Nene Hieda and Mayuko Kazama are joining the cast of the currently airing Kaiju No. 8 TV anime series as additional Third Division Defense Officers. The series first premiered in Japan on April 13, 2024.
Hieda voices Akari Minase, while Kazama voices Jura Igarashi’s younger sister, Hakua. They are just two of the latest additions to the anime’s side cast announced last week, with Tessho Genda and Mutsumi Tamura joining as Isao Shinomiya and Tae Nakanoshima, and Hiroyuki Yoshino and Tomokazu Sugita as Kaiju No. 9 and Takamichi Hodaka.
They join a main voice cast that 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
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 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 handling the animation production company for the series.
Kaiju No. 8 is streaming weekly on Crunchyroll, X (formerly known as Twitter), and iQIYI outside of Japan in select territories. Crunchyroll is streaming new episodes of the anime live weekly in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, simultaneously with the Japanese broadcasts.
Naoya Matsumoto’s original action manga has run in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ online website since July 3, 2020. Twelve tankobon volumes have been released as of April 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 and has been released in English by Shueisha and VIZ. It follows the side stories of several Defense Force members from the main series. Another spinoff called Kaiju No. 8 Relax will be published in Saikyo Jump on June 4, 2024.
A four-chapter side-story light novel written by Keiji Ando and illustrated by Matsumoto was released on November 4, 2022. VIZ will release a printed version of the light novel later in 2024.
VIZ describes the main premise 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.
