Reviews for Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru

Imagine working on your manga idea for four years and this is what you come up with. Android samurai hackers in space with epic gamer shut-in as a protagonist. No, this isn't a B movie idea, this is the basic plot of Samurai 8. From start, this manga feels like the reader is missing a chunk of information, like it's a sequel or a spin-off set in a world we should already be familiar with. The story is chaotic, confusing, all over the place and doesn't really bother explaining itself much. Which is quite ironic, considering 75% of the manga is infodumping. This isn't an overstatement. Awfulplot devices are used to set things in motion and the power system is not explained beyond "reality is whatever you believe it is, yo", leaving all of the fights without any tension, as it's obvious from the writing style since the start that the protagonist will just bullshit themselves into victory every time, no matter how weak they start. Well, that and the fact that they can regenerate from almost everything. He gets literally sliced up during a training sequence and pulls himself back together like no big deal. Because that is the way of samurai, duh.

The manga is full of pseudo-deep quotes whose only job is to sound cool, intellectual and make it look like it's some complicated, well-thought dialogue. It isn't. It is even remarked by the main character few times that the explanations are needlessly confusing, though I doubt it's a meta humor directed at the manga itself.

The characters are your basic uninteresting shounen cast, most of them not being flashed out at all and just kind of existing there. The protagonist it your typical "my kokoro and spirit will make things work" and of course it's quickly discovered that while weak at the start, they actually had fox demon... wait, no, a samurai soul inside of them the whole time that makes them incredibly powerful. It also includes my pet peeve which is including a blind characters only for them to act like they have normal vision most of the time while the manga reminds you they are blind from time to time. Is there any reason for them to be blind at all beyond "look how amazingly they can find even though they are blind, so cool!"? No.

The romance of the main characters (if it even can be called such) is laughable and arranged marriage-tier. While their relationship might be explained by destiny, it is actually disguise for author's inability to write a believable romance. They just kinda like each other because uuh reasons.

The art is hard to read, especially in the first half of the manga. It's often hard to tell who's where and what is going on in the action scenes. Overall it looks like a spin-offish Naruto fancomic (I've actually tested this by sending pages of this to people who haven't read Samurai 8 and they thought it's either Naruto or Boruto). I have no idea why Kishimoto chose to just write the plot and leave all of the art to his assistant that never made his own manga before. At least hire someone competent if you can't be bothered to draw your own art. The space setting is wasted and it would make no difference if all of this happened on the same planet. Actually, it feels exactly like that - there is very little originality and variety.

But to say at least something positive, I expected the final chapter to be much worse, since the manga got axed. Yes, it was still unbelievable asspull bullshit, but taking the publishing situation into account, it was an okay way how to end this manga, albeit very rushed. But I feel we would get very similar finale even if Samurai 8 would go on for few hundred chapters more, so at least we don't have to waste more time on this series.

With Kishimoto's second manga serialization being an absolute trainwreck and his one-shots being not really great, I'm almost convinced that the success of Naruto was just a lucky fluke. I also believe that anyone who claims that this manga is "actually good" and "they kinda liked it" just refuses to believe that Kishimoto could have written something this bad.

Review from chapter 1 to 14: Kishimoto strikes back! And this time he want to outclass even his previous success, Naruto. Can Kishi-sensei succeed? Right now he has all the cards to do it! Story --- (10) At the beginning the lore is simple: saving the whole Galaxy from a mysterious threat that will destroy everything. The key to save the Galaxy is finding out the Pandora's Box, who needs 7 Special Keys in order to open it. As you can notice by reading it the story it takes many elements from the Japanese and Buddhist folklore and mythology (something that Kishimoto loves to do since), mixing themperfectly in a fantasy sci-fi story.

I won't post spoilers...lemme just say that the series did well in terms of not explaining too much at the start and then spreading it out when the time was right. The result is an amazing chapter, the most important one (chapter 14).

With the hype of an intriguing and amazing story...and with some very sad and astonishing moments...the story takes a 10!

Art --- (9)

I won't lie. At the beginning the art was a bit hard to understand...not much hard tbh. However Okubo (right hand of Kishimoto for more than 6 years, since the Naruto era) improved A LOT from chapter 6 and above. In fact you will recognise the same Naruto's art in many panels, especially in the attacks/destruction panels...that are VERY outstanding! Vote - 9

Characters --- (10)

Hachimaru, the main character, is not the classic shonen hero...he's realistic. At the beginning he acts like a normal kid once he find out to have "superpowers". However he will get one of the most amazing character-improving I've ever seen in a shonen. Also thanks to one of the most sad moments ever appeared in a shonen.

Hachimaru's dad is a real hero, with a extremely important role.

Several other characters, Master Daruma included, are interesting, cool and OP! With many secrets that we're going to discover in the future.

...Let alone that Samurai 8 has one of the most badass villain (Ata) I've seen in years. The best part is ...this villain is the first of the series and he'll play a huge and important part in the future.

Let alone that several chars are based on the Japanese and Buddhist folklore! Vote - 10

Enjoyment --- (10)

I won't say much here 'cause of spoilers...but trust me when I say that Kishimoto and Okubo have created a future masterpiece! Many secrets, cool chars, OP situatios, incredible powers, Wisdom Kings, space journey etc. etc. Vote --- (10)

OVERALL --- (10) Samurai 8 has all the right cards to become a future masterpiece!

