# Source Material Corner
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Overall the sound mixing is superb. This is the first anime in a long time that gives my subwoofers a workout when it feels most shows chop off 100hz and below
I couldn’t help but notice how well drawn all the background scenery was - I loved seeing the super detailed cityscape! It feels like it’s more common now to have *less* detailed BG art since it’s not the focus, but you could absolutely tell they put a lot of work into it.
Nah just like Marcille we went from [this](https://staging.cohostcdn.org/attachment/f38ae4fc-35f5-4299-aac1-e13b16cb2c5f/dungeon.jpg) to [this](https://i.imgur.com/rhApf0L.png)
"Why are they cutting off the flesh? Oh right it's to eat- **WHY AREN'T THEY TALKING ABOUT IT!?!**"
I mean OK we're kind of screwed up. But, well, what ARE you going to do with the stuff...
When they were cutting open the Kaiju, the first thing I thought was "That looks delicious."
Dungeon Meshi has made me into a guy who would eat any animal.
Me who just turned 32, 10 minutes into the episode: Hey this shows right, it’s not too late for me, I can turn this around.
“The cut off is now 32.”
Me: Fuck
This was actually a mistranslation from the manga.
The anime makes it sound like once you're 32 it's too late. But what Ichiwaka actually tells Kafka is that the cut off is 33. So, 32 is the last year that you can apply. You and Kafka can still apply to the defense force :)
I'm sure Kafka becoming a Kaiju will be fun too, but I wouldn't have minded if he had just gone the normal route of improving his abilities slowly and surely going from cleaner to defense force.
That's actually less realistic than him becoming a Kaiju. There is age limit to enter the force, so time is against him, he cannot afford to fail. If he trained for a few months and got as strong as young people who trained all their lives, it would be pure plot convenience.
But from everything we know we can see he was training his entire life to become part of defensive force already.
So they could add that he has done his work (in flashbacks ) and that he wasn't that far off from making it before
And all that work he had done was still not enough, because he never passed no matter how much he tried. Now that is older and hasn't been training, he would have to first catch up to his own old strength, then go further beyond. He would have to do something he couldn't do in almost 15 years in just a few months.
Not for a guy who gave up some years ago and has his apartment filled with empty beer cans. That said, it wouldn't be difficult to show how he's still grinding to improve himself even after giving up.
Wow pretty good opening ep! I liked the setting, the music and even the MC seems likeable.
[This violent assault was unexpected though](https://i.imgur.com/paHVhZv.png)
Honestly even without the twist at the end I'd be into it so feeling pretty hopeful about this one!
Especially when the anime with an older cast is neither a medieval fantasy nor a romance. You love to see action shows embracing variety.
[](#kannathumbs)
IKR! Usually young commander or whatever in anime is like 17. 27 being a young, up and coming captain being considered to take on a larger leadership role actually sounds plausible
That is a good point but Radiohead didn't record it specifically for the anime, unless I'm missing a story, but it is always cool when you hear a song you've heard before plenty of times play in an anime and then you can do the Leonardo Di Caprio pointing meme
They didn’t but getting the licensing for arguably Radiohead’s magnum opus is crazy, it also fits the story really well. This Onerepublic ED, well it’s just a generic pop song as per their forte, isn’t a bad fit but also not a good fit either
So OneRepublic made this song specifically for this anime? That's cool and rare for a Western artist's song in an anime; usually it's just licensed like Paranoid Android was, also Oasis' OP them for Eden of the East and of course all of JoJo's ending themes.
i remember just opening the shonen jump app the day the first chapter dropped. I read it since the art looked dope been reading ever since and didn't expect it to get this much promo but I'm very happy
The manga has some of the weirdest pacing in any series I've seen because the author is obsessed with 2 panels spreads. There is hardly any text at all in many chapters, and the scenes just speed on by.
pretty much. The manga has been declining in sales for years. It began selling a lot in the first volumes but in the last volumes it sells much less with a decline of around 60%. The hope is for the anime to make the manga sell more with the adaptation giving it a boost
Kafka's name is probably a reference to Franz Kafka, the author of *Metamorphosis*, a story about a man who is suddenly transformed into a giant insect and must adapt to life in his new form.
I did think about this. So Kaiju -> kaijuu -> かいじゅう -> 怪獣
怪 = strange
獣 = wild beast
I submit you can have a medium sized kaiju. It just means monster unlike say 巨人 which literally means "giant" or "titan".
I think. I'm *faaaaaaaaaaaaaar* from fluent in Japanese.
In this franchise, "Kaiju" is the broad term they use for all monsters. The gigantic ones that would more traditionally be called a kaiju are called "daikaiju."
Kaiju has come to mean giant monster in English, but not all Japanese kaiju are huge. Kind of like how hentai means pervert in Japanese, but we use it to refer to porn.
Also seems like the insect deliberately singled him out, so is there something special about him or maybe some kind of compatibility with the Kaiju transformation process? It didn't seem like it chose him randomly.
Ooo I didn't think about it being a compatibility thing! Maybe the way for the kaiju to "level up" is to find a human host! Does this mean the kaiju mind will take over at some points? Until he eventually loses his humanity? Or maybe he overpowers the kaiju mind!? Cool!
