Kaiju No. 8 Review

The hook is the protagonist's age. Kafka Hibino is thirty two, has failed the defence force exam repeatedly, and cleans up monster corpses for a living, and when a parasite turns him into a kaiju himself, the story that follows is about a man getting a second chance rather than a boy discovering his destiny. That perspective gives the early volumes a warmth and a wry humour the genre rarely has.

Matsumoto's art is clean and his kaiju designs are excellent, and the action reads clearly. The problems arrive as the series settles into a more standard shape: the supporting cast are competent without being memorable, the plot leans on named numbered kaiju that arrive on schedule, and Kafka's secret, the engine of the early tension, is resolved sooner than it should have been. It is a solidly built, likeable action manga that promised something more distinctive than it became.