Welcome to This Week in Shonen Jump, our weekly check in on Viz’s various Shonen Jump series. Viz has recently changed their release format, but our format will mostly remain the same. We will still review the newest chapters of one title a week, now with even more options at our disposal. The big change for our readers is that, even without a Shonen Jump subscription, you can read these most recent chapters for free at Viz.com or using their app.
This week, Vince checks in with “Kaiju No. 8.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Kaiju No. 8 – Chapter 37
Written & Illustrated by Naoya Matsumoto
Review by Vince J Ostrowski
It is a wonderful thing when a manga becomes so confident in itself that it begins to drop the exposition, becomes more subtle in its world-building, and just tells a story about its characters. “Kaiju No. 8”, while a strong effort all along, has really hit its stride in recent chapters, with Chapter 37 quite possibly being its most self-assured yet from a storytelling standpoint. Consequently, this chapter has possibly the least advancement of plot yet, but it’s in service of amping up the intensity of the fight, and even playing around a little with some abstract, existential concepts.
When this series kicked off, I never imagined I’d be referencing Neon Genesis Evangelion for anything other than some of the aesthetic choices made in this series about kaiju attacks and their effects on the city they descend on. What began as something of a kitschy concept (Marvel’s “Damage Control” with a uniquely Japanese angle), I’m delighted to say it became more than that quite quickly, and the promise for even greater depth exists still.
The chapter begins with and mostly plays out a conflict wherein the captain of the Kaiju Defense Force faces down Kaiju No. 8, a metaphysical extension of our hero Kafka Hibino. Later in the chapter, a dream-like sequence takes us through a new transformation of sorts for our Kafka (“I understood the reference!”). The transformation has a metaphysical element to it, as I am uncertain how much we are meant to take literally about the process, but ends with a physical change to the character. The emotional breakthrough of Kafka is not nearly as subtle or multifaceted as Shinji’s in Evangelion. Kafka does not suffer from the same kind of…well…everything Shinji has got going on in that messed up head of his, but the effort seen here does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
If I have any criticisms, they are slight. This chapter is so succinct and focused on delivering its big bang ending that there isn’t much to pick around at. In a way, I suppose that’s a criticism in and of itself. This is a quick read, and not easily invested in if you haven’t been reading already. In that way, it’s not a great jumping on point. Consider this an endorsement for getting caught up. Another small hangup for me was in the staging of the big fight. There were times where it wasn’t clear what was going on or necessarily where the characters were in a spatial sense. If the dream sequence was beautifully done and clear as a bell, that wasn’t always the case for the fight external from it. On the other hand, when Kafka “levels up” so to speak, it’s the best artistic stroke of the chapter by far. “Kaiju No. 8” favors explosive, electric carnage over clarity in this installment, but I’m not sure it fully has the intended effect.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – “Kaiju No. 8” has become such a lean, muscular and surprisingly mature series, and chapter 37 possesses a surprising turn of surrealism that hints at even stronger characterization around the corner.