Sci-Fi Samurai Before “Samurai 8” was even published, it was pretty hyped up. Not only the new series is presented as the Kishimoto san’s new work, but also being dedicated with a trailer of its own. Thus, this brings to the most important question, is or will “Samurai 8” be as good if not better than “Naruto”? For now, only until chapter 5, this question “does not have an answer” for a single important reason. If one manga tries to build or pull off a universe of its own, it “requires time” for it to develop. “Samurai 8” might seem confusing and fast-paced at the moment; however, it isalright though since this work’s predecessor did that exact same thing. “Naruto” speeded through its first chapter and still became a great manga.

Yet with that being said, there are evidence and reasons that make “Samurai 8” seem hella bright and promising so far.

!!MINOR SPOILER!! ▬▬ι═══════>

1. Within these four chapters, “Samurai 8” creates some elements such as mysteries and tensions that gives a great start for the story.

2. The art has the shadow of “Naruto” even though this new series is drawn by Ookubo san. Do not underestimate him! Since Ookubo san assists Kishimoto san in a huge amount of the storyboards from “Naruto”, his level of illustration is absolutely unquestionable. Judging from the depiction of the samurai that fought against Hachimaru, the male MC, he has the facial features that seem like the combination of the Second Hokage and Naruto~ Moreover, Ookubo san’s ability in creating the background is undeniable. You can check it out by yourself when you flip to chapter 2 pg 12 when Hacimaru is seating on his pet.

3. For character setup, it also has the shadow of "Naruto" as well. Hachimaru has the potential like that of Naruto and Daruma, a robotic cat, seems to take on a role like that of Jiraiya or Kakashi~

4. Personal Opinion: If Shounen Jump wants "Samurai 8", new series & new hope, to lift the pressure off from “One Piece” and the “Naruto” fans want it to be another great work, I believe that Kishimoto san, Ookubo san, and their manga production team will pour all their effort into delivering the best 20 pages (weekly) for their readers.

I am currently enjoying “Samurai 8”. But since it is still relatively new. I will give it a solid "Hachi" overall and “keep reading” to see how it grows! (ノ・∀・)ノ

Story: 6 (developing)

Art: 9.5 (might be confusing sometimes -0.5)

Character: 6 (developing)

Enjoyment: 10

Overall: Hachi

REVIEW: from chapter 1 up to chapter 14 (NO SPOILERS) Story: 10 Interesting, amazing, heartbreaking, many elements are from the Japanese and Buddhist story and legends. Art: 8 A bit confusing background at the beginning, but it has hugely improved after the first 4-5 chapters and this problem is gone. You will notice the same Kishi art style...but in the last 5 chapters it has become even better! In the close future it will be even better, I'm sure about that.Characters: 9

Not many so far, but they are perfectly done. Strong, mysterious, interesting and very cool.

Enjoyment: 10

Definitely the best new manga experience of the year. Samurai 8 becomes better and better after every chapter.

Overall: 10

I see a lot of people eagerly wrote off the series by the first few chapters. But now that we are 13 chapters in, I can confidently say that the series has grown a lot. Story - The story was great from the beginning. Especially the lore and workings of this series, the world building, etc has been good and it has only become better since then. Art - The art in the beginning was rough and was hard to understand. But it has immensely improved since then and the art has become a lot better. The colour panels especially looks hella impressive. Characters - The characterswere seen as boring and bland in the beginning and a lot of people judged everything off of the first few chapters. But the characters have got a lot more development now and I am emotionally invested in them. A lot more intrigue has also been built on other characters but Hachimaru has grown the most as a character.

Enjoyment - I am really enjoying Samurai 8. I wasn't this invested in the beginning but I kept reading it because I knew that Kishi will come through. And honestly, I am glad I kept reading it cause now, the series is way more better than it was in the beginning.

Overall I would say, everyone should give this series a chance till chapter 13. You will find yourself enjoying the series and it's themes. You won't regret it.

Sometimes I wonder to myself why I haven't already dropped Samurai 8. So far, it fails to grab my attention. There are two reasons for this, its uninteresting narrative and confusing aesthetics. These two sometimes go hand in hand together making every read a Herculean task. The first problem lies in the fact that Samurai 8 is essentially another bland battle shonen in terms of narrative. It lacks early Naruto's heart and ambition. Normally, I have great patience when it comes to such kinds of manga. Even with Black Clover's clumsy start, it managed to carve a niche and refined its narrative. For Samurai 8,it's still an unknown but I trust Kishimoto on this.

Unfortunately, its aesthetic problems are far more sinister than its narrative troubles that it might be a deal breaker for this manga. I wish that Masashi Kishimoto was the one drawing this instead of Akira Ookubo. I was only able to follow other "generic" battle shonen because their art is as straightforward as their narrative. But for Samurai 8, it's potential for worldbuilding is pretty much stunted by the convoluted art. Reading Samurai 8 is not only a bore but its takes more effort to read than your average manga. There is no depth and shadows. It's hard to distinguish between character and background. It looks like a coloring book instead of a manga.

