Hibino Kafka lives in a world infested by monsters. The Defense Force heroically fights said monsters, and once they're done, Kafka and his colleagues arrive to clean up the putrid carcasses...
How did Kafka go from promising to join the Defense Force to now having to clean up rotting remains? And will turning into a literal monster be the chance he was waiting for to become a hero himself?

While describing this manga to a friend, I spontaneously called it "Fire Force, without the fanservice, but with the comedy of One Punch Man". And though I won't disagree with that completely, this manga also offers much more.

Amongst fun character interactions and well-timed comedy, one other thing stood out to me. CLEAR fights. Fights where I could follow the choreography without having to reverse engineer how the various wounds on the enemy's body were caused.

And to top it off, the mangaka seems to appreciate the importance of side characters. All of them felt personable to me. Whenever he deems it appropriate, the mangaka explains his characters' actions. And their relationships with the protagonist feel natural and rarely like a tool for plot progression.

Now, having sung its praises, it's time to criticise Kaijuu 8-gou a bit.

Generally, if I don't enjoy a manga, I'll drop it. Instead, here I am, having caught up with it, and writing its first review on this site. I enjoy this manga, but I'm also not completely blind to its flaws.
Being 32 chapters deep(as of the time of writing), and it feels like the story is only getting started. Is the mangaka biting more than he can chew?

Also, as of now, Kafka is just a shell of what he could be. He has all the qualities we have come to expect out of a protagonist. Relatable, not too exceptional at the beginning, a goal to look forward to... And yet, I feel like I barely know him. How will he differentiate himself from other Shounen protagonist?

Ideally, I would like this story to continue in a direction that focuses less on world-building and more on the characters themselves. I want to see Kafka evolve over the course of the story and to grow into someone who we can feel fulfilled and self-actualised. The epitome of what it is like to live as a monster in society infested by malignant ones. Having experienced both rejection and acceptance for his newly found self.

To wrap this review up, I want to say that I like this manga and I hope that others give it a chance, too. The plot is predictable at times and yet it manages to seem fresh to me. The characters could get some more depth, but they're still a lovable bunch. Whether this manga ends up great or not, I think I'm in for the ride.

Review of Kaiju N8 (contains spoilers)
I start by saying that this is my first review, and since I have caught up, I just want to tell you my opinions about the chapters released so far of this famous manga that is depopulating in this period.
I start by saying that Kaiju n8 is undoubtedly captivating, although it may seem the classic battle manga, Kaiju have a character design really well done and particular and this is already a plus.
As far as the story is concerned, it's nothing too innovative, but we follow the story of the main character Kafka Hibino, who is not the usual shonen character, because in this case he's a guy who is over 30 years old, and this is another thing I like to differentiate a bit.
Not much is known about the protagonist, currently the only thing that is known is that, as a child, he had promised his best friend (currently commander of the third unit) that they would fight together in the defense forces to defeat the Kaiju and then now after failing the first time he wants to try again.
His transformation into Kaiju N8 is a lot of fun, it all happens in the span of a few seconds, a small insect enters his mouth and he transforms, stop.
Honestly I do not know how to take this thing, I really like the fact that it is almost like a "parody" but I expected at least that they explain the origin of these insects and why they can transform people into Mega Kaiju.
From the last chapters we understand that Kaiju N9 can actually create Mega Kaiju like N10, but I don't think it has anything to do with that little bug that possessed Kafka.

And now we move on to Kaiju N8's greatest strength, the thing that impressed me the most, which is the fighting.
The fights are really cool, they are dynamic and well readable, plus they always manage to keep you on edge.
It's not so much the drawings that are amazing, but more how the author wanted to manage the tables and as I said before, thanks to the well made Kaiju, they can make the fight even more exciting.
As for the most criticizable things at the moment as far as I'm concerned are the characters except Shinomya, have been deepened very little, some really for nothing, and the fact that for me they should deepen the matter on the birth of Kaiju and those strange insects that can turn a human into a Mega kaiju.
More than anything else they should really explain it also because Kafka in a certain situation they showed us that he had lost control, so it is also interesting to understand how that insect could affect his control and also his life.
But obviously we are still in the 58th chapter so it's too early to say these things, but I still wanted to expose what I currently think of what has come out so far.
To conclude Kaiju N8 is a work that I would recommend to everyone, because it flows very quickly and is very enjoyable as a read, really epic fights with moments of comedy, and in the future if it continues in the right direction, it could give us surprises, so I recommend you to keep an eye on it.

So I was there when the first chapters of Kaiju No. 8 were released, before even Viz or Manga Plus picked it up. And as a story goes, it really does scratch the itch of things that the manga fanbase has been begging for. We've gotten so many manga about people who are the chosen one or who have some powerful legacy in their teens, so making the protagonist a burnt-out guy in his 30s working as a janitor for overgrown monster corpses who is jaded and regretting his life choices just like us fr fr and then giving him a chance to become someone is a legit good concept. Of course, the twist of some random monster giving him kaiju powers is neat - people were already thinking about how the initial concept brings to mind western superheroes like Spider-Man, folks down on their luck who are given great power and then actively seek to make the world a better place. And of course, it ran in Jump+ - which has a penchant for their titles being a bit different from Weekly Shonen Jump titles. Not that Kaiju No. 8 would be seinen or anything like that, but that it would be different from the Black Clovers and the My Hero Academias we already have. So when it immediately got licensed, I could definitely understand why.

The problem, and why I personally was upset by the series, is that while Naoya Matsumoto hasn't been in Weekly Shonen Jump since 2010, it certainly feels like he's never actually left.

