Summary
- Kaiju No. 8 draws comparisons to Naruto due to shared inspiration from Kaiju, like Godzilla and Ultraman.
- Both series feature protagonists with transformative abilities, comedic elements, and overcoming adversity.
- Kaiju Shonen anime is not new but is gaining popularity, with Kaiju No. 8 leading the pack and poised for success.
When discovering the new hit anime adaptation of Naruto or its spin-offs. After all, at the start of their stories, Kafka Hibino, Kaiju's protagonist, is twenty years older than Naruto Uzumaki. However, the common trait Kaiju No. 8 shares with the modern Shonen classic is also one of its fundamental concepts.
Kaiju No. 8 is an action manga first released digitally on Shonen Jump+ in 2020. It immediately appeals to readers seeking action and giant monsters while subverting familiar tropes, such as in Godzilla or Ultraman.
It features a protagonist who feels like his dreams of fighting monsters in the Defense Force have come and gone, forced to live a life of mediocrity as part of the beast innards cleanup crew. With over 13 million copies sold in under four years, Kaiju No. 8 is an undeniable success, and its anime debut is already generating buzz and comparisons to Naruto, especially for one element: the sheer massive scale of the fights.
Kaiju no. 8 Officially Makes Crunchyroll History With Major First
Crunchyroll's most exciting anime, Kaiju no. 8 gets an exciting streaming announcement giving the series a one-of-a-kind, special premiere.
Kaiju No. 8 and Naruto Anime Share One Monstrous Trait
The Latest Crunchyroll Hit's Characters Resemble a Shonen Big Three Series
Kaiju No. 8 and Naruto each feature characters with a massive, deadly beast living inside them. For Kafka, it's a Kaiju; for Naruto, it's a Tailed Beast or "Biju." Each character undergoes physical transformations, with Kafka having greater control. Both are shunned or feared by the community in their transformed states, as revealed in both series' first chapters. However, the two protagonists can win over their peers and use their unorthodox abilities to chase their dreams. Each series has comedic elements, and both even feature the main characters' humble beginnings living in squalor.
However, the Kaiju subgenre trait shared by these two series is no accident. Both are inspired by Godzilla, with Kaiju No. 8 heavily inspired by Ultraman. In the case of Naruto, it's less overt. Still, the series creator Masashi Kishimoto has discussed how Godzilla and other Kaiju inspired the Tailed Beasts:
The entire story of these tailed beasts started out as a simple way for me to get the fox into my manga[...] I just wanted to draw a monster—something big that I could place in a battle. -Masashi Kishimoto
With Kaiju fiction rising, Godzilla Minus One generating record highs in box office revenue and nabbing Oscar gold, and Kaiju No. 8 hitting Crunchyroll and X, the world wants more. Naruto may have cleverly worked in some Kaiju action beneath the market-safe ninja hook for which it's famous, but the audience craves more of this genre.
Kaiju Shonen Anime is Not a New Concept, but It's Gaining Traction in the Industry
Kaiju No. 8 Carries the Torch for Previous Anime Hits Featuring Giant Monsters
Kaiju is a loaded term, meaning "strange beast," and is surprisingly malleable. Giant monsters, including Kaiju, are prevalent in recent manga, overtly like Snowball Earth and arguably like in Chainsaw Man. Series featuring looming terrors hungry for flesh or destruction have catapulted anime to mainstream status, including Attack on Titan, and continue to have a presence like Hell's Paradise and One Punch Man. Even Evangelion has Kaiju elements borrowed from Ultraman, but Kaiju No. 8 adopts them as its central appeal.
It's difficult to gauge how successful Kaiju No. 8 will be as an anime. It is charting well among MyAnimeList's seasonal shows, both in overall score and number of ing it in the hundreds of thousands. The episodes will show Kafka, Leno, and others vying for Defense Force hip, becoming a pivotal point like the Chunin Exams Arc in Naruto. But much like Boruto, Kaiju No. 8 should avoid hindering comparisons with its famous predecessors, and instead try to create its own identity as a hit shonen anime.
