Highlights
- Episode 7 of Kaiju No. 8 is action-packed, with nonstop fighting and a cliffhanger ending for more excitement next week.
- Despite competition from Demon Slayer, Kaiju No. 8 still impresses with a high score of 8.25 on MyAnimeList.
- The power of friendship is a key theme in Kaiju No. 8, driving the characters’ actions and helping them survive against Kaiju No. 9.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Kaiju No. 8, Episode 7, “Kaiju No. 9,” 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 Name |
Kaiju No. 9 |
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Episode Number |
7 |
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Air Date |
May 26, 2024 |
Episode 7 of Kaiju No. 8 may be the most action-packed one yet. With no time wasted for talking, explanations, backstories, or even humor, it was nonstop shooting, punching, running, and fighting. That made Episode 7 feel like it was over as soon as it started, and not only that, but it ended on yet another cliffhanger to set up next week for even more action. For anime fans looking for something fast-paced and exciting, Kaiju No. 8 remains a top choice, with the latest episode really highlighting exactly that.
Kaiju No. 8 has dropped back to a score of 8.25 on MyAnimeList, likely continuing to have to compete with Demon Slayer‘s latest episodes as shonen anime fans are likely to be watching both. That is still a very high score, though, and now that we are more than halfway through the season it is unlikely to drop much more unless something extremely dramatic (and not in a good way) happens in the second half of the season. Just like Episode 7, though, let’s not waste any more time and get right into the good stuff.
The Power of Friendship
Kaiju No. 8 may be full of violence, gore, and action, but it is also about relationships – especially friendships. At the core of its story, the anime focuses a lot on the relationships that people have, and how they grow, change, and evolve. Without his childhood friendship with Mina, Kafka may never have wanted to join the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force. Without Kafka’s friendship, Reno Ichikawa may have died on his first day at work when a yonju unexpectedly attacked them. Without Ichikawa’s friendship, Kafka would likely have been killed the day he first unexpectedly transformed into a kaiju in the hospital.
And now in the latest episode, a new friendship has continued to grow stronger between Ichikawa and Iharu. Iharu forced the friendship between them at first a few weeks ago, but it has clearly evolved into something real. When the duo was attacked by the incredibly powerful Kaiju No. 9, Ichikawa was willing to throw himself in harm’s way and sacrifice his own life to let Iharu get away, just as Kafka had once done for him. But rather than just run away, Iharu came back to repay the favor, unwilling to let Ichikawa die for him. Together, they were able to hold off Kaiju No. 9 until help could come.
That help came in the form of Kafka in his kaiju body, who had come to search for the two after he heard that their communications and vitals had gone black. He was unwilling to let his best friend, Ichikawa, simply disappear and die, even though it meant exposing himself in his kaiju form in the middle of the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force’s zone. And he did indeed get discovered by a few soliders, which could have meant the end of Kafka. But he was willing to do anything to help his friend. Without the relationships between all of these characters, they would not have the strength and determination they have shown so far – and probably, a lot of them would be dead.
Kaiju No. 9’s Power Revealed
One of the best parts of Episode 7 of Kaiju No. 8 was seeing the true power and strength of the main antagonist, Kaiju No. 9, at last. We saw a tiny preview of it when it nearly killed Shinomiya back in its first appearance, so we knew it could hide inside of kaiju corpses and could fire powerful projectiles from its fingers. But now, we got to see just how strong the humanoid kaiju really is. It is also intelligent, learning from the attacks that Iharu and Ichikawa threw at it – it got shot once, learned, and then was able to dodge the same kind of attack when it came again.
Another important power that Kaiju No. 9 has is the ability to rapidly heal itself. Even when Kafka decapitated it, it did not die, and was able to attach its head to its body once more. Only damaging its core will kill it, which we are sure is going to be important later in the anime. Kafka nearly did it, too, if he had not been interrupted, which gave his enemy time to heal and escape. Plus, Kaiju No. 9 was the first kaiju able to damage Kafka in his kaiju form – even the huge honju he has faced have not stood a chance against him, let alone been able to injure him.
Kaiju No. 8 vs Kaiju No. 9
Last week, we were looking forward to what would be an inevitable fight between the two humanoid kaiju, and this week we got it. As we said above, Kaiju No. 9 was finally a real challenge for Kafka, something he had not faced yet. He took some damage at last, and could not just one-punch his way out of the fight as he had done in the past. There was a real fight between the two, with Kaiju No. 9 using his powerful projectiles and Kafka his brute strength and bare fists in a good brawl.
Our only disappointment was that the fight was over so quickly. So much of the episode had been devoted to Ichikawa and Iharu’s struggle, with Kafka showing up near the end, so there was not time for a longer fight between the two humanoid kaiju. And despite his power, Kaiju No. 9 did go down pretty fast when he was attacked by Kafka, and was nearly killed in just a few minutes. However, we did see him learning from the tactics that the humans had used against him and adapting for the future. Hopefully that means when he and Kafka meet again, we can have a longer, more epic fight that feels a more high-stakes next time.
Kaiju No. 8 has started a new tradition over the past couple of episodes of ending on a major cliffhanger to keep us wondering what is going to happen next through the week, and Episode 7 was the same. Finally, we got to see a cooler side of Vice-Captain Hoshina, and it looks like Episode 8 is gearing up to be a good fight between the human and Kafka. We are looking forward to seeing how Kafka is going to get out of that without killing the Vice-Captain, who he actually has a good relationship with, and whether or not he can continue to keep his secret from the Defense Force higher-ups.
Watch Kaiju No. 8 now on Crunchyroll.
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