A new character visual of Kikoru Shinomiya has been released for the upcoming Kaiju No. 8 anime series, highlighting her skills in stealth and marksmanship. The anime will premiere in Japan on April 13, 2024 on Crunchyroll and X (formerly known as Twitter).
Crunchyroll also announced that new episodes of Kaiju No. 8 will be streamed live weekly in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide simultaneously with the Japanese broadcasts, starting on Saturday, April 13 at 7:00 AM PST. New episodes of the series will be available on Crunchyroll every Saturday at 8:30 AM PST.
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 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 the animation production company.
Meanwhile the main voice cast for the anime includes:
- • Masaya Fukunishi as Kafka Hibino
- • Asami Seto as Mina Ashiro
- • Wataru Kato as Reno Ichikawa
- • Fairouz Ai as Kikoru Shinomiya
- • Kengo Kawanishi as Soshiro Hoshina
The original action manga series is written by Naoya Matsumoto and was first serialized in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ online website on July 3, 2020. Eleven tankobon volumes have been released as of December 2023, with a 12th volume due out on April 4, 2024. A spin-off manga by Kentaro Hidano titled Kaiju No.8: B-Side was launched in Shonen Jump+ on January 5, 2024. It follows the side stories of multiple 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 will release a printed version of the light novel sometime later in 2024.
VIZ releases the manga series 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.
Source: Kaiju No. 8 Official English Twitter, press release