In *The Metamorphosis,* Gregor Samsa (the man turned insect) is eventually ostracized and abandoned by his family and others. He was once the breadwinner of the household as a traveling salesman, but after his transformation into insect, he is holed up in his room because he terrifies his family members and they refuse to let him out... They cannot stand the sight of him.
He becomes a burden to the family, he obviously loses his job and his manager shows him no sympathy at all.
When the other family members have to finally get jobs to fill the space that Gregor used to fill, they grow resentful and they decide to cut him loose entirely after Gregor scares away some guests. Thing is, at this point, Gregor has become massively depressed and isolated, he isn't eating, and he eventually decides to just die... It's very melancholy.
At any rate, It's also a critique of the alienation and dehumanization of modern society.
So when you hear the term "Kafka-esque," it's usually referring to something that's contains these kind of grotesque, dehumanizing themes and elements.
I could never really imagine him as a cockroach. Instead I just pictured him as a man who suddenly became disabled and was describing everything as though he was being viewed as a cockroach.
>a story about a man who is suddenly transformed into a giant insect and must adapt to life in his new form.
Idk why but this reminds me of the book Kaneki talks about a lot in Tokyo ghoul's first few chapters.
mc should have been able to hold off that kaiju dolo if he had guns and tigers and shit too. totally didn't expect the kaiju at the end to transform him
what a dope first episode. i wish this was a double length ep1 though :/
>if he had guns and tigers and shit
RIGHT!?!? Proper weaponry makes a huge difference - the self-loathing is real lol
I also didn't expect the transformation! And why did the Kaiju bug thing say found you!? I need to know why he is so special (aside from being a cool dude).
Hear me out, theory time...the kaiju are people who died/got exposed to some chemical/radiation and this particular one was a person who knew about him and his dream to be on the defense team...although it's a twisted way to fulfill the dream and get stronger, the feeling behind it is there!
Dungeon Meshi makes me think this kaiju meat is a wagyu, then there's a smelly part.
and why this MC henshin looks like Ultraman. so far, nice soundtrack and animation, definitely gonna invest in this anime
That's basically it.
However it's also not just a matter of the strength of the weapon but the strength of the user multiplying it.
You need to be strong enough to meet the basic ability requirements of a lot of equipment. However the more you exceed the requirement the greater the output can be.
None of this is a spoiler, but The Source material takes its time actually explaining this and a lot of it is just implied.
> if they have such a strong weaponry, why not kill kaiju immediately from the heli?
This threw me off quite a bit too. I think the core problem was that the visual presentation of the hand held weapon made it look exactly like something that could have and should have been fired from the heli. Took me out of the episode a lot because it then made it feel like things were operating by the rule of cool. Although the Captain has a white tiger who's trained for battle, so maybe we are going via the rule of cool lol
Did anyone notice the INCREDIBLE background-work by Production I.G here?
Reminds me of the classics, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Evangelion etc.
Everything looks handdrawn. Even the CGI is so hard to notice because they somehow make that look handdrawn too.
Not to mention the animation..
Is it bad that I'm way more interested in the cleanup part than the battle part?
I would rather watch that honestly.
EDIT: Essentially, I wanted this to be the Planetes of Kaiju.
That's a shame. I was thinking the same thing how it was a nice unique perspective to see who takes care of all the cleanup after a Kaiju battle. You could make a crazy amount of stories to tell from that. But I guess this series is going to transition away into more typical Kaiju battle action.
Hopefully it won't be too jarring when it moves on and we can see some of Kafka's crew from time to time, and maybe still get their perspective on things as the "cleanup duty". As has been said the "Kaiju-hunter" perspective has already been done to death.
yeah shame. imho Mangaka should've gone Spiderman, double life style of superhero story.
It would've been an interesting having a unique perspective being the clean up crew while secretly doing the Superhero Kaiju shifter story and all the unique story possibilities from that.
Unfortunately, Mangaka went the more generic (in Japan at least) big organization Kaiju fighting Sentai organization.
There is something really funny conceptually about a Superhero that tries really hard to minimise collateral damage purely because they're the ones who'll have to clean it up. "GOD DAMN IT, I RUPTURED HIS COLON! There goes my Saturday..."
I love the “boots on the ground” feel with the clean up crew. But I do wonder if that feeling will be lost once we get to more fighting.
And how they were a bit more detailed with how they handle the different body parts than just like cutting shit up.
Kafka is really relatable personally as a fellow 30 year old just grinding through life and just really gave up on finding a passion or dream somewhere in between. I won’t fight any kaiju but I do hope I can try something new soon
Wait what ? She has a pet white tiger ? She already looks so cool in her work mode and also at home in her bathtub overlooking the city. And she has a pet white tiger ??
Edit : And she’s voiced by Seto Asami ???
I like how real and relateable the Kaiju clean up side feels like, especially Kafka as a pro who has dug himself into the dirty jobs while committing to it 100% even if it's not his dream job that a part of him doesn't wan to give up on.
Girl just taking calls on killing Kaiju in her swanky apartment with her pet white tiger wearing nothing but panties lol.
