. copyrighted tho...

[@sevaire7355]

I'm busting move in my kitchen listening to it it's just tooo fucking hype

[@AllThisIsPointless]

Bandoh's soundtrack really does make the show. Also, as much as I enjoy Kaiju no. 8, I too wish to see an alternate series where Kafka just keeps doing the cleanup job lol

[@scoops237]

I feel bad for whoever has to share Explanation Point's living space. His apartment complex. "Oh god, the karaoke bits again."

[@Pendragondnd]

"Turn his dream to Gun" - sounds pretty metal.

[@hithedragon7842]

I hadn't heard him say it yet so I read this comment to the tune of I Dreamed a Dream. Thank you for that.

[@fudwTM]

Hell yeah, my favourite average shonan anime of the year with the best opening song of the year.

[@upg5147]

*ED

[@Sh12pen]

Both, both are good ​@@upg5147

[@skate318]

That power thirst reference is UNCOMFORTABLY FANTASTIC!!!

[@jr637-1]

Kafka joins the Kaiju Defense Force because he's TOO ENERGETIC FOR NORMAL SPORTS.

[@skate318]

@@jr637-1 you'll have babies, SO MANY BABIES! 400 BABIES!!!

[@skate318]

@@jr637-1 You'll have babies, SOO Many Babies!! 400 BABIES!!!!!

[@kbbd6999]

You know I've been reading the manga since the series started and a lot of your criticisms kind of highlight why I'm not nearly as excited to read it as I used to be whenever a chapter comes out, like it's not a bad series but it just makes so many offers where you look and think "it could go this way" "it could go that way that would be so hype!" and then it just picks the middle of the road option nearly every time. It kind of feels like watching a late stage marvel movie, where you can kind of see the bits and pieces that would have brought it to more interesting directions if they weren't in the industry they were in.

[@kbbd6999]

As an example something like "Otome Monster Caramelize" picks a unique premise for the genre it's in and then absolutely leans into it. Also cool to learn the anime soundtrack beats ass.

[@ChronoShadow69]

Inuyashiki Last Hero was pretty fantastic, one that pops up regularly in my head even years later. More people need to see it!

[@oriondezagrats4228]

It sounds quite a lot like you're looking for World Trigger. It's concrete where Kaiju is vague. It has the strengths of a strong cast of supporting characters that are memorable and each have their individual quirks, and because they develop as time goes on, it feels like a living world. The main character is an underpowered weakling who _stays_ an underpowered weakling and has to think _around_ his weakness. His biggest strength is that he's surrounded by a team of power players and they all trust his judgement implicitly. He tries to get stronger, but that's not something he can just DO. He just has to equip smart, and think well. Power level in World Trigger is _directly_ related to the kinds of stuff you can equip, how much power you can get out of them, and how long you can use them for. Some of that equipment will always take a fixed amount, but most of it scales, and he is bottom-rung in terms of actual power level. Through dedicated training, he might _just_ be able to get up to _second bottom rung_ in terms of power level. The first season is quite long, and this isn't helped by the comically poor pacing of the anime because of a massively stretched out budget, but seasons 2 and 3 pick up the pacing quite a bit and the animation improves as well. Notably there is an anime-only filler arc of questionable quality towards the end of the first season that can be reasonably skipped, with only a couple of light mentions over the next couple of episodes, and then is totally forgotten.

[@Sh12pen]

WORLD TRIGGER MENTION 🗣️❗❗🔥🔥🔥

[@gentlemandemon]

I agree that I would've loved to see the story of a failed shounen protagonist, but I think the series was published in the wrong magazine for that. Maybe it was an editorial decision or the result of fan feedback, but it feels like the trajectory of the story changed a few times before finding it's direction. Reminds me of the manga one-shot pilot for My Hero Academia, where Midoriya was an office worker who helps support a hero instead of a teen who gets powers.

[@ZekeStaright]

Legit, I love the initial set-up too, would have been pretty fine if that was the entire premise. I love reading Exterminator cause it's about a guy who just kills pests in a fantasy world. Yes, he gets SUPER OP cause he dumped a shit ton of rat carcasses that he killed with rat poison in a forest full of monsters who would come up & eat the carcasses & thus also died of rat poisoning, but that's in the back seat, he mostly takes care of everything like a normal pest controller. It's a real good read, I hope it comes off of hiatus soon. Started a new one called Dinosaur Sanctuary that's just "My life as a zookeeper for this failing zoo... & the zoo animals are dinosaurs." Mundane & Fantastical is my fuckin' jam.

