Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon movie review – sci-fi anime compilation not up to par

2/5 stars

Anime compilation films are far from a new phenomenon. Since the 1970s, feature-length re-edits of animated television series have been a mainstay in Japanese cinemas.

Offering diehard fans the opportunity of a big-screen refresher, while giving franchise newcomers a crash course that is all killer no filler, every self-respecting series from Space Battleship Yamato to Mobile Suit Gundam has swung for a splashy theatrical cash grab.

Now comes Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon, 80 minutes of distilled footage from the first season of the science-fiction coming-of-age series adapted from Naoya Matsumoto’s digital manga of 2020.

In addition to seeing the best moments cherry-picked from its 12 episodes, audiences are rewarded with the bonus episode “Hoshina’s Day Off”, a frivolous digression of little substance.