Kaiju No 8 Episode 3 of the Anime dropped few hours ago prior to writing of this article. We had previously tackled whether Kafka would make it past this second grade of selection for the Kafka Defense Force or not – and as the third episode had depicted: it seems likely that he won’t. But no shonen plot is ever made beautiful without some fail-ups first, only to then be thwarted by an overbearing success later.
Kaiju No 8 Episode 3 made a spectacle out of Kafka, where he is completely shown off by the prodigious talent that is Shinomiya, and the other 3 prominent candidates. With Kafka’s failures, one has to take note of Deku in My Hero Academia, whose entrance exams in the UA had gone similarly. Deku’s providence in the UA entrance was only proved when he destroyed his finger, pulling out a lot of his One for All powers, and defeated the test robot.
However, such a spectacle is yet to come for Kafka. Let us first give a proper recap of the episode before we dive back into this matter. Worry not, Kafka has not yet failed the exam – although his chances seem seemingly zero – but that’s probably part of the author’s trick. Also, this article of ours may interest you –Â How Strong is Kafka Hibino in Kaiju no 8 explained
Kaiju no 8 Episode 3 Recap
The episode begins from where the previous episode left off – mainly Kikoru Shinomiya with her battle suit lifting Kafka’s truck (which his cleaning company had rented) out of the parking spot. She did it because her aristocratic etiquette called for this behaviour – that she takes whichever spots she wishes to.
And in this case, the parking space number happened to be her lucky number, the same space that Kafka had previously occupied. Shinomiya’s elitist behavior fell down upon Kafka, who minutely transformed his hands to his Kaiju form and lifted his truck back into place. Immediately afterwards he gave the grin of masculinity – telling Shinomiya to remember his name.
Although afterwards as the exams begin, Kafka heavily disappoints in the first round – which is a fitness test. Kafka, taking heed from his junior and good friend Leno Ichikawa, refrained from using his Kaiju powers. After the fitness test, Kafka even blurts out “Everyone has done so much for this exam, I couldn’t possibly be unfair and use my powers“, but immediately follows and says “or so I would like to say, but I wish I would have used my powers”. Such a sigh of regret shows just how poorly he does, ranking only 219 out of 250 candidates. Kafka remarks that being 30 has been harsher on him than he expected.
There comes the side characters of Kaiju No 8
There comes Shinomiya, who is a whopping 5th in the very same physical test. Another comic scene ensues as Kafka cries and begs in front of Shinomiya, telling her he never should have told her his name if he couldn’t even live up to it.
Ichikawa tells him who Shinomiya is (a prominent prodigy hailing from a foreign university), and upon hearing just how elite she is, Kafka falls into her arms apologizing for not knowing her greatness. In what is another hilarious bout, her black-suited butlers jump in to kick Kafka out for touching their ‘milady’.
Ichikawa, and simultaneously the vice leader of the third division of the Defense Force, goes on to introduce to the viewers the most prominent characters (candidates) of the entrance test. Namely, they are – Aoi Kaguragi, Haruichi Izumo and Iharu Furuhashi each coming respectively 1st, 2nd and 3rd position in the fitness test.
Both our protagonist and his to-be-side kick Leno (Reno?) discuss how this year all the candidates are from neutralization universities, already equipped and trained into the ways of the military. They otherwise would have headed for being elite officers, and not be struck as field officers doing work in Defense Force, but somehow this year was different.
The second aptitude test is not what our heroes had anticipated
The second aptitude test, as Leno describes, for the last two years had been about cleaning up Kaiju Gut. Yet much to their surprise surprise moment, this year it was a Kaiju neutralization process instead. A kaiju abruptly jumps off, to make some dramatic hay and give the viewers and the candidates mainly a taste of what’s to come.
The Vice Captain than proceeds to tell how many may not even survive this round, not before he tells them all to wear their defence suit, of course.
Kaiju no 8 Episode 3 explains the extraordinary power of Defense Force agents
And this is the big revelation: the apparent power that we saw Mina exerting during the first episode’s introduction scene was not her human powers alone. Instead, it was the result of the Kaiju neutralization defence suit, which is made of Kaiju material and is meant to give the user superhuman strength. However the catch is, that how much the user can bring out from the suit’s total battle capacity, is dependent on their ‘aptitude’.
The vice captain goes on to speak out the percentage capacity of each candidate, starting with Leno who brings out 8% of the total capacity of his suit. The Vice-captain assures Leno that such a number itself is quite applausable. However, he is only bested by the rest of the four amazing candidates we named earlier, including Shinomiya. With Shinomiya drawing a crazy 46% of her total capacity, enthralling the exam invigilators how such a thing is possible, with no precedence in Defense Force entrance test history. Meanwhile, Kafka becomes one of the first candidates ever to have an absolute zero.
Zero potential?
The vice president announces that the defence suit has the feature of a remote shield, which can be activated if the candidate is in danger. However such activation would imply the candidate’s inevitable disqualification. He also announces in the midst of the round that witnessing this round is the famous Mina Ashiro, our most likely female protagonist, and Kafka’s childhood crush (friend?).
Kaiju no 8 Episode 3 then goes on with the second round, where Kafka and Leno figure that the reason there are drones observing each candidate is because this test is more than just a simple killing count collection of Kaijus. Instead, the overseers are looking for other things – such as knowledge of Kaijus and the ability to adapt. Kafka’s years in the cleaning force have granted him some vital information about Kaiju biology, which helps him aid in the killing of one odd looking Kaiju.
Kafka goes through a Deku Moment: but will he pass?
Of course, when things are looking green they go red. The very kind of the Kaiju that Kafka had earlier kill-assisted, shows up and grabs our hero as both Kafka and Leno were proceeding forward. In the process, Kafka gets multiple internal injuries and a broken limb.
Kaiju No 8 Episode 3 of the Anime had not been kind to Kafka at all, all throughout the episode. And as if to add salt to that, Shinomiya pops out saving Kafka prior to his being disqualified. The vice captain then advises Kafka to back off, given that with such injuries he has no chance.
But in the obvious coming-of-age shonen moment, Kafka declares that all his life has been for this moment, and he shall bet it all. Obviously, the power of voice has to do some sort of power up – his battle suit capacity which was a whopping 0% to a 0.01%, shocking everyone. What awaits for Kafka? Only time shall tell. Until then, be sure to take a look at Spiel Anime’s weekly newsletter that we carry out every Saturday and Sunday.
Where to watch Kaiju no 8 Episode 3 Recap
As of now Kaiju No 8 is currently internationally released simultaneously as the Japanese release on Crunchyroll.