New Kaiju No. 8 character visual causes major disappointment

Monday, March 20, 2023, saw the official Twitter account for the Kaiju No. 8 anime release a new character visual for the upcoming series. The visual in question features human-form Kafka Hibino, with the Twitter account posting a visual for Kafka’s Kaiju-form over this past weekend. Unfortunately, it seems that the former isn’t garnering any better reception than the latter.

The Kaiju No. 8 anime series was originally announced in December, 2023, via a livestream event from the Toho Animation YouTube channel. The series is set to be released sometime in 2024, with no more specific release window available as of this article’s writing, and will be animated by Production I.G.

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Kaiju No. 8 anime’s character visuals continue to disappoint with release of human-form Kafka Hibino

The Kaiju No. 8 Twitter account first posted the human-form Kafka Hibino visual on Monday, March 20, 2023, at 7 am Eastern Standard Time (EST). While fans were initially pleased with the overall look and feel of Kafka himself, as well as the general art style of the visual, a closer look revealed some less-than pleasing details.

For example, fans began zooming in on Kafka’s face in the key visual, which is substantially less animated and detailed than it is in the original manga series. This comes as a surprise since the author and illustrator of the original source material, Naoya Matsumoto, typically makes Kafka a much more expressive and detailed character than what’s seen in the key visual.

While one can argue that the key visual is meant to focus on Kafka’s outfit rather than the details of his face, it is a given that anything and everything in the key visual can and will be scrutinized by fans. As a result, those who had doubts about Production I.G.’s animation of the series before are seemingly having them confirmed, and those pleased with the choice are now questioning it.

The lack of expression and detail on Kafka’s face relative to his manga portrayal is primarily what fans seem to be upset about. While there isn’t much commentary on his Kaiju Defense Force outfit, the little that is present suggests that fans are fairly happy with this aspect of his design.

However, reactions from fans focused predominantly on Kafka’s face, with many responders begging Production I.G. to revise what appears to be a mistake. Although there’s still plenty of time to fix this problem and correct the overall animation approach, fans believe that this is certainly not the way to start a relationship with the audience, especially following criticism of the previous key visual as well.

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Follow along for more Kaiju No. 8 anime and manga news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.