Voice actors Tessho Genda and Mutsumi Tamura are joining the cast of the ongoing Kaiju No. 8 TV anime series, which first premiered in Japan on April 13, 2024.
Genda will voice the Director General of the kaiju Defense Force Isao Shinomiya, while Tamura will voice Third Division platoon leader Tae Nakanoshima. Both characters will appear in the anime’s fourth episode on May 4, 2024.
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.
The anime premiered in Japan on April 13, 2024 and is streaming weekly on Crunchyroll, X (formerly known as Twitter), and iQIYI. 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 series has been serialized in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ online website on 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 began serialization in Shonen Jump+ on January 5, 2024 and has been released in English by Shueisha and VIZ. It follows the side stories of multiple Defense Force members from the main series. Another spinoff called Kaiju No. 8 Relax will run 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 synopsis 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.
