Characters / Kaiju No. 8 - Main Characters

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Main Characters | Defense Force Unit | Kaiju

Main Characters

Kafka Hibino

Voiced by: Masaya Fukunishi (Japanese), Nazeeh Tarsha (English)
Young Kafka voiced by: Megumi Han (Japanese), Alexis Tipton (English)

^{Click here to see him in Kaiju form}

The Hero of the story and the eponymous "Kaiju No. 8". A 32-year-old member of the Kaiju Cleanup Crew who had abandoned aspirations to join the Kaiju Corp as he grew older. An incident where an insectoid Kaiju merged with him and gave him a powerful monster form reignites his ambitions and later manages to join the Corps as a cadet and later becomes a full member after a meritorious first mission.

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• Adaptive Ability: His Kaiju form can mutate and adapt as needed, making him not only incredibly powerful but exceedingly versatile.
• Afraid of Their Own Strength: After becoming a kaiju, he's strong enough to break hallways, and kill a smaller kaiju into paste, and it scares him shitless. Afterwards, he has to hold back when in contact with another person.
• Almighty Janitor: It turns out that his experience in cleanup makes him the most knowledgeable about Kaiju anatomy, which he uses to his advantage during training by advising his fellow recruits on weak spots. And of course, his Kaiju form means he could likely break the entire Kaiju Defense Force over his knee.
• And I Must Scream: When the Parasite Kaiju inside goes berserk, Kafka is quickly reduced to a passenger watching it go all out, despite him fighting to take back control to keep from killing Chief Shinomiya.
• Awesome, but Impractical: When he lacked proper control on his Kaiju form's tremendous strength, he nearly got himself killed while fighting Hoshina (who mistook him for a hostile monster and attacked him) because said strength also meant that he had to hold back and focus on evading without fighting back because even a single punch from him would turn a human target into red mist.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: His experience with appraising and cleaning up Kaiju remains means he's much better than average at knowing how they're put together. Put a Kaiju in front of him and he can tell you its likely weaknesses and abilities based on the ones he's dealt with before. Give him an afterbeast corpse and a good knife and he can tell you for certain.
• Badass in Distress: Saving his team requires him to reveal his secret identity, so he's immediately taken into custody.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Kafka's monster form is terrifying, and he's strong enough to turn a Kaiju the size of a small building into a literal bloody pulp with one punch, but he uses his strength to protect other people and solemnly notes that his power is one that should never be used on a person.
• Berserk Button: Kaiju no. 9. Kafka already had good reasons to hate the guy after it tried to kill Kikoru, Reno and Iharu, but after Number 9 kills and absorbs Isao Shinomiya, then vows to Take Over the World while morphing its face into Isao's in front of Kikoru, Kafka pretty much goes from "I will destroy that threat to protect mankind" to "I will personally murder the Hell out of that bastard with extreme prejudice and enjoy every second of it".
  • For some reason, Kaiju No. 2 appears to be this not to Kafka himself, but to the Kaiju Parasite that gave him his powers in the first place. Whether it's specific to Number 2 or if it would react in a similar way should any wielder of a Numbered Weapon attack Kafka with killing intent is currently unknown.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Oh yes. Kafka is a kind, selfless man at heart (at core?) and he vowed never to use his powers against another human being after realizing just how damn strong he is as a Kaiju... But any hostile monster threatening someone in his vicinity will soon find itself on the receiving end of a punch that would make Saitama proud. In general, Kafka is as brutal and ruthless towards Kaijus as he is kind and compassionate towards humans.
• Big Brother Instinct: After she warms up to him, Kafka develops this towards Kikoru and becomes rather protective of her. Of course, it's not like she needs his protection most of the time, but when she does, Kafka will be right beside her. And then, there is Ichikawa of course. Despite their rocky start, Kafka cares a lot about Reno; seeing him injured at the hands of Kaiju no. 9 makes him absolutely livid and motivates him to give the enemy Kaiju a nasty beatdown. And then, when Kafka learns that Reno will be wielding Weapon no. 6 and most likely face Number 9 in direct combat as a result, he nearly freaks out until Kikoru reminds him that Ishikawa is a very competent soldier in his own right and that Kafka should have more faith in him.
  • As children, Kafka had this towards Mina, who is about 5 years younger than he is. As adults, it's somewhat inverted: he knows Mina doesn't need his protection, and his greatest goal in life is to live up to their childhood promise and make her proud. Then, in Chapter 97, Number 9 successfully ambushes Mina and puts her in very real danger, prompting Kafka to go absolutely ballistic.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: His Kaiju form is full of weird biological functions he doesn't even know of, like the fact he seems to no longer have a penis and urinates from his nipples, something that catches even him by surprise. His body also automatically adjusts to what he needs to do, like creating extra limbs to improve his center of gravity.
  • It also somewhat extends to his human body as well : apparently, his heart was replaced by a core, meaning that even in his human form, Kafka is technically a Kaiju.
• Body Horror:
