Highlights
- Episode 4 of Kaiju No. 8 adds an exciting new antagonist, a human-sized kaiju with intelligence and a plot-twisting twist.
- Kafka proves his heroism by defeating the powerful honju kaiju, showcasing his strength and selflessness to save the day.
- Kikoru Shinomiya’s backstory in Episode 4 reveals common anime tropes, hoping for a more unique development in future episodes.
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Anime Title |
Kaiju No. 8 |
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Studio |
Production I.G |
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Episode Number |
4 |
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Episode Title |
Fortitude 9.8 |
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Air Date |
May 5, 2024 |
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Kaiju No. 8, Episode 4, “Fortitude 9.8,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Kaiju No. 8 was back to business this week with the show’s fourth episode, “Fortitude 9.8.” It found the momentum that it had created with the first two episodes despite losing it a bit last week, and added some interesting new plot devices as well. Despite these positive points, though, there was still a bit of disappointment waiting for us regarding one character in particular, Kikoru Shinomiya. Last week we started to touch on why a character with so much potential is turning out to be a disappointment, and that continued with “Fortitude 9.8.” We will get to those details soon.
We were not the only people disappointed with Episode 3, as Kaiju No. 8‘s rating on MyAnimeList dropped from 8.25 to 8.24 after last week’s episode dropped. However, we feel confident that after Episode 4, the score has the potential to go back up again to what it was. The season is now officially 1/3 complete, and now, we have an actual antagonist to look forward to.
An Antagonist Arrives
So far, Kaiju No. 8 has not had any real antagonists. Sure, there were plenty of kaiju to fight, but they were all generally defeated within one episode and had very little individual screen time. There was no intelligent, plotting antagonist for us to root against, and that was leaving out the potential for plots involving going up against and defeating them. Not every story needs to have a specific antagonist, but it does make developing an engaging plot easier.
Now, Kaiju No. 8 has revealed an antagonist, and it is one that has gotten us quite excited. First, the episode gave us a false sense of security that all the new recruits for the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force had survived their exam, and Kikoru Shinomiya had defeated most of the kaiju effortlessly. But then, in a shocking twist, a new, human-sized kaiju stepped out of the dust around the corpse of the honju and immediately shot the seemingly invincible Shinomiya.
This new kaiju went on to speak Japanese, showing a level of intelligence and sophistication we have not seen from any of the other kaiju so far. It resurrected all the other kaiju that had been defeated somehow, and then disappeared. But it was not gone for good, because the episode ended with another huge reveal – that kaiju can turn into a human, the opposite of what Kafka can do. On top of that, it has infiltrated Kafka and Ichikawa’s old place of work, the Kaiju Clean Up Crew. We are really excited to see what is going to happen next with this new character.
From Zero to Hero
We were waiting for Kafka to show his cool side again in the Defense Force examination, and show that he was not entirely useless (which is all we saw last week). This week, we were not disappointed. In Episode 4, Kafka was put into a position where he knew he could use his powers to save other people, as all the previously defeated kaiju came back even more powerful than they had been the first time. And with the seemingly “hero” Shinomiya down, it came down to Kafka and his kaiju powers to save the day.
And he did just that, literally punching the huge honju into smithereens like we saw back in Episode 2 and making it rain blood and gore. For us, it was very satisfying for him to do this in front of Shinomiya, not only helping her but also showing her that he was not as weak as she thought. Continuing to win points in our hearts, Kafka was humble and silly about the entire thing, too, begging Shinomiya to keep his secret from the rest of the Defense Force and casually stating how he was happy to help her even though she had been anything but nice to him.
This is the Kafka Hibino that we loved from the start of the season and have been wanting to see more of. He has the heart of a hero even though he is silly and awkward, and he does the right thing with little thought for his own safety. Plus, we got to see just how strong his kaiju form is. The Defense Force measures kaiju based on their “Fortitude” score, and his went up to 9.8, one of the strongest ever recorded
The Continuing Trope of Kikoru Shinomiya
Despite all these good points, though, one thing continues to disappoint us in Kaiju No. 8, and that is the character of Kikoru Shinomiya. Last week we expressed concerns that she is following the pretty common anime trope of being a tiny, cute girl that is actually extremely powerful and undefeated, which has been overdone over the years and isn’t interesting anymore. Tragically, she continued to play into tropes this week.
A little of her backstory was revealed, including that she is the daughter of Director Shinomiya, the Director of the Defense Force. That does explain why she is so skilled at killing kaiju, and why it has been a main focus of her life. But her backstory also painted her as a little rich girl who grew up with a cold, absentee father and a dead mother, with only her kind old butler to take care of her. Quite frankly, we have seen this kind of story before, and it does not serve as an excuse for her attitude.
We are really hoping that Shinomiya will move away from these predictable, old tropes in the coming episodes. She did end the episode by taking credit for killing the honju that Kafka actually defeated, which was predictably selfish, but in doing so, she did honor his request to keep his secret. After all, no one would believe that the Kafka that they saw in the other parts of the exam was able to annihilate a honju the way this one was destroyed.
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