Otaku USA Magazine
France’s National Library Has 147.5 Foot Kaiju No. 8 Mural

They really love manga and anime in France. Look no further than the country’s national library, Bibliothèque Nationale, which is located in Paris. Right now it has a humongous mural of Kaiju No. 8 by Naoya Matsumoto running along its side.

The mural is 45 meters tall, or about 147.5 feet. The idea for this came from Kazé, a French company that publishes manga and anime. The first volume of Kaiju No. 8 was released by them in France on October 6, and that’s the day the mural went up. The mural will last one more day, until October 15, at which point it will be taken down. But in the meantime, it’s probably done a good job of advertising the new release, which is what Kazé wants.

Kazé also shared this sped-up video of the mural being set up, so you can get an idea of the work that went into it.

https://twitter.com/KazeFrance/status/1446053885383221254

Kaiju No. 8 debuted in Japan during the summer of 2020, first being published digitally on Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+. A print version came out in December 2020. There are now more than 4 million copies of the manga out in circulation, breaking records for Shonen Jump+ because of the speed of sales.

VIZ Media publishes the English translation of Kaiju No. 8. They gave this description of the first volume:

“Kafka hopes to one day keep his pact with his childhood friend Mina to join the Japan Defense Force and fight by her side. But while she’s out neutralizing kaiju as Third Division captain, Kafka is stuck cleaning up the aftermath of her battles. When a sudden rule change makes Kafka eligible for the Defense Force, he decides to try out for the squad once more. There’s just one problem—he’s made the Defense Force’s neutralization list under the code name Kaiju No. 8.”

Source: ANN

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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.

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