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[Spoilers] Kaiju No. 8 - Chapter 129 (Finale) Discussion
A nice chunky chapter to tie up loads of loose ends and give Kaiju no.8 the send off it deserves!
Not exactly an all-time fav, especially as the last couple of arcs felt a bit drawn out, but it was a fun and novel take on the shonen action trope of monsterification.
Started strong but turned into shit halfway through.
It's mostly meh...
I think this story ended too soon. It felt like the Daikaiju of the Mereiki period should have been the final boss one arc later. Most side characters are pretty forgettable and weren't really fleshed out. This is mostly your typical action Shonen with corny dialogue with not much else going for it.
No real deep discussions on the origin of kaiju or how similar intelligent kaiju are to human beings or the reliance of Kaiju for the industries of mankind, etc.
Also, Kafka should have died ffs... Makes no sense he got his heart back AND is still able to transform.
I agree. We needed a better ending.
i think the issue is that they made him about to die due to the spirits passing on, which is good, and then the Director when passing on gave Kafka his heart, which is ALSO good but then they make the Director subjugate the spirits and force them to stay... which makes him giving Kafka his heart redundant since he could've just subjugated the spirits and left it like that, honestly the heart ended up being a quick hail mary to explain why Kafka can go back to being a human lol
For me, I just don't understand how a spirit could just manifest an instant heart transplant but you also make a great point that Kafka should have been able to convince the spirits to stay.
I'm a bit confused. You're saying a spirit giving its heart to someone else is unrealistic. A spirit keeping other spirits away is unrealistic.... But gigantic kaijus using super powers is realistic ? If the mangaka can choose to create a world where kaijus with magic powers exist, why are those two things unrealistic ? Why can the author only choose what is possible and what isn't when its related to kaijus, he can't decide the story of his own manga with imaginary stuff ?
i never understood people reading manga with fictionnal stuff and then saying "this is possible, but this thing isn't".
Obviously gigantic kaijus using super powers is unrealistic but ANY story should follow it's own rules. Every kaiju in this story is some physical monster that can do all sorts of stuff that affect the physical world. Even with Kafka's kaiju which has all the spirits of the people that died on that day to the Mereiki kaiju, he still ate that fly kaiju and it altered his body to the point where his heart was replaced with a core. He didn't just spiritually get granted that power.
Isao Shinomiya was killed but his spirit lived on in the Meireiki kaiju. Isao just goes up and changes the physical biology of Kafka even though he's just a spirit and just... convinces the Meireiki warriors to stay with Kafka?
It feels like an asspull to appeal to the typical Shonen audience and doesn't feel bold.
You call it an asspull. I just embrace the magic of the story. I once was like you, and to be honest, movies, animes and mangas are so much better if you try to stop thinking, and just go with the flow. I read mangas to laugh, cry, have fun, and forget reality for some time, not to try and debunk the world created by someone with a fun and creative imagination.
I think that is fine, don't have mistakes, just final point and multiples ways for continues, if author want it. Furthermore, Kaiju n°8 never requested to be hit sales for jump, like the big 3, so this final is understandable from story.
I'm very unfulfilled by that ending. The series was so enjoyable but this final chapter was a bit of a nothing-burger.
Kafka basically just saved humanity (I think that's fair to say) and risked his life for it, but what are we shown for that outside of "I have a family?" Nothing. He still seems to be some cadet that just operates on the field while the rest of his comrades have been appointed to high end positions.
What of his long-term goal that drove this series which is to stand side by side with Mina? Well, we got a moment of that in the final fight, but, if that's all it takes to fulfill that dream then my god that could have been fulfilled within the first half of the story. I don't even care that they didn't end up together. I love romance, but I didn't need them in love but we don't even see that they work together? For all we know they still barely see each other. That final moment would have been so much better if it was a threat that Mina and him get deployed for and then we get that final panel.
I wasn't expecting Kafka to die but it does sort of diminish his "sacrifice" in that final fight if the Director who was in #9's body is somehow able to just take that sacrifice for him AND keep #8 alive and well in Kafka's body.
All in all, while I enjoyed many moments in the series and was looking forward to every chapter during this final arc, the final chapter left me so underwhelmed and unrewarded.
yeah same here, i wish we got a resolution with Mina :/
i also thought he would die but it was cool that the director gave Kafka his heart, though i found it a bit odd since i'm not sure i can say we got enough character interactions between them to fully support the idea that he would do that, i mean of course he would to help with defense but still felt a bit off, and yeah him subjugating 8 was also weird, would've been better if they just explained that Director gave Kafka his heart but the monster core that formed remained so while the spirits from before moved on Kafka was still kaiju 8 due to the core, it also means that we get a bad ending for the spirits, they don't find piece but rather get forced to stay inside Kafka lol
Kafka and Mina resolution is a weird one, i guess his initial motivation was really just "fight side by side" because they barely interact the whole series, and even in the end they can't strike a conversation.
If you think about it, they're not even friends.
