Kaiju no 8 vol 4 by naoya matsumoto

The assault on the Defense Forces' compound continues, and the leader of the pack has taken up fighting with Vice Captain Hoshina. But Hoshina's strength has always been in slashing and quick swordplay. After being told to abandon his fighting style as a youth, Hoshina was recruited by Captain Mina as a perfect compliment to set her up to take lethal shots. She relied on Hoshina to move kaiju into position for her mega-powerful cannon. But, with the Captain gone, Hoshina needs to take down a kaiju who seems to be only getting stronger with each slashing blow he lands. After the kaiju transforms into a humongous creature, Kafka comes to help, but ends up ruining everything.

---

At this point, the humor that captured me in the first volume is all but gone, and this is now just an action-packed story. While I don't mind the fighting and the tone shift, I would have liked to see the humor carry through a little more. There is still a lot to love in this story, as I'm already totally in Kafka's corner and want to see him realize his dreams of fighting by Captain Mina's side. There are some great moments between Kafka and Mina that give her a little more texture as a character, as she's been pretty one-dimensional so far. With how this volume ends, I hope we get a little more story development in volume five, as we've had three solidly action-filled volumes in a row.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1 (requires Booklist subscription), vol 2, vol 3

Publisher: VIZ Media
Publication Date: October 11, 2022
ISBN: 9781974732340 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Action Adventure, Humor, Friendship, Paranormal, VIZ Media