出典 :　Amazon.co.jp

The first volume of the “Monster No. 8” comics, released on December 4, 2020, is proving to be a mega-hit!
So this time, we thoroughly examine how this manga became such a hot topic. This time, we’ll take an in-depth look at why this manga has become such a hot topic, and bring you a full report on the features, strange settings, and other elements that have led to its appeal!

The fastest 30 million views in the history of Jangpura! A human x monster battle with a huge response!

Monster No. 8,” which began serialization on Shonen Jump+ on July 3, 2020, suddenly became a trending topic on the day its first episode was released, and the next day it received a huge response, reaching one million views.

This may happen if it is the long-awaited new work of a popular author.
However, the creator of Monster No. 8, Mr. Naoya Matsumoto, has never had a hit in the past. (2009-2010) and “Pochi Kuro” (2014-2015), both of which were short-lived.
It is not a phenomenon caused by the name value of the author.

If that were the case, we might suspect that there was some special trick, or that the extremely pedantic content was accidentally received on the Internet, or some other jumping-off point factor, but that is not the case.
However, this is not the case. It was the high quality of the manga alone that caused this unusual situation.

Kaiju No. 8 is a story set in a world where monsters, the equivalent of natural disasters to humans, appear.
In this world, Japan has one of the highest rates of monster occurrence in the world, and there is a “Japan Defense Force” that directly defeats monsters, and a “monster specialty cleaning business” that handles the cleanup of defeated monsters, and has established expertise in defeating monsters.

The genre of the story is Kaiju action, but it also has elements of transforming heroes and dark fantasy.
The style of the story is generally serious, but there are also many comical depictions, as well as the hot-bloodedness and friendship that are typical of shonen manga, making it a work that targets a wide range of people.

It’s a work that targets a very wide range of people. It’s been a great success, and the number of fans has been increasing at a tremendous rate since the second episode, reaching 10 million views by the eighth episode.
In just five months since the start of the series, it has reached 30 million views.
This pace surpassed even the already mega-hit “SPY x FAMILY,” and it became Jangra’s signature work before the comics were even released.

The impact of the first episode was too strong! The fusion of the royal road and the changing ball

The main reason why Kaiju No. 8 has buzzed so much is because of the quality of the first episode.
However, this does not only refer to the quality of the content of the story.
The pictures, the setting, and all the other elements presented in the first episode are what made it a huge hit with so many readers.

Let’s start with the pictures.
Matsumoto-sensei’s previous two works were not works in which drawing ability was the main selling point, but rather manga in which ease of viewing and care were prominent.
However, in Kaiju No. 8, he shows a level of drawing ability that makes the reader gasp within the first three pages.

Particularly memorable is the page spread where the defeated giant monster lies in the city.
In a monster story, power and impact are more important than careful depiction, and the first episode has that perfectly in place.

The design of the monsters is also superb.
The catharsis of defeating the enemy is unparalleled, as the horror and unpleasantness of the creature, which is a threat to humanity at a glance, is well expressed.

The setting and story also attracted the attention and sympathy of many readers.

The main character, Kafuka Hibino, is a 32-year-old man who works for Monster Sweeper Corporation, a cleaning company specializing in monsters.
When he was a boy, he and his childhood friend Mina Ashirō, who is five years younger than him, vowed to “annihilate all monsters,” but due to lack of talent, they gave up on joining the Defense Force.
Inspired by Reno Ichikawa, a younger colleague who is more than a year older than Kafka, Kafka decides to give it one last chance and take the Defense Force exam. …… For some reason, a mysterious creature erodes his body from the inside and transforms him into a deformed monster. The story opens with a shocking development.

When I say “shocking development,” I mean that the main character’s transformation into a different form, the enemy of humanity, is in the same lineage as that of “Devilman,” which has been around for a long time.
The story of the hero who has experienced a setback and bets on a last chance is also a royal story.
The heroine is much stronger than the hero and is the strongest of the heroes, which is also a setting that can be seen in various works such as “Fate/stay night” and “Shingeki no Kyojin”.

On the other hand, the setting in which the hero is 32 years old and the heroine is 27 years old is quite unique in shonen manga.
In recent years, manga with male protagonists have become rather common, such as the comicalization of “Shosetsuka ni Narou,” but a heroine in her late 20s is quite rare.

The combination of these two elements makes the first episode of Kaiju No. 8 both “easy to understand” and “unexpected,” and “impact” and “stability,” which are essentially opposite elements.
Furthermore, the pictures are dynamic yet easy to read, as they have added “power” to the “politeness” that was originally Matsumoto’s appeal.
These factors have created a gap between the two, and have led to a wide range of works that have attracted many readers.