Kaijuu 8-gou

Grotesque, Godzilla-like monsters called "kaijuu" have been appearing around Japan for many years. To combat these beasts, an elite military unit known as the Defense Corps risks their lives daily to protect civilians. Once a creature is killed, "sweepers"—working under the Professional Kaijuu Cleaner Corporation—are left to dispose of its remains.

Kafka Hibino, a 32-year-old man, is unsatisfied with his job as a sweeper. From a young age, he has aspired to join the Defense Corps and kill kaijuus for a living. After a few failed attempts, however, he gave up on his dreams and resigned himself to the mediocrity that provided a decent paycheck. Nevertheless, when an ambitious, 18-year-old recruit named Reno Ichikawa joins his cleaning team, Kafka is once again reminded of his desire to join the military.

Following a chain of unfortunate events and an interaction with the junior sweeper, Kafka encounters a parasite-type kaijuu that forces its way in through his mouth—turning him into a humanoid monster. With his newfound powers, Kafka aims to give his lifelong dream a final try.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Kaijuu 8-gou was nominated for the 14th Manga Taisho Award and placed sixth in the final ranking in 2021. It ranked third in the 2022 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! for the Male Readers division.

The series was simulpub digitally in English as Monster #8 through MANGA Plus. The volumes have been published in English as Kaiju No. 8 by VIZ Media under the Shonen Jump imprint since December 7, 2021. It has also been released in Polish by Studio JG since October 29, 2021; and in Italian by Edizioni Star Comics since March 16, 2022.

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Hibino, Kafka

Main

Shinomiya, Kikoru

Main

Ichikawa, Reno

Main

Hoshina, Soushirou

Supporting

Ashiro, Mina

Supporting

Narumi, Gen

Supporting

Furuhashi, Iharu

Supporting

Okonogi, Konomi

Supporting

Kaijuu No. 9

Supporting

Shinomiya, Isao

Supporting

Reviews

Jul 18, 2025

defensordeboruto

Recommended

Now that the manga is over I can say with 100% certainty that this manga was very good! Even if the end was rushed, I think the author managed to close the main plot and all its ramifications, bringing hope to the future of the characters. I think the manga never even lost its essence, from beginning to end, and seeing Kafka recalling all the moments he spent during his adventure in these almost 130 chapters (I hope there is at least one extra chapter of epilogue in the release of the final volume so that it is exact 130 chapters) was very exciting. The ...

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Jul 19, 2025

sosmeos

Mixed Feelings

It has finally ended, an extremely hyped manga, with high demand for anime and the creation of a seemingly cash-grab gacha game, i haven't checked the stats on that but it did happen and I hope the people who played are getting their time's worth.
From the beginning, I felt this manga was special, a semi-dead ended protagonist, on the older side, with a possibility to contribute to society in the body of a kaiju, the very enemy of the series.... it's pretty good!!! If you require depth... or more wold building? I think the way the creator of the series found a solid output ...

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Aug 16, 2025

innahnet

Not Recommended

To keep this short, I suspect that Kaiju no.8 was meant to be longer. That could be pure speculation, but this now-completed story can easily be broken down into two parts: The Start & The End. It’s a fairly easy read all throughout and I finished it in under 24 hours because there’s not much here to sit with when all is said and done. I gained no new knowledge, I saw nothing new, I didn’t need to hold my breath at anything this manga threw at me.

What looked to be a promising power system on both the good and bad side was nothing more ... than the same-old, same-old. I’ll give it to the Numbers’ system. It was pretty damn cool, but then you can take notice of when the author threw in the towel so to speak, resulting in people having multiple numbers and other stuff that broke the rules. All while the Kaiju never deviated from the start. Sure, you have the one Shinomiya fought but for that, #10 and #9 to be the only sentient ones…? That’s a bit of a waste. This is more a generic monster manga, than “Kaiju” and what they intended to show. All the cool monsters are in the past and turned into numbers, so we’re left to guess how cool it would be if they were present in this story.

The Main Character is also pretty bland and cheesy. Dopey Older Guy with a heart of gold. That’s it. You think with all the sulking he did from not carrying out his dream, he would’ve been distorted in a way. He could’ve resented his childhood friend as an extension of his inability to accept his own failures in life, or something other than what we got. He’s just that lovable lug, always smiling and grinning, wanting to protect everyone!! And his powers respond to his emotional drive to protect his friend because what else would power him??? Skill??? A creative inversion of the already-established power-system from the perspective of a Human-Kaiju hybrid?? Nope! Let’s just waste the potential of pretty much the entire cast as we speed-run a shonen in sub-150 chapters. The title of the “Strongest”? Let’s just lend it to everyone when we need to, it’s no biggie!

Even though I say this, I don’t hate Kaiju no.8, I’m just disappointed. I really wanted to see cooler Kaiju, a more fleshed out and thought out depiction of the Numbers system, and better fights. Characters are set up to have the drive to get to their specific goal, but none of it feels like it’s deserved.

Another nitpick I have is that Leno was shown to be this cold, ruthless youngster but then got turned into your average sidekick. He still kept his cool factor, but it was watered down to feed him through this already rushed story. His earlier tenacity was seemingly rewritten to just be an unexplainable factor for why he could achieve the things he achieved and blindly supporting the MC all of a sudden. There could’ve been something interesting about the older guy chasing behind the younger recruits or teaching them a thing or two.

TLDR: Kaiju no.8 should’ve been longer. I almost wish it got cancelled some 5-10 chapters in and we might’ve been able to get a rendition of it with everything ironed-out and ready.

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Kaijuu 8-gou
Kaiju No. 8
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