Highlights
- Episode 3 of Kaiju No. 8 slows down with more character development and less action, setting up future plotlines.
- Shinomiya emerges as a powerful fighter but falls into the familiar trope of being cute, strong, and mean.
- Kafka struggles without using his kaiju powers, leading to pacing issues in this episode compared to previous ones.
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Anime Title |
Kaiju No. 8 |
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Studio |
Production I.G |
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Episode Number |
3 |
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Episode Name |
Revenge Match |
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Air Date |
April 28, 2024 |
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Kaiju No. 8, Episode 3, “Revenge Match,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
So far this season, the sci-fi comedy animeKaiju No. 8 has been fast-paced, gory action without stopping to take a breather. However, things did slow down this week with the third episode, “Revenge Match,” which took a step back from the slapstick humor, blood and guts, and non-stop thrills. Instead, it focused more on introducing some new characters into the story, and setting up the leading character, Kafka Hibino, for future episodes.
Kaiju No. 8 continues to hold a rating of 8.25 in its third week according to MyAnimeList, which remains a very respectable score. According to the website, it is ranked number 8 among all currently airing anime, which is an ironic place to be considering the anime’s title! In our opinion, though, this week was a weaker episode than the first two were, even though the themes it explored are likely to be important set-up for future episodes. Let’s break down what “Revenge Match” accomplished this week, and how we felt about it.
Kikoru Shinomiya, the Common Trope
Last week, Kaiju No. 8 began to introduce new characters to the mix rather than only focusing on Kafka and his friend, Ichikawa. The one that had the most screen time and definitely the most memorable entrance was a young blond woman named Kikoru Shinomiya. Shinomiya definitely moved into the spotlight this week, with more background information shared about her, and we got to see her in action. Her small build and blond pigtails may be cute, but she is undeniably a powerful fighter, taking out several kaiju on her own during the aptitude trial for the Anti-Kaiju Defence Force.
In fact, Episode 3 painted Shinomiya as the most powerful of the new possible recruits for the Defence Force, and showed her as significantly better than Kafka. When he used his kaiju powers briefly, he was able to match her strength, but without them, his weakness is obvious, especially compared to her. The two keep coming together over and over again, though, usually because Shinomiya is flaunting her superiority over Kafka. She saved his life as well, which, judging by her character, she is likely to hold over him in the future.
Shinomiya is very cool, but so far, a bit of a flat character for us. Extremely strong but cute girls are a trope in anime that has been used over and over again, whether to show a paradox between their appearance and their abilities, or to set them up as a love interest for the leading male character (or both). Despite being in the episode a lot, though, we didn’t get to see much dimension in Shinomiya’s actual character. She is defined by being cute, strong, and mean, with little else to show. We will be withholding further judgment on her until later, but hope that she shows us something more than a common trope by the end of the season.
Kafka Does a 180
Last week, we were praising how cool the main character of Kaiju No. 8, Hibino Kafka, was. Despite being older than your average anime hero, he was showing how brave and strong he could be. Using his new kaiju powers, he saved a young girl and her mother, and showed selflessness in the face of great danger. And he was still being hilarious throughout everything, all of which were traits that were really making us cheer for him as the leading character.
This week, though, we saw a lot more of Kafka’s weakness. Refusing to use his kaiju powers in the Defense Force training is certainly respectable, of course, and we do admire him for trying to do it without any help. But at some point, after he kept failing trial after trial, we found ourselves wishing that he would use them at least a little bit! Especially when compared with his absolute foil, Shinomiya, it became frustrating just how bad Kafka was at everything, and it really hit home that he is too old for the Defense Force with his willpower alone.
Of course, this is all likely a set-up for him ending up as a strong kaiju hunter in the near future. But it does show that without his kaiju powers, Kafka is not that strong. He has a quick mind, which he showed when he used the stun grenade to help the other soldiers in their battle, but in all other respects he is lacking. He was even the first recruit to unleash 0% of his special combat suit’s power when he put it on, which is not something to be proud of. It lowered our opinion of him as a main character, so he will have to work hard to bring himself back up to the level he was before.
The First Pacing Problems
One of our biggest praises of Kaiju No. 8 was that the anime did not suffer from any pacing problems in the opening episodes, jumping right into the plot and action from the first minutes and never slowing down. That was great, especially as the anime will only have 12 episodes this season. We were still able to follow what was going on, get to know the characters, and understand enough of the lore without the pacing suffering, and without getting bored.
“Revenge Match” was not quite the same, though. Especially with a title like that, we were expecting a lot more action and fighting than we got. Instead, there was a lot of “look at how cool Shinomiya is and how weak Kafka is,” which was frankly not as fun to watch. There was also a great deal more talking in this episode, and most of it was not funny! We can’t help but remember that there are only 9 episodes to go, and Kafka is not even a member of the Defence Force yet. Right now, we are still excited about next week’s episode, but we are hoping for more laughs, thrills, and plot advancement than we got this week.
Watch Kaiju No. 8 now on Crunchyroll.
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