Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123: Kikoru arrives with two Numbers Weapons to help Kafka vs Meireki's true form

Modified Mar 13, 2025 17:56 GMT

Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123: Kikoru arrives with two Numbers Weapons to help Kafka vs Meireki's true form (Image via Production I.G)

Heading into Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123, fans were expecting Kafka Hibino to begin struggling against whatever form the Meireki Era Mega Monster was preparing to take. Officially released on Thursday, March 13, 2025, the installment did indeed see Kafka begin to struggle against the Meireki Era Mega Monster’s (Meireki for short) true, original form.

While Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123 did clarify that this was due to its true form being much stronger than 400 years ago, Kafka nevertheless struggled all the same. In turn, this prompted some help to show up in the issue’s final panels, which saw Kikoru Shinomiya arrive with not just her own Numbers Weapon 4, but Gen Narumi’s Numbers Weapon 1 as well.

Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123 inaugurates Kikoru as first character to wield two Numbers Weapons simultaneously

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Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123 opened up with Kafka Hibino asking the danger zone’s radius to be expanded as seen in the previous issue’s final moments. Soshiro Hoshina was seen asking what it was, while Kafka explained that this is Meireki’s true form which it first appeared in 400 years ago. He also identified it as the culprit behind Tokyo’s historic razing, and the vast network of Kaiju beneath the country today.

Meireki’s true form was then seen having fully emerged, with Soshiro, Gen Narumi, and Keiji Itami all shocked by it. Meireki then spotted Kafka and lunged to attack, with Mina Ashiro shown to be in shock as well. Narumi also realized why so many monster signals were going off, while Kafka dodged an attack which leveled a massive building instantly. He charged in after, but Meireki was able to effortlessly defend against every attack.

Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123 saw Kafka recognize that it was much more powerful now than it was four centuries prior, deciding to make an opening and find the core. However, Meireki then attacked him with a much more powerful glyph attack than before, taking off Kafka’s head which he regenerated. Kafka instead decided to evade its attacks until he found an opening to charge it during. The giant mouth on Meireki’s back then let out an earsplitting scream.

Despite Kafka's latest powerup, he still struggles against Meireki's true form in Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123 (Image via Production I.G)

While Kafka seemed unaffected, virtually every human who could hear it was. Akira Kurusu then revealed that countless new monster signals appeared. However, shots of the various Tokyo battlefields made it clear that Meireki was actually reviving the defeated Kaiju. Not only was this happening in Tokyo, but also across the entire country of Japan. Mina, Hoshina, and Narumi likewise found themselves surrounded by reanimated Kaiju corpses.

Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123 saw Kafka take it upon himself to hurry up and defeat Meireki since the others were already at their limits. He went to charge at Meireki, but was shocked to see it seemingly defending itself with various strands of glyph attacks. Some of these were launched at Kafka as Meireki blinked, establishing a perimeter which Kafka said he couldn’t breach. Hoshina said they were back to square one, which meant relying on Narumi and No. 1’s powers.

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As Narumi fought the Kaiju surrounding him, Hoshina questioned if he had the strength left to stand up to Meireki. However, Narumi said he wasn’t talking about himself, with focus then shifting to someone attacking Meireki with projectile weapons. While everyone else was shocked, Narumi simply asked this person if they already studied Meireki’s movements through his eyes.

Narumi called this person his “dear simpleton of a student,” making it clear that this was Kikoru Shinomiya as she appeared in a subsequent panel. Her eyes were closed initially as she was shown to still be in her Numbers Weapon 4 suit. The issue ended with her opening her eyes and telling Narumi obviously, as she was revealed to be wielding both Numbers Weapons 4 and 1 simultaneously, a first for the series thus far.

Final thoughts

Kikoru's feat in Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123 is one of the most subtly impressive of the entire series (Image via Production I.G)

Given Kikoru’s appearance in the final panels of Kaiju No. 8 chapter 123, fans can likely expect the fight against Meireki to reach the beginning of its end in the next issue. While this doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the series is on the horizon, fans can expect the next few releases to provide more clarity here.