Kaiju No. 8

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Kaiju No. 8
File:Kaiju No 8.jpg
Cover of the first tankōbon volume, featuring Kafka Hibino in his monster form.
怪獣8号
(Kaijū 8-gou)
Genre
Manga
Written by Naoya Matsumoto
Published by Shueisha
English publisher
Demographic Shōnen
Imprint Jump Comics+
Magazine Shōnen Jump+
Original run July 3, 2020 – present
Volumes 5 (List of volumes)
Portal icon Anime and Manga portal

Kaiju No. 8 (Japanese: 怪獣8号 Hepburn: Kaijū 8-gou?), also known in English as Monster #8, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoya Matsumoto. It has been serialized for free on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ application and website since July 2020, with its chapters collected in five tankōbon volumes as of December 2021. Viz Media has licensed the series for English release in North America.

Plot summary

In Japan, monsters known as kaiju regularly attack the populace 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 both vowed to become members of the Defense Force. Mina has become famous as commander of the Defense Force's Third Unit, but Kafka has failed the examination numerous times and is a member of the clean up crew, Monster Sweeper Inc., whose job it is to dispose of the monsters' dead bodies after battle. After a small talking monster flies into his body via his mouth, Kafka gains the ability to turn into a monster himself, which gets dubbed "Kaiju No. 8" by the Defense Force. Kafka remains fully cognizant while in the form, but gains superhuman strength, and becomes the first monster to escape the Defense Force.

Publication

Kaiju No. 8 is written and illustrated by Naoya Matsumoto. The series began on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ application and website on July 3, 2020.[2] In August 2020, Matsumoto and Kaiju No. 8 adopted a schedule where a new chapter is published every week for three weeks, followed by a one week break.[3] Shueisha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on December 4, 2020.[4] A promotional video, presented as a news program, was shown on the big screen of Yunika Vision at Seibu-Shinjuku Station from December 4–10, 2020.[5] As of December 3, 2021, five volumes have been released.[6]

The series is simultaneously published in English by Shueisha on their Manga Plus website and application as it is published in Japan, under the title Monster #8.[7] It is also simultaneously published in English by Viz Media under the title Kaiju No. 8.[8] In February 2021, Viz Media announced that they will publish the first volume of Kaiju No. 8 in fall 2021.[9]

Volume list

No. Japanese release date Japanese ISBN English release date English ISBN
1 December 4, 2020[4] ISBN 978-4-08-882525-0 December 7, 2021[10] ISBN 978-1-97-472598-4
  • Episode: 1–7
2 March 4, 2021[11] ISBN 978-4-08-882611-0 April 5, 2022 ISBN 978-1-97-472714-8
  • Episode: 8–17
3 June 4, 2021[12] ISBN 978-4-08-882671-4 — —
  • Episode: 18–26
4 September 3, 2021[13] ISBN 978-4-08-882815-2 — —
  • Episode: 27–35
5 December 3, 2021[6] ISBN 978-4-08-882872-5 — —
  • Episode: 36–43

Reception

Kaiju No. 8 was nominated for the 14th Manga Taishō in 2021 and placed 6th with 58 points.[14][15] Kaiju No. 8 won the 2021 Next Manga Award in the web category.[16] The School Library Journal listed the first volume of Kaiju No. 8 as one of the top 10 manga of 2021.[17] The series ranked 12th on the 2021 "Book of the Year" list by Da Vinci magazine.[18] It ranked 3rd on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2022 list of best manga for male readers.[19]

Popularity

According to Yūta Momiyama, the deputy editor-in-chief of Shōnen Jump+, Kaiju No. 8, along with Spy × Family, have been very popular and are doing especially well on the Manga Plus service.[7] In December 2020, it was reported that Kaiju No. 8 surpassed 30 million views, making it the fastest Shōnen Jump+ series to achieve this feat, and each new chapter published surpasses one million views.[20] In February 2021, the series reached 70 million views.[21] In April 2021, the series reached over 100 million views.[22]

Sales

The series' first volume sold 90,831 copies in its first week,[23] and 69,404 copies in its second week.[24] As of December 2020, the first volumes had over 430,000 copies in circulation (print and digital).[25] In January 2021, it was reported that the series the best-selling new manga of 2020, within only 28 days since the first volume was published.[26] As of March 2021, the manga had over 1 million copies printed physically and 200,000 copies sold digitally, making it the fastest Shōnen Jump+ series to reach 1 million copies in circulation,[27][21] and 20 days later reached 1.5 million copies in circulation.[28] By June 2021, the manga had 2.5 million copies in circulation,[29] and by middle of the month it reached 3 million copies.[30][31] As of September 2021, the manga had over 4 million copies in circulation.[32] As of December 2021, it had over 5.5 million copies in circulation.[33]

In France, the series sold 22,041 copies in its first week, making it the best selling debut of manga in France.[34]

Critical reception

In a positive review of the first five chapters, Antonio Mireles of The Fandom Post wrote that Kaiju No. 8 has an engaging premise and a "ton of engrossing aspects that it can play with."[35] Although metamorphosis is a plot device that is seen often, he felt that the character Kafka "adds new life" to the trope. However, Mireles said it was "such a shame" that the story moved on from Monster Sweeper Inc to the Defense Force, as the former could have been a source for captivating stories. He believes that Kafka Hibino and his name are meant to draw comparisons to Franz Kafka's story The Metamorphosis. Although referring to Kikoru Shinomiya as the "typical spoiled, prodigy girl," Mireles called her an exciting rival for Kafka. He strongly praised Matsumoto's kaiju designs and the art as "beautiful and grotesque but in a good way," but did not like how the monsters' intestines are self-censored by the author.[35] Grant Jones of Anime News Network praised the series, highlighting its premise, characters, art work and its comedy. Jones concluded: "Honestly, this one has a lot of promise and I'm eager to see what else is in store."[36]

References

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  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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