The highly anticipated second season of the popular anime series Kaiju No. 8 officially premiered on July 19, 2025, bringing new threats and challenges to the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force. Fans can now stream the debut episode, titled “Kaiju Weapon,” on Crunchyroll worldwide, with new episodes airing weekly on Saturdays. The season also made history by simulcasting on X (formerly Twitter) alongside its Japanese broadcast.
Premiere Details and Where to Watch
Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 launched with its first episode on July 19, 2025, at 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time, with a special live broadcast accompanying the Japanese premiere. The regular on-demand stream became available shortly after. Crunchyroll is the exclusive streaming platform for the second season in most regions, including North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, CIS, Indian Subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. For Japanese viewers, the anime is also airing on various TV stations like TV Tokyo and TV Osaka, and is available on streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. Netflix also announced the season’s arrival on its platform on July 19.
A special spin-off episode titled “Hoshina’s Day Off” preceded the season, premiering on July 5, 2025, and is also available on Crunchyroll.
Episode Count and Upcoming Schedule
Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 is confirmed to consist of 11 episodes, a slight reduction from the first season’s 12 episodes. The second episode is slated for release on July 26, 2025, at 7:00 AM Pacific/10:00 AM Eastern, with new episodes continuing weekly on Saturdays.
The season is expected to adapt several arcs from the original manga, including the Kaiju Weapon Arc, Compatible User Arc, Cataclysms Arc, and Second Wave Arc. The premiere episode “Kaiju Weapon” immediately dives into new narrative territory, showcasing a major Kaiju threat and introducing First Division Captain Gen Narumi.
New Characters and Returning Favorites
The second season’s premiere introduces Gen Narumi, voiced by Kōki Uchiyama, who is regarded as “Japan’s Strongest Anti-Kaiju Combatant” and takes on the captainship of the Defense Force’s First Division. His debut in Episode 1 garnered significant attention, with a new visual released to commemorate his role.
The main cast from the first season, including Nazeeh Tarsha as Kafka Hibino, Katelyn Barr as Mina Ashiro, and Adam McArthur as Reno Ichikawa, return for Season 2. Production I.G. continues to handle the animation, with Studio Khara contributing to creature designs, ensuring the series maintains its high visual quality. Shigeyuki Miya continues to direct, and Yuichiro Kido is responsible for series composition.
The opening theme song for the new season is “You Can’t Run From Yourself” by Aurora, while OneRepublic returns to perform the ending song, “Beautiful Colors.”
The Manga’s Journey and Future Prospects
Naoya Matsumoto’s original Kaiju No. 8 manga, which began serialization in July 2020 on Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ platform, recently concluded its run with Chapter 129. A total of 15 volumes have been published as of March. Viz Media publishes the English-language version of the manga.
The Kaiju No. 8 franchise is also expanding into video games, with Kaiju No. 8 THE GAME showing its first demo at Anime Expo 2025 and set to launch later in the year.
