Sekiro Side Story: Hanbei the Undying, Chapter 1 (Sekiro Side Story: Hanbei the Undying

by Shin Yamamoto, From Software (Artist)

The Sengoku Era... A time when losing a battle meant losing it all. The Sword Saint, Isshin Ashina, aims for world domination... That is until he encounters a certain samurai...

Genres: Manga, Comics, Historical, Fantasy, Comics Manga, Fiction, Graphic Novels

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 2020

Reviews

[Suppi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art??? My god. The linework??? STUNNING. I could simply stare at this artists work all day long my goodness.

[Solomon Baltazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing view of Hanbei's past and why he is found at the temple in Sekiro. People who have played Sekiro will find many easter eggs and familiar characters. A must read if you want to dive into the lore of Sekiro even more.

[MatheaMatheaMatheaMathea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big monkey 🐒

[Gaston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading comics to catch up on my goodreads challenge

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read one-shot manga that explores the backstory of a mysterious and interesting NPC from the video game, Sekiro. Since Sekiro is one of my favorite games of all time, I was invested in the story and characters. Hanbei is a minor character in the video game, so it was very cool seeing his personality and backstory fleshed out. For people who aren't fans of the video game I'm not sure how much they would enjoy this.

The story is simple but effective and the art is usually fantastic. The violence and action are done very well with a good flow and some impactful splash pages. The dialogue however has some clunky translations, and based on the placement and design it's hard sometimes to follow who exactly is speaking. The art also tends to be sketchy and messy, which I enjoy - but it makes it harder to distinguish characters from each other or make characters visually memorable. In addition, the frequent use of flashbacks made the simple story get more complicated than needed with a confusing timeline of events.

Overall though a fun read with some great action scenes and flashes of beautifully drawn carnage.

[Javier Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice manga!

Nice artwork and the story is easy enough to follow. Even though is based on a videogame, it is really entertaining.

[Chris N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Don't worry. I won't die regardless. I have nowhere to go or return to. I'm simply killing time.'

[Sunread26 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chronique complète :
https://sunread26.wordpress.com/2021/...

Extrait :
Si vous avez joué au jeu Sekiro shadows die twice vous connaissez sûrement ce personnage éponyme présent dans le jeu. Pour ma part, je n’ai pas encore fais le jeu (même s’il est dans ma wishlist), je ne pourrais donc pas vraiment parler de lui dans le jeu, et comparer avec ce one shot. Peut-être que je reviendrais modifier ce post une fois fais. La seule information que je peux vous donner, c’est que cette histoire à lieu avant celle du jeu.

Ce one shot à sûrement pour but de compléter ce que vous pouvez apprendre du personnage dans le jeu, avec un peu de son passé. Son aventure nous amène dans un petit village perdu dans les montagnes où les villageois tentent de survivre tant bien que mal, face à des brigands et autres ennemis. Hanbei arrivera pas hasard, alors qu’il marche encore, sans but. Il tombera sur des villageois, qu’il finira par aider, et auxquels il va s’attacher.

Je ne sais pas comment il est évoqué dans le jeu. Ici, plusieurs passages expliquent les « types » d’immortalités dont celle d’Hanbei assez particulière, car celle-ci lui permet de garder la raison. Les autres, présentés ici comme des cobayes (car le but c’est d’obtenir la même immortalité qu’Hanbei), n’ont pas cette chance si on considère encore ce pouvoir comme tel.

Pour les dessins, je les ai assez bien appréciés tout au long de la lecture, même si j’aurais bien aimé une ou deux pages en couleurs. Les actions sont fluides, les poses pour les styles de combats au sabres sont également assez impressionnante. Il y a également pas mal de sang (vue le nombre de morts).

[...]

[Misa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okey, so this is a prequel to a Japanese video game "Sekiro – Shadows Die Twice" ,that I've never heared about, it is by Shin YAMAMOTO yeah you read it right YAMAMOTO! Anyway, this manga is AMAZING even if it was based on a video game, I could not stop reading it and everything was freaking wonderful. You have Japan in the Sengoku era with samourai in great fights, the story is mesmerizing that you can't stop turning the pages because it's so fascinating with all the cool & perfect drawings !
The main character is Hanbei the Undying and this because he can not like never die, he arrives at a village where he stays with a young villager and his sister. The villagers are facing some mysterious problems and Hanbei decides to help them because he has nothing else to do. It gets interesting page after page. What's more cool is that's a one shot, you don't have to wait for other volumes.
I love Samourai manga and stories like Samourai Champloo which is one of my favorite manga/anime of all Samourai's based on mangas and there is also Afro Samorai. I hope there will be an anime based on "Sekiro" too.

