The latest character visual for the anticipated premiere of Kaiju No. 8 showcases the strong vice-captain of the Third Division Soshiro Hoshina. The visual highlights his choice of black colored blades as he heads into battle.
Kaiju No. 8 will debut in Japan on April 13, 2024 on Crunchyroll and X (formerly known as Twitter). New episodes of the anime series will be streamed live weekly on Crunchyroll in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide simultaneously with the Japanese broadcasts, starting on Saturday, April 13 at 7:00 AM PST. Every new episode afterwards will be available beginning 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 anime, 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 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 company for the series.
Meanwhile the anime’s main voice cast is headlined by:
- • 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 is written by Naoya Matsumoto and was launched 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. VIZ Media releases the manga series in English.
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 will release a printed version of the light novel sometime later in 2024.
VIZ describes the main synopsis of Kaiju No. 8 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.
