Soichiro Hoshina (Keystone of Western Japan)

Soshiro Hoshina (Keystone of Western Japan) arrives in Kaiju No. 8 The Game with one of the most unique hybrid kits currently available. Despite looking like a pure DPS unit at first glance, he is actually designed as a high-utility support that mixes Slash and Shot damage while constantly enabling the team through debuffs, follow-up attacks, and offensive buffs.

His combat style is undeniably stylish. Switching between rifle attacks and sword slashes gives him a very dynamic feel, and his kit revolves around applying Mind’s Eye, triggering enhanced attacks, and chaining follow-up skills whenever allies activate theirs. The result is a character that feels incredibly active during battle, especially in teams built around breaking enemy cores and generating constant follow-up pressure.

What makes Soshiro interesting is the sheer amount of utility packed into his kit. He can apply DEF reduction, speed reduction, damage taken increase, and even stack teamwide damage buffs whenever allies destroy enemy parts. On top of that, his Ultimate hits absurdly hard for a support character, featuring one of the highest single-target multipliers in the game against exposed cores.

However, there’s one major issue: his base version feels incomplete. Many of the features that truly elevate him — especially the powerful teamwide Crit Damage buffs — are locked behind Ascension 1. This creates the uncomfortable feeling that players are pulling an unfinished character unless they invest duplicates immediately. That frustration becomes even more noticeable because characters like Kikoru Shinomiya already perform similar support functions without requiring the same level of commitment.

Still, if heavily invested, Soshiro becomes an elite hybrid support capable of contributing meaningful personal damage while massively empowering aggressive compositions.