A new character visual for the upcoming Kaiju No. 8 TV anime series has been released, highlighting the titular protagonist in his monstrous form about to battle an unknown Kaiju monster.
Kaiju No. 8 will premiere in Japan on April 13, 2024 and will be streamed outside of Japan on Crunchyroll and X (formerly known as Twitter).
Shigeyuki Miya (Afterlost, The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior) and Tomomi Kamiya (A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd, Hikari: Kariya wo Tsunagu Monogatari) are directing the anime series, with Ichiro Ohkouchi (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury, Code Geass) as series screenwriter, Tetsuya Nishio (Naruto, Vampire in the Garden) as character designer, Mahiro Maeda (SSSS.GRIDMAN, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 co-director and concept art director et al.) as kaiju designer, and Yuuta Bandoh (Belle co-composer) as music composer.
Other staff members include Studio Khara as kaiju supervisor (design and artwork), Izumi Hirose (Tengoku-Daimakyo) as color designer, and Shinji Kimura (Children of the Sea, Blood Blockade Battlefront) as art director. Production I.G is in charge of the animation production for the anime.
Meanwhile the anime’s main voice cast includes:
- • Masaya Fukunishi as Kafka Hibino
- • Asami Seto as Mina Ashiro
- • Wataru Katou as Reno Ichikawa
- • Fairouz Ai as Kikoru Shinomiya
- • Kengo Kawanishi as Soshiro Hoshina
Naoya Matsumoto’s action manga series was first launched in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ online magazine on July 3, 2020. Eleven tankoubon volumes have been released as of December 2023, with a 12th volume set to be released on April 4, 2024. A spin-off manga by Kentaro Hidano titled Kaiju No.8: B-Side began serialization on Shonen Jump+ on January 5, 2024. It features the side stories of several Defense Force members from the main series.
A four-chapter side-story light novel written by Keiji Ando and illustrated by Matsumoto himself was released on November 4, 2022.
VIZ Media releases the Kaiju No.8 manga in English for North America, describing the story as:
Kafka hopes to one day keep his pact with his childhood friend Mina to join the Japan Defense Force and fight by her side. But while she’s out neutralizing kaiju as Third Division captain, Kafka is stuck cleaning up the aftermath of her battles. When a sudden rule change makes Kafka eligible for the Defense Force, he decides to try out for the squad once more. There’s just one problem — he’s made the Defense Force’s neutralization list under the code name Kaiju No. 8.