Kaiju No. 8 And Narrative Complacency

Article at a glance:

• Kaiju No. 8 is a great-looking, solidly written manga that does everything “good enough,” yet still ends up feeling strangely underwhelming once the initial hype fades.
• Its biggest problem isn’t bad writing or bad characters, it’s narrative complacency, a tendency to always play things safe instead of pushing its own potential.
• In this article, we’ll break down how that complacency shows up in its characters, power system, and worldbuilding, and why even a strong foundation can crumble when a story refuses to take risks.

Kaiju No. 8 is such an interesting series to discuss when it comes to narrative issues. Because in some ways, it is a really good manga with amazing art and decent characters. It does everything “good enough,” and there isn’t a particular aspect it sucks at. But then why does it still end up feeling a bit underwhelming when you’re over the initial high? Well, that’s where we run into the main issue of Kaiju No. 8. narrative complacency.

This will be an in-depth article going over how narrative complacency can be a poison to even something with great potential. I just decided to use Kaiju No. 8 as an example here because this is the freshest one in my memory. But the same issue and arguments can be applied to plenty of other shows, such as Fairy Tail. Of course, this article will contain major spoilers from the Kaiju No. 8 manga. So, only continue if you’ve read the manga,

With all that out of the way, let’s strap in because this will be a long one. Welcome to another article, and today we are talking about Kaiju No. 8 and the curse of narrative complacency. But before we get to that, let’s quickly go over what works in the manga and what made it click initially.

What Works

The setting is simple and easy to grasp. Japan is attacked by big monsters, and a special force is in charge of dealing with the said monsters. That’s it, simple and fun. To add to this, the action looks AMAZING. Every single fight in this series looks and feels just right. You can practically feel the weight of every hit because of how well-drawn the manga is, and you can tell that the artists had fun drawing every single fight panel in this. Despite all my criticisms of the writing, I can always rely on the art to carry this manga for me.

The story just feels familiar in a very welcoming way, the protagonists are simple but relatable, and the world-building is easy to swallow. But unfortunately, over time, these positives start turning into negatives. And yeah, speaking of, let’s just get into it.

Most Characters Just Blend Together

I’ll make 2 exceptions here: Kafka and Kikoru. These 2 carried the series. But even then, I think Kafka is underutilized. The difference between Kafka and an average shounen protagonist is that Kafka is not a shounen; he’s a dude in his 30s. But here’s the thing: the manga never uses his age and mental maturity over his peers to achieve something deeper. His age is just a cosmetic difference after the initial chapters. Kikoru and Isao, though, are two characters I have nothing to even complain about.

Other than these two, though, things are rough. We already had Mina as the “strongest character” archetype; we didn’t need another one. I don’t dislike Gen, but there’s a reason why most shounens only have one “strongest character” archetype. They try to give Gen more dimensions by making him a lazy bum outside of combat, but that’s it. It is never explained why he is like that. Even after Isao’s death, his personality never evolves beyond “cool guy who’s also a little goofy.”

And then after the first arc, almost every side character just feels the same. Sure, Reno got a Numbers weapon, but it never feels earned. He just IS that guy. Reno is supposed to ground Kafka, but he never truly fulfils that role. The whole Reno and Kafka dynamic could’ve been utilized so much more.

The Power System is a Mess

Shallow is the word I’d use to describe Kaiju No. 8’s power system. Kafka never gets a “game-changing” power-up in the whole series. He just learns to punch harder. Even his way of beating No. 9 boils down to punching him till he dies. He never has to do a deep introspection to unlock a new power that he previously couldn’t access. Stuff like this is where they could’ve used his advanced age to better showcase his thought process and character. Another missed opportunity,

It is not much better on the human side. We are never told what exactly it means to achieve 100% combat potential with the suits. We know that it allows the users to move faster and their shots do more damage, but how do you even reach 100%? No idea. It’s just a number, and for many characters, growing stronger just means that this number goes up. That is so underwhelming.

The World Does Not Help

This is another aspect of Kaiju No. 8 that suffers greatly from narrative complacency. Even though the world has a very strong initial appeal, the origin of Kaijus is terribly botched and half-hearted, that I’d rather just have them stay mysterious. The story never stops and shows us the broader consequences of the constant Kaiju threat. It never shows us what it is like for average people in the city to live under the constant fear of being attacked by a random giant lizard or having their house destroyed in the fighting.

We never get to see how the economy of the world functions. This is certainly teased when we are shown the existence of the Kaiju clean-up crew early on, but again, never expanded upon. Once again, the author could’ve made the world quite a bit more interesting if they had wished.

That is all for now

And look, I am not saying Kaiju No. 8 is a bad manga, but its narrative complacency is so present that it actively saps the potential out of the manga. In many ways, though, Kaiju No. 8 is still a good read. It is a solid 7/10 all around, but the manga never takes risks or does anything out of the ordinary to make things more interesting. And that frustrates me a little. But yeah, let me know what you guys think in the comments. I will take my leave here, I need sleep lol. See ya!

Also, check out my thoughts on Spy x Family Season 3 so far here!