Kaiju No. 8, the famous action shōnen manga by Naoya Matsumoto,ended a few days ago, and its conclusion has already become a major source of controversy among its readers. Truth be told, the final chapter itself was quite solid, and it gave relatively satisfying conclusions to most of its main characters’ storylines, but sadly, that can’t really be said about everyone in the cast.
Due to the abrupt nature of this story’s conclusion, many beloved characters received lackluster and/or underwhelming endings, leaving fans wanting to see them explored further in a future sequel and/or spin-off. Nevertheless, the followingKaiju No. 8characters are the most prominent examples of this unfortunate phenomenon.
1Reno Ichikawa
Kafka’s Best Friend Deserved Much Better
Reno Ichikawais pretty much the deuteragonist ofKaiju No. 8, as the story kicks off when he meets Kafka Hibino and repeatedly helps him hide his Kaiju powers during the earlier story arcs. He’s cool, calm, and collected, but he’s also very kind and feels a lot of respect toward his older friend. Unfortunately, Reno and Kafka got separated around the middle of the story, and the young soldier would be completely absent from the plot for a surprising number of chapters.
Reno eventually came back with his mini-arc centered on him acquiring and learning how to use Numbers Weapon 6 in battle, which was admittedly very interesting. Thanks to this new weapon, he would go on to play a key role in the final all-out battle against the Daikaiju of the Meireki Era, as he was finally strong enough to fight on the same level as Kafka. Unfortunately, that’s where Reno’s story abruptly comes to a close. Yes, he was promoted to Platoon Leader, but so did almost every other prominent character from the Third Division, and Reno definitely deserved a much more prestigious position, similar to Kikoru. IfKaiju No. 8ever gets a sequel or spin-off, Reno is one of the characters that needs to be explored even further and receive a much more satisfying ending.
2Iharu Furuhashi
He Was Just Reno’s Sidekick, Right Until The End
The Third Division is filled with strong characters that felt like they were going to be much more relevant to the story, but ended up being quite disappointing in retrospect, andIharu Furuhashiis one of the most notorious examples. He was introduced as a delinquent-type character with a hot-blooded and passionate personality that clashed constantly against Reno’s, which made their eventual friendship/rivalry all the more interesting.
Iharu would go on to join the Fourth Division alongside Reno, where he would stay right by his side throughout his training with Numbers Weapon 6. He later shared an admittedly cool-looking and epic action sequence with his fellow Third Division soldiers right before the final battle, and that would be pretty much his last memorable moment in the manga. Iharu was promoted to Platoon Leader like everyone else, but his ending still felt surprisingly boring and lackluster for a character that has always stood out so much from the rest, since the very beginning. It felt like he was only written as Reno’s sidekick for all the arcs in which Kafka wasn’t around, and not much more.
3Haruichi Izumo
Another Fascinating Character Whose Story Went Nowhere
Haruichi Izumois yet another member of the Third Division who initially seemed like he was going to become a big and important character,but ended up disappearing from the story for most of its duration. He’s a relaxed, intelligent, and arrogant young soldier with an impressive level of strength, and who has repeatedly alluded to having a complex and interesting relationship with his father. Even the anime adaptation added a few brand-new scenes centered on him.
Unfortunately, like everyone else in the Third Division, Haruichi was transferred to another Division and, unlike Kafka, Kikoru, Reno, and Iharu, he was barely seen again after that, which pretty much put an end to his potential character development. Of course, he also assisted Kafka with stopping the Third Wave right before the final battle, and he was promoted to Platoon Leader in the final chapter, a fate that he shared with pretty much everyone else in the Third Division, so his ending didn’t feel special at all.
4Aoi Kaguragi
The Least Interesting Named Character In The Third Division
Unlike Iharu and Haruichi,Aoi Kaguragiwas never a particularly remarkable secondary character, as his bland design and serious personality made him come off as really uninteresting. However, his involvement in the story,his efficiency at fighting Kaiju, and his friendship with the other Third Division members proved that he had a lot of potential to grow as both a person and a soldier.
However, just like his friend Haruichi, Aoi was absent for most of the story during its second half, and his only memorable scene was the exciting action sequence he shared with the other Third Division soldiers right before the final battle. While he was promoted to Platoon Leader like all of his peers, Aoi sadly remained an uninteresting character with a lot of untapped potential until the very end.
5Bakko
His Intriguing Backstory Was Never Fully Detailed
Since her introduction,Mina Ashiro could be constantly seen accompanied by a large white tiger namedBakko, who used his body to help reinforce her potent shots on the battlefield. However, readers finally found out more about this animal when he jumped in to save his master from the clutches of Kaiju No. 9 during the final story arc, where it was revealed that Bakko is not a regular tiger, but a “wannabe kaiju” that proved to be surprisingly strong.
Weirdly enough, the story never explained what exactly a “wannabe kaiju” is and how Bakko ended up in the Defense Force, although it was explicitly shown that Mina had been taking care of him since he was a young kitten. Bakko disappeared from the story after his heroic sacrifice, and he can later be seen very briefly in just one panel of the final chapter, which felt like an afterthought by the author. Overall, this was quite a disappointing conclusion for what seemed to be one of the most fascinating and distinct characters in the entire series.
6The Daikaiju Of The Meireki Era
The Final Boss Of The Series Disappeared As Abruptly As It Appeared
AlthoughKaiju No. 9 acted as the main overarching antagonist throughout most of the story, the final arc revealed that he was working toward his goal of resurrecting his master, theDaikaiju of the Meireki Era.Not only was this legendary monster a powerful force to be reckoned with, but it was also directly responsible for the deaths of all the samurai that would go on to form the core of the Mysterious Larva that gave Kafka his powers.
There’s no denying that the Daikaiju of the Meireki Era was an intimidating final boss, and its climactic battle against Kafka, Mina, and all the other heroes was one of the absolute best in the entire series. However, its overall involvement in the story felt quite underwhelming, seeing as it was defeated a few chapters after it made its debut, thus leaving readers with many questions about its origins and motivations. To make things even worse, unlike Kaiju No. 9, the Daikaiju barely spoke and didn’t have much of a concrete personality either.
