Acrid digestive fluids and the copper-tinged stench of mangled flesh cling to every surface of the Kaiju Cleanup Corps' trucks. Kafka Hibino, 32 years old, sloshes through another crater, shoveling entrails while the Defense Force officers receive the applause. As a boy, he made a vow with Mina Ashiro beneath a burning sky: shoulder to shoulder, exterminate every last kaiju. Mina now commands the Third Division as its youngest captain ever, her powered suit gleaming on magazine covers. Kafka just scrubs the gore she leaves behind .

A rookie named Reno Ichikawa shows up on the disposal crew with a stubborn glint Kafka recognizes — the same fire he himself doused years ago. Reno shoves an enlistment form into his hands, the age limit has been raised, and for one reckless moment the old dream flickers back to life . Then the hospital room darkens. A winged grub smaller than a fist chirps "Found you" and forces its way down Kafka's throat . His bones crack, his skin shreds, and a humanoid monster with reactor-blue veins stands where the janitor had been — strong enough to pulp a rogue kaiju with a single fist. The Defense Force designates this mysterious entity Kaiju No. 8. Kafka now wears the same flesh he spent a decade carting to the incinerator. One slip in front of a sensor, one witness who fails to keep their mouth shut, and his reinstated dream detonates into a nationwide manhunt.

Also known as: Kaijuu 8-gou, 怪獣8号, Monster #8.