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Helck #5
Helck 5
Helck continues to lay bare the harrowing tale of how he became the mighty—and disgraced—hero he is today. In the past, after his brother, Cless, sustained near-fatal injuries during an encounter with the Demon Lord, Helck set out to the Demon Lord’s castle in his stead. But what awaited him was a shocking revelation about demonkind that no human could ever believe.
197 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 12, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 22, 2024
Wow what a flashback this was!
November 20, 2023
Helck’s backstory continues and we see that whatever suspicions the demons had about humans, they were mostly right, just maybe not in this particular case.
I don’t think I ever expected Helck to have a strong narrative, it sure didn’t seem to have much going for it other than goofy. It doesn’t help that Helck himself looks like a walking pile of creatine and anabolic steroids with a He-Man wig.
And yet, I was shockingly moved by the swings that the story took, none of which are especially surprising, but I feel are told pretty effectively. It may also be that I am quick to believe in the utter abuse of power by the rich. No idea why.
So, we see the brief hint of romance, as if Helck could be said to have any interest in it, the fickle nature of hero worship, and the old ‘the best way to make everybody happy is to strip that pesky free will’ story beat as things turn dark and just keep getting darker. It isn’t edgy, just grim, and I can’t say it wasn’t for the better.
Make no mistake, there is lots of manga action posturing and people who probably talk about five minutes longer than they should in threatening situations, but the whole thing paints just about all of humanity in a bad light.
There’s some really striking moments of mob mentality that illustrate that some people just need something to be angry at (again, not sure why this feels so… relevant…) and you can feel Helck’s despair as literally everything he cares about just falls apart bit by bit.
Like I said, nothing new per se and the action is kind of same old same, but I was absolutely engrossed in this story and that hasn’t happened with Helck, well, ever. I was keenly invested in seeing what happened and it was a flashback, for heaven’s sake.
It made me care more about Helck as a character and, while that is something I definitely would have liked several volumes ago, I’m glad I stuck with it long enough for this payoff. It doesn’t hurt that I was left super curious about the mystery behind the king too. Never enough mysteries.
From its beginning as a comedic story to its overpowered punching bag festival, Helck had been an okay story with an underwhelming lead. I think this really lifted my opinion of it to something I’ll be reading because I’m suddenly invested in it rather than just out of habit. Good trick, really.
4 stars - it doesn’t shed its trappings entirely, but it certainly recontextualizes them in a way that makes them far more interesting than before, so it’s doing a great job of keeping me as a reader and I can’t ask for too much more. Minus the action, but I am admittedly hard to please in that respect anyway.
I don’t think I ever expected Helck to have a strong narrative, it sure didn’t seem to have much going for it other than goofy. It doesn’t help that Helck himself looks like a walking pile of creatine and anabolic steroids with a He-Man wig.
And yet, I was shockingly moved by the swings that the story took, none of which are especially surprising, but I feel are told pretty effectively. It may also be that I am quick to believe in the utter abuse of power by the rich. No idea why.
So, we see the brief hint of romance, as if Helck could be said to have any interest in it, the fickle nature of hero worship, and the old ‘the best way to make everybody happy is to strip that pesky free will’ story beat as things turn dark and just keep getting darker. It isn’t edgy, just grim, and I can’t say it wasn’t for the better.
Make no mistake, there is lots of manga action posturing and people who probably talk about five minutes longer than they should in threatening situations, but the whole thing paints just about all of humanity in a bad light.
There’s some really striking moments of mob mentality that illustrate that some people just need something to be angry at (again, not sure why this feels so… relevant…) and you can feel Helck’s despair as literally everything he cares about just falls apart bit by bit.
Like I said, nothing new per se and the action is kind of same old same, but I was absolutely engrossed in this story and that hasn’t happened with Helck, well, ever. I was keenly invested in seeing what happened and it was a flashback, for heaven’s sake.
It made me care more about Helck as a character and, while that is something I definitely would have liked several volumes ago, I’m glad I stuck with it long enough for this payoff. It doesn’t hurt that I was left super curious about the mystery behind the king too. Never enough mysteries.
From its beginning as a comedic story to its overpowered punching bag festival, Helck had been an okay story with an underwhelming lead. I think this really lifted my opinion of it to something I’ll be reading because I’m suddenly invested in it rather than just out of habit. Good trick, really.
4 stars - it doesn’t shed its trappings entirely, but it certainly recontextualizes them in a way that makes them far more interesting than before, so it’s doing a great job of keeping me as a reader and I can’t ask for too much more. Minus the action, but I am admittedly hard to please in that respect anyway.
May 29, 2024
Good
This is such a fun series, I blew through five volumes in one afternoon.
It verges between comedy and tragedy pretty seamlessly, and I found the setting very compelling.
Definitely going to have to pick up the rest of the series.
This is such a fun series, I blew through five volumes in one afternoon.
It verges between comedy and tragedy pretty seamlessly, and I found the setting very compelling.
Definitely going to have to pick up the rest of the series.
November 3, 2023
4.5/5
This is one of the best volumes of Helck yet though it gets a lot darker than the previous volumes. As we continue on with Helck's backstory, we get to learn the tragedy behind his relationship with his brother Cless, a horrific plot cooked up by the nobles in their town, and why Helck wants to win the competition to be the next demon lord.
This volume provides so much backstory for Helck and the decisions that he has made. His life has been heartbreaking but there are also crucial moments of friendship and connection. The reason that he keeps his head up and a smile on his face is revealed and it is absolutely heartbreaking. This volume goes a long way to fleshing out Helck and made me care deeply for him in a way that I haven't up to this point. I will be interested to see if the next volume covers more backstory or if it finally returns to present times.
This is one of the best volumes of Helck yet though it gets a lot darker than the previous volumes. As we continue on with Helck's backstory, we get to learn the tragedy behind his relationship with his brother Cless, a horrific plot cooked up by the nobles in their town, and why Helck wants to win the competition to be the next demon lord.
This volume provides so much backstory for Helck and the decisions that he has made. His life has been heartbreaking but there are also crucial moments of friendship and connection. The reason that he keeps his head up and a smile on his face is revealed and it is absolutely heartbreaking. This volume goes a long way to fleshing out Helck and made me care deeply for him in a way that I haven't up to this point. I will be interested to see if the next volume covers more backstory or if it finally returns to present times.
February 29, 2024
i don’t get how people are rating this low man😭 the scores for this series (around 4⭐️) are way too low, and this volume especially. Helck’s backstory was amazing, finally finding out the grisly truth about what happened to the human nation. And I like Helck as a character even more now. Looking forward to reading the next volume.
May 28, 2024
This volume hit hard! The last chapter was very well done and tugs at the heart strings. I am so glad that this series has moved away from the goofiness of the first couple volumes. This is becoming a much more compelling story and is a prime example of why it is good to stick with a series sometimes. There is also some fantastic art in this volume.
August 22, 2019
Please head to volume 1 for my overall review of Helck.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
November 26, 2023
This was fantastic. Dark and mysterious. Suddenly the series became much better with the turn of events. Still onto the back story of Helck the Hero. I wonder where it will go next.
November 7, 2024
This one made me shed a tear 😢
September 12, 2025
We finally find out about Helck's past, how it all came to be. So intense and heart breaking.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews