"Kaiju No. 8" comes to an end after five years of serialization

The manga " Kaiju No. 8 " by Naoya Matsumoto , which has also been adapted into an anime, reached its final chapter on Shueisha's manga app "Shonen Jump+" on July 18th, bringing the curtain down on its roughly five-year run. Author Matsumoto published a newly drawn illustration on his own account to express his gratitude, writing, "The final chapter of Kaiju No. 8 has been released on Jump+! There were a lot of things I wanted to include in the epilogue, and I couldn't fit it all in, but I packed in as much as I could in a natural flow, making for a final chapter with plenty of pages. Thank you so much for the past five years!"

To commemorate the end of the series, it was announced that a popularity poll for the episodes will be held. Voting will be accepted on a special website until August 31st. There will also be a giveaway campaign where the top-ranked episodes will be entered into a draw to win an acrylic board. All episodes will be made available for free for a limited time on "Shonen Jump+". The final 16th volume of the manga will be released on September 4th.

"Kaiju No. 8" began serialization in July 2020 in "Shonen Jump+". Set in Japan, a monster superpower where monsters mercilessly invade everyday life, the story follows the exploits of the protagonist, Kafka Hibino, whose body has been transformed into a monster by a mysterious creature. Immediately after the first chapter was published, it received over 3,200 comments in one day, such as "It's so exciting with such a furious development," and became a trending topic on Twitter (now X). With each new volume released, it set records for circulation and views at the fastest pace in the history of "Shonen Jump+". Each chapter recorded over 2 million views, making it one of "Shonen Jump+'s" flagship works.

In 2021, it was awarded the Grand Prize in the Web Manga category of the Next Manga Awards 2021. It is also distributed overseas through multiple services including MANGA Plus by SHUEISHA, and print versions are published in 35 countries and regions. The total number of copies of the comics in Japan, including the digital version, is over 18 million.

The first season of the anime began airing in April 2024, and was also a hot topic as it was streamed in real time around the world on X. The second season will begin airing on TV Tokyo and other networks every Saturday at 11pm from July 19th. Following the first season, it will be streamed in real time around the world on X.