[@pepperonijabroni5353]

My favourite parts of Kaiju No. 8 are the worldbuilding and the villain. Im not entirely sure how far the anime gets, but I read the first 70 or so chapters of the manga a few years ago so let that colour my thoughts. I wont get into any spoilers in this comment. The world in KN8 really feels like it has been dealing with Kaiju for a very long time. Every single aspect of sensing Kaiju, dealing with them and disposing of them is well crafted and well thought out. I love how well the military operates and how hard they fight to maintain that optimised operation, which makes their failures feel so much more heartwrenching, and their successes feel very earned. I also love the major Kaiju super weapons crafted for select super strong characters. It feels like a very natural way of putting really cool powers within this hard limited system. Every numbered suit or weapon has a name, a history and different characters feel differently towards it. It's wonderful. Kaiju No 9 is one of my favourite villains. I love how slithery and slippery he is. How weak he starts off as but escapes through the skin of his teeth time and time again. Every time he comes back he's stronger, craftier and always has a plan. He feels like the best parts of first form Cell. I love parasitic villains like him, that slip away just barely only to come back stronger time and time again. That it feels like Kafka could have just dealt with him and killed him the very first time and avoided this whole mess. I love that.

[@justsomeannoyingredpanda]

If you like the world building and organization in Kaiju no. 8, you'll probably love World Trigger. It shares many of the same elements as Kaiju no.8 such as an organization defending against a monstrous force, but it goes into far more detail about how either side both operates and why. The organization in World Trigger has multiple factions in it with various views, and multiple characters in each faction, which creates a great sense of community. You also get to see how the organization (called "Border") also handles it's resources and even public opinion of it. It really feels like Border and the city it protects are are almost characters themselves. The antagonists are interesting to, as no one is straight up "evil" as they mainly operate for their own communities rarely something personal. The power system is also great, as while I found that Kaiju no. 8 has a lot of vague meanings to numbers, World Trigger has concrete rules and limitations that leaves it up to the characters to get creative with to cover their weaknesses. Everyone has almost equal access to a select armory of powers or weapons, but it is how they mix and match that make them have their unique "power" that are in many other Shonen. I highly encourage you to check out the series, as I find that it better expands and executes many of the same ideas that Kaiju no. 8 has who failed to do so in my opinion.

[@PandaKnight-FightingDwagon]

it covered about 30 chapters. It ended after Kafka dueled Director Shinomiya

[@pepperonijabroni5353]

@@justsomeannoyingredpanda that sounds really interesting, ill check it out. Thanks ^-^

[@monochrome_tv]

I really enjoyed the early episodes of Kaiju No. 8, my problem is that it feels like it never commits to anything in particular, constantly moving on from what could be really interesting themes

[@carinah.7210]

I’m here for the… well, everything. Your videos are incredible and always make me laugh. That being said, I stay every time for the singing. Beautifully done, as always ❤

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Thank you thank you! There's a full version of the cover on Patreon, as always.

[@affableadversary6045]

You are so right about the soundtrack for the fights being a huge factor in the emotional catharsis that makes this show good. I legitimately like your cover of the s-a-a-ave my life op song better! 💚

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

@@affableadversary6045 Full cover available free on Patreon!

[@IDKLOL-qj7sl]

