In episode 4 of Kaiju No.8, the show captures the remarkable performance of an elite with a great sense of responsibility on her shoulders.
Additionally, the episode also showcases the efforts and aspirations of a struggler, providing an inspiring tale of perseverance and determination.
Previously…
Previously the protagonist, Kafka Hibino was trying to recruit himself into the defense force. The defense force works on fighting off the monstrous kaiju.
He passed the first test with his confidant Reno Ichikawa. He is the same person with whom he shared the fact of his being able to morph into kaiju.
In the first half of the second test, the fitness test, he ranked 219th among 225 examinees.
Next was the aptitude test. In this test he had to check his aptitude with the battle suit G-X4552 at first, which was unfortunately 0%.
Next, he had to join the Kaiju hunt and score. Monitoring drones were deployed to examine the performance and conditions of the examinees.
Wounded ones were supposed to be saved by the forced-deployed shield of the combat suit and will be disqualified.
A unique type of kaiju, Yoju was the target of the hunt. Most of the Yoju were hunted with efficiency and speed by Kikoru Shinomiya, the most promising examinee of the batch.
The hunt didn’t go well, in fact, it was quite bad as he and Reno couldn’t kill a single kaiju.
They had to change their strategy from actively killing kaiju to supporting other examinees in killing those.
Things were going well until Kafka got injured by a roaming Kaiju and became incapacitated.
The examiner was going to disqualify him. Kafka miraculously raised his compatibility with the battle suit to 0.01% and got ready to fight back.
Next…
Maybe Kafka was ready for another fight, but his body wasn’t. He had multiple fractures in his body with a broken leg.
He couldn’t go on alone but being a struggler he just couldn’t give up.
His partner Reno, put forward a helping hand to pass the exam together with him.
Being weak doesn’t limit a struggler but motivates them to find another way to success.
They strategized a plan, where Reno would become the leg for Kafka while carrying him on his shoulder.
While Kafka will become the brain and firepower of their combo.
On the other hand, Kikoru was performing like a veteran and killing Yoju left and right, outperforming other examinees.
She eliminated the last Yoju in the area Delta in no time and faced a kaiju codename Honju, the evolved version of Yoju.
She took no time and terminated the Honju with ease.
The end of the exam was announced.
After the exam
All the monitoring drones were brought back and medics were sent for the wounded.
The whole exam was being monitored by the examiner and vice-captain of the third division of the defense force, Soshiro Hoshina and captain Mina Ashiro.
Mina showed interest in Kikoru.
According to Hoshina, thanks to Kikoru the exam ended more quickly than expected and with less injured.
No one in the exam retired, of which there is no precedent.
He further said it was expected from the Director Shinomiya’s daughter.
Kikoru was confidently walking away from the corps of the Honju she was last killed and an unfortunate and shocking incident happened.
Kikoru got wounded by a flying projectile in the chest while a silhouette of a humanoid kaiju came out of the dust cloud.
The combat suit’s fibers suppressed her wounds so that she could fight on.
On the other hand, Kafka and Reno were relaxed and gossiping about Kikoru’s performance as the exam ended.
Suddenly, they noticed, all the fallen kaiju were getting up with more strength.
The Elite
Kikoru always strived to be more than just the best, she had to become the perfect.
From her early childhood, whatever she did, be it ranking top at school or something extraordinary, everything was expected of her for the better future of the country.
So when the humanoid kaiju displayed its intelligence by speaking in human language and reviving and upgrading the fallen Honju into a stronger form, she didn’t back out.
As a result, she was further wounded by the humanoid kaiju.
At the exam monitoring centre, Honju’s power or Fortitude came out more than normal, which was 6.4.
It was now powerful enough to deal with a small team of defence forces.
Mina and Hoshina decided to take the matter into their own hands.
On the other side, Kikoru despite being badly wounded, uses the suit’s power to suppress those and continues to stand against the Honju as she never wants anyone to die on the battlefield she is in.
But to her dismay, she failed and the Honju further evolved and was about to launch an unavoidable attack towards her.
She felt a failure for the first time in her life.
She wasn’t the perfect elite for the first time in her life.
The struggler
In the Nick of time, Kikoru was saved from the attack of Honju.
The person who was crouching in front of her was the same Kafka she had previously ridiculed.
The entity who blasted the Honju away was Kafka also.
He was the same struggler, who had a dream since childhood, to fight against Kaiju and protect civilians while working in the defense force.
He applied for that again and again to no avail and finally gave up.
Kafka took up the mantle again after he turned 32 years old and gave his all while hiding the fact of his being able to transform into Kaiju.
But he revealed that at a moment’s notice when Kikoru was in danger since protecting someone from kaiju is his main calling.
At the observation center, another unknown kaiju’s energy signature was displayed, which was Fortitude 9.8 and that was Kafka’s.
However according to Hoshina that could be a malfunction, because that number is above the world’s strongest kaiju’s Fortitude number.
After saving Kikoru he requested her not to disclose his disposition.
After
When everyone was escaping towards the shelter, Reno ran towards the problem zone to find Kafka in fear that he could transform to save someone.
After he finds the wounded Kikoru and transforms Kafka.
Kikoru loses consciousness during that time
He escapes with them both towards the shelter.
Later, Mina and Hoshina with the squad reach the location to find the decimated corps of Honju and doubt that it couldn’t be the work of Kikoru.
With this incident, Hoshina found some similarities with the other incident where Kafka, unknown to others, first transformed into a kaiju and killed a kaiju for the first time.
In the hospital bed, the patient Kafka was thanking Reno for inspiring him to take the exam for the Defense Force one last time, Mina came in thanking them for Kikoru, but Kafka didn’t call out to her as he decided to communicate with her after he became a cadet.
On the other side, Hoshina met up with Kikoru to learn the details of the incident, in answer Kikoru replied that she killed the Honju herself.
Twist
Outside all of this, at a distant location, in a public toilet, that humanoid kaiju that appeared at the exam venue was sitting in a toilet stall listening to the related news to the exam venue on a mobile phone.
With no report of casualties, much less the elite Kikoru, it became upset but could not react because a call came and it had to react to it by turning into a human male.
Surprisingly his human form was of a kaiju cleaner who works in the same team in which Kafka and Reno work.
From here on out, it’s going to be interesting. Stay tuned for the next episode…….
