Kaiju No. 8 is officially here. The much-anticipated anime series, based on Naoya Matsumoto's smash-hit manga, officially landed on streaming service Crunchyroll and Japanese TV on April 12.
Episode one sets up the show's central premise – a pair of childhood friends who join a task force dedicated to fighting the giant monsters (the titular kaiju) that keep attacking the city. Their plans are complicated when hapless millennial Hibino gets infected by a tiny kaiju that gives him the ability to transform into a giant creature.
In our review, we said: "Kaiju No. 8 has a good knack at catching the viewer by surprise in the way that the action unfolds – alarmingly unexpected just when you thought things were safe – which keeps things nice and pacey.
"We've only seen the first episode but if the quality of the show continues we're confident it'll be one of the hits of the spring season."
When is Kaiju No. 8 episode 7 coming out?
New episodes of Kaiju No. 8 stream live every Saturday at 3pm UK time on Crunchyroll, exactly the same time as it airs on Japanese TV.
Each episode will be made immediately available with subtitles in English, Latin American Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Russian, Castilian Spanish and Arabic. The show is available to watch on demand roughly half an hour later, at 3.30pm.
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Crunchyroll also produces same-day dubbed versions of each episode in English, Latin American Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Castilian Spanish, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. These versions release every Saturday at 6pm UK time.
Here is the show's current release schedule:
- Episode 1 - 'The Man Who Became a Kaiju' (April 13, 3pm UK time)
- Episode 2 - 'The Kaiju Who Defeats Kaiju' (April 20, 3pm UK time)
- Episode 3 - 'Revenge Match' (April 27, 3pm UK time)
- Episode 4 - 'Fortitude 9.8' (May 4, 3pm UK time)
- Episode 5 - 'Joining Up!' (May 11, 3pm UK time)
- Episode 6 - 'Sagamihara Neutralization Operation at Daybreak' (May 18, 3pm UK time)
- Episode 7 - Title TBC (May 25, 3pm UK time)
If you're interested in Kaiju No. 8 but don't yet have a Crunchyroll account you can read all about the service, including how to nab a 14-day free trial, here.
How many episodes will Kaiju No. 8 have?
Shortly after the Kaiju N0. 8 premiere aired we got confirmation that this first season would consist of 12 episodes.
The news came via a product listing for the show's Blu-Ray and DVD release, with the single cour episode count meaning Kaiju No. 8 will wrap up sometime in June.
It's not unusual to get information from a source like this, given the popularity of home entertainment releases in Japan to this day.
Kaiju No. 8 streams on Crunchyroll, with new episodes releasing weekly on Saturdays.
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Ali is Hearst UK's deputy social strategy director. He has been covering TV and movies for more than six years, all while wrangling Digital Spy's social media and video channels - for which he received a PPA 30 Under 30 award. He specializes in writing about anime, LGBTQ+ representation, science fiction, and comic book adaptations. Recently he's begun collecting Star Wars interviews like Infinity Stones and has spoken with The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal, Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy and the creative team behind The Bad Batch. Dave Filoni, you're next.