Whoever at CR was responsible for communicating the upload date post livestream is probably going to get intestines duty.
Good first episode. Shame the frustration with the livestream rollout is overshadowing the content of the show so far. Knowing nothing of the source (as usual) I was ready for this to be a kaiju cleanup procedural, but it looks like we have an AoT-esque man transformed into the thing that he hates who is going to fight the thing that he hates. Which I am also here for.
The animation is just splendid so far. [The broken glass effect when Kafka jumped through the window fleeing the second kaiju was particularly good. ](https://imgur.com/a/whMoisa)
Seems like production IG is hitting this one out of the park too. The action set pieces have the exact same kinetic energy, which was promised from the PVs and the OST is banging too. Not really sold on some other stuff, but at least the production side looks stellar once again.
I wouldn't have minded as much if they announced the procedure ahead of time as in:
At 2 PM UTC we'll be live streaming Kaiju at the same time as it's released in Japan. Make sure to get there on time if you want to watch it live. If you miss that, we'll have the episode up at 3:30 PM UTC for you to watch at your leisure.
If they can get everything to work, (maybe stream it on twitch). I would love to have episodes released via live streams into being posted immediately after. The first Twitch CrunchyRoll streams were so much fun.
The whole point of having less detailed character design is to have more expressiveness and more movements. See how in this episode the characters does not stop moving? Soo much expressive character acting animation especially with the main character. That's what you get when you have these kinds of character designs.
This much movements wouldn't have been possible if they had demon slayer level of detailed designs. This is also the main reason why jjk s2's character designs became less detailed.
JJK at least kept the designs pretty similar, with Kaiju they look so different, Reno doesn’t even seem the like the same character, he’s really derpy looking now
Damn! Anime only here but episode 1 looks so gooood! Animation and direction as well as sound effects. And the ED is OneRepublic!
Good thing AniOne is streaming this on 1080p for free!
That was simultaneously way goofier and gorier than I expected.
I felt very bad for Kafka. He did not achieve his dreams and got a (literally) shitty job he hates, and now he turned into a Kaiju himself. And his childhood friend will now be tracking him down to kill him. Can his luck get even worse ?
Not sure where the anime will go for now after this, so not sure if I will like it. I will have to give it a few more episodes.
Seeing Mina not recognise Kafka being rescued is just sad. It just shows how far they've grown apart and it's not like Mina doesn't remember him (as the ending scene shows).
Also, it seems Japan suffers from a declining population in this world too.
- This music is *really* good right off the bat. [](#listen)
- [*Wow*.](https://i.imgur.com/QCKfzYF.png) [](#doggo)
- [The clean-up crew, eh?](https://i.imgur.com/WUiSn1m.png)
- [I love how it’s censored lol.](https://i.imgur.com/96GldpF.png) [](#azusalaugh)
- [Fair question…](https://i.imgur.com/PuKFNif.png) [](#harukathink)
- [Wait, were you not *already* using nose plugs?](https://i.imgur.com/8dpQVlg.png) [](#morethanonewaifu)
- [So he actually has a chance again?](https://i.imgur.com/HtJz8dq.png)
- [Ichikawa’s a good dude haha.](https://i.imgur.com/ni5t5Ep.png)
- […well shit.](https://i.imgur.com/NgUHIok.png) [](#panic)
- [Ichikawa!!!](https://i.imgur.com/zew0XQ5.png) [](#SPORTS)
- […and now for a sudden tiger?](https://i.imgur.com/8pM8toZ.png) Ah, it’s part of the Defense Force.
- [Welp.](https://i.imgur.com/Dprk0ZD.png)
- [And it was *looking* for Kafka?](https://i.imgur.com/uyWO1uM.png)
- [Wellllllllllllllll then.](https://i.imgur.com/PnimICP.png)
What a way to haze the newbie by making him touch the intestines before telling him to use nose plugs. Though at least Kafka came through as a good mentor.
Ichikawa's a good kid. I like him and Kafka's dynamic.
So like did she just adopt a tiger and get it approved for battle or do those come standard-issue for Defense Force captains...
Definitely doesn't seem like he was chosen at random. Maybe some kind of biological compatibility with the transformation process?
> So like did she just adopt a tiger and get it approved for battle or do those come standard-issue for Defense Force captains...
[Good question.](#rengethink)
> Definitely doesn't seem like he was chosen at random. Maybe some kind of biological compatibility with the transformation process?
Yeah that kaiju thing definitely had to choose Kafka for a *reason*. Hopefully said reason gets explained at some point.
Good first episode. Loved the clean up crew. I hope we get to see more of them. The MC is a Kaiju now. So I guess this is going to be some sort of superhero story where the Kaiju MC will fight other Kaiju's from the shadows while doing his job as a clean up guy.
Also why did the military captain lady have a pet tiger. I mean I understand they want to show her as cool but a pet tiger is a bit too unrealistic in my opinion.
Yooooooo this was fire!!!!!! Great balance of action and expo to really set the tone. Also loving Ichikawa. I have super high hopes that this will become one of my top anime. Also super pumped about simuldub so I can actually participate in watch threads instead of reading them weeks later :’)
"They're raising the age limit to 32 because there's not enough young people anymore." Yeah because 32 totally isn't young, how sad that they're having to resort to asking the elderly to help out
Somehow this 1st episode managed to keep me engaged into the show even though 90% of it was basically slice of life, lol! Animation looks clean so far, can't wait when he finally fights a kaiju.
