One of the bigger titles from the Shounen manga world, Kaiju No. 8 is getting an anime adaptation and is set to come out in April 2024. It is relatively new, authored by Naoya Matsumoto, only started on July 3 of 2020 on Shueisha‘s Shōnen Jump+ app & website and is available for free. In December 2020, it reached surpassed 30 million views and each chapter has been getting over 1 million views. For a weekly series, this is insanely massive. By April 2021, the series reached over 100 million views and by February 2023, 400 million views. The manga has sold over 11 million copies in circulation by March of 2023 and has broken many records. Kaiju No. 8 has one of the fastest feats of growing in popularity alongside Spy × Family and ranked tenth on AnimeJapan‘s 5th “Most Wanted Anime Adaptation” poll in 2022. And what better studio to adapt it than Production I.G which delivered the likes of Haikuu, Psycho-Pass, the new smash hit Heavenly Delusion, and many more classics.
What is Kaiju No. 8?
Kaiju No. 8 is a story set in a world where monsters known as kaijuu attack humans & cause destruction on an almost daily basis. To combat them, a Defense Force is formed. Kafka Hibino vows to join them alongside his childhood friend Mina Ashiro after their hometown was destroyed. Fast forward, Kafka’s friend became a captain in the force and he, after many attempts & fail stacks, decided to call it quits and live the life of a side character while his friend is living the life of the MC. He is now 32 years old and has the job of the “sweepers” who clean up after the Defence Force’s battle with kaijuu. Kafka is morally depressed, often sees his friend on the battlefield from afar, and his thoughts run wild. He one day meets a young recruit in the sweeper’s department who wishes to join the Defence Force one day and takes his leaves after a cleanup at the end of the day. Kafka too decides to move on and give one last shot. At that time, a parasite takes hold of him and turns him into a kaijuu who is later known to be Kaiju No. 8.
The Appeal of Kaiju No. 8 is that it’s kind of relatable to older readers who have aspired to be somebody but had a fall due to many circumstances. Some of the moments manage to depict that existential crisis that many of us are going through or have gone through. This is a story of redemption and doing something worthwhile with a gift that’s received late. As for the plot and characters, it is just as good as many big names out there. You could see some similarities to Attack on Titan, except Eren didn’t make it to the Corp. and Mikasa is fulfilling both of their dreams. But Kaiju No. 8 without the edgy vibe that Attack on Titan gives. The characters blend perfectly with the setting and almost everyone is the perfect candidate for the main character of the story. The lore & fight scenes can speak for themselves once you get into it. The anime will deliver just as hard as the manga given the studio’s history.
Kaiju No. 8 Trailer and Information
【STAFF】
- Animation Studio: Production I.G
- Kaiju Supervision (Design & Artworks): Studio khara
【CAST】
- Kafka Hibino/Kaiju No. 8: Masaya Fukunishi
- Reno Ichikawa: Wataru Katoh
- Mina Ashiro : Asami Seto
【Web／SNS】
- Ofiicial Site：https://kaiju-no8.net/en
- Official English Twitter for Anime：@KaijuNo8_O_EN
Thank you for reading. ~♡~
