ANIME REVIEW: KAIJU NO. 8 - Season 1

4/5

Monster Man.

12 Episodes. Starring: Masaya Fukunishi, Asami Seto, Wataru Kato, Fairouz Ai, Kengo Kawanishi & Yuuki Shin. Screenplay: Ichirō Ōkouchi. Directors: Shigeyuki Miya & Tomomi Kamiya. On: Netflix.

Godzilla rears his iconic head above the famous Shinjuku TOHO Cinemas in Tokyo, Japan. So much so, the street he roams over is named after him. Yet, I've been here in the Land of the Rising Sun, five years, next month, and I still was in for a surprise the last time I walked down Godzilla Road on just another neon night. On the hour, like Paris Eiffel Tower shining in glittering flashbulbs and gold in the City Of Light, Godzilla roars like clockwork, along with his iconic theme tune. 

And not just that, he spits hot fire like Dave Chappelle's Dylan with an electric blue that crackles and cackles from his mouth. Now I no longer wonder why everyone stands at attention there, on the hour, and where that music is coming from. It's not from the legendary Don Quijote that even Bruno Mars, no stranger to Tokyo having sold out more domes than the Giants, has made a music video for. His latest collaborator, the legendary Lady Gaga also spending thousands (and we aren't talking about Yen) in the Osaka outlet.

King Kong ain't got s### on all this. Kaiju's are kind of a big deal. You only have to watch Hollywood's recent face off with the planet of the ape, or look at Japan's own Oscar winning, 'Godzilla Minus One' and the film noir that's about now on our shore, 'Minus Colour' to see the glow like his minty fresh breath. Nothing is bigger than the God, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday. But in this movie multiverse, his strand of storytelling stomps all sorts of new ground. 

From movies thinking about what to do with his colossus corpse, to Netflix anime about other famous monster lizards. And this is where 'Kaiju No. 8', available on the streaming service, meets these same minds in the middle. Based on Naoya Matsumoto's massive manga series, this Production I.G. and Studio Khara production is directed by Shigeyuki Miya and Tomomi Kamiya and scripted by Ichirō Ōkouchi, knocking this adaptation out the park like his baseball namesake. 

Chief animator Tetsuya Nishio really steals the show, too, with his character designs. Whilst Shinji Kimura's art direction and the monster designs of Mahiro Maeda (a concept artist for 'Mad Max: Fury Road') really bring even more vivid detail to this mix of classic and "kawaii" anime, with its digital opening and terrific themes from Youngblud and OneRepublic, two acts no stranger to hits, like they are a spacebar...I'm sorry, a space-bar. Streaming on TV Tokyo and an X simulcast, this show, starring the vocal talents of Masaya Fukunishi, Asami Seto, Wataru Kato, Fairouz Ai, Kengo Kawanishi and Yuuki Shin has just been green lit for a second season, and you can see why. 

Beyond a terrific knife-wielding and big-gun team, reminiscent of those trying to take on an 'Attack On Titan', there's a rogue gallery of kaiju (armed with voices akin to the opening of Prince's '1999'), even more diverse than Godzilla through the ages. The best being the man who became one in humanoid form. Straight from the clean-up team that takes care of the destruction left in the wake of these big beasts (The Avengers would never). This is what makes the regular Joe anime fantasy of 'Kaiju No. 8' the wonder that it is. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Gamera-Rebirth', 'Attack On Titan', 'Godzilla: Singular Point'.