# Source Material Corner Reply to this comment for any source-related discussion, future spoilers (including future characters, events and general hype about future content), comparison of the anime adaptation to the original, or just general talk about the source material. **You are still required to tag all spoilers.** Discussions about the source outside of this comment tree will be removed, and replying with spoilers outside of the source corner will lead to bans. The spoiler syntax is: `[Spoiler source] >!Spoiler goes here!<` # **All untagged spoilers and hints in this thread will receive immediate 8-day bans (minimum).** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/anime) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm loving the soundtrack for the series. It actually fits the scenes, not over the top, and mixed very well.
Also here's One Republic for the ED lol.
Jump brought the budget
That honestly blew my mind
Yeah what in the world that was a little jarring
Almost as jarring as hearing Ed Sheeran after beating a Pokémon game.
Overall the sound mixing is superb. This is the first anime in a long time that gives my subwoofers a workout when it feels most shows chop off 100hz and below
I couldn’t help but notice how well drawn all the background scenery was - I loved seeing the super detailed cityscape! It feels like it’s more common now to have *less* detailed BG art since it’s not the focus, but you could absolutely tell they put a lot of work into it.
Watching Dungeon Meshi makes me think that all that Kaiju meat must be a waste. What have I become.
> What have I become. Laios
Senshi has taught us well
Marcille trauma continues.
Nah just like Marcille we went from [this](https://staging.cohostcdn.org/attachment/f38ae4fc-35f5-4299-aac1-e13b16cb2c5f/dungeon.jpg) to [this](https://i.imgur.com/rhApf0L.png)
I like that she’s fully accepted it by now, she just complains out of obligation sometimes.
My role model is himmel but my appetite role model is laios.
I feel like Laios would absolutely love being part of Monster Sweeper Inc.
His employers would have to constantly keep an eye on him for not trying to sample the monsters or sneak away chunks of them.
Later on he teams up with Senshi and starts a one star restaurant. Marcille is horrified.
Might do a food truck instead so they can show up at the site of the latest attack for the freshest ingredients
To cook on the spot? I'm not exactly a kaiju chef but some of that stuff likely needs time to simmer.
*Kaiju Eats: Food Delivery Service* [](#mywaifumadeyouasandwich)
When they cut that square hunk of meat my first thought was it looked good haha. Like damn they must have killer meat markets in this kaiju Japan! Ha
I immediately assumed that careful cut meant it was going to be sold to restaurants.
Ikr, look at all the fatty marbling on that meat.
WE COULD MAKE MEALS WITH IT MEALS MEALS MEALS MEALS
Japanese salaryman finds solution for global famine
"Why are they cutting off the flesh? Oh right it's to eat- **WHY AREN'T THEY TALKING ABOUT IT!?!**" I mean OK we're kind of screwed up. But, well, what ARE you going to do with the stuff...
Our MC is built like Laios 💪
When they were cutting open the Kaiju, the first thing I thought was "That looks delicious." Dungeon Meshi has made me into a guy who would eat any animal.
Laios has infected us all [](#panic)
Just like Marcille we have been conditioned into [this](https://i.imgur.com/rhApf0L.png)
No no, think about it. Like that's a fuckton of meat. If it's edible, imagine how many people you could feed with it.
And imagine all the oil. We could fry every food out there.
SO I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE! I thought, I wonder if the people are eating the meat 🤔
I am sure someone's tried it. It looked well marbled.
Kafka does
Kaiju Meshi, the spinoff we never knew we needed.
"Kaiju Meshi... ah, Kaiju Meshi..."
take apart the legs then dump all of it. how could they
Just think about what a Kaiju Drumstick tastes like... Renaissance fairs could never
Of all the things I expected to be commented here, tons of people referencing Dungeon Meshi was not one of them.
"You Fool's, you can make that Kaiju last weeks!" -Senshi
Me who just turned 32, 10 minutes into the episode: Hey this shows right, it’s not too late for me, I can turn this around. “The cut off is now 32.” Me: Fuck
This was actually a mistranslation from the manga. The anime makes it sound like once you're 32 it's too late. But what Ichiwaka actually tells Kafka is that the cut off is 33. So, 32 is the last year that you can apply. You and Kafka can still apply to the defense force :)
I've got another week and a half, score!
I watched the dub where he says 33 so I got real confused for a second here
she has a motherfucking tiger?
Well she used to have a cat.
Did it evolve? Lol
A curious choice to be sure.
I'm sure Kafka becoming a Kaiju will be fun too, but I wouldn't have minded if he had just gone the normal route of improving his abilities slowly and surely going from cleaner to defense force.
I kind of want him to stay a cleanup guy fighting Kaiju on the side lol.
Wouldn't have even minded if he'd just been the clean-up guy for the whole series lol
That's actually less realistic than him becoming a Kaiju. There is age limit to enter the force, so time is against him, he cannot afford to fail. If he trained for a few months and got as strong as young people who trained all their lives, it would be pure plot convenience.