[Shiritaku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gleich mal vorweg: das Artwork kann zwar mit vielen Details punkten, aber nicht unbedingt mit der Ästhetik - zumindest wenn man sich gern schöne Dinge ansieht. Der Stil ist eher “grob”, passt aber wunderbar zum Setting. Die Charaktere wirken realistisch und man kann ihre Beweggründe nachvollziehen. Es ist nicht grad rosig, aber das bringt der Plot einfach mit sich. Ich hab mich teilweise etwas schwer getan, reinzukommen und es war auch bis zum Schluss nicht so ganz meins. Man muss die Thematik rund um Krieg, Kampf und Überleben mögen (die Geschichte spielt in der Sengoku-Zeit (1477-1573). Den Punkt bezüglich des unsterblichen Kriegers fand ich aber interessant genug, um den Band in die Hand zu nehmen. Ich wurde jetzt nicht unbedingt enttäuscht, aber auch nicht wirklich überzeugt 😬 es ist so ein Mittelding - wahrscheinlich auch etwas stimmungsabhängig. Wenn einen die Themen ansprechen, dann lohnt sich definitiv ein Blick. Wer da kein großer Fan von ist, der wird hier wahrscheinlich auch nicht sonderlich viel Spaß dran haben. Definitiv mehr ein Nischentitel, als für die breite Masse

[duck · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the art was beautiful, the origin story fell flat for me. The cast of side characters were mostly forgettable and Hanbei himself isn't an interesting enough protag to carry the story (most of us reading have played Sekiro, meaning we've already seen the strong, silent watchful protector done in full). I would've liked to see more done with the relationship between Hanbei and his master before he "died" the first time, but I understand there's probably not enough time for exposition. The problem with origin stories is you already know what the main conflict is, and that means nothing can really surprise you.

[Laury's artNbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐ L'histoire est plutôt plate avec un cadre de personnages assez inintéressants. Malheureusement le pp lui même m'a pas beaucoup de personnalité. Il s'agit du prequel racontant la backstory du NPC d'un jeu. Et je pense que lorsqu'on ne connait pas du tout ce jeu, l'intérêt pour le manga est amoindri. Des scènes dans le passé sont pas très bien amenées et on peu se retrouver perdus de temps en temps. Les graphismes par contre sont très beaux, avec de belles planches.

[Ik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Si no has jugado el juego puede parecerte un poco trivial la historia que se cuenta, pero el conocer a Hanbei desde antes de esta historia y conocer a los personajes a los que le hace guiño esta historia es un sentimiento que puede variar desde una simple curiosidad hasta que se te hiele la sangre. Muy nice.

[Declan Kehoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to know the backstory of this character, some of the art was a little too busy and the translation felt clunky once or twice. Overall, the story was strong enough to remain interesting, and the last few pages were deeply cool as a fan of the game.

[Georges Éric Korm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great drawings ans great story. Only problem I had with this manga was how cluttered some of the pages are. It’s easy to get lost during fights and getting confused by who is saying what isn’t uncommon.

[Nisha Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cross-posted from Amazon:

I get the appeal of the game from this bt not much else. There's nothing to add to the story for someone who doesn't know the game or what it's about. Still, it's pretty cool.

[Francis Bagel · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful additions to the smaller characters in sekiro, really hope they do more : )

[Ansgar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tremenda precuela del mejor juego de la historia. GOTY 2019. Sabeis quien fue el GOTY 2016? Overgüach xDDD, chupate esa Dark Souls 3.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid story about one of the best characters from the game. Some of the panels and flashbacks were hard to follow , but it was still a fun read.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not familiar with the original property, but this reminded me of Blade of the Immortal. There's not as much gore as you'd expect from people getting slashed to pieces every couple of pages.

[Leopoldo XI · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy bueno

Te deja con ganas de seguir leyendo, buen personaje Hanbei. Recomendada lectura si jugaste Sekiro o te gustan los Samurái.

[Samantha Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the story

The story is great, though I wish it was longer. The art was great. Would love to read more stories about the world.

[Colby Fitzsimmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good

I have not played sekiro shadows die twice, but this story was pretty good. I don't think I will continue I only read it because it was free.

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew the tutorial guy in Dilapidated Temple had such a backstory.

[Caleb Stratos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the whole thing, and it was awesome!
I hope they make more with other characters' stories

[Mikel · Rating 3 out of 5]

[7/10]
Sólo para fans del juego que quieran saber un poco más sobre un personaje interesante poco profundizado en la historia principal.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually only bought this book because I needed to get rid of a coupon. Granted it was worth it. I liked it's gritty artwork and story.
For me it was clear early on that Hanbei's power doesn't just seem to be undying/immortal but also regeneration. On the prior page his upper body was almost split down the middle and now all he has is a scar on his forehead. Granted, I get how Hanbei thinks he is immortal (even though he clearly ages) but why does he think he is infected? What makes him think that?
And since this is the same Hanbei that we see in Sekiro, I wondered whether the huge monkey in the forest is the same as in the game, but I think it is not. Apparently it is some being called Yamahito, who could be neither monkey nor human because of his past and he can't become a monkey. However, he must be able to regenerate as he survived a stab into the stomach from the back. And because Yamahito has red eyes, Hanbei can tell that he has "the curse of immortality" ... hm, a tad odd, but I was sure there would be some sort of explanation. Well, there wasn't.
And I knew that the centipede from before was special. Apparently this water here makes them this way. However, how would an insect be able to repair its host like that? And holy shit, is that thing huge. How did that centipede still fit inside Hanbei without him noticing something is inside him?
And to be honest, for a short moment I thought Hanbei would be the old man in the temple carving the statues from Sekiro. But that old man is already there and he has an arm missing, something that wouldn't happen with Hanbei.
That ending was odd and I assume it is supposed to tie in with the game as that is clearly the game's protagonist and so he "trains" with Hanbei. But what that bonus story was about I have no idea.

[Misa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing!!

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.