  • Played for Laughs with his first night as Kaiju No. 8, where his lack of awareness of how to control his body results in him briefly contorting and twisting into a mass of flesh. And also he pisses out of his nipples.
  • Played for drama during his fight with Isao, where it's implied that the mere presence of Kaiju No. 2's body parts in Isao's suit and arms is enough to trigger Kaiju No. 8's Berserk Button, causing his body to twist, distort, and regenerate in an effort to kill Isao, undermining Kafka's efforts to prove he's human.
• Butt-Monkey: The poor man is the subject of much of the series' comedy, which is usually brought about by him being humiliated in various ways.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Kafka can be kind of a dork even as a Kaiju, but when things get serious he'll step up to the occasion.
• Cursed with Awesome: Kafka's powers were pretty much forced onto him by a mysterious Kaiju parasite that entered his body without his consent...but at first glance, there are no real downsides to his situation: he remains fully conscious whenever he turns into No. 8 (therefore averting the Superpowered Evil Side trope), can turn back into a human at will (although he had some difficulties controlling his shapeshifting abilities for the first few weeks), and his Kaiju form is literally one of the toughest, strongest known Kaiju in the world, allowing him to easily make mincemeat out of any opponent. Later on, however, it's revealed that the Kaiju parasite that entered his body can take full control under certain circumstances, and that Kafka's repeated transformations are taking a toll on his human body, slowly turning him into No. 8 for good.
• Death Glare: Delivers a chilling one to one of Number 9's spawns in Chapter 83. What makes it even more noteworthy is that he did so as his human self, not as No. 8.
• Declaration of Protection: He made an implied one to Ashiro when they were kids when she admitted to being scared by the prospect of fighting Kaiju, promising to be by her side in battle. This ends up being part of his frustrations at the start of the manga, due to never being able to get through the entrance exams, leaving both unhappy about the situation.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: When Kafka first transforms he knocks a hole in a wall just resting his hand against it, and his attempt at opening a window to escape destroys it and a chunk of adjoining wall. Even in his first combat against another Kaiju his punches end up more effective than he he expects.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Justified Trope: His deeds as Kaiju No. 8 are kept under close wraps for obvious reasons, he hasn't shown any physical prowess to make him a cut above the other recruits, and, most glaringly, Kafka thinks the other recruits should treat him with respect because he feels entitled to it as the oldest of the batch.
  • Subverted in part after his first real mission, with Hoshina promoting him due to his knowledge of Kaiju anatomy allowing him to help neutralize a threat before it happened. While he likely doesn't trust Kafka completely yet and the others still give him grief over his lackluster strength, Hoshina does have a measure of faith in his knowledge and intentions.
  • Finally, him revealing his identity to his squad fully earns their respect, as everyone there saw him save their lives and then immediately surrender without a fight.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: Adding to his Butt-Monkey status, almost any attempts made by him to be dramatic, cool, or passionate will turn against him.
• Forced Transformation: Kafka's transformation is terrifying, and if he's not careful he can involuntarily return to his monster form.
• Healing Factor: He has high regeneration, and can also recover lost limbs, although it costs more stamina.
• Henshin Hero: Kafka has to transform to use his powers, though he can partially transform to keep it hidden.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: The only witness to Kafka's heroics in chapter 2 who'd be willing to talk about it is a very young girl, so it makes sense that the fact that he isn't hostile isn't widely known.
  • Continues on after his eventual capture, with only Isao pushing for him to be spared and allowed to continue with the Defense Force.
• Heroic Build: Subverted; although he has pretty muscular arms due to hard labor, since he isn't particularly invested in any form of workout or fitness regime his stamina and physical capacities aren't that good, and he actually has a bit of a gut due to this.
  • Played straight with his Kaiju form, however : Kaiju No. 8 has broad shoulders, a thick neck, and looks like it was flayed alive due to how well-defined its muscles are, most notably its abs and pectorals.
  • Later chapters imply has come to be played straight in his human form, as he looks much more trim in a tight black shirt. His training sessions are likely to thank for this.
• Humanoid Abomination: His Kaiju form at the most drastic of times. It doesn't help that his human form isn't so human on the inside anymore.
• Horrifying Hero: Kafka's Kaiju form horrifies civilians who see it, since he looks like a being with a demon skull for a head and black muscles on the rest of his body. Emphasized at times with some panels giving very unflattering images.
• Intergenerational Friendship: His closest friends and Secret Keepers are a good 10+ years younger than him, even around the entire group of new recruits, he's still the oldest among them.
• Make My Monster Grow: Pulls this in Chapter 31, in order to take out the Yonju bomb heading towards the Defense Force base.