Kafka is definitely 32 years old, but in the manga he definitely doesn't act like one - take away the occasional drinking and jokes at his potbelly, and he easily passes for a teenage shonen protagonist. Any wisdom he'd have from being an adult is just... not there, and his jaded personality crumbles when he becomes a member of the Kaiju Defense Force. His childhood friend Mina is certainly capable, but honestly her existence as a character isn't much besides being Kafka's "goal". Her goal is just to save people from kaiju... and that's it.

Hell, that goes for most of the supporting cast. Matsumoto-sensei definitely spends a ton of time on the other KDF cadets, but despite all the panels they get they don't actually... do much. Reno, Kafka's closest friend and confidant in the force, gets a couple moments where he shows aura and then nothing else. That applies for everyone else, really. Kikoru has a good character arc, at least, so I can't fault her for that.

The concept people were really hoping for - Kafka being a vigilante hero a la Spider-Man - gets dashed pretty quickly when Kafka reveals his kaiju form early on. From then it feels more like a generic "good guys with guns fight against mindless monsters" series that Starship Troopers lambasted decades ago.

Kaiju No. 9 is... a really annoying main villain. Not like a villain who is intentionally meant to be annoying so that you can watch their downfall in real time - no, at first No. 9 starts out as what you assume is just like a side boss or something. While Kafka uses overwhelming power as No. 8, No. 9 instead uses cunning and subterfuge to get his way. This could be an easy way to make a good foil, but no No. 9 just manages to come across Kafka every single time and manages to escape by coincidence every single time until he gets overwhelming power by eschewing all of the character traits he started with and wait okay it turns out he's the big baddie all along. We don't really get any introspection about his character besides "he existed one day and likes to see what humanity is" and that's it. That's everything.

If you have just started reading Kaiju, you may think I am making mountains out of molehills, and in a sense I am - but only because of how I experienced the manga. At first Kn8 was on a semi-weekly schedule until pivoting to a biweekly schedule, which is tough because Matsumoto-sensei LOVES to drag arcs out. I'm gonna focus on the back half of the manga here, so spoilers abound.
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The final "arc" of the series took almost three years to complete, and the chapter schedule aside it's because Matsumoto learned from Bleach that every chapter should have like five displays of hype aura. This leads to a reliance on large panels - seriously, you'd be lucky to find a page with more than five panels - and an abundance of spread pages that lead to like one action. If you're binging the manga you'll probably skim it in five minutes, but remember that we had to wait two weeks between chapters. Sometimes more. It was a slog.

And this arc is mostly just interchangeable fights. First Hoshina has a fight that lasts three chapters. Then Narumi has a fight that lasts three chapters. Then Shinomiya has a fight that lasts three chapters. If you were reading week by week, that was a solid 4-5 months of the story grinding to a halt because Matsumoto-sensei cannot get into conflict. Oh, Shinomiya is winning the fight, she has a power level suit reading of 90%! Oh no, Kaiju No. 15 has her on the ropes! Oh, Shinomiya uses a new move to turn the tides! Oh no, No. 15 reminds Shinomiya of her family trauma and she's on the ropes again! Oh wait, Shinomiya escaped that trauma with the help of (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ HER FRIENDS ♥ and she decapitates No. 15! But wait, in the five seconds while No. 15's head was soaring through the air, it turns out that she has daddy issues like Shinomiya so she's actually sympathetic! I'm gonna be honest, even Black Clover fights are more mechanically complex than these.

Finally, after months upon months of waiting, we finally got the ending and... it was basically the equivalent of a wet fart. Kafka spends like three chapters in a row throwing a singular punch. There is about one chapter's worth of an epilogue, which doesn't really provide closure to any of the characters (aside from Kafka) nor the conflict the series was built upon. How do kaiju exist? Fuckin' leylines in the earth that is never explained. Why do kaiju attack humans? Fuck if we know. Will there ever be a time where the conflict between kaiju and mankind is resolved? Nope, Kafka and Mina are just gonna be protecting the populace until the end of time. Kaiju No. 9, as much as the series hyped him to be the leader of monsterkind, was nothing more than a raid boss, and afterwards the defense force went right back to exp farming. If you were expecting any type of post-finale release, any rush of dopamine that makes you go "hell yeah, I made a good choice reading this manga", you won't find it here.

Hell, I thought there was at least one potential conflict out there - the fact that Kafka's goal was never to actually defeat the kaiju or even stop them, but merely to protect people from them alongside his childhood friend. If kaiju kept attacking for the next 100 years, he wouldn't care because his only goal was to be on her level - the underlying causes of why kaiju exist or attack mean nothing to him. You could write something about that, maybe tie it into criticisms of a society whose life is built entirely on just killing beings that aren't them, but it just... doesn't happen. Hell, Kafka doesn't even have any romantic feelings for her, which normally I would be excited over but here it just amounts to "he's on her level now, the end".
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Now, I'm quite aware that most of the issues I have with Kaiju No. 8 are actually of my own doing. If I had merely seen that, yes, this is just a mindless series about guys punching monsters, there's no deeper meaning hidden inside like a plum in a pie, then I could have had a happier time reading it. And hell, if I had just binged it instead of waiting chapter by chapter, I would have not experienced so many bad pacing issues (they'd still be there, but any thoughts on a chapter would immediately be overwritten by the next one). But I had higher expectations for this series and I did read it in the way that Matsumoto-sensei intended, so I will judge it based on that.

Again, if you go in knowing what you're getting into, you'll probably have a decent time. But if you're expecting any more than that, you might as well turn around and walk away.