Highlights
- Episode 5 of Kaiju No. 8 focuses on building the team with more character development, setting up future plot lines.
- Fans loved the episode’s montage scenes, saving time while showing character growth and stronger bonds with exciting music.
- Disappointingly, Episode 5 lacked kaiju action, with only brief appearances and a cliffhanger hinting at more next week.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Kaiju No. 8, Episode 5, “Joining Up!,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
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Anime Title |
Kaiju No. 8 |
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Studio |
Production I.G |
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Episode Number |
5 |
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Episode Title |
Joining Up! |
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Air Date |
May 12, 2024 |
Kaiju No. 8 is back this week and almost at the halfway point of the season with Episode 5, “Joining Up!”. This episode, again, was slower-paced, more like Episode 3, but thankfully, was funny enough to not feel boring. Would fans have liked to have seen more kaiju-fighting action? Yes. But the point of Episode 5 was clearly to build up more side characters, so they can be used in the upcoming plot lines, and by doing so with Kaiju No. 8‘s quirky humor, it kept the episode interesting enough.
As viewers predicted, Episode 4’s great action and development of Kafka’s character shot the anime’s rating on MyAnimeList up to 8.26. That has secured it at Rank 7 for all airing anime at the moment, a position fans feel the anime has earned so far. So what did Episode 5 do well, and what could have been improved? Let’s break it down.
The Team Gets Some Screen Time
As stated above, the main focus of Episode 5 was on building up the team. Kaiju No. 8 was originally very focused on only Kafka and Ichikawa, and slowly started to bring in other characters like Kikoru Shinomiya in the last couple of episodes. This week, though, many of the characters that have just been in the background had more time on screen. Characters like Iharu Furuhashi, Haruichi Izumo, and Aoi Kaguragi had time to actually speak, and fans could see what their personalities and goals were.
A large portion of the episode was dedicated to a bathhouse scene, where all the men could chat and reveal more about their characters. Fans were able to learn that Iharu is friendly and fun, Izumo is easy-going, and Aoi is ambitious and focused on his goals. This scene was also important because Kafka revealed to most of the cast that he is Captain Mina Ashiro’s childhood friend, which won him a lot of points in the eyes of the male cast but may come back to bite him later if Mina learns how much information about her he shared with them…
Speaking of Mina, fans finally got to see a little more of her as well. She still remains an aloof and mysterious character for the most part, as she is portrayed mostly through Kafka’s perspective, and viewers see little of her otherwise. But this week she did smile at Kafka’s ridiculous personality, and she also was willing to let her guard down around Shinomiya and teach her some basic training techniques. As much as the other characters look up to and admire her, fans would like to see more of Mina in the coming weeks.
Everyone Loves a Good Montage… Right?
Kaiju No. 8 took advantage of a commonly-used tool in the media to show a passage of time without making it boring – a musical montage. Realistically, it does make sense that people would need a lot of time to properly train to fight against kaiju, and also to build real bonds with each other. To avoid slowing the series down even further, Episode 5 gave us a simple montage of scenes of the characters doing training exercises, petting Mina’s white tiger, using the sauna, and even brushing their teeth to show a passage of time.
Personally, fans are fine with the montage. It does save a lot of time while also acknowledging that time did pass, and the characters did not become who they are overnight. But it doesn’t let the story get bogged down with boring training exercises and unnecessary conversations. In a 12-episode action anime, that is really important. Plus, the montage had a great new song, “Scream,” with vocals done by (sic)boy. It really added to the atmosphere of the sequence, making it more exciting. Overall, the montage felt like a good use of a small amount of time, and it helped us feel stronger about the bonds that the team is forming.
Where are the Kaiju?
Our biggest complaint about Episode 5, despite knowing what the focus of the episode was, was the distinct lack of kaiju. The only one that showed up was in Iharu’s extremely short flashback sequence of Mina saving him as a middle schooler, and a few quick flashbacks to last week’s episode. Fans didn’t even get to see Kafka’s kaiju form this week. For an anime that has kaiju as the main focus, viewers were hoping to see some cool ones every week, so that was a disappointing reality of Episode 5.
Viewers also find it curious that Shinomiya seems to have not told anyone about the sentient, speaking kaiju that almost destroyed her last week. Of course, she had been keeping Kafka’s secret as he requested, but surely she still made some kind of report about what happened when the kaiju all came back to life. The fact that a kaiju was talking, which is not usual, should have been a huge red flag for her and something to share with the higher ups – but it doesn’t seem like she did. It is definitely a confusing point as a viewer.
Fans will be looking forward to next week, as Episode 5 ended on a small cliffhanger with the kaiju warning alarm going off right at the end. At least it looks like next week is being set up for lots of fighting, action, and kaiju again, which is what fans are here to see. And now, with the team-building that was done this week, fans will be caring more about characters other than just Kafka and Ichikawa in the upcoming fight – which was definitely the point of “Joining Up!” in the first place.
Watch Kaiju No. 8 now on Crunchyroll.
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