Highlights
- Kaiju Cleaning Companies play a crucial role post-battle, dealing with the aftermath of colossal monster attacks unnoticed by many.
- These companies make profit by selling Kaiju body parts to third-party companies, but expenses may outweigh the revenue earned.
- Butchering and cleaning Kaiju remains are key tasks, with different body parts being sold at varying prices based on their value.
When talking about Kaiju No. 8, most people will focus either on the colossal monsters who go on a rampage in the city or the brave soldiers who use high-tech exo suits to deliver untold amounts of damage to those monsters.
There is, however, another crucial participant in the battle who is rarely mentioned in the conversation, the Kaiju Cleaning Companies. These people are the ones who come and deal with the aftermath of the catastrophe. So let’s use this chance to get to know them better. From who they are to how they work, this is all you need to know about the Kaiju Cleaning Companies and the regular people who work for them.
Somebody Has to Clean The Mess
|
Character Name |
Kafka Hibino |
|---|---|
|
First Appearance |
Episode 1 |
|
Release Date |
April 13, 2024 |
In every anime or movie that involves battles against giant monsters, the story often focuses on epic action sequences that depict the struggle of helpless human soldiers who fight against the mighty kaiju. But there is a question that most people forget to ask. After the battle is over, who will clean the mess that is scattered all over the city? This is the question that Kaiju No. 8 answers right away.
Outsourced to Private Companies
The Defense Force is a branch of the Japanese military that focuses on dealing with every Kaiju threat. They are the frontline soldiers who risk their lives to protect the innocent people of Japan. Since the country is focused on preparing extensive resources for these inevitable battles, it’s only natural that they decided to outsource the job of cleaning the mess after the battle to private companies.
In a way, the Kaiju incident has basically spawned an entirely new industry. There are numerous Kaiju disposal companies in Japan, one of which is Monster Sweeper Inc., the company where Kafka Hibino worked at the beginning of the series.
“After all the other battles are over, our battle begins. Nobody’s here to cheer us on. Nobody’s particularly grateful, anyway. But this is our unsung battle against the Kaiju.”
— Kafka Hibino, Episode 1
How These Companies Make a Profit
So how does a company make a profit from disposing and cleaning Kaiju’s mangled corpse? The series never explicitly explained this part of the business, but there are some clues and information scattered throughout to help us glean some valuable knowledge about this crucial part of the company.
Based on the interaction between the employees of Monster Sweeper Inc., we can surmise that most of the profit comes from selling Kaiju’s body parts to various third-party companies. Unfortunately, judging from the state of Monster Sweeper Inc.’s office and equipment, this job doesn’t seem to be a very profitable venture. The revenue may be quite high, but the expenses seem to be equally high as well.
The Cleaning Phase
Now that we’ve covered the basic stuff, let’s move on to a more interesting matter, how to clean Kaiju’s corpse. Based on what we’ve seen in the series, the Kaiju’s Cleaning Companies have two main tasks, to butcher the Kaiju and to clean their remnants from the surrounding area. The companies will usually divide their employees into different teams so that they can do these two tasks concurrently.
Butchering the Monsters
Kaiju comes in different shapes and sizes, but the ones that require the service of these cleaning companies are usually colossal Kaiju which can easily be larger than an office building. Since there’s no way to haul this giant corpse in one piece, the most logical option is to separate them into smaller chunks.
For the most part, Kaiju’s anatomy is similar to most mammals. They have bones, muscles, and internal organs. They have a brain, lungs, and intestines. This means the process of butchering a building size Kaiju is relatively the same as butchering a cow. You open up the body, take out the innards, then separate the meat from the bones. The only difference is it takes lots of people and multiple massive heavy machinery to do it.
Cleaning the Remnants
When colossal Kaiju fell, their blood and countless chunks of their flesh would splatter across a couple of miles radius, covering every house and building in the area with their remnants. That’s why while the other team is busy butchering the Kaiju into smaller and more manageable pieces, this team will focus on cleaning up the neighborhood from Kaiju’s blood and flesh. They will use specially-made washing and sweeping trucks to clean up the roads and the walls and regular trucks to transport the bones and the many chunks of meat.
The Selling Phase
After the butchering and the cleaning, all that’s left is to sell anything that can be sold. We’ve touched on this topic briefly in the previous section, now it’s time to get into the details.
Pre-Ordered Parts
More often than not, the Kaiju Cleaning Companies already received pre-orders from third-party companies before they even began to work on a newly-defeated Kaiju. Some of the third-party companies mentioned in the early episodes are Takatsuki Development and Izumo Tech. Izumo Tech is particularly interested in the bones of a Kaiju.
It may seem strange to pre-ordered Kaiju’s bones, but when you see this giant monster as what these companies actually see, which is a highly limited resource, then it makes sense for them to scramble to get first dibs on these precious resources. After all, where else can they find the brains and bones of colossal monsters who left death and destruction in their wake?
Some are More Expensive Than the Others
Similar to common livestock, Kaiju’s parts are sold at different prices. Some parts, such as the brain and the bones are more expensive than the skin or the organs. The reason is simply because those parts are way more valuable than the others.
Every super-strong Kaiju that ever appeared in Japan is given a number based on the order of their appearance. Kafka is Kaiju No. 8 because he is the eighth super-strong Kaiju who has been documented thus far. These rare Kaiju have their own distinct power, such as Kaiju No. 1 and its foresight ability, or Kaiju No. 6 which can generate ice.
As the primary weapon manufacturer for the Defense Force, Izumo Tech analyzes Kaiju’s brains in order to harness their powers. The result of this research is the special combat suits or weapons known as the Numbers Weapon. Considering how important this research is for the survival of mankind, it’s no wonder why the brain of this special-type Kaiju will fetch an exorbitant price. The brain of regular Kaiju may not be as valuable as the special ones, but it is still one of the more expensive body parts nonetheless.
Being an employee in a Kaiju Cleaning company like Monster Sweeper Inc. may not come with the prestige and popularity of being a member of the elite Defense Force. Some people may not even realize your hard work in keeping the city clean and free from the smell and disease that will certainly spread if those massive corpses are not disposed of as soon as possible. And yet it is still a crucial part of humankind’s effort to combat the invading Kaijus. For all intents and purposes, these people are the unsung heroes in this ongoing war.
Kaiju No. 8 is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
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