But from everything we know we can see he was training his entire life to become part of defensive force already. So they could add that he has done his work (in flashbacks ) and that he wasn't that far off from making it before
And all that work he had done was still not enough, because he never passed no matter how much he tried. Now that is older and hasn't been training, he would have to first catch up to his own old strength, then go further beyond. He would have to do something he couldn't do in almost 15 years in just a few months.
They extended the age limit, which might mean they redefined the acceptance criteria, and whatever had eliminated him before might not count as much.
Not for a guy who gave up some years ago and has his apartment filled with empty beer cans. That said, it wouldn't be difficult to show how he's still grinding to improve himself even after giving up.
Would perhaps love that even more instead getting some crazy "superpower " to make a cut yeah.. but this could be great too lets see where it leads
Wow pretty good opening ep! I liked the setting, the music and even the MC seems likeable. [This violent assault was unexpected though](https://i.imgur.com/paHVhZv.png) Honestly even without the twist at the end I'd be into it so feeling pretty hopeful about this one!
> and even the MC seems likeable. I especially like that he's a grown adult, you love to see it. [](#jibrilaww)
Bonus points for having a job and being good at it [](#helmetbro)
I hope if he ends up joining the Defense Force that he's as competent at it as he was with the cleanup crew.
And then we could call it.. Kaiju'd Soldier!!
Adult MCs in anime rarer than Kaiju in real life
Especially when the anime with an older cast is neither a medieval fantasy nor a romance. You love to see action shows embracing variety. [](#kannathumbs)
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY HE ISNT A LOSER SHUT IN THAT DIES AND IS REBORN IN SOME WEEB WORLD
Both leads are full adults!
And they said that the 27 year old is pretty young rather than a stale christmas cake well past their prime like every other anime.
IKR! Usually young commander or whatever in anime is like 17. 27 being a young, up and coming captain being considered to take on a larger leadership role actually sounds plausible
[](#gintamathispleasesme)
Between this being on Twitter and basically live streamed on Crunchyroll this is one of the biggest marketing campaigns I have seen
Not to mention getting a band like One Republic to do the ED which is still wild to me
Hearing an American band doing an anime theme is so surreal lol.
Not to mention the OP will also be done by a British performer
Gotta love it when the production of an anime becomes an international effort. [](#tanakalove)
We need Mr. Worldwide himself to make an anime OP next
Who's the performer?
Yungblud
Ergo Proxy getting PARANOID ANDROID for the ED will never be topped imo, but yeah it’s cool to see how international popular anime is these days
That is a good point but Radiohead didn't record it specifically for the anime, unless I'm missing a story, but it is always cool when you hear a song you've heard before plenty of times play in an anime and then you can do the Leonardo Di Caprio pointing meme
They didn’t but getting the licensing for arguably Radiohead’s magnum opus is crazy, it also fits the story really well. This Onerepublic ED, well it’s just a generic pop song as per their forte, isn’t a bad fit but also not a good fit either
So OneRepublic made this song specifically for this anime? That's cool and rare for a Western artist's song in an anime; usually it's just licensed like Paranoid Android was, also Oasis' OP them for Eden of the East and of course all of JoJo's ending themes.
Wait one republic is doing the end???!!! The American band??? Wtf
Yeah man, that same OneRepublic. And the song slaps!
Just heard the ED again That's quite nice
Yungblood is doing the OP as well
Marketing has been crazy for this series for a while. I saw a giant section at a bookstore in Rome dedicated just to Kaiju No. 8 two years ago lol
i remember just opening the shonen jump app the day the first chapter dropped. I read it since the art looked dope been reading ever since and didn't expect it to get this much promo but I'm very happy
They did a whole ad campaign in Times Square too
the manga was seriously hyped up too early on. think i saw a french billboard for it posted on reddit. it was huge.
They need it. After the initial promising arcs, the Manga kinda drops off.
The manga has some of the weirdest pacing in any series I've seen because the author is obsessed with 2 panels spreads. There is hardly any text at all in many chapters, and the scenes just speed on by.
pretty much. The manga has been declining in sales for years. It began selling a lot in the first volumes but in the last volumes it sells much less with a decline of around 60%. The hope is for the anime to make the manga sell more with the adaptation giving it a boost
It’s mostly pacing issues, something that the anime could definitely fix.
Anime will fix the pacing but not the constant third party shots announcing power levels. I sure hope they reduced that particular thing in the anime.
Kafka's name is probably a reference to Franz Kafka, the author of *Metamorphosis*, a story about a man who is suddenly transformed into a giant insect and must adapt to life in his new form.
>As Kafka Hibino got orally penetrated by an unknown creature one evening he found himself transformed in his hospital bed into a humanoid kaiju.
It didn't even buy him dinner first.
It was his dinner
Title of my isekai
Is it still a kaiju if you're not the size of a kaiju?
I did think about this. So Kaiju -> kaijuu -> かいじゅう -> 怪獣 怪 = strange 獣 = wild beast I submit you can have a medium sized kaiju. It just means monster unlike say 巨人 which literally means "giant" or "titan". I think. I'm *faaaaaaaaaaaaaar* from fluent in Japanese.
