Episode 5

Joining Up!

Kanji

入隊!

Romaji

Nyūtai!

Air Date

May 11, 2024

May 11, 2024 (English Dub)

**Episode Guide**
← Episode 4	Episode 6 →

Joining Up! (入隊!, Nyūtai!) is the fifth episode of the Kaiju No. 8 anime series.

Synopsis[]

Kafka is now a member of the Defense Force, if not a full-fledged one. But Hoshina tells him he has three months to prove himself before he's fired...

Summary[]

Kafka Hibino thanks Leno Ichikawa for having encouraged him to complete his exams. After this, Leno believes that Kafka had become more reliable but is proven wrong the next day when Kafka is nervous to receive his test results. As he is about to open the letter to his result, Kafka imagines he and Mina Ashiro fighting alongside each other in the defense force. Not long after, Mina appoints Kikoru Shinomiya an official defense force troop member. Although she seems proud of her achievement, Kikoru feels guilty that Kafka wasn’t able to pass the exam as he had saved her and that Mina was praising her instead. However, she was still confused about Kafka being a kaiju. Just after this thought, Kafka enters the room, late, and apologizes sheepishly.

Mina then thinks back about the meeting the defense force had to discuss the examinees, and specifically, when looking at Kafka’s scores. Internally, she was reluctant to fail Kafka despite his low scores, but before she was able to say that aloud, Soshiro Hoshina interrupted her and was willing to accept Kafka because of his humorous personality, which he gets scolded by Konomi Okonogi for. Back to the present, Mina explained that she had Kafka not attend the ceremony as he had been accepted as a cadet. Seeing this, Iharu Furuhashi is surprised that Kafka passed the exam. For a few seconds, Kafka and Mina look at each other.

After this, Mina announces that the number of dangerous kaijus has been increasing and trusts her new comrades to lend her their strength to aid her in battle despite the chances that they may lose their lives. Kafka then suddenly addresses Mina by her first name and assures her that he’ll always be by her side, shocking the surrounding people. He is then alarmed because he had forgotten that he had to address his childhood friend formerly, which results in her hesitating (at first) to give him punishment for this. Seeing this, Soshiro bursts into laughter but is surprised when spotting Mina's smile. Okonogi then subtly tells Soshiro that his motives for having Kafka with him probably wasn’t the best idea but it is revealed that Soshiro had other reasons to have passed him. Seeing Kafka doing his push-ups, Soshiro thinks back of his speculations that Kafka had a relation to Kaiju No. 8 and was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Two months passed since Kafka and others’ enlistment into the defense force. Leno is practicing his shooting skills and is revealed to have improved his released force to 18%. Soshiro is observing this and is impressed at Leno’s rapid improvements. Iharu also happens to be training with Leno and is rather competitive with him as he got happy when seeing that he got a higher released force than him, his being 20%. However, Kikoru beats them both with a released force of 55% and managing to defeat all of the targets in a mere 1 second. Leno and Iharu both get mad when she tells them a snide remark about her skills. Haruichi and Aoi are also next to them and signs are rivalry are present between them as Aoi announces that he’s finally caught up to Haruichi’s force.

In spite of all this, Kafka is rejoiced at his force going up from 0 to 1% and is excited to tell Kikoru this, but she doesn’t seem to think much of it. Even if he is proud of himself, Soshiro isn’t afraid to tell him that he would easily get fired under 3 months with that released force amount. Following this, Konomi and Soshiro are proud of their junior’s competition nevertheless.

That evening, the men’s cohort is enjoying a bath. Kafka is trying to relax, sharing his worries with his comrades but Leno and Iharu’s rivalry is still present. Kafka tells them not to fight over things he finds useless while showing off his own body, but seeing Kafka’s pudgy belly, he laughs at him. Hearing their yells, Aoi is curious about what is happening and Iharu and Leno’s quarrels are soon put to an end when seeing his muscles. Despite this, Iharu sets the mood again and asks his surrounding comrades why they decided to join the defense force. He then reveals that he has been saved by Mina in the past and had admired her ever since, as well as the others.

Kafka follows by telling his own motives and tells the others that he and Mina have been childhood friends, which shocks them, though they are still willing to hear about her private life. Soon after, Kikoru and Hakua get out of the bath to see the men’s cohort (excluding Leno) all on the floor. Not long after, Kafka thinks back on what Soshiro told him about him getting fired within three months if he kept his current pace. Soshiro sees Kafka alone and admits that he has been listening to Kafka talking about Mina. Kafka then announces that he’s determined to be fighting with Mina. However, Soshiro tells Kafka that he is determined to keep his position as well. Into the night, a kaiju breaks in and Soshiro informs Kafka that this would be his first mission.

The bus heading to the monster’s location carries the newly-appointed defense force members, and as they settle in and prepare themselves for their first mission, Soshiro reminds them of their duty.