The arrival of the summer anime season brings with it the highly anticipated return of one of last year’s biggest debuts, Kaiju No 8. After the catastrophic events of the last few episodes of season one, audiences were left with more questions than answers. Who is this Kaiju No. 9 and what are his powers? What will happen to Kafka Hibino (Masaya Fukunishi) now that he’s been outed as being Kaiju No 8? And what will happen to his squad mates and childhood friend/senior officer Mina Ashiro (Asami Seto) in the aftermath of the events of season one? And can fans expect the same high level of animation they got from season one from Toho?

As we enter the first episode, the audience finds out that a few weeks have passed since the events of season one and the 3rd unit of the Defense Force are being split up to continue working and training while the 3rd district they presided over is repaired. The team is also waiting on the final decision of what will be done with Kafka after his showdown with the Defense Force leaders. Rival turned friend Kikoru Shinomiya (Ai Fairouz) has been sent to unit 1, Reno (Wataru Katoh) is sent elsewhere. By the end of the first episode we find out that Hibino will also be sent to unit 1 under the watchful eye of Gen Narumi (Koki Uchiyama), who’s against the idea of Kafka joining his squad at all. But as things always seem to go, this is just the start of Kafka’s issues.

Without going into details and avoiding spoilers, I will say the two episodes we were afforded ahead of time to form the basis for this preview leave Kafka in a newly precarious position dealing with issues he hasn’t faced before. It’s an action packed intro to the season though, and should appease any fans’ fears that the animation would fall off in season 2. Kaiju No 9 still looms as a big threat that has the entire defense force on edge, but it’s also interesting to see how Mina and her Vice-Captain Soshiro Hoshina (Kengo Kawanishi) fare this season. That’s because the Force separates them from all the main action, basically becoming caretakers over the relief efforts in their district.

The animation remains on point though, the action sequences still jump off the screen in the expert amalgamation of CGI animation and classic style that dominated the first season. So far in the new season, there is no drop off in quality. Also, the excellent voice cast of the first season have all returned her and remain in fine form. In the end, Kaiju No 8 does not disappoint in its first foray into the second season, now it’s just time to buckle in and get ready for the ride.