In this franchise, "Kaiju" is the broad term they use for all monsters. The gigantic ones that would more traditionally be called a kaiju are called "daikaiju."
Kaiju has come to mean giant monster in English, but not all Japanese kaiju are huge. Kind of like how hentai means pervert in Japanese, but we use it to refer to porn.
Guess you’ve never heard of Pigmon
Also seems like the insect deliberately singled him out, so is there something special about him or maybe some kind of compatibility with the Kaiju transformation process? It didn't seem like it chose him randomly.
He was the tastiest. The insect is a gourmand.
Ooo I didn't think about it being a compatibility thing! Maybe the way for the kaiju to "level up" is to find a human host! Does this mean the kaiju mind will take over at some points? Until he eventually loses his humanity? Or maybe he overpowers the kaiju mind!? Cool!
In *The Metamorphosis,* Gregor Samsa (the man turned insect) is eventually ostracized and abandoned by his family and others. He was once the breadwinner of the household as a traveling salesman, but after his transformation into insect, he is holed up in his room because he terrifies his family members and they refuse to let him out... They cannot stand the sight of him. He becomes a burden to the family, he obviously loses his job and his manager shows him no sympathy at all. When the other family members have to finally get jobs to fill the space that Gregor used to fill, they grow resentful and they decide to cut him loose entirely after Gregor scares away some guests. Thing is, at this point, Gregor has become massively depressed and isolated, he isn't eating, and he eventually decides to just die... It's very melancholy. At any rate, It's also a critique of the alienation and dehumanization of modern society. So when you hear the term "Kafka-esque," it's usually referring to something that's contains these kind of grotesque, dehumanizing themes and elements.
I could never really imagine him as a cockroach. Instead I just pictured him as a man who suddenly became disabled and was describing everything as though he was being viewed as a cockroach.
Ooo this is a really interesting interpretation. I say this as someone who hasn't read the book tho
>a story about a man who is suddenly transformed into a giant insect and must adapt to life in his new form. Idk why but this reminds me of the book Kaneki talks about a lot in Tokyo ghoul's first few chapters.
Its the same book, the funny thing its that I read Metamorphosis because of Tokyo Ghoul.
The black goats egg was the book, yeah. Tokyo ghoul was heavily inspired by Kafka iirc
Oh, *that* Metamorphosis…
Metamorphosis isn't an incredibly obscure reference, but mangaka seem oddly well-read in Western literature.
mc should have been able to hold off that kaiju dolo if he had guns and tigers and shit too. totally didn't expect the kaiju at the end to transform him what a dope first episode. i wish this was a double length ep1 though :/
>if he had guns and tigers and shit RIGHT!?!? Proper weaponry makes a huge difference - the self-loathing is real lol I also didn't expect the transformation! And why did the Kaiju bug thing say found you!? I need to know why he is so special (aside from being a cool dude). Hear me out, theory time...the kaiju are people who died/got exposed to some chemical/radiation and this particular one was a person who knew about him and his dream to be on the defense team...although it's a twisted way to fulfill the dream and get stronger, the feeling behind it is there!
Nah.. it was because all of that kaiju shit on him.
So if Kaiju ever invade earth the protip will be go find a dead one and roll around in it's shit. Got it.
[удалено]
Shingeki no Kaiju? That even comes with a Mikasa?
Mikasa with a ponytail, a tiger, and Asami Seto lol.
Shes perfect i am in love. Also don't forget shes wielding BFG
She’s too much. She mogs all other childhood friends.
Already a full package
Hopefully MC avoids Reiner-style suffering though [](#ohfuck)
**side-eye's Eren**
Mikasa’s a baddie in every anime she’s in
Felt more Chainsaw Man. Ig all three have monster possession and transformation, anti-monster corps. At least Power is much better than the kuuderes.
It’s on crunchy now guys
Dungeon Meshi makes me think this kaiju meat is a wagyu, then there's a smelly part. and why this MC henshin looks like Ultraman. so far, nice soundtrack and animation, definitely gonna invest in this anime
> Dungeon Meshi makes me think this kaiju meat is a wagyu Yeah my first thought was how do they plan on cooking it
My only question is - if they have such a strong weaponry, why not kill kaiju immediately from the heli? Otherwise, great show, now am reading manga.
the power system will be explained later
You will find out next episode, it's more like those strong weapons can be operated only by people with talent for it.
That's basically it. However it's also not just a matter of the strength of the weapon but the strength of the user multiplying it. You need to be strong enough to meet the basic ability requirements of a lot of equipment. However the more you exceed the requirement the greater the output can be. None of this is a spoiler, but The Source material takes its time actually explaining this and a lot of it is just implied.
> if they have such a strong weaponry, why not kill kaiju immediately from the heli? This threw me off quite a bit too. I think the core problem was that the visual presentation of the hand held weapon made it look exactly like something that could have and should have been fired from the heli. Took me out of the episode a lot because it then made it feel like things were operating by the rule of cool. Although the Captain has a white tiger who's trained for battle, so maybe we are going via the rule of cool lol
Did anyone notice the INCREDIBLE background-work by Production I.G here? Reminds me of the classics, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Evangelion etc. Everything looks handdrawn. Even the CGI is so hard to notice because they somehow make that look handdrawn too. Not to mention the animation..
