Kaiju No. 8 anime revealed a new trailer during today’s Jump Festa ’24 stage. The premiere date is April 2024: the anime will be broadcast on TV Tokyo and other Japanese TV stations and it will be streaming worldwide on Twitter/X (in real-time) and Crunchyroll. This is the first anime to stream on Twitter; it’s not clear how the system will work.
Ai Fairouz and Kengo Kawanishi are joining the cast as Kikoru Shinomiya and Soshiro Hoshina. The previously announced main cast features Masaya Fukunishi as Kafka Hibino/Kaiju No. 8, Wataru Kato as Reno Ichikawa, and Asami Seto as Mina Ashiro. Production I.G will be animating the series, with studio Khara in charge of the monster designs. Earlier this month, the anime unveiled a new key visual and staff:
The upcoming anime adaptation has been counting down to the premiere with a series of visuals that are released every month. So far they have featured the titular Kaiju No. 8, Soshiro Hoshina, Kikoru Shinomiya, and Kafka and Reno.
Kaiju No. 8 anime will adapt a manga by Naoya Matsumoto that began serialization in July 2020 on Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ and has since been collected into 10 volumes. Viz Media licensed it in English in North America and so far eight volumes have been published, with the ninth set for January 2024 release date. The series was initially licensed as Monster #8 in English, but the name was later reverted to Kaiju No. 8, although Manga Plus, where the series is available to read for free, kept the title.
The plot of the anime, which revealed its first trailer earlier this year, is described as:
In a world plagued by threatening creatures known as Kaiju, Kafka Hibino aspired to enlist in the Japan Defense Force to defeat them. “Let’s wipe out the Kaiju together.”
Kafka pledged to his childhood friend, Mina Ashiro. Over time, life circumstances forced them to go their separate ways and caused him to abandon his lifelong ambition. He found himself employed by Monster Sweeper, Inc., a professional cleaning company that specializes in cleaning up the aftermath of Kaiju battles. Meanwhile, Mina Ashiro is now the Captain of the Defense Force’s 3rd Division. As it stands, he is currently unworthy of fighting Kaiju alongside her.
At work, Kafka crosses paths with the highly motivated Reno Ichikawa. Reno’s undying determination to join the Defense Force leaves no room for failure. His perseverance reawakens Kafka’s ambition of standing next to Mina as they protect humanity from Kaiju together.
A dream frozen by time, thawed by a burning promise But Kafka doesn’t know that an imminent Kaiju threat is unexpectedly approaching him.
Source: Official Website
© JAKDF 3rd Division © Naoya Matsumoto/SHUEISHA