it kills me to think about what we could've had if Kaiju no.8 were handled a little differently... I agree with you that there are a lot of positive qualities that the show could've run with, based on what it seeded, and by trying to choose all of them, it kind of chose none of them. but for me, I think the most intriguing idea would've been if the janitorial arc were drawn out longer. to play a mild bit of script doctor, I think the most engaging content for that arc would've been something like this: Kafka is a sanitation worker, and has been for a while. he has a dream of catching up to Mina someday, but he knows it's pie in the sky at this point. he just says it like it's gonna happen someday as like... his thing, amongst his friends, but there's no real angst to it. our first change would be that we'd majorly flesh out the characters of the other people he works with, and follow them as they handle some kaiju corpse cleanings, in detail. these segments would go as follows: the kaiju shows up, and we get to watch it wreak havoc in its own unique way, plus we get to see Mina and her people do badassery while defeating it. then, once the corpse is available for cleaning, we have Kafka's crew getting up close and personal with the remains. this part would be something almost akin to Dungeon Meshi, in the sense that we could revisit what the kaiju did when it was attacking, but from an investigative angle. how did it do those things? we could have the cleanup crew pulling double duty by observing the biological components and how they function, while they handle the disposal. and they could do this either in an official capacity where they report their findings, or an unofficial capacity where this is just their entertainment on the job. you could even have one of the cleanup crew side characters be sort of a Newton Geiszler (the enthusiastic scientist from Pacific Rim) type of person... or make Kafka himself more like that? idk, but I think Kafka would still retain his knowledge of kaiju biology as an advantage that he holds. maybe they even take illegal samples of the kaiju bodies sometimes... if they're small and harmless. all of this would be setting up for the eventual realization that kaiju cleanup is a more hazardous job than the people who do it are told. I can't decide if it'd be more interesting for this to be an emerging concern that no one knew about, or if it was something that was known but covered up because they'd never get anyone to do this very necessary job if they admitted how bad it could be for your health. but the idea is that everyone who works with kaiju corpses for long enough runs the risk of some stray biology augmenting their own. for some, this can manifest in ways that are kind of cool... for others, it presents more like a chronic illness. and I think it'd hit pretty hard if Kafka's crew actually lost someone to a condition they contracted while working... especially if they were kind of "disappeared" by the government, and the rest of the cleaning crew takes it as the dire warning that it is. eventually, Kafka's crew all starts to develop various hints of kaiju infection, and they become our main squad, whose story we follow. though I like the idea of Reno continuing to be a character in the capacity he already was. he'd come in as a new hire on the cleanup crew, and I think it'd be cool if he started out hating it even more than he did in the show. he's in this to become a warrior against the Kaiju, and this feels like an irritatingly time wasting pit stop, but it's like, a required elective or something. his development during the sanitation worker arc, would be to come into a sense of respect for these workers... and he'd stay right up until he becomes privy to what's happening to Kafka and the others. I think the shift that would happen at the end of this section, is that Kafka and his crew have to go into hiding. if the government finds out about their mutations, they actually will most likely turn them into lab rats, and Kafka's group can't handle being sneaky about their condition just yet. it's too new. and while the government may or may not kill them (they just don't know at this point).... even if they survive being captured, they can expect some truly gnarly stuff to happen to them, if they're left in the hands of a military research team. there'd be almost a cruel irony to it... these guys all studied kaiju corpses with the same intellectual curiosity that will probably drive whatever scientist gets to pick them apart if they're caught. they know exactly what to be afraid of. Reno, on the other hand, still has his eyes on the prize as far as joining the military against the kaiju threat. but he swears he'll never tell anyone about them, nor will he consider them his enemy. after the split, Kafka's side of the plot would be about his crew discovering their abilities/limitations (some might not be able to do anything at all, or only have drawbacks, leaving them more disabled than enabled). Kafka would probably end up with something close to his canon powerset, which is perfect for fighting kaiju, but I'd love it if each member of his crew could trace their biological augmentations back to a specific kaiju that they remember cleaning up. Kafka's specifically might've come from a really early job that he doesn't remember terribly well, or from a strange kaiju that didn't reveal very much about its latent potential with the corpse it left. so Kafka would have ample opportunity to discover more about himself over time. but pretty quickly, Kafka sees his abilities as an opportunity to do what he never got to do in the past... he can fight kaiju now. and going out to fight kaiju when they appear puts him directly in the same place at the same time as both Mina, and Reno. and Reno probably goes to visit them occasionally on his off days, so they do keep in touch. this leaves Reno to carry the brunt of the secret keeping plot, while Kafka and his crew only escalate in their mutations and understanding of themselves over time. and I think a really interesting twist would be if Reno is eventually mildly affected by kaiju mutation as well. it's just enough to boost his capabilities, and put him at the top of the class, but his nerves are through the roof, because he doesn't know whether his own mutation will escalate beyond his ability to hide or not. and then you could also have the plot about the evil sentient kaiju as well, which would give us our main overarching big villain, beyond just whatever unethical or trigger happy crap the military is pulling.

