A new standalone visual has been released for the upcoming original episode of Kaiju No. 8 titled “Hoshina’s Day Off.” The OVA episode will be screened in Japan, along with a season one compilation, on March 28, 2025 within a limited 3-week, 32-theater release period.
The visual features Third Division vice-captain Soshiro Hoshina in the background, with Iharu Furuhashi and Reno Ichikawa riding on a bicycle in the foreground.
The compilation and original episode were first announced in August 2024. A second season of the series will premiere sometime in 2025.
The anime’s official English Twitter and website describes the “Hoshina’s Day Off” episode as:
A day off… a rare day of peace for the Defense Force. After spending so long training, Reno has forgotten what he’s supposed to do with free time. He sees that Hoshina is up to something with his own day off, and decides to go on a mission to tail him with Iharu! But then things go in an unexpected direction…
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 OVA, with Ichiro Okochi (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury, Code Geass) as series screenwriter, Yuichiro Kido (Dr. Stone New World) as scriptwriter, 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 Yuta Bando (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 the animation production company.
The anime’s first season was streamed weekly on Crunchyroll, X (formerly known as Twitter), and iQIYI outside of Japan in select territories. Crunchyroll streamed 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 was launched in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ online website on July 3, 2020. Fourteen tankobon volumes have been released as of November 2024. VIZ Media licensed the manga series for release in English.
The manga has also inspired spinoffs titles such as Kaiju No.8: B-Side and Kaiju No. 8 Relax. A four-chapter side-story light novel written by Keiji Ando was also released on November 4, 2022.
VIZ describes the main 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.
Source: Kaiju No 8 Official Anime Twitter, Official Anime Website
