Kaiju Girl Caramelise


Kaiju Girl Caramelise is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Spica Aoki. The plot centers around a student named Kuroe Akaishi who suffers from a mysterious illness, and how it may impact her newfound love interest. Kaiju Girl Caramelise appeared as a serial in the monthly manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive starting in February 2018. Media Factory has published the chapters in nine bound volumes. American publishing company Yen Press licensed the series for an English-language translation in North America. Seven of these volumes have been released so far. The English-language translated series has received positive reception from critics who called it "enjoyable". An anime television series adaptation produced by Liden Films is set to premiere in 2026.

Plot

Kuroe Akaishi is described as "Psycho-tan" by her classmates and is an outcast at school. She suffers from a rare, incurable illness that causes deformations in her body at random times. She is surprised one day to find that Arata Minami, a popular guy in her class, starts to pay attention to her and questions the weird new feelings she has around him. It isn't long before her mother confesses to Kuroe that she is in fact a kaiju, which confirmed a realistic "dream" the prior night that involved her monster form rampaging through Tokyo. Kuroe struggles and is dismissive of the information, and worries that Arata will not accept her for what she is.

Characters

;Kuroe Akaishi
;Arata Minami
;Rinko Akaishi
;Koutarou Hibino
;Manatsu Tomosato
;Raimu "Rairi" Kouno

Media

Manga

Kaiju Girl Caramelise was first serialized in the monthly magazine Monthly Comic Alive on February 27, 2018, and later compiled into volumes. Spica Aoki had previous works serialized in magazines aimed towards girls, so she was worried when a male-targeted magazine picked up her series. Aoki thought she would have to make the series aimed more towards guys until her editors advised her that "this story really works best as " even though it was in a magazine. The first volume was published by Media Factory on June 23, 2018. Nine bound volumes have so far been published by the company.
Kaiju Girl Caramelise was also released in ebook format on Kadokawa's Comic Walker website. On November 18, 2018, North American publisher Yen Press announced at Anime NYC that they had licensed the series. The first English language volume was released on June 25, 2019.
VolumeJapanese release dateJapanese ISBNEnglish release dateEnglish ISBN
1June 23, 2018June 25, 2019
2January 23, 2019November 19, 2019
3August 23, 2019April 21, 2020
4March 23, 2020March 23, 2021
5March 23, 2021January 25, 2022
6January 21, 2022September 20, 2022
7March 23, 2023February 20, 2024
8September 21, 2024October 28, 2025
9December 23, 2025

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced on December 22, 2025. The series will be produced by Liden Films and directed by Teruyuki Omine, with Yuniko Ayana handling series composition, and Mitomi Nakayama designing the characters. It is set to premiere in 2026 on TBS and BS11.

Reception

The English-language adaptation of Kaiju Girl Caramelise has received positive ratings: Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network gave the first volume an overall "B+" rating, saying that the story works on "both metaphoric and literal levels". While Silverman also praised the "fun" art, she was critical of a few confusing pages and two of the characters. She called the volume overall an "enjoyable blend of adolescent metaphor". Sean Gaffney from "A Case Suitable for Treatment" called the first volume a "lot of fun", saying that the main character is intelligent and likeable. Gaffney goes on to say that he hoped the series would not go towards a "yuri" direction based on one of the character's actions, and that the series as a whole was fairly lighthearted, and "sweet in its own way". Brigid Alverson included the manga in a "Best of June 2019" grouping saying that the story is about a teen romance that "runs far, far off the rails". The first and second volume of Kaiju Girl Caramelise were also listed in the American Library Association's 2020 and 2021 lists of "Great Graphic Novels for Teens".