WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chapter 8 of Kaiju No. 8 by Naoya Matsumoto, Ariell Sirmans, Kai Kyou and Kelly Davidson, now available in English from Viz Media.
The trope of humans becoming monsters in order to fight injustice isn't a new one; manga such as Attack on Titan and Parasyte notably draw upon this idea. Kaiju No. 8 returns to a specific concept within this trope: when a human becomes a monster, it ranks among the strongest or greatest of either species. That's not to say that it always will, but that's the philosophy that Matsumoto seems to go after in the latest chapter of his explosive work. In the previous chapter, 32-year-old Kafka was struggling in the fitness exam, but it's in an actual combat situation -- where he's allowed to transform -- that he shines the greatest.
Last week's cliffhanger -- Kikoru Shinomiya being taken completely by surprise by a rogue kaiju -- spurs Kafka into action, even as the military training test is abruptly cancelled. Friend and co-worker Leno Ichikawa notes that Kafka shouldn't transform into a kaiju considering that he'll just get shot down by the JDF army, but by the time he turns around to tell Kafka, the senior of the two is already at Shinomiya's side.
Shinomiya's shocked that Kafka's a kaiju and suspects he's in league with the monsters, but quickly realizes that's not the case when he begs her not to tell the JDF. As the monster from behind prepares to launch an attack, Kafka launches his own and obliterates the attacker. At the base, the JDF note that the power surge from Kafka is said by an operator to have a "fortitude of 9.8," which ranks him as one of the greatest kaiju to ever exist.
The measurement distinguishes him from the other kaiju in a way that holds strong parallels with the Attack on Titan series, as both kaiju and the titans of the regular kind are driven by their instincts alone whereas the Nine Titans and Kafka have human intelligence along with distinct features that separate them from the rest of the species. To give three examples, Reiner Braun's "Armored Titan" form has hardened skin as an armor of sorts, Falco Grice in his "Jaw Titan" form has a second set of jaws, and Eren Yeager has multiple powers with the Attack Titan, the Founding Titan and the Warhammer Titan. Kafka has seemingly unparalleled strength. His kaiju form might also be stronger in other areas like speed, but without knowing how fortitude is calculated by the JDF and to what extent his transformation boosts his stats, it's too early to make any other judgments on how Kafka distinguishes himself from other kaiju.
As Kafka admonishes Shinomiya to be more careful, a justifiably angry Ichikawa appears behind him to do the same. As Kafka begins bickering with his junior, the badly-hurt Shinomiya faints from exhaustion. Meanwhile, the JDF finally comes in full battle armor, and Soshiro Hoshina -- Mina's second-in-command -- reports to the operation room that he and Mina have arrived on the scene.
If they discover Kafka and his friends, he'll have a lot of questions to answer in his first actual reunion with Mina. As Matsumoto has opted into a schedule of taking a break every three chapters, though, readers will have to wait an extra week before seeing the aftermath and the results of the JDF exam.