• Megaton Punch: The first time he puts all of his strength into a punch against a larger Kaiju, it literally flays the thing alive and blows it to pieces with enough force to scatter its remains on a large radius. Even Kafka himself wasn't expecting his blow to hit that hard. This is also why he nearly got killed in his fight against Hoshina : because even a light punch from Kaiju!Kafka would be enough to turn a human into thin red paste, he had to focus on evading Hoshina's relentless attacks without fighting back.
• Nice Guy: Moments of Dude, Where's My Respect? aside, Kafka is a good guy who looks out for those around him. In fact, much of his complaints about the younger recruits around him are because he's genuinely impressed by their potential.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: His Resilience in Kaiju form clocks in at 9.8, a number so high a Defense Force tech insists that the measuring machine must be broken.
• Plucky Comic Relief: He's what happens when an action Shōnen manga has one for a protagonist, in spite of someone like Ichikawa being more in line with expectations. In-Universe, he's also considered this, as Hoshina's stated reason for bringing him in is because he finds him funny. Make no mistake, though: no matter how much of an awkward dork he may be, Kafka is dead serious about his intention to protect mankind from Kaijus, and his own Kaiju form is frighteningly powerful.
• Power Glows: Kafka's monster form has Glowing Eyes and Volcanic Veins with a Sickly Green Glow, signifying his immense power and contributing to his horrifying appearance.
• Prone to Tears: Whether it be Ocular Gushers and Inelegant Blubbering for comedy, or Manly Tears during more serious moments, Kafka very much wears his emotions on his sleeves.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Implied to be one for Mina. His failure to join the Defense Force by her side resulted in him becoming a personal Broken Pedestal in her eyes, as he was the one who encouraged her to join in the first place. Once he manages to finally get himself recruited, her attitude towards him warms up and it's implied his pedestal had been rebuilt. It seems like it's broken again after he reveals himself as Kaiju No. 8 in order to protect the Defense Force base but it's revealed in the next chapter that she and the rest of the team don't view him as an enemy and are working to help him stay on.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: In Chapter 97, Number 9 successfully ambushes Mina with the intent to absorb her just like he did Commander Shinomiya. It causes Kafka to transform on the spot and absolutely tear through the giant, extremely powerful spawns of No. 9 in a desperate attempt to reach Mina before it's too late.
• Skull for a Head: His head looks like a demon skull, making it stands out against his black body.
• Shout-Out: To a certain author who made a name for himself writing about someone turning into a monster.
• Split-Personality Takeover: Appears to be what happens during his fight with Isao, with the Parasite Kaiju going berserk in reaction to the presence of Kaiju No. 2's body parts in Isao's suit and arms, and assuming full control after Kafka takes enough damage. Reversed after Kafka jams his hand into his chest, threatening worse injuries if he doesn't get control back.
• Super Mode: His form as Kaiju No. 8, which gives him incredible Super-Strength, among other benefits.
• Super-Scream: Chapter 13 shows that Kafka can destroy things with a powerful shout in his monster form.
• Super-Strength: Kafka has a particularly terrifying variant that can only be surpassed by the likes of Saitama.
• Support Party Member: He can't risk using his Kaiju form in the Defense Force, and without it, he's the definite weakest of the recruits. However, he knows Kaiju and how they tick and makes himself useful by passing along information about their weaknesses to his teammates who can do something with the knowledge.
• They Would Cut You Up:
  • One of his worries about what would happen if he got exposed, which Kikoru agrees would probably happen.
  • Gets brought up again when the higher-ups discuss what to do with Kafka after his Kaiju form is revealed.
• Took a Level in Badass: He went from an all-but-certain dropout with zero prospects of joining the defence corps to becoming a Monstrous being that can pummel Kaiji both large and small with relative ease, capable of even liquifying some of his targets from the sheer forces he can unleash, and that's without him using Kaiju 8's Adaptive Ability to further enhance his blows. Then, following his duel with Shinomiya wherein he succumbs briefly to a Split-Personality Takeover by the parasite Kaiju which makes full use of 8's ability to morph its body as needed in a fight, he discovers further uses for his Kaiju transformation, being able to curb-stomp Kaiju 9 in their rematch despite the Kaiju have prepared extensively to combat him.
• The Un-Smile: Kafka tries twice to appear friendly to people in his monster form. Unfortunately, it's a monster form so his "smiles" are just horrific fanged grins.
  • When He Smiles: Kafka would eventually manage to smile warmly and happily in Kaiju form in Chapter 46.
• World's Strongest Man: As a kaiju, he possesses the highest fortitude level demonstrated in the series so far, at 9.8, able to obliterate Kaiju far larger than he is. Whilst the manga's description of Kaiju No. 9 becoming the strongest Kaiju of all time upon absorbing No. 2's power may deflate this claim, No. 9 outright believes that Kafka is pretty much the only person around who could pose a threat to him. In fact, Kafka's strikes are capable of causing significant damage to even the newly empowered No. 9. Just to drive the point home even further, when the team of Numbered Kaiju specifically made to combat the Defense Force attacked, their strategy for dealing with Kafka is to gang up on him. An entirely necessary strategy, as Kaiju No. 13 gets destroyed by Kafka once he enters the fray.
• You Are Number 6: Mixed with Red Baron, it's part and parcel of being a Kaiju that evades or survives a subjugation attempt.