The ending was SO premature to the point it didn't even feel like it was ending nor was it a conclusive one. In the end Kafka and Mina's dream was clearly never achieved- Kafka and Mina made a pact long ago as children that they would grow up to rid the world of Kaiju plaguing humanity side by side- 1. Kaiju are still prevalent we do NOT know WHY Kaiju still exist. 2. This does not seem like Kafka and Mina truly were able to stand beside each other and fight side by side; nor is it conclusive enough for my liking. What was even the point of it ending if the goals weren't achieved or addressed? idk. Honestly wasted potential strong start but 6.5/10 ending (generous).
The ending felt like a filler chapter for the next arc, lmao!
It felt like it jumped into a big scale battle, and it accidentally got too big, too fast, and basically it railroaded itself into the endgame and ending. It made it all a big meh, especially when it ended up like half of the manga was a thing, and the latter half was full on Ninja War-scale. A pity in my opinion, but alas
They Rushed The Ending too much coz there is soo much to explain after. They Took Down the Main Villain.
What is there to explain? Ill explain it to you.
Man this was a disappointment
Started off great, I think it peaked around the 80-90 chapter markAfter that the biweekly release schedule, short ass chapters and a cliched this isnt even my final form battle just destroyed this manga.
The final chapter felt more like a summary and a forced here's what happened they lived happily ever after the end
7/10, below average shounen
I don't think the ending, or the plot in general, was rushed. And the closing was good. I liked the final fight and the ending. But it feels like there were still lots and lots of elements in the world to be explored that were just put aside forever. I wanted more time with the side characters, and with the organization in general.
The world of this manga seemed rich AF, and it's a pity that we didn't get more time to enjoy it and its people. But well, it was worth the read anyway, for me. It was entertaining while it lasted. And I'm glad to have met Kafka and Kirorku.
Have you ever read and manga and been like "yeah, I dont want ANY more of this"?
Maybe the Kaiju no 8 was the potential we lost along the way
Honestly it got all kinda messy in the second half and the ending was beyond bad. Best thing was Mina's "get in the car". Many people honestly expected for them to get married and maybe even get kids. Instead after everything and him being in a coma for months this is her behaviour towards him? Yeah I call BS.
Needless to say I'm dropping the second season of the anime. There was some good stuff but in the end it alrdy went downhill in the manga a while ago and with such an ending too I see no point in continueing the show tbh (because what for, there's wayyy too much other stuff out there).
The last chapter made me kinda realize how far we are from a romance story.
Kafka and Mina don't even feel like friends; they are just awkward coworkers who knew each other a long time ago, but not anymore. I would've loved anything to even start up a potential romance, but nothing happened; they are still nowhere near each other in positions or anything job-related, STILL not working side-by-side, which makes you wonder if that romance will ever happen.
The side by side especially feels so idiotic considering Mina was ALL the motivation Kafka had the whole time and I mean they were kinda set up too to end up together. No idea why everything was axed liked that and felt so akward in the end..
Yeah, what a weird way to end the series; it really doesn't make sense in any way if this is the end, this would only be acceptable if this was the manga's "season 1" and they have more planned, but nothing of the sort was implied. It was just a gigantic letdown, and the most generic ending it could've received at the same time.
MC gets to live, there was no consequences, no sacrifices from his part, he gets a promotion (just like everybody else) and living like nothing happened, no idea where the monsters originate or spawning from, no romantic development with Mina, they are not even real friends tbh, and still made that scene with the two kids who supposed to represent Kafka and Mina when they were little kids, because thats how it started but it was not how it ended sadly.
This needs a side story ending so bad. I wonder if they're gonna do it. I believe it deserves a real ending, not a report card compressed into 1 chapter.
Even if it were to continue at some point the story parts make even less sense. After all what happened, Mina rushing to the hospital after hearing, that Kafka woke up and crying herself out hugging him letting her feelings just happen - that would've been realistic.
And yeah, the whole relationship between those two feels super akward. It's just, there.. Nothing else. And like you said no sacrifices at all.
Imagine the ending scene but with Kafka facing a second monster only to tell those kids "no worries, my wife is here too" with Mina shooting the crap out of that thing. That would've been a much cooler way to end the series. But even then like you said, we NEVER got ANY explanation on the Kaiju at all. I can't fathom how they could puke out an ending like that. Feels like someone forced them to or the author was just burned out and came up with some totally neutral ending leaving as many topics (the Kaiju, Mina's and Kafka's relationship etc.) untouched as possible.
I absolutely loved this at the start, and I quickly binged the whole thing up until I caught up, then I dropped it a while back since the final fight was way too dragged out with this release schedule. I found out a couple of hours ago that it's finished and read the chapters. I agree with most of the comments on here; it was rushed, very unsatisfying, and a little dumb.
I was expecting Kafka dying, which is a sad end but it would've left an impression, then there is another that could've happened is he staying a monster which is also sad again but something unique, but the final decision Kafka made in his mind had absolutely no consequences, he didn't suffer any permanant damage physically, he still has his Kaijuu powers and just living like before.
Let me not even mention how lame it is that they did nothing with the possible romance between Kafka and Mina, or how in the end absolutely nothing got answered and they are still not even fighting side by side.
It started off really good to my tastes, went from a 8.5/10 to a 6/10, maybe we'll get a side story ending in the future that fixes it a bit.
its, its so fucking peak. crying rn so good
