The monsters are coming back! Sound the alarms, lock yourself in a safe place, stay put, and get some snacks—just not for a little while. Kaiju No. 8 season 2 is coming, which was no surprise after the show’s first season was met with such a positive reception. So, what now?
Kaiju No. 8 is one of the more recent in a long line of shonen manga to be adapted into anime. The first season introduced us to Kafka Hibino, a 32-year-old who, despite having attempted to join the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force, had failed every attempt so far. While his former childhood friend Mina Ashiro was now the poster child for the Defense Force and one of its most powerful combatants, Kafka was left on monster clean-up duty. That is, until a run-in with a kaiju allows him to transform into one himself.
The finale of Kaiju No. 8 was on June 29, ending the climactic discovery and capture of Kafka Hibino. The season finale put to rest Kafka’s fate, for now, and he will live to fight another day. On the same day, it was announced that a second season was already in development and that we can safely release a collective sigh of releif knowing that this anime will push forward in a world where so many good anime languish in the lands of “on hiatus.”
What we know about season 2
Right now, we don’t know a lot about season 2. We can assume that the second season has been planned for a while as the announcement also came with a 15-second teaser that was released on the same day as the finale. The teaser, which was released by the official Kaiju No. 8 profile on X, showed a city on fire while alarms blare out, citizens are told to evacuate, and at the end, we hear a voice stating “First Division, move out. Let’s scatter them!”
This means that we will likely be focusing on the Defence Force’s First Division, allowing new and powerful characters to join the fray. We have already met one of them in the form of Gen Narumi, the First Division Captain who was present during Kaiju No. 8’s fight against Director Shinomiya. It is likely his voice we are hearing at the end of the teaser. The mention of “scatter them” means that they will be battling multiple kaiju, though this is nothing new as season one showed similar fights.
Who is returning?
Seeing as no one suffered any fatal wounds in the first season, it would appear likely that all the characters are returning on top of new ones being added. In this instance, we would also expect all the same voice actors to continue on with their roles.
Japanese voice cast and characters:
- Masaya Fukunishi – Kafka Hibino / Kaiju No. 8
- Asami Seto – Mina Ashiro
- Wataru Katoh – Reno Ichikawa
- Fairouz Ai – Kikoru Shinomiya
- Kengo Kawanishi – Soshiro Hoshina
- Yuki Shin – Iharu Furuhashi
- Keisuke Komoto – Haruichi Izumo
- Shunsuke Takeuchi – Aoi Kaguragi
- Sayaka Senbongi – Konomi Okonogi
- Tessho Genda – Isao Shinomiya
- Hiroyuki Yoshino – Kaiju No. 9
English voice cast and characters:
- Nazeeh Tarsha – Kafka Hibino / Kaiju No. 8
- Katelyn Barr – Mina Ashiro
- Adam McArthur – Reno Ichikawa
- Abigail Blythe – Kikoru Shinomiya
- Landon McDonald – Soshiro Hoshina
- Ben Stegmair – Iharu Furuhashi
- Howard Wang – Haruichi Izumo
- Jonah Scott – Aoi Kaguragi
- Celeste Perez – Konomi Okonogi
- Christopher Wehkamp – Isao Shinomiya
- Alejandro Saab – Kaiju No. 9
The new addition of Gen Narumi will be voiced by Koki Uchiyama, who has also voiced the villainous Tomura Shigaraki My Hero Academia and wordsmith Toge Inumaki from Jujutsu Kaisen.
How long will we have to wait?
Currently, we don’t know when season 2 will arrive. Sorry to disappoint. Given that the hype around the show is pretty strong, we would think that production will want to capitalize on it and get moving on a second season. We just hope they bring back the same high-quality animation and storytelling so we can revel in Kaiju No. 8 even more the next time round.