Mina Ashiro

Voiced by: Asami Seto (Japanese), Katelyn Barr (English)

Commander of the Third Unit of the Defense Force, highly revered for her victories over Kaiju, and former childhood friend of Kafka.

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• Action Pet: She has a pet tiger named Bakko that enters battle with her.
• BFG: In the field she wields a chainsaw grip cannon that can blow apart a city block with a single shot.
• Broken Ace: In the present, she's considered one of the strongest members of the Defense Force and a hero to many aspiring recruits. But Chapter 95 reveals that her rapid climb up the ranks was not something she wanted. Despite her prodigious skills, the pressure of people's lives depending on her took a heavy toll on her, and Kafka's failure to be by her side to give her reassurance eventually made her cold and aloof. Her apparent cold professionalism when neutralizing Kaiju was thus revealed to be not because of confidence built up from years of success, but because of bitterness over her best friend failing to be there for her when she needed his support the most.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Downplayed. It's implied that her cold and aloof demeanor is mostly targeted at Kafka out of disappointment at his failure to keep their childhood promise. But once Kafka seems on his way to finally fulfilling it, Hoshina notes changes in her personality as she becomes warmer and more playful as Kafka proves himself.
• Disappointed in You: It's heavily implied that Ashiro only looks down on Kafka because he failed to live up to their promise of joining the Kaiju Corps. When he finally manages to become a cadet, Hoshina notices that she's smiling after he declares his intention to be her equal.
  Ashiro (after thinking back to their childhood where Kafka promised to be by her side): Liar.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Has this dynamic with Hoshina. While the latter favors swords in battle, Mina prefers using a massive cannon to obliterate Kaijus from a distance. In an interesting twist on the trope, Hoshina's melee-oriented fighting style is fast and nimble, whereas Mina's guns are ludicrously destructive.
• Genre Savvy: She realizes that Kafka isn't evil even after finding out that he's Kaiju No. 8, because she witnessed him save everyone and refuse to fight incarceration.
• Irony: When they were children, she was Kafka's second in command in the "Kafka Corps" (being the only other member besides him). As adults, Mina is a high-ranking Defense Force officer, and Kafka is her underling.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: As a child, part of her motivation for joining the Defense Force was that a Kaiju killed her pet calico cat. In the present day, she has a loyal pet tiger that aids her in battle.
• Ms. Fanservice: Her uniforms always show off her shapely figure, and the first episode of the anime ends with her receiving a call to action while wearing nothing but a towel.
• Not So Above It All:
  • She's quick to snap a few pictures of a downtrodden Hoshina to tease him after Kaiju No. 8 escapes him.
  • The next time she punishes Kafka for addressing her without honorifics, it's obvious that she's being playful when making him do fifty pushups.
• Not So Stoic:
  • Ashiro appears with mostly a serious demeanor, but is noted to be seemingly smiling happily after seeing Kafka become a cadet of the Corps.
  • She's also visibly very hurt to find out that Kafka is Kaiju No. 8, knowing that she has to take him into custody and her superiors will likely not share her sentiments about him.
• Rugged Scar: Has large gash on her left pectoral.
• Ship Tease: She thinks of Kafka while bathing and is visibly blushing.
• Signature Hair Decs: She wears a pair of isosceles triangle shaped hair clips with three inline black marks in each of them. She had worn the same or similar ones since primary school.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Usually appears stern, cold and aloof most of the time. She only shows her playful, gentler side when she's around Kafka. Partly justified as her position necessitates professional discipline at all times, so she only does this when they're alone. Best examplified in Chapter 69, when Kafka decides to have lunch on the base's roof only to find out that Mina had the same idea. He turns to leave... But Mina encourages him to sit down and eat with her, and they have a friendly, casual conversation about their childhood days.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Kafka. The very reason why she even joined the Kaiju Corps to begin with was because of a promise the two made together to do so when they were children. By the time the story began and Kafka is still not a recruit, Mina appears dismissive of him for breaking their promise. Once he manages to get in, however, her attitude seems to be on the cusp of turning around.

