The Japanese and Kaiju are two words that just go together perfectly with the land of the rising sun having created several popular Kaiju in the past. However very few times have they created a Kaiju based anime and yet in the year of 2024 that's exactly what we got with an anime TV series being based around destroying kaiju still airing on TV screens across the glove and so then join me as I review the episode that is alot more comical then what it really should have been with the episode in question being called simply just "The Man Who Became A Kaiju" enjoy.
The plot of the episode is a disgruntled cleaner who has to clean up the city after every single Kaiju attack finds himself having to save the life of a new colleague when the two discover something that could change there very lives forever. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / resented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as the plot of the episode does a good job of setting up the tone and feel for the rest of the show whilst also not taking itself all that seriously but at the same time tho the plot of this episode wasn't as good as it really could have been as it's a plot that really is just wafer thin at best which does make sense as this is only the first of the episode but at the same time that's all the more reason to have a much more stronger debut plot as this is the first chance that people are getting to see your work with the plot plot of the episode also being really entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Adam McArthur as Reno Ichikawa , Nazeeh Tarsha as Kafka Hibino and Ben Stegmair as Iharu Furuhashi. Also starring in this episode is Katelyn Barr as Mina Ashiro , Nasim Benelkour as Hiroto Mori , Matthew Elkins as Ichitaka Mitsuike , Michael Stimac as Masahide "Toku" Tokuda and anime voice acting legend Attack On Titan , A Certain Magical Index and Blood-C star Alexis Tipton as Young Kafka.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As all of the dub actors really do turn in some really good performances in this episode with all of them really nailing there characters on the first go which is a very hard thing to do and yet this episodes cast seem to do perfectly with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the shows cast are really well cast with all of them having voices that seem to fit there respective characters almost perfectly and while yes some better more established voiced might have done a better job in certain roles this voice cast on the other hand are mostly unknowns which makes it easier to buy into the characters with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for the episode is just so good that all this episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Production I.G. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good which given who is doing the animation for this show and for this episode really isn't all that surprising as Production I.G do usually do some fantastic animation in all of there output and the same thing is true fo this film but on the flip side of that is that while the 2D animation does look it's the 3DCGI animation that does look a little off as the 3D animation looks like it came out of the nineties but while the episode wisely doesn't use CGI all that much when they do use it however it really does stand out because of how bad the CGI in this episode really is with the shows 2D animation looking alot better then the CGI animation that's in this episode.
As a kaiju show this episode does far really good as it it does show us alot of the damage that the kaiju can do. With us getting the chance to see something that we really haven't seen since the 1954 Kaiju movie Gojira and that's to show us how the normal everyday person is effected after a Kaiju attack as Kafka's whole job involves dealing with the mess that just one Kaiju attack does to the city and that does give the show a unique hook and while the episode does rather rightfully go into alot of detail as to how that works what it doesn't show us is how people go back to work the day after a monster attack as that is something that would affect alot of people and it doesn't really get the chance to show us how the people of this unnamed city have adapted to having monster attacks happen fr years at this point and as a result of that is that while the show does have a unique idea and a unique hook to it the world that the show takes place in does feel rather undercooked but this is understandable as this is only the shows first episode but it is something that is still an issue tho.
This show is alot more comedic then what it really should as while yes this show is comedy and the comedy in this episode is really good. They also make jokes at times when they really shouldn't do which is something that does undercut the tension of the scene not to mention the fact that when you think of a show about Kaiju you don't usually think of something that's a comedy and in that regard the show does stand out as this is something that you wouldn't expect a Kaiju show or movie to be and yet it's something that doesn't really work for this show nor this sub-genre as when your in a Kaiju show you should be treating it as if it's happening in real life and acting as if it's happening to you in real life and while yes alot of the Godzilla movies do have jokes in them there not that often and most certainly not as often as they happen in this episode however with that being said the comedy in this episode does break the tension alot of the time and when we do get a good joke it can be really but we also get alot of painfully unfunny jokes with one of those being not one but two fart jokes both of which are painfully unfunny and really aren't needed in this episode.
This episode does spend alot of time with Kafka which again does make alot of sense as he's the shows main character but at the same timer tho by doing that it also means that none of the shows main characters can get time to show us some of there personality. Like with Reno for example even tho he does get alot of screen time in this episode we don't get a chance to get an idea of what it is that his personality is even meant to be in the first and it's the same thing with Mina Ashiro as even tho we get to see both her Kafka as childhood best friends she doesn't get alot of screen time in this episode and thus really doesn't get the chance to show us what her personality is and while that might not be the case in the manga it is something that happens in the anime as the anime is more focused on setting up Kafka which does make sense but it's done by taking screen time away from the other main characters when the episode should have been setting up all three main characters and setting up there goals for the series ad yet this episode really doesn't do that in any way whatsoever.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty three minuets and forty seconds. Which is both the perfect running time for this episode to have and yet at the exact same time it's also oddly short for what this episode really should have been as the episode really does have more then enough plot to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time this episode really should have been a little longer as by giving the episode a slightly longer running time it would allow more of the shows main characters to get more of what it is that there personalities are meant to be and it would allow for us the audience to see just how this world works not only during a Kaiju attack but also after a giant Kaiju has already attacked the city as that is something that wouldn't effect the plot of the episode and it's something that would add to the overall worldbuilding of the show itself and would thus make the show itself seem better but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that means that I gave to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. However that's also the problem as the action that's un this episode also isn't all that good either as the episode puts alot more focus into giving us some decent comedy that it does into giving us some really creative looking action scenes when the balance should be more fifty fifty and not forty sixty like it is in this very episode and while yes we do get to see some really very good action scenes and some really cool moments in those action scenes alot of the action in this episode just feels really very flat and boring with nothing all that much exciting actually happening in this episode action wise outside of one or two moments which really isn't enough as the action should be on par and treated equally with the comedy with not one of them being treated better then the other one in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this show does have the potential to be a really good show which might happen in the shows following two episodes this first episode really isn't the best episode to really start this show of on as it really doesn't give you a reason to really tune in and watch episode two of this show in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very show and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10m from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Godzilla fandom wiki page , the official Kaiju No. 8 fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Kaiju No. 8 fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode and are really of course up and on the official Kaiju No. 8 fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.