Unless there is a dramatic shift in the art, Samurai 8 might just be a missed opportunity for a compelling manga.

Samurai 8 is one of those series that keeps growing in you chapter after chapter...thanks to the legendary skills of Kishimoto Masashi and the very detailed art-style of Akira Okubo. Story - until Chapter 15 The story of Samurai 8 could be simple from a fast point of view, however...chapter after chapter, it becomes deeper and way more interesting than the previous chapter. This also thanks to the addition of famous things and characters from several myths and legends of out world. This manga will stimulate your curiosity about the myths behind certain characters, Samurai Schools, objects and so on... I won't spoil you anything ;) Overallan amazing story, with incredible and emotional moments...and it keeps getting better and better after every chapter.

Art - until Chapter 15

In the first 4-5 chapters the art was a bit confusing, even if the level of details of the background was always very good.

But in the chapter 6+ this problem is completely disappeared and everything is perfectly made, without losing the quality of the details.

After all we're talking about Akira Okubo, assistant hired by Kishimoto and worked with him on the Naruto series for nine years, beginning around volume 16. You'll recognize the same amazing art of Naruto in several panels.

Characters - until Chapter 15

The MC is original and realistic, not the same Shonen MC...and after a certain chapter his evolution as a character will be breathaking.

His master is funny, strong and intriguing and the secondary characters are perfectly made with unique personalities that you won't find in other Shonen.

The first real villain is incredible! No spoilers...but rest assured he's amazing!

But a special standing ovation goes to Hachimaru's dad...for many important and emotional factors.

Enjoyment - unitil chapter 15

Absolutely entertaining!

OVERALL --- 9 GREAT

But t

REVIEW: chapter 1 to 18 --- STORY: The first 4-5 chapters of Samurai 8 starts a bit slow, the hype and the outstanding situations got better and better after every chapter. Kishimoto did a great move by giving us many infos during the first 5 chapters, and then giving us important answers during later chapters. Now the story is definitely interesting. VOTE - 8ART:

Same. The first 4-5 chapters the art was a bit confusing (not that much, do not listen those guys who says they can't even read it. This just means they are f*cking blind), after those chapter teh art improves A LOT! The level of Okubo's art reached epicness, especially when he draws astonishing attacks! Sometimes the art is really breathaking, i have to say that...

VOTE - 8

CHARACTERS:

As expected by Kishimoto he created beautiful, interesting and original characters. Everyone with their differences and secrets. Hachimaru's father is one of the best...and a huge emotional boost for the MC (Hachimaru).

The secondary characters, especially the new additions, are funny and cool at the same time. You'll recognize Kishimotos' hands!

The first main villain is extremely OP and interesting! Remember Madara? He was nothing!

VOTE - 10

ENJOYMENT:

Besides the first 4 chapter, a bit slow but still nice, Samurai 8 is a great and amazing manga! It deserves to be read till the latest chapter! DO NOT just read the first 4-5 if you don't want to miss epicness and a lot of revelations!

OVERALL - 9

This manga was the greatest disappointment in recent memory. The hype and push it got pre-release was more then possibly any manga ever, only for it to drop with not even a whimper. Story: 4/10 You may be confused to see two common complaints about the setting. It has too much exposition, and that it doesn't have enough exposition and is confusing. The reason both of these complaints can coexist is simple, the setting was explained horribly. When we needed exposition we got none, leaving the reader not knowing what was happening, and when we got exposition it was given in the most convoluted and uninteresting way. Theconcept the series has of sci if and fantasy mixed had great potential, but it was totally squandered. It also really kills suspense when the power levels start at planet buster and the characters can regenerate perfectly from every attack.

Art: 3/10

The art of this series is probably the worst in recent memory. Though many manga come out with objectively weak art like One Punch Man (Web) and sometimes Hunter x Hunter, they always manage to be able to make sense and not be annoying to look at.

Samurai 8 does not, the manga lacks line density and shading meaning everything looks white, like its a marshmallow world. There is no grit or depth to anything. The first few chapters have partical effects everywhere which just makes the page overloaded and is actually annoying to look at. The backgrounds are very detailed, but it just makes the pages feel full and overwhelming. The artist seems to have caught this problem, and started doing better after the initial first volume of chapters. But it's still not solved entirely and I have to wonder how the artist, writer, editor, or board of editors at jump didn't notice such a glaring issue. The character designs are very simple and flat. I'd be surprised if this artist could draw realistic humans, his proportions of characters seems off and overly skinny and moe blob like.

At the same time Kishimoto does the paneling and story, and carries over all the issues Naruto's paneling had in its final years. Very static panels, not a lot of big ones, showing characters at more of a distance, and not showing scenes it assumes the audience can predict. It feels like it's missing a page sometimes. These techniques exacerbates the flaws the art has.

This isn't a mecha series, but there is something similar to that in the animal guardians who become suits to characters. Their designs are amazingly weak, over complicated, and unmemorable. (And also totally white)

Character: 5/10

This manga basically solidifies the most stereotypical shounen character tropes into the setting. There is the main character, his master, a supporting female he protects, and later a villian he wants revenge on. The only thing it's missing is a classic rival character, something like that has been introduced, but it's so boring and has little development I'll give the manga benefit of the doubt it's a side character and not their serious attempt at a rival.

This simplicity would be fine for a classic style shounen battle manga, the problem is these characters are incredibly boring and weak in comparison to how these roles are filled by countless other shounen before it. Including many running in the same magazine simultaneously.

Without spoilers, a major death happens early in this series, but compared to how that same style of plot point played out in countless other shounen series including Naruto (multiple times), the emotion and impact just isn't there.

The comedy in this series is truly god awful. Lots of people complain about the comedy in later parts of Naruto, I personally had no problem with it. But somehow this is far worse, and really really forced. Kishimoto's classic sad back stories are back, but he tries to rush through them in less then a chapter. Compared to the more famous tragic back stories in early Naruto, or even in other shounen, the ones here are weak.

Enjoyment: 3/10

This manga is the definition of wasted opportunity. The artist clearly puts a huge amount of effort into all the detail, and the writer a lot of effort into the world and setting. But it's managed so poorly it just hurts the series.

In years to come people will forget how hyped this manga was, but it was truly something. It's pre-release trailer got a million views, people had been speculating about Kishimoto's next work ever since he said he had a great sci fi idea. The series launched with multiple color pages in a row, and huge ads on newspapers and in stations in Japan, and thousands of ad slips in other manga volumes.

It's low reception was so baffling to people it brought back the old speculation late naruto haters had that the real reason naruto was a success was because of Kishimoto's first editor.

Overall 3/10 , wouldn't be surprised if it's axed or moved to some lesser magazine to quickly finish its run and sad existence. Would NOT recommend.

UPDATE: Samurai 8 has been cancelled. Because the ending is rushed I have lowered the score to 2/10. I hope Okubo and Kishimoto can come back from this, either working together or separate. If not, I wish them the best in their future.

Samurai 8 is the new manga by the author of Naruto. It has some similar feelings and writing style, but also manages to be unique. Story (8) We are already getting a ton of worldbuilding and lore. The story needs some time to set up, which it seems to be doing now. Art (8) A unique artstyle that is good to look at, although the characters sometimes blend into the backgrounds, and sometimes the action scenes can be hard to decipher. Character (8) Some characters are great, others are just OK.Enjoyment (8)

It can be exciting or emotional, but it can also be a little boring. Still enjoyable.

Samurai 8 has a ton of potential, and it will probably be an interesting story.

8/10

Normally, a review of a manga should discuss elements of a work, but most of that has been said by other reviews already. Samurai 8 is mediocre, with weak character designs, motivations that aren't fully explored, and is artistically disconnected from what the writing is trying to achieve. You can feel that Okubo doesn't understand the story on the level Kishimoto did, and there is something missing from the way Kishimoto envisioned the work. Not all that different from the progression in the later volumes of Naruto where Kishimoto takes a back seat to Okubo. You gotta wonder if all the Zetsu art, Sai, etcwere Okubo's doing, and it's confirmed he drew the reincarnated Zabuza and Haku. Many of Naruto's later designs begin to fall flat for the exact same reason Samurai 8's art, while an interesting variation of Katsuhiro Otomo's art, simply doesn't line up with the vision of the story.

To make it clear, I'm the person this manga is for, Kishimoto wrote this for me. That's not an ego statement, that's to outline the fact I'm the specific audience Kishimoto wanted to read this manga. Kishimoto wrote this for Ghost in the Shell/Akira/Cyberpunk fanboys who rate Naruto 10/10, and are aging up into a "daddy phase" of life and starting to think about children. That's who this manga is for, but it serialized in weekly shonen jump, competing with Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen. At no point do either of those manga attempt to play a Father-Son relationship as the core dynamic in the manga. Teenagers don't relate to how parents feel. While this element is complex and understated in Naruto, with Jiraiya being a grandfather figure to Naruto, it is never directly addressed in the way Samurai 8 does those same relationships. The same is true for the romantic relationship between Hachimaru and Ann. Until the very end of Naruto (which everyone complains about and thinks he failed at) romance is never directly dealt with in a way that says "YOU ARE MARRYING THIS PERSON" Samurai 8's entire premise is "a princess bound to their samurai" and while it's stated not all princess marry/date their samurai, it's fairly clear in Hachimaru and Ann's case that was the destined result. Except he's also kind of her brother cause demon slayer or something? Stuff like that makes me think there is heavy editor influence from jump expecting "the formula", and meeting the minimums of what a modern shonen has to have in their eyes.

Sometimes a manga exists for the wrong reasons. Samurai 8 exists because Shonen Jump wanted a Cyberpunk/Sci-Fi story, and that's the simple reality. In an interview with the editor of Samurai 8, Hikaru Taguchi even says as much and implies that Jump approached Kishimoto knowing he was the only author at Jump they could trust to write cyberpunk. The issue with this is that while I personally love Kishimoto, and view Naruto as my favorite work alongside Ghost in the Shell, a cyberpunk work, Kishimoto is not a cyberpunk writer. Yes, he pulled his work from cyberpunk heavily, and arguably Naruto is the beginning of Ninja-punk, true cyberpunk works are infodump thick, seinen level explorations of human life, not a shonen series. Kishimoto is a cyberpunk writer in the same way Masamune Shirow would write an abysmal shonen. This mixed style is ultimately the reason this manga falls flat. You can't attempt to "blow a readers mind" philosophically while also following a traditional shonen format (under the limitations of Jump editors). To make it patently clear, Naruto is the guy who shouts DATTEBAYO at his enemies, which has absolutely no meaning and is just an audible shout to imply his emotions. While in Samurai 8 Hachimaru info dumps you with his motivations. To make the point even more clear, the LARGEST CRITICISM AGAINST NARUTO is "talk no jutsu" and Kishimoto has continually leaned on the Akira style info-dump even though that's not what he's best at writing. That would be fine if Kishimoto was writing a cyberpunk, but he is writing a shonen, and cyberpunk is as much it's own genre as shonen, shojo, or seinen. It has it's own tropes and world building style that don't necessarily mesh well with what shonen jump expects, and it's the root of the problem in this manga.

If I wasn't the audience for this manga, I'm sure my score would be even lower.

As an aside, I also want to specifically bring up the manga that replaced Samurai 8 in serialization. Undead Unluck. Currently I am 6 volumes deep on Undead Unluck, which is as much as Samurai 8 ever had, and I can say it is essentially Samurai 8 without the cyberpunk info dumps. Not only does Andy mirror Hachimaru (samurai, cuts off his body parts/regens them as his fighting style, Fuuko is Andy's princess) but even the world building towards a universal God confrontation between a "group" of chosen ones. This is not a coincidence, and I question how much was intentionally the same. I'll save the discussion of how Jump chooses a variety of genres/styles and never wants to overlap manga to simply say this manga was greenlit for all the wrong reasons. Without Kishimoto's name attached, any other sci-fi work could have taken it's place. Nothing particularly stands out, even for those this manga was intended for philosophically.

This manga is more than excellent I liked it from the first chapter and I see that it will become the best manga in the world soon and I hope everyone who has a negative evaluation on the first chapters of the manga to come back and evaluate it as it deserves the story 9 the art 8 Designs and characters 10 characters 10 ata 1000000 The world 100000000000000 Total 10I am excited about what is coming and I hope the manga will be bloody and for adults more than focusing on the classification of teenagers

Also the planets and galaxy are scalable and make the manga very long not only 10 volumes as the writer Kishimoto said I wish to reach more than 1000 chapters

Review from Episode 1 - 17 Story: 8 Why 8? Because, the premise of SCI FI Samurai with a lot of Japanese legends is, itself, very good and very fresh, nevertheless my problem is with the form that the story is being told: too fast. A story as complicated as this one, with an giant new universe , should be told slowly and in lot of episodes BUT this one is rushing into the cool stuff and the mechanics are introduced quickly and is difficult to undersand. Art 9 Is epic and with a lot of details. Way better than Boruto, tho.Character: 7

Is a good character yet very common. Plus, the personality switch of the protagonist in the first episode is very contrasting.

Overall is a promising story, looking forward to see more.

- Agus Tidona, Argentina

A stunning example of writing failure (so much more surprising because Naruto nailed the initial emotional turmoil), an unusual case of masterful tech designs being a detriment to enjoyment of reading, Samurai 8 Hachimaru Den is seriously stunted. Samurai 8, most likely, was supposed to be a lighter, more upbeat story, separating itself from Narutoverse by going into a techy spacefaring future and swapping ninjas for samurai. A space fantasy with magic-like consistently designed technology, with interstellar travel, mysticism and cyber superhuman warriors … A more contemporary hero, initially frail and disabled, gaining powers through his parent’s sacrifice and gaming… What could go wrong? Turns out almosteverything. Even the art is problematic. For starters, it’s unreadable because of the lack of shading, and shading had to be omitted to make way for the wealth of tech details. The situation becomes better in later chapters, but page layouts still look like a mess. It boggles the mind, considering the amount of effort put into visuals here. The samurai designs were carefully bred to become viral, to ensnare little boys, they have it all – variable, complex, dynamic, yet recognizable, sporting that linework oomph with a tiny pang of cool nasty. They travel on turtle spaceship. They have support animal cyborgs. They can fight in space. The level of pandering is on par with MMOs. Yet in the end it all drowns in visual debris. Consequently, with the plot failing to take off, the richness of visuals becomes an annoying dissonance.

These types of overcomplicated settings often fail, and Samurai 8 addresses none of the typical major issues. The old Japan and a biotechy sci-fi have different audiences, which may not intersect much. Advanced technology mimicking pre-industrial world structures and practices needs a very strong suspension of disbelief. And info dumps are unreal. Just like the art, the text of this manga is more often than not rendered unreadable by the amount of terms, titles and names. I love delayed exposition with passion, but it should never take up to 80% of text, which happens in Samurai 8. And then the remaining 20% of narrative are mostly pow-pew-friendship rules-woosh.

The characters are rubbish. I try to see the best even in standard stories, it’s very possible to do them right, but high energy doesn’t hide the vapid emptiness of the cast here. I couldn’t connect to anyone, and the speed and inelegance of introductions are painful. The main group is supposed to be a band of misfits – a formerly sheltered orphan, a cutely uncute freckled girl, a gender ambiguous weird kid – but they are not truly human-like or sympathetic. The protagonist, initially physically disadvantaged, immediately gets the whole adventure-ready package – a body that can do it all with a guarantee, an old legendary weapon, a famous mentor (somehow now literally a cool cat), a robot buddy (both feline and canine), a homely fate-bound girl, institutional support and recognition, and an unfolding galaxy saving quest to take on. He’s lost some things, but he’s reached his dream of being a samurai, the best social class and immortality right from the start, so he’s happy. He’s also a gaming champion, because of course, and that’s how he’s learned all about samurai and how to fight as one. The rest of the kids just tag along, somehow captivated by a former social recluse. It’s boring, he’s boring. Naruto was much more alive and balanced.

If you stop and think even for a moment the whole setting is very disturbing. The samurai are enshrined as manifestations of a warrior god, they give up their bodies in a ritual suicide to gain immortal vessels and then only seem human. The naturally following moral dilemmas and the highly probable body dysmorphia are not addressed in the manga at all, as far as I saw. Everything else in their world revolves around the samurai. They are neither “natural” superheroes, nor a separate society of jianghu, everyone wants to be a samurai, they are a major asset for a nation. I find a militaristic religion revering inhuman war machines and a society focused on producing them off-putting. Girls are driven to the role of princesses, who sort of give birth to samurai, are bound to a predetermined samurai by “fate”, give them power. There’re some female samurai in the lore, but 99% of them in the main story are male, even though it makes no good sense considering they are cyborgs. Seems like this technologically developed future digs ancient times not only in aesthetic. But it’s hard to speak about nuance here, not only because I dropped this in the first half, but also because there doesn’t seem much of it going on. It is just a loud by the book adventuring, which tries to hide its narrative failures by flexing the character design muscle.

Samurai 8 is a chore to get through, nothing sticks for me. It’s too in your face with its plan to be a self-insert “awesum” adventure for a tween nerdy gamer weaboo, and maybe to cash in on toys. And, like, that’s what Shounen Jump is for, but both story and visual composition here collapse in an unsightly way. The impressive cyber samurai designs can’t compensate for all, and they have ethical and aesthetical issues too.

According to the wiki, they try to save a galaxy from the entropic death in Samurai 8. The underdog protagonistin overcomes his initial limits, has an exciting journey and leaves a mark on the world. But the manga itself remains underrealized and weak, the entropy in it almost palpable. The garbled pace of an axed work right from the start, the bad page composition and the cumbersome unnatural narrative make it very hard to follow, to immerse or to care. I believe this is objectively a poor manga, sadly, the only thing to take out of it for the majority of readers being certain points in designs.

It's unfortunate that this series was cut short. It had potential. I mean, cyborg samurai riding gigantic robotic beasts with their magical space princesses and wielding soul-powered swords? It's a very cool concept. And I'm always a big fan of the traditional-futuristic hybrid aesthetic. Undoubtedly, the biggest draw for me was the worldbuilding, which seemed to have had a lot of care put into it, with many setups put in place (that were of course left without a resolution). It felt like we had a whole wild world to explore, akin to some other space opera manga. The few characters that got the time to haveone benefited from emotional backstories (of the kind fans of a certain other manga are accustomed to). To me those were the most engaging parts. I was curious about the direction the characterization was going with the two mains, Hachimaru and Ann: I thought the retooling of the uber classic knight-princess dynamic (couple with many cues from the samurai lore) into a sci-fi world was unusual and quite intriguing, and could've made an interesting story if it had had the time to be developed.

Ironically but understandably so, in both art and characterization, as well as some aspects of its story, this series feels a lot more like Naruto than its own sequel, Boruto, does. It would be a lie to say that wasn't one of the reasons I enjoyed it.

This is far from a perfect story however. A major issue the series had throughout was that there is a looot of exposition, to the point a significant proportion of the story was just exposition. Some chapters are literally only an information dump. The pacing was definitively off because of that. Since the manga was just starting, I kept hoping it would become more story-focused later on, but since it's dead now, we'll never know that and so we're left with only this relatively heavy story progression.

Another thing is that the cast of characters accompanying the protagonist on his quest grows pretty large pretty fast. They all end up somehow underdeveloped because of that, and it also contributes to bog the pacing down. The story would probably have benefited from introducing them more slowly, or shedding some of them temporarily to reintroduce them later on. But in retrospect, if this series was on the verge of being cancelled, maybe that's why they were introduced so fast...

Again it's a shame this series was cancelled, I believe it really had the potential to be something epic.

In the end that's what this series is: tons of potential that didn't manage to be realized before it got cancelled. I'd say the author wasn't effective at conveying the story, or who knows, maybe was under too much time constraint with the imminent cancellation.

And that is too bad. The last two chapters hastily tried to wrap the entire story to give it a semblance of an ending, and to me they perfectly showcase all the excitement and cool factor this series could've shown.

So all in all? I think what we got, despite numerous writing issues, and even though it's almost a shadow of what could've been, is still entertaining. But it'll be up to you to see if it does it for you or not.

