Kaiju No. 8 is finally here for fans to watch after having waited for an extremely long time. Seeing how much care and dedication Naoya Matsumoto has put into the series, it is only fair that the anime should either do justice to the manga or surpass it beyond the fans’ expectations. There have been many shows, movies, and other anime that it has been compared to.
From Attack on Titan to Godzilla, the world of monsters isn’t unique yet it is not too common either. One of the biggest works it gets constantly compared with is Hajime Isayama’s magnum opus. Whether it is about Eren Jaeger’s story being eerily similar to Kafka’s or just the uncanny presence of monsters in general.
Despite the parallels in many different areas, it is of note that not everything is borrowed from other sources. Kaiju No. 8 has the ability to stand out on its own with a factor that Attack on Titan could never incorporate.
Kafka and Eren Jaeger – Not Driven by the Same Force
Kaiju No. 8 is oftentimes compared with Attack on Titan, even going so far as to call it a cheap copy. The stories both have the same foundation on a surface level. The idea of an ambitious man falling behind in a purpose he yearns to have, only to be pushed into the world of monsters. A man becoming the monster, one of the strongest of their kind.
The story sounds too similar. Both Eren Jaeger and Kafka have a similar beginning but there is nothing similar about them. While both of them have darker tones and themes, one is much more violent than the other.
On top of that, although their beliefs are strong, their outlets are different. Kaiju No. 8 is a series that does not shy away from pressing into other subgenres. Unlike Attack on Titan, Naoya Matsumoto’s work has a humoristic approach to it that balances the dark with some light.
Kaiju No. 8 has One Foot in the World of Monsters and Another in Reality
While Attack on Titan is a narration of real-world problems, Kaiju No. 8 is set in the modern world. Hajime Isayama took notions of the problems and political commentaries of the world, mixing them with the Titans and humans surviving their day-to-day lives. Kaiju No. 8 does it differently.
Naoya Matsumoto decided to keep everything realistic in his series. He wanted the series to reflect the world directly instead of smokey eyes. So to show the ups and downs of the world, the mangaka did not want to change much, except for the monsters.
The monsters in the story were the only fictional aspects of Kaiju No. 8 that did not blend with reality. In fact, they were simply a replacement for the natural disasters that would otherwise strike the world without warnings.
Kaiju No. 8 is available to watch worldwide on Crunchyroll.