Reno Ichikawa

Voiced by: Wataru Katou (Japanese), Adam McArthur (English)

A new hire to the Kaiju Cleanup Crew and aspiring member of the Defense Force.

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• Anger Born of Worry: He gets angry when Kafka disregards his own safety, usually by transforming out in the open.
• An Ice Person: His affinity for Weapon No. 6 grants him control over ice to a degree, and allows him to freeze Kaijus in place. Even before that, he's been shown to have a fondness for freezing bullets, using them against the mushroom Kaijus and the Wyvern Kaijus with very effective results. As of Chapter 99, his ice powers have grown so powerful that he's able to instantly freeze solid several giant Kaijus that had been tearing through the Defense Force's regular troops, with only Kafka in his No. 8 form being strong enough to pose a threat to.
• Badass Normal: Unlike most of the other recruits, Reno is nothing special. He doesn't have a military background, he doesn't come from a wealthy family, and he's not a natural genius. But he still manages to keep up with the stronger recruits, progresses fast and never backs down, to the point that he's revealed to be a prime candidate for wielding Weapon No. 6, the strongest Kaiju weapon ever created.
• Big Damn Heroes: In Chapter 99, he arrives in the nick of time to freeze solid Number 9's stronger spawns, taking pressure off Kafka's back in order to allow him to go rescue Mina without having to worry about protecting the civilians and the other troops himself.
• Character Development: He has a quick arc in the first chapter where he gets over his aloof haughtiness and dismissal of Kafka after he helps Ichikawa learn the ropes of cleanup. In his gratitude, Ichikawa encourages him to try joining the Kaiju Corps again and later goes out of his way to protect Kafka's secret as Kaiju No. 8 after he saves his life from an afterbeast.
• Friendly Rival: To Kafka. Although he positions himself as his rival and has multiple traits expected of a typical shounen rival like being born talented and a cool, collected attitude, Ichikawa has a lot of respect and care for Kafka since he has saved his life more than once, and is happy to help him and push him towards his dream.
• The Gift: For an unknown newbie without an impressive background, Reno's capabilities and potential allow him to keep up with Kikoru. Later, it's revealed that he has an affinity for Weapon No. 6, the strongest Numbered Weapon the Defense Force has in their arsenal.
• Only Sane Man: Amidst a colorful and quirky squad of recruits, he stands out as the only normal and level-headed person among them. To demonstrate, he's the only one who didn't lose track of time talking about Ashiro and pass out from overheating in the bath, also to be fair to Kafka, he was more or less pressured into staying by the other recruits geeking out over his personal connection to her.
• Secret-Keeper: He is the first person to learn about about Kafka's monster form and he keeps it a secret, though he seems to take it more seriously than the man himself.
• Technicolor Eyes: Colored illustrations show that he has purple eyes.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Kafka. Despite their rocky start, Kafka showing him the ropes on his first day with the disposal crew, and later putting his own life on the line to save Reno from a lesser Kaiju caused the young man to develop an immense respect and loyalty towards Kafka and becoming his first Secret-Keeper after Kafka's transformation into Kaiju #8. In fact, one of Reno's main motivations to keep getting stronger as a soldier of the Defense Force is to make sure he can deal with any threat, so that Kafka doesn't need to transform and potentially risk exposing his nature as Kaiju #8 to the rest of the Defense Force. Later on, after Kafka has to out himself as No. 8 in order to save the entire base from complete annihilation and gets taken into custody as a result, Reno makes sure to let Kafka know that he's confident they'll meet again soon.

