The staff for the new anime short of Naoya Matsumoto’s Kaiju No. 8 manga presented its main visual on Saturday and announced its story, staff, returning lead cast member, and premiere this fall. Kizuku Watanabe, the creator of the Kaiju No. 8: Relax spinoff manga, conceived the story of the “Narumi’s Week at Work” (“Narumi no Heijitsu”) short.
Gen Narumi, the captain of the Defense Force’s First Division, is known as “Japan’s Strongest Anti-Kaiju Combatant.” Thanks to his overwhelming prowess (and resulting overwhelming jerky behavior), he goes AWOL on meetings, adroitly shirks office work, and plays online games in his R&R time — however, even he sometimes deals with unexpected counterattacks …? This is the story of the strongest man during his less-than-peaceful week at work.
The staff from the television anime is returning for this short, including director Shigeyuki Miya, character designer and chief animation director Tetsuya Nishio, musical composer Yūta Bandō, and the animation studio Production I.G. The other staff members include:
Hayato Aragaki, the 3D director of the second television anime and the Kaiju No. 8: Hoshina’s Day Off video anime, is returning in the same role for this new short. The television anime’s editing assistant Yuka Yamajō is serving as the short’s editor.
Kōki Uchiyama is once again voicing Gen Narumi.
The television anime’s cast is reuniting for a new “Defense Force Boot Camp in Tachikawa” event on October 24 at the Tachikawa Stage Garden in Tokyo.
Image via Kaiju No. 8 anime’s website
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The first season premiered on TV Tokyo in April 2024 and aired for 12 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the anime with English subtitles, and also streamed an English dub. The anime streamed on X (formerly Twitter) as well worldwide in real time as it aired on TV in Japan, at the exact time the anime aired.
Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment screened the compilation film of the first Kaiju No. 8 anime season, titled Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon, “in an event-style release” in theaters in the United States and Canada on April 13, 14, and 16, 2025. The screenings were available in both Japanese with English subtitles, and dubbed in English.
The television anime’s second season premiered on TV Tokyo and affiliated channels on July 19. The second season also streamed on X (formerly Twitter) worldwide in real time as it aired on TV in Japan. Crunchyroll streamed the new season.
Viz Media is releasing the manga in English digitally and physically. Shueisha also publishes the manga digitally on its MANGA Plus service under the title Monster #8, and it describes the story:
A man working a job far removed from his childhood dreams gets wrapped up in an unexpected situation…! Becoming a monster, he aims once again to fulfill his lifelong dream…!
Matsumoto launched the manga in July 2020 on Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ website. The manga ended on July 18.
Kaiju No. 8 the Game, the smartphone and PC game inspired by the franchise, launched for PC via Steam on October 1. The game launched for iOS and Android on August 31.
Sources: Kaiju No. 8 anime’s website, Comic Natalie
