REVIEW: ‘Kaiju Girl Caramelise’ Season 1 Is A Deceptively Profound Look At Self-Image

Kaiju Girl Caramelise (Otome Kaijuu Caramelise) from Director Teruyuki Omine and writer Yuniko Ayana explores the struggle many face with self-image and self-worth. The meanings underneath are incredibly deep. The surface-level narrative about a girl who turns into a kaiju is exciting and fun, but the messaging surrounding Kaiju Girl Caramelise truly makes it an anime worth watching.

Honestly, we’ve all been there. Growing up comes with a lot of challenges to be the biggest, or the smartest, or the prettiest. The popular crowd has their favorites, and high school kids since the beginning of time have valued what they think, despite the fact that they’re the minority of students in any given student body.

Akaishi Kuroe (Hikari Senga) is no stranger to this dynamic. A loner who keeps her head down, Kuroe has a dark secret: when she gets emotional, she begins sprouting kaiju body parts. When the most popular boy in school, Minami Arata (Daishi Kajita) takes a sudden and intense interest in Kuroe, her entire life turns upside-down. For the first time, Kuroe experiences an emotion so overwhelming that she becomes a full-sized kaiju.

Just because you’re a kaiju girl doesn’t mean you don’t have regular school problems too.

While she’s successful at hiding her kaiju nature from Arata, Kuroe has to work through the next several episodes learning about herself and navigating a new relationship with Arata. Amid all of that, she is still being harassed by the mean girls because they can’t fathom why Arata would be interested in her instead of them.

Along the way, Kuroe starts to allow herself the pleasure of friendship—something she’s never done before. Her crazy, kaiju-obsessed friend Manatsu (Akira Sekine) is an ultra-wealthy girl in love with the kaiju that’s been appearing. She knows Kuroe has some kind of connection to the kaiju, but Kuroe lets her believe she’s simply the kaiju’s high priestess.

An even more important bond is created when Kuroe is befriended by Rairi (Haruka Shiraishi). Rairi has a secret of her own that makes her entirely more relatable to Kuroe, even if she’s not ready to open up about her own struggles. Between Rairi and Manatsu, Kuroe has a support system that she’s never had before.

And yet, her insecurities still run rampant. Manatsu and Rairi are there for her each and every day but it doesn’t stop the intrusive thoughts from coming. “I’m not good enough for Arata.” “Why would he want someone like me?” “He could do so much better than this.”

For his part, Arata seems clueless about the trouble Kuroe is having. This isn’t because he’s not observant but because Kuroe struggles to trust anyone close to her to understand her true nature, and so she hides both that she’s a kaiju and that she’s an insecure girl from everyone in her life except her mother, Rinko (Kotono Mitsuishi).

Kaiju Girl Caramelise is almost two different series. In one sense, it’s a coming-of-age story about how a girl finds her own voice amid a war of competing thoughts in her own mind. In that way, becoming a kaiju and eventually fighting another kaiju is all an allegory.

Under that interpretation of Kaiju Girl Caramelise, Kuroe’s transformation into a Girl-Godzilla is less literal and more about how her body is changing in puberty and, more importantly, how she sees herself. When she fights the other monster, Akae, she’s fighting a pure kaiju. Akae has an animalistic instinct and is incredibly aggressive. Still, Akae’s destructive path is just that: a path. Akae’s true target is Kuroe.

Kuroe isn’t merely battling a giant flying dragon; she’s battling her own inner demons.

If Kuroe’s transformation is merely an allegory about puberty and self-image, Akae represents the battle we all have within ourselves. Akae is fear, anxiety, low self-esteem, anger, depression, and more. Kuroe isn’t merely battling a giant flying dragon; she’s battling her own inner demons.

On the other side of this is a far less interesting interpretation that sees Kaiju Girl Caramelise as a literal kaiju story. This is certainly how the narrative plays out with people seeing and interacting with Kuroe in her kaiju form. The city and other characters even start referring to the giant kaiju as Harugon. Most fear her, some are intrigued, and others like Manatsu and Arata actively seek Harugon out, believing that it’s worth it to try.

Kaiju Girl Caramelise is structured like a romance and even has a somewhat cliché message about love fixing everything. In spite of that, it’s not really a romance. Instead, Kaiju Girl Caramelise is a powerful examination of the human psyche that leans into dramatic storytelling using actual monsters to discuss the monsters within.

Kaiju Girl Caramelise is not just a good anime; it’s storytelling at its finest.

The story could very easily transition into being a bleak or even suffocating melodrama but its silliness makes Kaiju Girl Caramelise have personality and wit without losing its voice. There’s a real grit to how Kuroe sees the world and herself. This is a viewpoint her friends and Arata challenge in every episode, but it should come as no surprise that the message takes some time to properly stick.

There are some pacing issues unfortunately. One character, Daichi (Ryôta Suzuki), is introduced with barely any time left at all. He turns out to be fairly important to the resolution of Kaiju Girl Caramelise but because he is introduced so late, it makes it hard to care about his presence in the story.

Even worse than that is that he is very annoying the first few times that he appears on screen. That’s not inherently a bad thing. Inosuke in Demon Slayer has a similar weakness, but his character is given enough time to shine that by now, audiences have been fully endeared to him. Daichi, by contrast, is given only three episodes to connect with the audience, and it’s simply not enough time.

Overall, Kaiju Girl Caramelise Season 1 is not just a good anime; it’s storytelling at its finest. From the humor to the action, and especially the beautiful allegory underneath, Kaiju Girl Caramelise is an anime that successfully examines the human spirit. In a world that values popularity and beauty above all else, Kaiju Girl Caramelise only cares how we see ourselves.

Kaiju Girl Caramelise Season 1 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.