The official website for the television anime of Naoya Matsumoto's Kaiju No. 8 manga announced three more cast members (from left to right in the image below) on Saturday:
- Yūko Kaida as Jura Igarashi, the captain of the Second Division
- Shunsuke Sakuya as Shūgo Ogata, the captain of the Fourth Division
- M.A.O as Tōko Kirinomori, the second-in-command of the Fourth Division
The second season premiered on TV Tokyo and affiliated channels on July 19. The second season is also streaming on X (formerly Twitter) worldwide in real time as it airs on TV in Japan, and Crunchyroll is streaming the season with both English subtitles and an English dub. Additionally, the original side story episode "Hoshina's Day Off" aired on Japanese TV on July 5 on TV Tokyo and affiliates at 11:00 p.m JST (10:00 a.m. EDT), and also streamed on X/Twitter worldwide in real time as it aired.
Kōki Uchiyama joined the cast as Gen Harumi in the second season. Other new cast members include Hiroki Yasumoto as Eiji Hasegawa and Kana Hanazawa as Rin Shinonome. Kotono Mitsuishi joins the anime's cast as Kikoru's late mother Hikaru Shinomiya.
Norwegian singer-songwriter (and longtime anime fan) Aurora performs the second season's opening theme song "You Can't Run From Yourself." American band OneRepublic, who also performed the first season's ending theme song, returns for the second season's ending theme song "Beautiful Colors."
Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon, the compilation film of the first Kaiju No. 8 anime season, opened in 32 theaters in Japan for three weeks only starting on March 28, and included the new original episode "Hoshina's Day Off."
The anime's first season premiered on TV Tokyo in April 2024 and aired for 12 episodes. Crunchyroll streamedthe 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.
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 ongoing manga in July 2020 on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ website. The manga endedin its next chapter on July 18.
Sources: Kaiju No. 8 anime's website, Comic Natalie