This is a cursory review through chapter 5. The series is very young but there are already some glaring issues. The positive is that it's a shonen manga written by veteran Masashi Kishimoto with art by Atsushi Ookubo, who does a good job emulating Kishi's art style. The fundamentals are there. The story so far has potential but where exactly it's going is a mystery. Naruto wanted to be Hokage, Hachimaru wants to be a samurai. The difference is Hachimaru becomes a samurai right out the gate in chapter 1, so where to next? That said, I'm rating a 6 because what we are seeing isgoing largely unexplained, which wouldn't be so bad but there is already so much being thrown at you that it just makes you think "What is even going on here?"

Related to my story gripes, I'm rating the art an 8 because the art is great, but is very busy, makes heavy use of white, and action sequences add to that feeling of "What is even going on here?" Someone says "Here's my attack!" then there's a couple panels of gobbledigook followed by the end result.

The characters are typical shonen characters. So far, the only ones of substance are MC Hachimaru (typical shonen protag) and his dad (knows more than he lets on). There's also a mentor character but they've yet to be fleshed out.

All in all, this series has legs, they're just the legs of a newborn deer. Coming from someone who wrote such a sprawling story in Naruto, I'd have expected more, but it's not bad enough to tap out before seeing a little more.

Samurai 8 is awful. I am honestly very disappointed with what Masashi Kishimoto has come up with, several years after finishing Naruto. I just finished the manga, I had dropped it last year, about 32 chapters in, but now I decided to come back and finish it, and my impression of it is even worse than what I originally had. This manga had a lof of potential, it could have been a good adventure with compelling characters. Many of the characters introduced have varied personalities, but unfortunately the story never really did anything with them. I'll start by saying the two things that I enjoyed, andthat was that the battle choregoraphy was good, it reminded me of Naruto. The art is also interesting, even though it doesn't start off great, specially the fact that it didn't have enough shading, but with time it got better.

Pretty much everything else is bad. There is so much wrong with this manga, that Kishimoto failed so hard at. It's funny because one of the biggest complaints about Samurai 8, the fact that there is an excess of information and exposition in every chapter (starting with the 1st chapter), was adressed by Kishimoto himself before the manga had even started serialization. In an interview he had said how it's difficult to write a sci-fi story for the Weekly Shonen Jump audience because sci-fi usually has a lot of terms and knowledge that needs to be conveyed to the readers, and so he talked about the importance of timing the exposition properly and not having too much information crammed into a single chapter.

And then he proceeds to do the exact opposite of what he said... the very first chapter introduces a lot of confusing terminology and all the chapters follow up with more, and it just gets very boring very fast because much of this information is either unecessary and excessive or just poorly explained.

Another thing that the manga horribly fails at is the power scaling. It feels like every 5 or so chapters Kishimoto changed the power system and nothing ever made much sense. It begins with introducing the trinity, and how Samurai are powered by princesses and key holders, then Samurai can regenerate their whole bodies after taking damage. They also cram in a bunch of techniques that are poorly explained and half the time it's difficult to even understand what they actually do. Then there is the plot armour of how the "chosen samurai" have stronger white coloured samurai souls that can cut through everything, but only when they are feeling brave, and they keep adding to that, with how samurai will never die "as long as they are courageous enough". Samurai can also get instantly stronger if they have princesses praying for them, but that works awfully inconsistently as well. Finally, about 8 or so chapters left for the manga to end, Kishimoto introduces an RPG system where each Samurai has stats, and in order to use certain skills they need to have certain stats. Unfortunately they don't even bother explaining what most the stats mean, so it just feels like it was something that the author came up with at the moment but then didn't have time to finish. It would have been better imo if the stats were introduced at the beggining of the manga and they had started the whole power system with it in mind.

The villains in the manga are also horrible. There is one minor villain that appears in the second arc, but he's just fodder for the main characters to beat up, he doesn't really have any motivation or anything, he just wants to make money and kill people for fun and power.

The main villains unfortunately are not compelling as well, their objective is the cliche "destroy the universe and rebuild it anew". It honestly doesn't make any sense, and there are several things that Kishimoto ddin't bother talking about, like certain characters that they teased in the first arc but then they never showed up nor were mentioned again. The villains' backstory was never broght up as well.

But then the finale of the manga is when things get really, really bad. They introduce a bunch of characters that don't serve any purpose, it really feels like Kishimoto was starting a new arc but then he was notified that the manga was getting axed so he had to come up with a finale at the last minute, and it was awful. So many events are crammed in the last few chapters. The villains suddenly show up and fight the heroes, they use a bunch of unexplained techniques like trapping characters in a void and then, when it seems that everything is lost, a character shows up out of nowhere, and now for some reason they're a samurai, and after a cheesy dialogue the main character reaches enlightenemnt and becomes ultra godly powerful for no reason. Then they're able to get into a dimension where space and time act faster or whatever and so they age and become ultra mega powerful and one of the villains gets killed without even getting properly introduced.

The last 3/4 chapters are such a gigantic mess that they alone would be rated by me as a 1/10. The overall manga gets a 3/10 for me because the rest of it is not as bad, but I'm definitely extremely disappointed with how the manga turned out. I feel like it had potential, and some interesting ideas (that were poorly executed), but the result is abysmal.