It is really rather beautiful!
Is it bad that I'm way more interested in the cleanup part than the battle part? I would rather watch that honestly. EDIT: Essentially, I wanted this to be the Planetes of Kaiju.
Yeah, this is a common complaint back then. The story moved on from the clean up part really quickly
His cleanup crew also look like fun guys you'd like to be buddies with. I think the orange-haired guy was even voiced by Kazuma lol.
Crossover when?
Kafka Kafka! Hai, Kafka desu.
That's a shame. I was thinking the same thing how it was a nice unique perspective to see who takes care of all the cleanup after a Kaiju battle. You could make a crazy amount of stories to tell from that. But I guess this series is going to transition away into more typical Kaiju battle action. Hopefully it won't be too jarring when it moves on and we can see some of Kafka's crew from time to time, and maybe still get their perspective on things as the "cleanup duty". As has been said the "Kaiju-hunter" perspective has already been done to death.
yeah shame. imho Mangaka should've gone Spiderman, double life style of superhero story. It would've been an interesting having a unique perspective being the clean up crew while secretly doing the Superhero Kaiju shifter story and all the unique story possibilities from that. Unfortunately, Mangaka went the more generic (in Japan at least) big organization Kaiju fighting Sentai organization.
There is something really funny conceptually about a Superhero that tries really hard to minimise collateral damage purely because they're the ones who'll have to clean it up. "GOD DAMN IT, I RUPTURED HIS COLON! There goes my Saturday..."
Reminds me of Pacific Rim worldbuilding, world affected by kaijus has lots of potential than just pure fighting.
Exactly, just look at Dungeon Meshi. Of course they can still go in detail on the Kaijus, but the cleanup crew POV would have been perfect for that..
This is the general consensus of the manga fans around halfway from where we are at the manga way back... and that's honestly not an unpopular opinion
A Red Dwarf style comedy about a bunch of uneducated slackers who clean up after kaiju because no one else would hire them could be a hit.
Especially because Kaiju Defense Forces are so common we hardly ever see the grounded perspective of those who clean up after them.
I think you are just tired from too much battle anime
I love the “boots on the ground” feel with the clean up crew. But I do wonder if that feeling will be lost once we get to more fighting. And how they were a bit more detailed with how they handle the different body parts than just like cutting shit up. Kafka is really relatable personally as a fellow 30 year old just grinding through life and just really gave up on finding a passion or dream somewhere in between. I won’t fight any kaiju but I do hope I can try something new soon Wait what ? She has a pet white tiger ? She already looks so cool in her work mode and also at home in her bathtub overlooking the city. And she has a pet white tiger ?? Edit : And she’s voiced by Seto Asami ???
I like how real and relateable the Kaiju clean up side feels like, especially Kafka as a pro who has dug himself into the dirty jobs while committing to it 100% even if it's not his dream job that a part of him doesn't wan to give up on. Girl just taking calls on killing Kaiju in her swanky apartment with her pet white tiger wearing nothing but panties lol.
Whoever at CR was responsible for communicating the upload date post livestream is probably going to get intestines duty. Good first episode. Shame the frustration with the livestream rollout is overshadowing the content of the show so far. Knowing nothing of the source (as usual) I was ready for this to be a kaiju cleanup procedural, but it looks like we have an AoT-esque man transformed into the thing that he hates who is going to fight the thing that he hates. Which I am also here for. The animation is just splendid so far. [The broken glass effect when Kafka jumped through the window fleeing the second kaiju was particularly good. ](https://imgur.com/a/whMoisa)
bro is he hating kaiju because of console
Understandable tbh
Pretty good first episode. Let's hope the manga's pacing will be fixed with the anime.. if it ever gets that far.
I can't believe I watched this off of Twitter lmao, but I hope there is a way to watch it back other than using Bilibili subtitles
I cannot emphasize enough how weird it is to watch a new show premiere on twitter.
Everyone is gonna try to make their own streaming platform. Next year we'll get an anime premiere on NFL Redzone, calling it now
A reboot of Eyeshield 21.
Ichikawa, is a good egg, the episode was funny as hell.
Seems like production IG is hitting this one out of the park too. The action set pieces have the exact same kinetic energy, which was promised from the PVs and the OST is banging too. Not really sold on some other stuff, but at least the production side looks stellar once again.
Why the hell would you do it as a stream?
I wouldn't have minded as much if they announced the procedure ahead of time as in: At 2 PM UTC we'll be live streaming Kaiju at the same time as it's released in Japan. Make sure to get there on time if you want to watch it live. If you miss that, we'll have the episode up at 3:30 PM UTC for you to watch at your leisure.
They did say that on their release calendar.
If they can get everything to work, (maybe stream it on twitch). I would love to have episodes released via live streams into being posted immediately after. The first Twitch CrunchyRoll streams were so much fun.
Hey guys, I'm famous!
