It will be in April 2024 that the anime series adaptation of the manga will debut Kaiju No. 8 (Monster #8 / Kaijuu 8-gou) by Naoya Matsumoto and the author recently spoke about the anime.
At Jump Festa 2024 where we saw an impressive trailer for the anime, a letter of Naoya Matsumoto where he doesn’t hide his enthusiasm for the anime. Matsumoto stated:
Animation has been a dream of mine since I was a child. I am always impressed and moved by the materials, drawings, storyboards, etc. that emerge as production progresses. The same thing happened when I first received the voice recordings of the cast members.
Continuing, the creator praised all seiyuu of Kaiju #8.
When I drew the characters, the characters started speaking with their voices in my head. The voices, which were just vague images, gained substance and I feel that the characters came to life with even more strength. Thank you to the actors for their work. As the original author, I’m also looking forward to seeing how “Kaiju No. 8” will be turned into an anime by combining everyone’s voices and images. I’m the kind of person who oversees a lot of dubbing, so I think we’ll see each other a lot in the future. Thanks again!
The animation of Kaiju No. 8 is the studio’s responsibility Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East) with the Studio Khara (Rebuild of Evangelion) to be responsible for the kaiju design and art. The direction is Shigeyuki Miya (Onihei), the argument is Ichiro Okouchi (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion) and the character design is by Tetsuya Nishio (Naruto). The art direction is Shinji Kimura (Tekkonkinkreet) and the music is the responsibility of Yuta Bando (BELLE).
In the cast we have:
- Masaya Fukunishi like Kafka Hibino/Kaijuu No. 8.
- Wataru Katou as Reno Ichikawa.
- Asami Setou as Mina Ashiro.
- Kengo Kawanishi as Soshiro Hoshina.
- Oh Fairouz as Kikoru Shinomiya.
Kaiju No. 8 (Monster #8) began publishing in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ in July 2020 and the story takes place in Japan where monsters known as kaiju regularly attack the population with the Japanese Defense Force tasked with killing them.
After their town was destroyed by kaiju when they were children, childhood friends Kafka Hibino and Mina Ashiro vowed to become members of the Defense Force. Mina became famous as commander of the Third Defense Force Unit, but Kafka failed the exam several times and is a member of the cleanup team, Monster Sweeper Inc., whose job is to dispose of monster bodies after battle. After a small talking monster enters his body through his mouth, Kafka gains the ability to transform into a monster, which is nicknamed “Kaiju No. 8” by the Defense Force. Kafka remains fully conscious while in this form, but gains superhuman strength and becomes the first monster to escape the Defense Force.
The first volume of Kaiju No. 8 (Monster #8) was released on December 4, 2020.
