Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Review – Largely Disappointing
Article at a glance:
- Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 tries to shift gears into a more transitional arc, but that comes with its own set of challenges.
- The pacing and balance between action, character focus, and world-building don’t land as cleanly as they did in Season 1.
- While there are still highlights to enjoy, the shorter season length makes the flaws stand out more than before.
Kaiju No. 8 is in a bit of a weird spot. I understand that “transition” arcs like this are a bit hard to nail in anime. But with Kaiju No. 8, it feels like so much is happening, but nothing is happening at the same time, if that makes sense. The shorter length of this season doesn’t help much, either. I don’t think people appreciate just how much difference an episode or two could make in shorter seasons like this. Back when I watched Season 1, I didn’t think I’d be writing a negative review for Kaiju No. 8 Season 2, but here we are.
So yeah, welcome back to another review, and today, we are talking about Kaiju No. 8 Season 2. There will be spoilers ahead, so please continue only if you don’t mind that, or skip to the end to see my scores. With that said, let’s get started.
Plot
So, the pacing definitely takes a hit compared to Season 1. In Season 1, every episode felt impactful; even the non-action episodes had a lot of character building to them. But Season 2 never really takes the time to build up the characters. We never get to spend time with the new characters to care about them, and we don’t get enough time with the older characters we do care about to feel like they’ve grown, with the exception of Iharu and Ishikawa.
Of course, it is not all doom and gloom. I like how well Isao’s death was handled. It felt like a big deal, and it put everyone on alert. It drove some of the character development for Kafka and Kikoru. The whole segment with Ishikawa and Iharu was also pretty nice, and it is cool seeing just how seriously the Kaiju No. 9 threat is being taken. It really does feel like they are preparing for the end of the world. I just wished to see more of it.
Characters
As I touched on in the previous section, Season 2 is in a bit of an odd situation. We don’t get to see the older characters we care about, but at the same time, we are never given enough time with the Narumi squad to care about them either. Narumi himself is an interesting character, but that’s about it. I also wish we had spent more time with Isao before they killed him off, just so we could learn about the dude more. Most of his backstory came after he died, so that lessened the impact of his death a little bit.
Still, Hoshina starting to mentor Kafka was a nice character moment. Kafka’s arc post Isao’s death, in general, has been decent. And we had a few good character moments for Kikoru, Ishikawa, and Iharu as well.
Production
This is another area where Season 2 takes a step back from Season 1. Pretty much every single fight in Season 1 had insanely good animations. Sure, Season 1 had some goofs here and there, but they weren’t that noticeable. But in Season 2, the only visually stunning fight has been Isao vs. No. 9. Aside from that, no action scene carries the same visual splendor as Season 1.
That said, I do appreciate bringing back One Republic for the ending theme. It was such a surprise when they did the Season 1 ending theme, and I am glad that they are continuing that trend at least. More Western bands in anime, please.
Summing Up
Here are my final review scores for Kaiju No. 8 Season 2:
- Plot – 7/10
- Characters – 6/10
- Production – 7/10
- Enjoyment – 6/10
- Overall – 6.5/10
So, in short, Season 2 is worse than Season 1 in pretty much every metric. I know Season 1 wasn’t the deepest thing ever, but Season 1 understood the assignment, which is what made it so much fun to watch. Season 2 feels like it’s trying to do something else, but it doesn’t succeed, and in the process, ends up losing what made Season 1 special. But yeah, with that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!
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