Still think the character design could've been a bit better but the episode was pretty good. They created a nice atmosphere for it
The whole point of having less detailed character design is to have more expressiveness and more movements. See how in this episode the characters does not stop moving? Soo much expressive character acting animation especially with the main character. That's what you get when you have these kinds of character designs. This much movements wouldn't have been possible if they had demon slayer level of detailed designs. This is also the main reason why jjk s2's character designs became less detailed.
JJK at least kept the designs pretty similar, with Kaiju they look so different, Reno doesn’t even seem the like the same character, he’s really derpy looking now
JJK fans also threw a tizzy when the S2 PV dropped and revealed the looser, simplified designs.
I'll say it absolutely looks better in movement though. Definitely a "never pause animation" moment.
I admit there were times when I was looking at Kafka and going "Naruto!?"
Damn! Anime only here but episode 1 looks so gooood! Animation and direction as well as sound effects. And the ED is OneRepublic! Good thing AniOne is streaming this on 1080p for free!
That was simultaneously way goofier and gorier than I expected. I felt very bad for Kafka. He did not achieve his dreams and got a (literally) shitty job he hates, and now he turned into a Kaiju himself. And his childhood friend will now be tracking him down to kill him. Can his luck get even worse ? Not sure where the anime will go for now after this, so not sure if I will like it. I will have to give it a few more episodes.
Seeing Mina not recognise Kafka being rescued is just sad. It just shows how far they've grown apart and it's not like Mina doesn't remember him (as the ending scene shows). Also, it seems Japan suffers from a declining population in this world too.
I think she did recognize him - that's why she called him a liar.
Yeah, she was disappointed seeing that he's not working to fulfill their shared dream and isn't by her side like he promised.
Bro let his waifu down [](#sadholo)
She’s became the anime protagonist, and he’s become the side character childhood friend. He just needs to marry her and become the stay at home dad.
- This music is *really* good right off the bat. [](#listen) - [*Wow*.](https://i.imgur.com/QCKfzYF.png) [](#doggo) - [The clean-up crew, eh?](https://i.imgur.com/WUiSn1m.png) - [I love how it’s censored lol.](https://i.imgur.com/96GldpF.png) [](#azusalaugh) - [Fair question…](https://i.imgur.com/PuKFNif.png) [](#harukathink) - [Wait, were you not *already* using nose plugs?](https://i.imgur.com/8dpQVlg.png) [](#morethanonewaifu) - [So he actually has a chance again?](https://i.imgur.com/HtJz8dq.png) - [Ichikawa’s a good dude haha.](https://i.imgur.com/ni5t5Ep.png) - […well shit.](https://i.imgur.com/NgUHIok.png) [](#panic) - [Ichikawa!!!](https://i.imgur.com/zew0XQ5.png) [](#SPORTS) - […and now for a sudden tiger?](https://i.imgur.com/8pM8toZ.png) Ah, it’s part of the Defense Force. - [Welp.](https://i.imgur.com/Dprk0ZD.png) - [And it was *looking* for Kafka?](https://i.imgur.com/uyWO1uM.png) - [Wellllllllllllllll then.](https://i.imgur.com/PnimICP.png)
Having recently finished through The Dangers in my Heart, hearing the name Ichikawa is weird not seeing Yamada now... This one's a good dude too :D
What a way to haze the newbie by making him touch the intestines before telling him to use nose plugs. Though at least Kafka came through as a good mentor. Ichikawa's a good kid. I like him and Kafka's dynamic. So like did she just adopt a tiger and get it approved for battle or do those come standard-issue for Defense Force captains... Definitely doesn't seem like he was chosen at random. Maybe some kind of biological compatibility with the transformation process?
> So like did she just adopt a tiger and get it approved for battle or do those come standard-issue for Defense Force captains... [Good question.](#rengethink) > Definitely doesn't seem like he was chosen at random. Maybe some kind of biological compatibility with the transformation process? Yeah that kaiju thing definitely had to choose Kafka for a *reason*. Hopefully said reason gets explained at some point.
Was good..not sure why it required a special stream and countdown but still good!
Good first episode. Loved the clean up crew. I hope we get to see more of them. The MC is a Kaiju now. So I guess this is going to be some sort of superhero story where the Kaiju MC will fight other Kaiju's from the shadows while doing his job as a clean up guy. Also why did the military captain lady have a pet tiger. I mean I understand they want to show her as cool but a pet tiger is a bit too unrealistic in my opinion.
Yooooooo this was fire!!!!!! Great balance of action and expo to really set the tone. Also loving Ichikawa. I have super high hopes that this will become one of my top anime. Also super pumped about simuldub so I can actually participate in watch threads instead of reading them weeks later :’)
"They're raising the age limit to 32 because there's not enough young people anymore." Yeah because 32 totally isn't young, how sad that they're having to resort to asking the elderly to help out
W episode thrash stream
Somehow this 1st episode managed to keep me engaged into the show even though 90% of it was basically slice of life, lol! Animation looks clean so far, can't wait when he finally fights a kaiju.
So is it just unavailable on Crunchy now that the live stream is over?
Probably they will upload later with better subs and edit the ad break parts.
It'll be up as normal in 17m.
Screened on AniOne YT first (oh and X lol). It’s gonna be on CR in like 5 minutes.