[@crashstarr6531]

This video literally made me cry for the better versions of the show I thought we'd get

[@Mr0Bob]

There's a line when they detect No. 8 during the test and vice captain man goes 'Either the machine is broken, or the most powerful Kaiju in history just appeared'. And I just kind of which they kept that. The other kaiju move behind the scenes and such, they're certainly more powerful than the humans, but Kaiju No. 8 is still stronger. This could then turn the final confrontation from what it currently is in the manga (Won't say cuz of spoilers but it's not that interesting) into a fight between Kafka and all of his friends that have been built up over the series, that have survived all the hardship of kaiju battles, even his childhood friend

[@Slaggg870]

Yeah I dropped it in the middle of episode 3 because the pace just came to a screeching halt. More than that, as someone that turned 31 this year, I was really invested in seeing an older character either get through on his own merit or find happiness elsewhere. But then it just turns out you need to be the chosen one and/or be gifted with a special power to be worth anything. It's the exact opposite lesson from Mob Psycho

[@zacharybosley1935]

The Kaiju that affects Kafka has a bit more meat to it further down in the series. The nature of his possession is actually quite thematic

[@The_carrot_man]

I've been following the manga for a while which is getting to its ending by now and while the series is good it is also very predictable. Kaiju no.8 isn't trying to do anything new and that's fine. An overall alright manga with some issues, quite literally the definition of a 7/10 series. This averageness makes it way better than i thought, plotwise average but it's a lot of fun to read compared to other shounen.

[@nijisoup8544]

I remember reading the manga long before it got turned into an anime, and I uh dropped it after a while. What intrigued me about it sadly was the stuff it didn't want to dive deeper in, and the characters weren't enough to keep me interested so eventually it just slipped my mind but I hope it entertained someone else though.

[@maestromarat6195]

I mean as far as the secret being revealed so early, yes it has the potential to be botched and end up removing the only remaining real source of tension in the show, and that's the more likely outcome. But it is possible that that tension will still be there just transformed from hide the secret at all costs to if you don't perform to our standards we'll turn you into a weapon that will.

[@elcatrinc1996]

That was an amazing cover, i would love to hear you sing more

[@AlternativeIce]

Most of my entertainment value while watching this show came from imagining if Kuroe Akaishi lived in the world of Kaiju No 8.

[@renatocorvaro6924]

Yeah, the "identity discovered" thing had me, like, wondering where we're going from here

[@zacharybosley1935]

No.9 does a lot of heavy lifting as an enemy who fundamentally wants to learn about humanity and all of its intimate shadows

[@Mir_Teiwaz]

I don't know if it was intentional, but I enjoyed the POWERTHIRST vibe from the opening 90 seconds or so of this video.

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Intentional!

[@funsponge9099]

I so nearly dropped the show after the 3rd 3 episode cycle of 1.team engages threat and things go to plan 2. threat grows unexpectedly out of control 3. kafka saves the day with kaiju form and is nearly exposed because of it. So dropping the facade of keeping the secret longer was literally the only thing that kept me watching

[@evilmurlock]

23:30 Man, accidently found this when i was looking for Inuyasha anime. This one goes CRAZY! Never finished it dou

[@adelaestrella3338]

I think this series whould have been infinitely better if had been split into 2 different series One whould focus on Kafuka and his monster cleaning job. Have him ruminating about his lost opportunities, bonding with his coworkers and eventually finding fulfillment in his new place in society The other whould be a balls to the wall action series about Shinomiya (because let's face it, she has 10x more shonen gusto than Kafuka) fighting kaiju with oversized weapons and rising through the ranks of JAKDF Trying to cram both ideas together in the same story leaves neither with the room to properly breath. They end up watering eachother down and we end up with one mediocre story instead of two good ones

[@ieatmud24]

yes god i just wish kaiju no.8 COMMITTED to something, anything at all. "maybe it's fine to give up on your dreams" oh nevermind we're doing it anyway "if anyone finds out you're a kaiju you'll be destroyed" actually now you're besties with the government i ache for what this show could've been because the reality is that it did nothing but lie to the viewers the whole time. yeah i enjoyed it and i watched the whole thing, but every single episode i watched all i could think about was how iconic this could've been

[@zacharybosley1935]

It does commit to the idea that you don't have to give up, and so long as you don't give up a path will emerge.