Kikoru Shinomiya

Voiced by: Fairouz Ai (Japanese), Abigail Blythe (English)

The daughter of a Defense Force commander and a prodigy at killing kaiju.

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• The Ace: Graduated from a Kaiju killing academy at a record young age and has been training for the KDF since she was a child. And because she's the daughter of one of its commanders, she's had a major leg up in terms of access to materials and equipment for training. As a result, she's easily the best of the recruits.
• BFS: Chapter 25 has her show up and using a giant axe that's roughly twice her size to bifurcate a base Kaiju.
• Broken Ace: Despite being The Ace, underneath her pride and accomplishments lies a perfectionist who's never gotten congratulations or compliments from her father. The only reason why she's so good at what she does is because he's drilled into her head that she always needs to be better even though she's clearly at her peak.
• Child Prodigy: Justified. Kikoru Shinomiya, daughter of a high ranking member of the Japanese military, had access to the anti-Kaiju gear despite technically being a civilian, and so she was able to train at a capacity most civilians could not.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Kafka. They even have an epic Back-to-Back Badasses moment when they team up to take down one of Kaiju no. 9's clones, sharing a fist bump afterwards.
• Girlish Pigtails: Indicating her relative youth.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Kafka, who is twice her age. Despite a rocky start, after Kafka saves her life and earns her respect, they become Fire-Forged Friends. Kikoru also shares Ishikawa's status as Kafka's Secret-Keeper as a result. That is, until he outs himself to the entire Defense Force in a desperate move to save them all from a yonju bomb, after which she lost the "secret keeper" part but remained one of Kafka's closest friends.
• Missing Mom: Her mother has been dead for sometime and it's later revealed she was a casualty from the Monster #6 incident 10 years ago, having put her life on the line to take it down.
• Precocious Crush: After he rescues her during the entrance exam, Kikoru develops a crush on Kafka, who is twice her age.
• Secret-Keeper: She is one of the few people who knows about Kafka's monster form after he saves her during the entrance exam.
• Tsundere: She has an obvious crush on Kafka but true to form she's quick to vocally and harshly deny any affection even though nobody asked.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: Discussed. Her custom weapon is a massive axe. She complains that it is too brutish to suit her but, as Reno notes, it suits her aggressive and cavalier personality perfectly.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Kikoru is motivated by wanting to meet the standards of her father, who drives her to be completely perfect and without flaw. Her reaction to being about to be killed is to cry that she wasn't able to be up to snuff. Kaiju #15 Mind Rapes her by reminding her that her dream of validation and affirmation from her parents will never come true now that both are dead, driving her to despair.
• The Worf Effect: After easily destroying monsters during the entrance exam to show that she is the strongest among the recruits, she gets taken out by Kaiju No. 9 to establish it as a threat.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: While it's plain obvious that she's the strongest female member of the Defense Force whose name isn't Mina Ashiro, recent chapters show that Kikoru has self-doubts resulting from her getting saved by Kafka in critical moments, which leads her to doubt her ability to overcome a true challenge on her own. By the end of Chapter 83, as Kikoru is on her last leg following her fight against No. 15, Kafka gives her a call, telling her that he is not coming to her rescue, and that he believes in her. As No. 15 notes that she'd better finish Kikoru off quickly and regroup with the other Kaijus to confront Kafka, she notices that Kikoru suddenly has a newfound resolve in her eyes...
  • And, sure enough, in Chapter 84, Kikoru manages to overcome No. 15's Mind Rape and literally hacks her to pieces, noting that said Mind Rape allowed her to realize where her weaknesses truly lied and how to overcome them, making her even stronger in the process. While Kikoru wishes that her parents were still around to witness the strength she gained, she settles for the next best thing : the approval of her brothers in arms, who are still alive, still around, and counting on her. Not just Kafka, but all of them, that she proceeds to list by name.