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I saw the manga was getting an anime adaptation and decided to give the manga a shot, I'd been planning to read it anyway. I caught up to the newest chapter within a day of reading and I thought why not give a review. This is a very simple review and doesn't go into depth much, however, spoilers ahead I guess.
Is it a typical shounen? Yes.
Is it predictable a good majority of the time? Yes.
Is the power scaling something that just happens to advance the plot? Yup.
Regardless I like the manga.
Setting:
The concept of kaiju and society waging war against one another for years in ... an arms race to advance and evolve past each other is pretty cool. The manga sadly doesn't do the best job of exploring what a world like that would look like or the impact on your average person nor does it feel the need to explain kaijus past the norm we've all come to understand -to some extent. There are plenty of questions to be asked about all that and it has the potential to be a very nuanced discussion but the manga doesn't comment on it past the typical 'fighting for our lives with all we've got to protect our society as we know it'. Why is it that shounen end up having some of the coolest world settings and never explore it? (that is a personal preference and I know not everyone cares to get immersed in a well-constructed world, let me have my escapism)
TLDR: I'd give the setting a solid 6/10 (the anime actually expands on it more through visual storytelling)
Characters:
I like the characters, on a surface level, because that's all you really get from their depth. There are some attempts at giving them backstories and motives in the first few chapters which get scrapped for the action-packed later chapters. There are some nice contrasts between how each character thinks or interprets their world and overall the characters stand out from one another. They're simple but not in a bland way. If anything I like kaiju no.9 for a brief scene somewhere around chapters 106-109 where they seem obsessed with learning human nature. That would have had more punch if it had been established earlier on. Kafka had a nice solid setup for being a knowledgable protagonist who could strategize ways to defeat kaiju but that gets tossed for the sake of grandiose battles (like many shounen). Actually, one thing I want to praise is that the main character isn't the only one fighting hard battles and getting OP. Initially, the other characters get a lot more spotlight, and towards the end, they all get equal time to shine. I commend the mangaka for that. The other characters aren't seen as obstacles towards getting stronger and instead serve to motivate and push one another to get stronger together in their own ways. They form a team where none of them feel overshadowed or bland.
6/10
Plot: (Can't be bothered to make this a longer section)
It is very fast-paced but never drawn out. I can appreciate a manga that has a story to tell and gets it over with. Can't say much as it is still running as of now (I'm at chp.109 at the time of this review). I do wish there was a bit of downtime between the main arcs. It's just battle after battle and there's not much time to rest and, once again, explore the characters or the setting.
6/10
Art:
What can I say? It's not stellar or the cream of the crop, but, it's good and it's easy to follow along with the action sequences. I like it. There are no noticeable drops in quality up to where I've read.
8/10
Overall: 7/10 (good but nothing show-stopping or thought-provoking) I'm missing some points to comment on but at the end of the day the majority of my review comes down to how much I enjoyed reading it. And I did. My main complaint is not expanding on some potentially nuanced and diverse characters. It was a fun read, especially if you enjoy shounen, a simple straightforward shut-your-brain-off kind of read. 7/10