I really don't know how people are writing the series off after 7 chapters. That said, I must say, it's not really grabbing my attention and I do kinda have to force myself to finish each chapter. I just started reading it today, and I can see it has potential, but at the same time it feels over the top and a bit crazy. I think subconsciously I want to give it a chance because it's by Kishi, but ehh, it's difficult at times. The art is good, but at times it can be really confusing and disorientating. The character designs are decent and the pacing issolid. I just don't really have an emotional investment in any of the characters or care. I'll probably still keep up with it because it's Kishi.

One thing I must also say is I like how you can clearly see the Naruto influence, while also clearly seeing it as a unique piece of work. It walks that line brilliantly. Will be back after chapter 10 to update.

It's unfortunate this got cancelled because when I read the first volume or two it wasn't great but it wasn't bad. I was actually interested in how Masashi Kishimoto develops this world. Because he was told after that point it was being cancelled, he spends the last 3 volumes rushing to the end. As it stands, we get a pretty bad manga. All the redeeming qualities it started with are lost and we get a lot of plot holes, confusing art, and a very incomplete lore. There's a character who is introduced in the beginning, doesn't seem to reappear, but then he does at thevery end with some power that saves everyone. Not only is it weird because we never saw him leave his planet, but when Hachimaru asks how he did whatever he did, his response is pretty much "oh yeah I did [insert sci-fi garbage not even worth putting together] and came here." This is the type of bad writing that plagues the last two volumes. It's probably not Kishimoto's fault because it was a direct consequence of being cancelled early, but he also needed a better start. The characters from the beginning feel like rejected Naruto characters. It's got the standard group of outcasts who all have baggage and dreams of being bigger than they are except they are not interesting. He had this cool vision that mixed ancient Japan with futuristic cyber-technology but the art does a horrendous job displaying it. In short, Samurai 8 is the textbook definition of wasted potential.

Samurai 8. Done. 43 Chapters. I could've probably squashed in 2.5 hrs but here I am. I almost a year later. Rushed climax aside, the heart of Kishimoto's second main title isn't one to be dismissed out of hand. The story really did have the foundation to go far and maybe, clearer and more concise than Naruto got to be. If I presume there were reasons why Samurai 8 didn't succeed and if I had to guess I'd wager it was: - The Aesthetic of the world of Samurai 8. There is a initial density of visual information combined with the amount of clear negativespace from the Samurai tech and holders that leaves action sometimes hard to follow. I'd say though that this get cleaned up and refined as the series continues.

- The density of lore. Within the first 20 chapters, when we could probably assume that the Sam8 team didn't know they'd have to wrap up the series in 23 more chapters, we're getting a LOT of information. It's pointed out by Hachi that his teacher Daruma will go off on long lectures. While not the deepest dives, the idea that he exposits too frequently is right on the money even if self aware.

To compare to Naruto, Chapter 20 we knew about the Nine Tail fox, Ninja Presidents, evil ninjas, and the Sharingan but only it's copy function. I figure the reason we might of gotten a heavier hand at the start was either because Kishimoto after 15+ years with Naruto and ever aware of it's defects with plotting, wanted to establish more of the world's rules and continuity ahead of time. Or he felt a rush from early on to try to say as much as he could as quickly as he could in fear of a premature cancellation of this title. Regardless, I figure it would've calmed down if we were to have even been able to make it 10 volumes at least.

- Lastly, Boruto. I feel when "legendary" mangaka behind Naruto of Big 3 fame is coming out with a new work, it might be beneficial to be the one thing that the community you've fostered for more than a decade could follow. As an immediate sequel to Naruto, Boruto obviously would be the one with the greatest focus. Even with Naruto being used to boaster the advertising for Hachimaru, it would be strange to suspect that would be enough to tip the scales when Boruto can be said to have Naruto Uzumaki in it. So on top of being in the normal Shonen Jump weekly contest for supremacy but Samurai 8 was also in a fight to be the true spiritual successor of one of the greatest series in recent Shonen Jump history.

I recently saw a poll comparing Samurai 8 and Burn the Witch, Tite Kubo's newest project, for reader interest among Japanese readers. Burn the Witch won in a landslide and I figure that's because of the one shot drawing a direct connection to Bleach. From experience, I can tell you Burn the Witch is mid at best. It's alright. Girls are cute and the foundation on its own divorced from the parent story could be something fun to build on but it is suppose to be a Bleach follow-up. For the limited run, the main force driving me forward was trying to see how it connected back.

With all that said, Samurai 8 had solid characters and while some of the more modern tropes appeared to turn some people off, I can't help but have found the direction I felt the principle cast was going would've been a joy to see. It would've been a real thrill to see if Ann and Hachi would be able to prove that Kishimoto had improve his understanding of how to convey romance. It all felt very promising. And I enjoy myself up until the rush finale.

It's not great. Naruto, in it's totality wasn't either, but it was good. And if Kishimoto and Ookubo want to follow up on the sequel door they built in there at the end, I'd be all for it.

Couldn't really be Samurai 8 then huh? Probably Samurai Princess: Ann then.