Summary
Kaiju No. 8isone of the biggest and most exciting anime in 2024.The first season only has 12 episodes, but each and every single one of them has hair-raising moments that keep the viewers at the edge of their seats.
This series is packed with intense action sequences that pit the best soldiers that the human race has to offer against monsters that could destroy an entire building with a single punch. Not only that but the story and characters are also fascinating as well. Needless to say, the fans can’t get enough ofKaiju No. 8,which was why the second season was immediately announced as soon asthe last episode of the first season ended.Here are some of the great things that you can expect from the upcoming second season ofKaiju No. 8,according to the original manga series.
From Manga to Anime
BeforeKaiju No. 8became one of the most exciting anime of the year, this series started asone of the most exciting manga in Shounen Jump.The first chapter was published back in 2020 and it is still ongoing to this day, which means there’s a lot of content that hasn’t been adapted to the anime yet. So let’s look at how many chapters have been adapted for the first season of the anime, and how many more will be adapted for the second season.
Adapting the First Season
The first season ofKaiju No. 8anime adapted chapter 1 to chapter 39 of the original manga into a 12-episode anime. These bundles of chapters/episodes tell the storyfrom the moment Kafka Hibino became a monsteruntil the moment his peers acknowledged him as a human. The following story arcs made up the entirety of the first season ofKaiju No. 8:
Adapting the Second Season
Sincethe first season adapted around 40 chapters of the manga,we can safely assume that the second season ofKaiju No. 8will also adapt around the same number of chapters. This means the second season will likely adapt chapter 40 to around chapter 80 of the original manga into another helping of 12 episodes of anime. Similar to the first season, this means the second season will cover about three and a half or even four story arcs as well.
New Enemy and More Powerful Enemies
Things may appear to be calm down quite a bitat the end of the first season,but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, everything is actually about to be more chaotic, more dangerous, more destructive, and way more intense than the first season. The reason is simply because the colossal monsters will now move together under the command of an evil mastermind.
An Evil Mastermind
Not long after Kafka appeared as Kaiju No. 8, another humanoid Kaiju came into the scene as well,codenamed: Kaiju No. 9.He doesn’t make as much noise as the other Kaiju. Even Kafka as Kaiju No. 8 created more chaos than No. 9. And that is because he is the type that prefers to analyze the enemy and gathers as much data as possible before launching an attack. Not only to find out the enemy’s weakness but also because he is simply interested in humanity as a whole.
Other Kaiju that have appeared in the past have shown signs of intelligence, but none of them hold a candle to Kaiju No. 9. He confidently infiltrates human society and even lives and works among humans for quite some time until he is eventually ready to launch his carefully planned attack. And it’s not just a regular Kaiju attack. There will be a full-blown Kaiju invasion in Season 2 ofKaiju No. 8.
A Full-Blown Invasion
This part will delve a bit into spoiler territory. We won’t spoil any major plot points, but to let you know what to expect from this part of the story, some minor spoilers are inevitable. So if you wish to know as little as possible about season 2, feel free to skip this section.
There will be a full-blown invasion in the second season ofKaiju No. 8,orchestrated by none other than the elusive and cunning Kaiju No. 9. We all know how devastating a single Kaiju attack can be, both in terms of destruction and loss of lives. So imagine how much worse it would be if that kind of attack happened in different places simultaneously.
The upcoming invasion will consist of a lot of mindless smaller-sized Kaiju, along with severalpowerful Kaiju that deserve to get their own number.Needless to say, there will be an untold amount of death and destruction. This will be the biggest challenge for the Defense Force and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the fate of the world depends highly on the result of their battles.
The Good Guys Learn Something New
So the Kaijus will get stronger, crazier, and more organized in the second season. But that doesn’t meanthe people at the Defense Forcewill only sit idly in their office. Season 2 will present some much-needed power boost not only for the main characters, but also for some of the supporting characters as well, both in the form of learning new techniques, and acquiring new weapons.
Learning From New Teachers
The terrifying attacks that happened in the first season ofKaiju No. 8made the Defense Force realize that they needed to strengthen their soldiers so that they could better prepare for any upcoming Kaiju attacks.
For starters, now that everybody in the Defense Force has found out about Kafka’s secret identity, it goes without saying that they will do whatever they can to ensure Kafka, or ratherKaiju No. 8,can turn into a valuable asset in their effort to beat Kaiju and save humanity. As such, he will receive some training from a very surprising character to help him maximize his combat prowess when he fights as a Kaiju.
Not only the main characters, butsome of the supporting characterswill also undergo special training to boost their combat abilities. To avoid unnecessary spoilers, we won’t reveal the names of the characters or their teachers. Just know that they are unexpected characters who will be trained by unexpected teachers.
Using Some New Weapons
Kaiju No. 8may not need a weapon to beat up other Kaijus, but the same thing can’t be said for regular humans. And while theDefense Force has combat suitsthat can boost a human’s strength many times over, it’s only enough to deal with mindless mid-sized Kaiju. For colossal threats like Numbered Kaiju, however, a simple combat suit is not enough. That’s why the Defense Force developed special weapons called the Numbers Weapons.
As the name suggests, these weapons are made out of the corpse of a dead Numbered Kaiju. This weapon allows its users to harness the unique power of the dead Kaiju. Director General Isao Shinomiya’s iron gauntlet is one of these weapons. Unfortunately, only a handful of people have the physical and mental capability to handle these dangerous weapons. In Season 2, however, we will see at least three soldiers donning their Number Weapons for the first time. We won’t reveal the names of the characters, just know that these people will change the tide of the battle.
And there you have it. There are a lot of things to be excited about regardingKaiju No. 8upcoming new season. But the most exciting ones have to be the new weapons and the new combat techniques. The second season is scheduled to be released in 2025, butif you may’t wait to find out what happens next,don’t hesitate to read the manga and pick up where the first season left off, which is Volume 5, Chapter 39.
Kaiju No. 8is available to stream onCrunchyroll.
Kaiju No. 8
Production I.G’s Kaiju No. 8 is a Spring 2024 anime based on Naoya Matsumoto’s Shonen Jump+ manga. Set in an alternate version of Japan, the story follows the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force as they attempt to protect the nation from monster attacks.
