Ey up guys. Normally I go to bed at like 1am. But I started watching The Promised Neverland and ended up binging the whole First Season in one go till 4am. Honestly I’m impressed I even stayed up that late haven’t pulled an all-nighter like that since Uni. That didn’t sound so sad in my head. Also as I write this I got the new Palm Reader record on. Go listen to it, it’s fucking mint. Anyway below you’ll find discussion and spoilers regarding the most recent chapter of Monster #8. Enjoy!
Kaiju no.8 Chapter 18 Discussion:
So the chapter starts with Kafka sitting Ichikawa down and turning back to face the other humanoid monster. It doesn’t have a name but I can’t keep calling it that, let’s call it Plate-Head for this chapter. Yes it’s dumb but come on we need something. So Plate-Head hits Kafka with one of his……..blobs? To Reno’s shock it damages Kafka. Plate-Head then decides he needs many more and his body starts to expand, producing more of these. Iharu and Reno realise how easy Plate-Head went on them, as Kafka asks if Plate-Head used these weapons on his comrades. Not replying, Plate-Head shoots these off rapid fire style. Kafka then seems to mutate his body, expanding his mouth/neck to reveal more teeth and a widened jaw.
He does this to unleash a roar so loud it stops the blobs dead in their tracks, much to the shock of everyone witnessing this, especially Plate-Head. Before he can even respond, Kafka speed blitzes right in front of him and pulls a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure on Plate-Head, aka rapid fire quick punches very much in Jojo’s Ora Ora Ora style. Plate-Head then pulls a mound of flesh between them in order to give himself a moment to heal, but Kafka tears through it in seconds. And again Plate-Head creates more flesh blobs and Kafka continues to Ora Ora Ora his way through them.
Plate-Head realises he should probably retreat but Kafka lands a punch to the stomach (or whatever they have there) that winds Plate-Head as he realises he can’t escape as he has no opening. Next Kafka’s body opens up what is essentially a rocket booster in his leg as he prepares his hardest punch yet. We then get maybe the best panel in the whole chapter as he states Your core is in your torso right? I’m gonna blast it out so brace yourself. Plate-Head has a face that is the epitome of Oh shit as his whole body is basically torn apart by the punch, limbs and flesh being shredded off in the blast force. Plate-Head is shot through a few buildings and is still holding himself together but now his core is totally exposed. Kafka stands over him menacingly ready to end him when to his right corner some troops appear and report they’ve spotted a humanoid monster i.e. Kafka
Oh man, Matsumoto’s art is insane. It’s so……….alive and vibrant, it feels/looks clear and clean enough that you can see everything that happens with no trouble as there can be many manga or comic books where the art may not be bad, but so….”unique” for lack of a better term that whilst good may be somewhat difficult to actually tell what it is I’m meant to be looking at. This art though? No such trouble, it all feels legible but by no means simple or basic as there has clearly been time put into this material.
So speaking of the actual chapter this was as fun as the rest have been, although they are by no means light or “fluff.” It’s more that there is a light tone with darker themes and underlying parts. Kind of like One Piece, the tone is lighthearted but it’s an extremely dark story when you remove that tone and look at the world and story underneath. But yeah this was fun, the comedy works really well for me as it doesn’t kill or override serious moments which can be a problem in some Shonen/Action series. It fits into it’s place in the chapter nicely.
I think because the series doesn’t take itself as seriously as some of its contemporaries so whilst I feel some of said contemporaries can become bogged down in “power levels and the power system being broken” the fact Kafka can go up to this guy and hold his own doesn’t feel like an asspull, more rather obvious. And like I said if it was a more “serious” series it may get annoying but because the series doesn’t take itself seriously makes me feel we’re not supposed to take such things so seriously too. I don’t even know if that makes sense but eh it did in my head at least
Kaiju no.8 Chapter 19 Spoilers & Analysis:
So obviously the authorities now know even more so that Kaiju Kafka “exists” and are likely going to try to capture him. Because of this I feel Plate-Head is going to escape. So if we see him escape they may run back to their “leader” whoever that may be and thus we find out more about them and who they are or how they work. So whilst Plate-Head escapes Kafka will have to deal with the other troops trying to take them out.
Reno won’t reveal Kafka’s identity but I could see him and Iharu trying to defend Kafka stating he saved them. Whether the others will believe them is another question although I find it unlikely given how that trope normally goes. Their boss already suspects Kafka so I could see him trying to figure it out, and how to bring him down. If he suspects/realises it is Kafka he may try to get the troops to capture Kafka alive. Given the comedy of this series I could see Kafka re-transforming into his human form but this being a moment of awkward hilariousness.
Kaiju no.8 Chapter 19 release date:
Usually the latest Kaiju no.8 chapters are released on their Shueisha and VIZ Media platforms. The next chapter will be released on 3rd of December and fans will start discussing the spoilers on our Reddit sub.