Quick Thoughts has always been two different things. First, it is a format for me to either get out some kneejerk reactions of news without mulling it over. The second is a way for me to talk about a certain series that I WANT to talk about, but I don’t enough to say to warrant a full post. That is not a judgment on the quality or enjoyment of said piece of work, just a reality. Sometimes a series doesn’t give me enough to write about, good or bad.
Case in point is this show. I loved the first season of Kaiju No. 8. While it is a by-the-books shonen show, it’s use of a middle aged protagonist and crisp to-the-point storytelling reminded me of the best of shows like Black Cat. I’ve said many times that as I get older I’m a bigger fan of the shorter shonen series, I just don’t have the patience anymore for those series that go on for hundreds of chapters.
With that all said, the second season of Kaiju is really just more of the first. It has all the parts I love, and moves the story along at that steady pace I enjoy. There is an awesome battle between the old chief, then a training arc that gives some of the minor characters a chance to shine and just enough episodes to set up for the final season coming later this year. I just really enjoyed my time in this world and its characters, especially Kafka who again, is just such a breath fresh air for this kind of show. I maintain that if he had been another teenager or young adult alot of the charm of the story would be lost.
If anything, the biggest issue I have is that the streamlined story leaves little for the relationship between Mina and Kafka. For Mina, we really don’t know much about her at all, how she feels about Kafka joining or really, anything. She is a rather flat character who feels more like a plot device than a member of the cast. This will get fixed a bit during the climax, but it feels like a bit of a lost opprotunity for a character with a cool power and interesting design.
Overall Kaiju No.8‘s second season remains a solid bit of shonen action that feels very comfortable with what it’s doing. In fact I’d go as far to say it’s the best “bite-sized” shonen I’ve seen in the last few years. It doesn’t have One Piece’s longivity, or the budgets of Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer, but it is just a damn good show and honestly that is often enough.
Shallow Dives in Anime 