I’ve got to hand it to Kizuku Watanabe: he knows how to deliver laugh-out-loud moments by the barrelful. His Assassination Classroom spin-off Koro Sensei Quest! was proof that he could lovingly take the piss out of a beloved shonen manga series. And just as he did with Koro-sensei and his students, Watanabe is giving the same sort of treatment to Kafka Hibino and the Kaiju No. 8 crew in his spin-off Kaiju No. 8: Relax. In its second volume, the Third Division really embraces all kinds of stupidity!

As these stories take place on the days without any kaiju incidents, we don’t often see Kafka transform into the titular character. But that’s quite all right, as this is meant to show what everyone is doing when not in battle mode. However, it’s clear that the men of the Third Division don’t have an off switch in their intensity meters. Case in point, a glamping trip that turns into a showcase of “Manly Man Camping”. If that sounds idiotic to you, then you’re right on the money!

Taking on wild boars, bees, and poisonous mushrooms, the boys of the Third Division show that they don’t share a singular brain cell; they just have none to begin with! But when they finally embrace glamping, an incident occurs regarding mysterious footprints, a massive urine stain, and claw marks. Of course, we all know who the true culprit is, and as each discovery is found, the poor guy melts into a pool of embarrassment. Camping may be a go-to for some comedic storytelling, but Kaiju No. 8: Relax somehow delivers two of the funniest scenarios you can imagine.

Haruichi Izumo takes the center stage for a chapter, as he deals with his fate as a background character. He fades in and out of existence, to the point where the team is concerned for his well-being. The boys do everything they can to prove that Izumo is worthy of being at least a second banana to the Kaiju No. 8 franchise. (A good fourth-wall break has one guy promise Izumo that he’ll be on the cover of the main series one day, which, well, I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon.)

Two holidays are focused on in this volume. The first is New Year’s Day, as the Third Division members get their fortunes and talk about the first dream of the new year. Naturally, it’s all chaos both in the luck and dream departments, with Kafka getting the wildest dream possible. However, nothing compares to the insanity of Valentine’s Day, where all the men compete in a contest that would make “Beat” Takeshi Kitano cry tears of endearment.

Captain Narumi and Vice-Captain Hoshina have their own popularity contest, with the fox-eyed Hoshina naturally being the better of the two. But it’s a showcase of Narumi’s figure collection where the real laughs are found. It may be weird that he has action figures of his teammates, but at least we get some silly poses and maybe some swapped heads that’ll cause nightmares for some readers. Nevertheless, even in this spin-off series, Gen Narumi shows why he often steals the show when he’s focused on.

Kaiju No. 8: Relax is the right kind of stupid. Volume Two embraces every dumb idea that could happen to Kafka and his allies, and wraps them up in a nice bow. For those who liked the more funnier aspects of the original Kaiju No. 8 series, this spin-off is made specifically for you. You’ll laugh so hard, you might just pee out of your nipples.

Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media.