[@ieatmud24]

@@zacharybosley1935 you're right, but lots of shows do that. i was excited because i thought this would be different. more Real. acknowledging that sometimes you're born sick and poor and lesser than your peers for whatever reason and there's nothing you can do about it but learn to live with it. i'm happy for you if you liked kaiju 8 anyway, but i'm disabled. i would've loved a show like that

[@zacharybosley1935]

@@ieatmud24 i feel like that story is better represented in a genre that isn't Shounen.

[@bobsterss]

Power Level is clear as day: Higher number mean gun shoot bullet better. It's first grade Spongebob!

[@gamaray8387]

I will not tolerate this wrong way to use healing magic slander. That show is actually good with actual good writing, not an edgy power fantasy

[@justincanu9153]

On top of the fact that it's not a kicked out of the heroes party story and using it as an example for the genre is rather head scratching.

[@kaminaridenki._.]

Its like Arcane said, "what could have been"

[@ryancasey9763]

The opening gave me "powerthirst" flash backs to like over 15 years ago

[@tostisgood]

The Spore kaiju firing a shoop-da-woop lazer was a vortex of incompatible emotions. Nice.

[@TaylorUmpherville]

popped onto my suggested as im rewatching KJ8

[@Wulff20ko]

*hears the description of To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts* “Just like Halo 5”

[@SurrealKeenan]

I think the choice to have the MC turn into a monster is kind of an odd one. Usually, powers in anime synergize with some sort of philosophical theme. The monstrous transformation is such a good trope in shonen anime because a lot of teenage guys identify with the feeling that they're holding back some sort of darkness inside themselves and a character transforming into a rage beast is a great way to explore that feeling. Kafka turning into a monster is weird because it doesn't really say anything about his character or his feelings. It's cool on a surface level, but not particularly interesting.

[@zacharybosley1935]

The Monstrosity of No.8 is better explained elsewhere

[@zebrother]

I've never watched the show, but one thing that always bothered me about it is the design of Kaiju No. 8. They have the protagonist turn into a Kaiju (which sounds really cool in theory), only for the design of said Kaiju be extremely generic and lame.

[@themelancholyofgay3543]

you watched too much cool stuff

[@LucOfLegends]

Someone has been rewatching Powerthirst I see.

[@combatbrony6705]

What makes this anime one if the best out there is due to the fact its an older protag and thise of us who have been watching anime for a long get to feel like we kick ass we can see ourselves in an old dude like him and its what makes this anime fire plus the fights are amazing

[@anthonykafka42]

This message is kaiju approved

[@blackdragonking81]

I don't really find Kafka getting new powers every fight that annoying at this point because it helps show that Kafka is a lost as to how his new body works as the audiance is.

[@zancloufer]

I think I see why you gave this a 7/10. It's probably better than that overall, but the wasted potential makes it worse from the perspective of a critical analysis. Also I think the suit just gives them generic super human abilities. Faster reaction time and higher strength is useful in both knife and gun fights. I always thought the higher strength let Mina use a bigger gun and stronger ammunition. It's not like her super human strength makes the bullet better, it's that she can use literal naval artillery now instead of something more puny humans use like a NTW-20.

[@lilithscarborough8917]

I find specifically the take in this video about how they handled Kafka's dark secret incredibly interesting. Cause as my husband and I were watching this for the first time. Both of us frequently said. "Man how much longer is it going to be before his secret is out?" It felt to me like a lot of the conversation around 'he will be killed and dissected if he is found out' was more for the purpose of establishing Kafka's lack of self preservation and poor self worth. He uses this image of himself as a kaiju hero to rationalize it a little but, ultimately he sees his own life as worth ultimately less than any single of the other lives around him. So if he can save even a single life with him possibly getting caught and put to death in the process then at least he proved he was worth something. In that tonally grounded first episode it felt very much to me like he was in a state of high functioning depression, claiming he was ok with not being able to live his dream despite it being a weight that crushes him every day. So having even a few days, weeks, months of standing as a hero makes whatever fate that awaits him as worth it. The show does spend some time on the fact that he's intelligent. Specifically that he has good memory and problem solving skills. But, now that he has this new power he doesn't default to using those skills when things get hairy. He's so quick to jump into his kaiju form at the first sign of any sort of escalation in the fight. He's reckless about his secret from the very beginning. He really did not seem to care if he got caught beyond a surface level 'yeah ill be more careful.' And then he isn't more careful. And on that note, using the bones and flesh of Kaiju to make weapons and the body suits always struck me as a telegraph for the Kaiju defense force using Kafka as a weapon eventually. To the point I would expect in a world like this that there are some sort of secret experiments going in to meld Kaiju DNA into humans, or tame smaller Kaiju for battle. Either in the past history of the Anti Kaiju Rangers that had since been discontinued, or something that is going on behind the scenes that we don't see as the audience. Idk maybe it's wishful thinking but I'm very much looking forward to the next season and I think they intend to cover really interesting ground about the nature of his humanity, not as a part kaiju, but under the law. It's possible from this point on he will legally be chattle. More so than even the other military soldiers. At least I hope so.

