怪獣大国日本。清掃業で働く日比野カフカは、日本防衛隊のホープである幼馴染・亜白ミナとの再会をきっかけに諦めていた防衛隊を再び志すが、その矢先に強大な力を持つ「怪獣８号」に変身してしまう。後輩・市川レノの協力を得て正体を隠しながら、防衛隊員選抜試験、初の実戦と、かつての夢へ着実に歩みを進めるカフカ。しかし日常を揺るがすように、高い知能を持つ謎の怪獣によって防衛隊基地の襲撃事件が発生！絶望的な状況を前にカフカはある重大な決断を迫られる…。 / 休日、それは防衛隊員に訪れる束の間の安息…。トレーニング漬けの日々で休日の過ごし方を忘れてしまったレノは、同じく非番の保科からただならぬ雰囲気を感じとり、伊春と共に尾行作戦を決行する！しかし、事態は思わぬ方向に動き出し…?!
“Kafka” had tried to join the elite Defence Force but had realised his own limitations and instead taken up a job cleaning up after them as they police a Japan frequently assaulted by deadly “Kaiju”. When his team gets a newbie, “Ishikawa”, this younger lad politely but pointedly stresses that he is aiming for more, but he understands why his new colleague “quit”! Subliminally provocative? Well as the pair start to work together, the former man starts to get a little of his mojo back and so when the Force extends it’s age limits, he decides to have another go. Meantime, his would-be colleagues are facing their biggest challenge ever as the mysterious and powerful “Kaiju No. 8” continues to evade them. Now we know a little more about that that the enforcers do, and that helps tee this story up for quite a dramatic ending that tests loyalty, trust and friendships across the board as peril ebbs ever closer and the monsters starts to acquire some distinctly zombie traits. This is a solidly executed and quickly paced adventure that spends a little time building on the characters (from a previous series) but for the most part just engages us in an action-packed squash the baddies festival with plenty of squelching and loads of gunge and goo covering the streets as and “Kaiju” and the buildings end up collateral damage during the battles. There’s a bit of sarcasm hidden in the dialogue which I quite liked, and the messages of team playing, inter-reliance and of age not necessarily being a barrier to attaining your goals are here but not laboured. Stick around after the credits, there’s another twenty minutes or so (from the next series) that serves to humanise some of these folks, and if you’re looking for a colourfully vibrant series of shoot/slice/blow ‘em ups, then this is for you. Not quite sure how menacing the “sunflower thrust” would be, though…?
Main guy is so cool. I love the tears as he jumps out the building. Just looks so cool. Cool ending. Man. Cool movie. Nice job. Maybe you can skip some exploding bodies and whatever but the exploding bodies are well executed. The cadets are pretty funny. Bitching at each other about their stupid low attack power scores. High attack power score people are cool. I guess I should watch the anime.
