Warning! Spoilers ahead for Kaiju No. 8 chapter 56!
The possibility that Vice-Captain Soshiro Hoshina could betray the Defense Force is resurrecting a conflict between him and Kafka Hibino—a much-missed and compelling dynamic that was present in early installments of Kaiju No. 8.
In chapter 56, Soshiro accepts a dangerous request from the 10th kaiju; the 10th kaiju promises to provide information about the 9th kaiju only if Soshiro agrees to use him as his personal weapon. Since kaiju no. 10 would retain his consciousness, this understandably puts Soshiro at risk of succumbing to the monster’s will and eventually turning traitor. But more importantly, this would undoubtedly coax Soshiro’s more sinister qualities back to the surface that submerged ever since the Defense Force learned that Kafka is a kaiju.
When first introducing Soshiro, Kaiju No. 8 portrayed him as deceptively cunning. On the surface, he was an overly jovial character who enjoyed humor to a fault, articulating a strong desire for the Defense Force to admit Kafka on the sole basis of how amusing he found Kafka’s struggles to keep up with his companions. But, in truth, he greatly suspected Kafka of being the so-called 8th kaiju, due to his own perceptiveness and prowess in deductive reasoning. As a result, Soshiro originally came across as a two-faced sort of character, which readers understandably found unsettling just by how well he could lie, especially since he did so quite fervently. But the best aspect of this version of Soshiro was how creepy he came across. He had an eerie tendency of randomly showing up in places when Kafka thought he was alone, shocking both the new recruit and readers alike.
All of this tension actually culminated in a brief battle between Kafka in his transformed state and Soshiro during chapters 19 and 20. Of course, Soshiro didn’t know for sure if he was in fact facing Kafka at the time, but it was quite serendipitous that Kafka just so happened to battle against the one person who suspected him in what only exacerbated the whole situation even further. Unfortunately, once the entire Defense Force learned the truth about Kafka, Soshiro took a backseat, and the one who began distrusting Kafka was Captain Gen Narumi of Division 1 who also happens to be the strongest anti-kaiju combatant. Although Gen amassed a great deal more power and influence upon the tragic death of Kikoru’s father and leader of the Defense Force General Isao Shinomiya, Gen’s wariness of Kafka has yet to match the eeriness of Soshiro’s whole dynamic.
Although nothing suggests that the 10th kaiju will successfully sway Soshiro in Kaiju No. 8, just the prospect of him betraying the Defense Force is promising especially since it could cause him to literally cross swords with Kafka, the recruit whom he always suspected to be the 8th kaiju. The fact that they have battled before already puts even more weight on the prospective confrontation, since rematches are fueled by stronger emotions and have more context behind them. Plus, Kaiju No. 8 fans are undoubtedly missing the creepy side of Soshiro, and the 10th kaiju would definitely augment that inherent creepiness to a whole other level.