[@Electric0eye]

The way you pronounce JAKDF made my day.

[@kos-4869]

was gonna comment sth abt how getting a new power with every new enemy seems very danny phantom, but actually the whole show is very danny phantom, isn't it 🤔

[@wadejohnston4305]

Kaiju #8? Nah I was too busy contemplating the philosophical meaning behind technolyze the anime.😂😂 im totally kidding. I love 8

[@idontneedaname318]

this show felt like an oreo to me like junk food but good nonetheless, ill never get tired of this particular formula lmao

[@idontneedaname318]

you're so right abt it losing the one thingt hat made it intersting like i tried readingt he manga after but i realized i was just utterly uninterested in anything after that; i may stillw atch the anime bc i love big flashy fights but it gave up the ghost WAY too early

[@Razuberri]

I watched Kaiju no. 8 right when I was in a personal rut and my 30th birthday was around the corner, so despite some pretty fatal flaws, this show immediately jumped to my personal top five. The characters are all so endearing to me that and the way Kafka doesn’t let being a bit of fuck up stop him spoke to me lol. Like, it literally convinced me to start running and working out again, don’t know how, but it did 😂 I still wish they had gone the “failed shonen protagonist” route, but also I think “failed shonen protag gets a second chance after a life time of failure” is very fun, especially with Mina being the shonen protagonist he always wanted to be

[@sarbe6625]

One of these days I want a shounen series to actually commit to the main character being weak and having to be clever to fight instead and never getting to become strong in the overwhelming force kind of way that everyone else does but instead is a great supporter/ideas guy running around preparing schemes while the heavy hitters have their big flashy fights. Basically I want more shows like World Trigger that aren't World Trigger because there's only so many times I can watch and/or read that before it starts to become uninteresting through sheer repetition.

[@galaxa13]

Well this solidifies my disinterest in watching the show. When it first came out I heard the premise and was interested, but was busy with other things and never got around to it. Then I heard that the show quickly became just action focused and that made me take it off my To Watch list. Hearing that the show not only dropped the "old man missing out on his dreams" idea but then also introduced and quickly dropped "having to hide a dark secret from the military" idea makes me yearn for what could have been.

[@Secondary_Identifier]

Wait, I've seen No. 6, but not No. 7, will this have spoilers?

[@alexp6013]

It spoils that they've all been kaijus all along

[@Secondary_Identifier]

@alexp6013 WELL THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW 😾

[@alexp6013]

oops....

[@peterk822]

Since you like the idea of tactics & a shonen MC who is support instead of an ace or dark horse, World Trigger & Log Horizon may be to your liking.

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Log Horizon had good ideas, but there was too much anime bullshit for me, personally. Sell me on World Trigger?

[@peterk822]

@@ExplanationPointAnime Log Horizon: fair enough, it'd definitely got worse as it went on. World Trigger: Teens join the anti-alien-JSDF like an after-school club with specific slots in their suits for a set of powers/weapons to choose from. Their suits always return them to base when they die, so they get to try new tactics, but the populace and later their humanoid enemies do not have that benefit. It doesn't have IRL guns, but I suspect it appeals to gun-otaku. It is a slower pace, and it focuses a good bit on tournament & invasion arcs, but that also means it's always throwing new combos of fighters, situations, & strategies. The main character has permanently low power levels, so while he can train to learn better martial arts, his focus is on maximizing the efficacy of his team. Also, s1e49-63 is a skippable filler arc.

