Kaiju No. 8, also known as Monster #8 or 8Kaijuu, is a manga series written and illustrated by Naoya Matsumoto, which began serialization on July 3, 2020, in Shūeisha‘s digital magazine Shōnen Jump+. The English release rights were secured by VIZ Media and now it’s set to premiere its anime adaptation by Production I.G., coming this April 2024.
By August 2022, the manga had over 8 million copies in circulation. The series has been acclaimed for its premise, art, and characters.
Source: Crunchyroll Collection Official Youtube Channel
According to Yūta Momiyama, deputy editor-in-chief of Shōnen Jump+, Kaiju No. 8 and Spy × Family have been very popular and are doing particularly well on the Manga Plus service. It was reported in December 2020 that Kaiju No. 8 had surpassed 30 million views, making it the fastest Shōnen Jump+ series to reach that milestone, with each new chapter surpassing one million views. By February 2021, the series reached 70 million views, and by April 2021, over 100 million views!
The Story
The plot of Kaiju No. 8 positions us in a Japan constantly invaded by creatures called “kaiju” (kaijuu), monsters of various shapes and sizes, predominantly large, that cause catastrophes and wreak havoc wherever they go. They are in fact the reason for the existence of the “Defense Corps”, an armed group whose function is to annihilate the kaiju as soon as they arrive in the cities, and the “Monster Sweeper”, a cleaning service that takes care of the remains of the Kaijuu corpses, once the Defense Corps has dealt with them.
At 32 years old, Kafka Hibino is one of the Monster Sweeper officials, who once aspired to join the Defense Corps. He had even made a promise with his childhood friend to enter the group and fight together, but over the years, he lost his hope.
One day, Kafka‘s life turns around when a new guy, Reno Ichikawa, arrives intending to gain experience with kaijuus by working at Monster Sweeper, to eventually join the Defense Corps. Reno motivates Kafka to try for his dream again, and fulfill his promise, but unfortunately, they are attacked by a residual kaiju, ending up in the hospital. At a certain moment, a small, flying kaijuu enters Kafka‘s body through his mouth, giving him the ability to transform into a kaijuu. From that moment, Kafka, who has become publicly known in his kaijuu form as “Kaijuu No. 8” (for being the eighth kaijuu to appear that year), must avoid revealing his identity at all costs if he wants to fulfill his dream and keep his promise.
Tell us something, could you live in a world that is constantly attacked by kaijuus? Consider it that secret dream we’re not supposed to talk about, of experiencing a zombie apocalypse firsthand, but if it really happened, we don’t know for sure how well we’d fare in surviving… In this case, would you rather work in the Defense Corps or the Monster Sweeper? Be honest… 😉
Come on, don’t be shy, the comments are all yours!
Images Source: Crunchyroll Collection Official Youtube Channel, YouTube.
