'Kaiju No. 8' Will Stream Live Alongside Japanese Broadcast
Kaiju or giant monsters are a staple of Japanese culture. Although best known for their appearances in rubber-suited live-action movies they also feature regularly in anime and manga. Kaiju No. 8 is a new anime from the world-renowned studio Production I.G. set in a world menaced by monsters. The series arrives in the wake of the success of Godzilla Minus One, so audiences are primed for more Kaiju action.
Crunchyroll has announced that in a first for the streaming service, Kaiju No. 8 will be streamed live in over 200 territories at the exact same time it is broadcast in Japan. The series will debut on Saturday, April 13 at 7:00 AM PDT/ 10:00 AM EDT/ 14:00 PM GMT. New episodes will debut live at the same time every Saturday, and then will subsequently be available on Crunchyroll from 8:30 PDT. The stream will be available in Japanese with English, Latin American Spanish, Portuguese, German and French subtitles.
Additionally, Crunchyroll have announced that they are producing dubs in English, Latin American Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Castilian Spanish, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Normally dub fans have to wait weeks to see new shows in their preferred format, but these dubs will debut day-and-date with the show, from 8:30 PDT. Additional subtitle languages will also be available from that time.
The English dub is ADR directed by Shawn Gann and features Nazeeh Tarsha as Kafka Hibino / Kaiju No. 8, Katelyn Barr as Mina Ashiro and Adam McArthur as Reno Ichikawa. Suzie Nixon is ADR Producer, Jarrod Greene is ADR Script Writer, Nathanael Harrison is ADR Mixer and José Sandoval is ADR Engineer.
The anime is adapted from the original manga by Naoya Matsumoto. Animation production is by Production I.G. (Ghost In the Shell, Psycho Pass) with Kaiju artwork and design supervision from Studio Khara (Rebuild Of Evangelion, Shin Godzilla). The series is produced by Toho Animation.
The series is directed by Shigeyuki Miya (director and character designer of Onihei; director of The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior) and Tomomi Kamiya (Yotsuiro Biyori). The series composition and screenplay are written by Ichiro Okouchi (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury; story draft and series composition on Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion).
Chief Animation Direction and character design come from Tetsuya Nishio (Naruto; Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG); Kaiju designs are from Mahiro Maeda (concept art and designer on Mad Max: Fury Road; Godzilla Image Designer on Shin Godzilla; Director and Concept Art Director on Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time); art direction is by Shinji Kimura (Tekkonkinkreet; Blood Blockade Battlefront); cinematography is by Eiji Arai (Kuroko's Basketball; PSYCHO-PASS) editing is by Aya Hida (Attack on Titan; 2019’s Fruits Basket), and music is composed by Yuta Bandoh (Towako Omameda and Her Three Ex-husbands; BELLE).
The Japanese voice cast features Masaya Fukunishi as Kafka Hibino / Kaiju No. 8, Asami Seto as Mina Ashiro, Wataru Katoh as Reno Ichikawa, Fairouz Ai as Kikoru Shinomiya and Kengo Kawanishi as Soshiro Hoshina.
The series takes place in a world plagued by Kaiju, where Kafka Hibino aspired to join the Defence Force. He made a promise to enlist with his childhood friend Mina Ashiro, but fate had other plans. Later, employed cleaning up after Kaiju battles, Kafka meets Reno Ichikawa, whose determination to join the Defence Force reawakens his promise to join Mina and protect humanity.
The original Kaiju No 8 manga is available via the Shonen Jump+ Digital magazine, with an English version available from Viz Media and Manga Plus.
Crunchyroll subscribers can visit the Kaiju No. 8' show page to add it to their watchlist.