[@MAMMARY-MASTICATOR]

I really like listening to your karaoke...

[@pisaschitt787]

I'm gonna have to disagree with how they've handled the reveal of kaiju no.8. it was handled pretty fine and the fact that it didnt stick for too long is a good choice. I also loved when all of his squadmates vouches for his release, cos they have experience being with him and they know he wont kill them using his monster form. I always hate characters who go "why did you keep this a secret from us? Dont you trust us?" Like, yeah? They're literally monster hunters hellbent on killing all of monsters in existence, how would kafka know if they wont kill him on sight if he suddenly just revealed he's no. 8 like Reyner saying he's the armored titan on eren's face? Also all this complaints about missed potentials of kaiju no. 8 yet you provided zero potential solutions on how this could've been better. Like the rant with no. 8's identity for example. Why is it bad for you that the reveal happened too early? How would you handle this to make it better in your eyes? You perfectly stated reasons why this dexter show that lasted 8 seasons suck and how it could've been better by providing your insights. Why not do the same for this kaiju no. 8 review? As someone who's reading the manga, its better that the reveal has happened 30 chapters in, and the anime made it even more hype by adding some scenes that arent in the original chapter

[@bauz5565]

23:26 God I wish that plot was that simple

[@PandaKnight-FightingDwagon]

"Character is more powerful because number higher" is IMO the biggest flaw with the series. How the numbers get higher isn't explained. What the number being higher actually DOES isn't explained. But that character's number is higher than everyone else's so they have a 40K bolter compared to everyone else's modern firearm. It's REALLY dumb. That said, as someone current with the manga, I do enjoy that the story hasn't broken the rules of this system (yet). Outside of stronger weapons made from stronger kaiju, once someone hits 100 they can't get stronger, though this does put a fast approaching limit on series length. But even KaguraBachi couldn't finish its first volume before it started bending the rules of its power system.

[@SaunterVaguely]

I lost it when Ja'am appeared

[@Mortal2064]

Can we get a full video of your wonderful singing to... whatever song that is? I didn’t know you had such wonderful (singing) pipes!

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Full cover on Patreon for free, as always.

[@nugget1019]

21:58 world trigger

[@kittykat896]

U singing power ballads from anime, healed my broken black pit of a soul. Consider making a whole cover album of songs plz.

[@nathankeel6667]

This show is fun as you said and I enjoyed season 1 but with its ending having the secret revealed and only hicup being if the parsite thing thinks his life is in danger he can go berserk there is no reason why kafka who is so much stronger then anyone eless and only struggled agienst the second in charge because he didnt want to kill him isnt just sent out to punch every big kaiju that shows up so unless things like the kaiju and our protags scale expectedly fast kafka punching thing really hard because he no longer needs to hide it is just the solution to everything. Hopefully the serise came up with a idea that I cant think of to keep it interesting outside of insane power scaling .

[@3dsmaster537]

Literally just finished this anime a week ago. Good timing

[@theprincess3872]

The Dexter subreddit talking about Ozymandias after the finale aired has the exact same energy as the Kanye West subreddit turning into a combined Taylor Swift/Information about the Holocaust subreddit after his InfoWars comments, only way lower stakes so I can actually laugh without feeling guilty

[@johnathanmonsen6567]

Dang. Now I'm envisioning a version of the show that kept up and balanced _both_ vibes from the opening episodes, balancing the think-pieces against the spectacle to get the best of both. Heck, it could have kept the "dark secret" plot as well, drawing it out enough to put foreshadowing that the promise that being found out would be the end isn't as true as initially thought. That way, the fact he's allowed to live after all isn't as big a disappointment for people who wanted the big confrontation, while also satisfying the people who enjoy the fresh air of everyone NOT immediately turning on him. One more could-have-been for the list, I suppose.

[@justsomeannoyingredpanda]

What I found mostly annoying about Kaiju no. 8 is that it starts off with the MC being very unique for the genera, and then quickly becomes your average OP protagonist that acts like a kid (with the bold design decision to have him smoke and be 30 this time. Wow, so unique.) And while I found some ideas that the series has to be interesting, such as turning defeated kaiju into weapons and powers, it felt like they were already done better by a series called World Trigger, where the power system was literally stolen from the antagonist faction and transformed by the humans for their own defense. Also, why is the MC's knowledge of kaiju being helpful new? Wouldn't it make sense in universe for their to be a research team on sight to actively help the fighters learn about the enemy long before Kafka showed up? That's a serious plothole imo. Once again, World Trigger has the same idea, but handles way better. Every team of fighters have a "man at the desk" operator that actively handles and analyze any important information on the field and relays it to the larger military organization and other teams to help each other out. The series makes sure to show their impact in fights despite not actually being on the field, and I think that's better then how Kaiju no. 8 does it. Basically, if you found Kaiju no. 8 to be generic and doesn't properly fully explore what it has, try out World Trigger.

[@starcasters5455]

i will say that compared to the manga the plot goes by so fast the manga i feel is much better passed out

[@kush2319]

Whoah i was NOT ready for you to talk about Abandoned Secret Beasts at 22:52, i feel like the only person on this planet that watched that show Edit: OH NEVERMIND YOU ONLY WATCHED EPISODE 1 LMAO

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

WAS IT GOOD?

[@kush2319]

@ExplanationPointAnime I WILL NOT LIE TO YOU THE CONCEPT IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE EXECUTION IT IS VERY COOL THOUGH I WANT TO HEAR YOU TALK ABOUT IT PLEASE WATCH IT

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

@kush2319 I PROBABLY WON'T BUT I APPRECIATE THE INPUT.

[@iriswaters]

"I just think about the show this could have been if it followed through on it's ideas" Which show? There's so many threads it fails to follow through on that there's like 4 shows here. Not all that compatible ones either.

[@HerculePyro]

How tempted were you to rate it a Kaijuu no. 8/10?

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Not remotely. It's much closer to a 6 than an 8.

[@lrgogo1517]

Freaking losing my mind at the line "HECK *KAIJU No. 8* ! _かつて神だった獣たちへ_ 'EM UP! !" That visual hit my exact sense of logo-based humor

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

Thanks! Was worried that one would get lost in the sauce.

[@justinkarnes3276]

I always come back for the nerd culture visual jokes. I am never disappointed. We would be friends. We're both old.

[@AdrianArmbruster]

I was going to mention the peculiarity of always naming the character who undergoes the unwanted transformation 'Kafka' despite the fact that he was just the author. For maximum symbolism naming a character who undergoes a change you ought to go more with 'Gregor' or 'Samsa'

[@Thorne-In-Your-Side]

Actually made me look up the lyrics to the outro theme there for a minute.

[@con_jer]

I would not say the hidden identity aspect was what was making Kaiju No. 8 stand out. I mean we've seen similar things before. I suppose it's more common the superhero tropes then Shonan Jump tropes but its been done before. I quite liked that they didn't let it drag. because Kafka isn't the type of character that would hide himself at the determent of others. he makes the choice repeatedly to reveal himself. This is interesting character writing i dont see pften from such stories. and it plays really well into Kaiju No. 8's themes of self scarifice and person hood. Kaiju No. 8 has problems. but do you really reveal isn't really one of them. you really talked it up like this hidden identity was a really really big part of the early episodes. and it is mentioned somewhat frequently. but he reveals himself to a person he doesn't really know as early as like episode 3. it sets itself up that this is not going to be an ongoing plot point. that people will be learning rather fast. and then once everyone does know they get to go on with what happens after. which I find much more interesting. The dehumaniztion from the military. The all out action. The questions of "is kafka really willing to be a monster?"

[@neptunite5973]

i was so dissapointed when i read the manga and learned it would not be about janitor kafka

[@ScrubbinOpti]

So when is the OP cover album coming out? Come on, it's nearly christmas

[@ExplanationPointAnime]

All of them are available free on Patreon!

[@-N0V4-]

The tonal whiplash between the first two episodes did kind of catch me off guard. I was the pretentious viewer looking for that whole "deep meaning" anime to binge. I never got it but the primal urge those fight scenes tickle is crazy. It gives me that nostalgic vibes of constantly waiting for Goku get stronger and stronger and achieve new and more obscure Saiyan levels. It does feel like a frustrating edging fest with how close it gets to saying something with the story and then just... Nothing

[@SilverfangSteelwolf]

A powerthirst reference in the year of our lord twenty twenty four!?