Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru, Vol. 5

Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru #5

by Masashi Kishimoto, Akira Okubo (Illustrations)

Becoming a samurai seems like an impossible dream for Hachimaru, a boy who can’t even survive without the help of his father. But when a samurai cat appears before him, his whole life changes! The legendary creator of Naruto and a rising manga star come together to bring you this science fiction samurai epic!

As Hachimaru and his allies head back into space in search of the keys to Pandora’s Box, evil forces are making their next move. Can Hachimaru master the secret samurai arts and become a true hero? And will it be enough to save the universe?

Genres: Manga, Action, Graphic Novels, Shonen, Science Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 2020

About the author

Masashi Kishimoto (岸本斉史 Kishimoto Masashi) is a Japanese manga artist, well known for creating the manga series Naruto. His younger twin brother, Seishi Kishimoto, is also a manga artist and creator of the manga series O-Parts Hunter (666 Satan) and Blazer Drive. Two of his former assistants, Osamu Kajisa (Tattoo Hearts) and Yuuichi Itakura (Hand's), have also gone on to moderate success following their work on Naruto.

Kishimoto's first work as a manga artist was Karakuri (カラクリ?), which he submitted to Shueisha in 1995. This earned him the Weekly Shōnen Jump's monthly "Hop Step Award" in 1996, granted to promising new manga artists. This was followed in 1997 by a pilot version of Naruto (NARUTO－ナルト－), published in Akamaru Jump Summer. In 1998, Kishimoto premiered as a Weekly Shōnen Jump artist with a serialized version of Karakuri in Weekly Shōnen Jump, but it proved unpopular and was canceled soon after. In 1999, a serialized version of Naruto began publication in Weekly Shōnen Jump and quickly became a hit.

Reviews

[Christopher Funk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bittersweet ending. Sorry they had to wrap it up. This story had legs that I wish they'd been able to explore more thoroughly. Such a beautiful story.

[The Book Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conclusion to the Tale of Hachimaru otherwise known as (or called by me) Cyborg Samurai in Space.

If you started this and thought it was way far out there... it gets WAY FAR OUT THERE. We're talking different dimensions of space and time; the illusion that is self perception vs. how others perceive us; even whether death is real or just an assumed construct. Lot's of big words and ambiguous philosophy that results in a surprisingly awesome and fitting end.

Overall, this series is...weird. There's some disconnect in the samurai/bushido tropes and the cyborg/space tropes. It's a weird mixture of sci-fi and spiritual; combining soul, values, and memories with digital spaces, downloading fighting styles, and having appropriate stats to do cool moves. It's not a bad concept and this short series is actually pretty good. However, the depth and surreal nature can be off putting and the lengthy convoluted lore confusing so I can see why this series wasn't longer.

I enjoyed it so I'd give it personal score of 4/5 but an objective series score of 2.8/5. Some people will like it; others won't; but I'd recommend giving it a try.

This series has 5 volumes.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

On sent que la série a été annulé à la dernière minute, ne laissant pas de temps aux auteurs de la finir proprement. On enchaine les clichés de shonen les plus stupides dans ces dernières pages abrupt et bâclés. C'est vraiment bête car j'avais bien aimé le rythme jusqu'ici.

Exemple :

- La petite fille qui coopère avec les gars qui ont tué ses parents et SA PLANETE. Je ne comprends pas vraiment l'intérêt de cette destruction si ils passent aussitôt du camp des gentils. Ca laisse une impression de foutage de gueule massif tout au long du tome.
- Vous ne pouvez pas faire mourir deux fois voir trois fois le héros en moins de 40 pages. La tension n'a jamais été si peu élevée.
- Univers parallèle , vie après la mort, distorsion de l'espace temps pour acquérir des pouvoirs surhumains et gagner des techniques divines. Ce tome balance tout ce qu'il peut laissant un âpre goût de mitigé à la fin. Bien sûr vous ne comprendrez pas comment, mais ça se fera, car le courage du héros permet de tout dépasser (sauf qu'on y croit plus trop à la fin)


L'univers de base était vraiment passionnant et j'aurais aimé avoir plus de contenus mais la série peine à se démarquer des milliards d'autres shonens existants. Ca plaira sûrement à un public enfant qui aime la formule habituel mais si vous cherchez quelque chose d'innovant et palpitant, ne vous faites pas d'attente sur cette série

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This comic makes the grave mistake of telling and not showing. Lots of lore dumping and not enough showing of how the lore works. There are some very creative and cool scifi concepts in this comic, like how everyone has their own gravity to pull fated ones together. I also liked how the MC was disabled, but they sorta threw that under the bus immediately. MC became an immortal samurai cyborg that can literally regenerate chopped limbs. For me, that ruins the stakes for the fighting and the power levels were off the charts from the get go.

It’s clear this comic was cancelled because of how it was rushed at the end. It needed 10 more volumes to flesh out the world in order to make the emotional impacts satisfying.

Tinfoil Hat: It’s clear this creator wanted to make a huge sci fi world and is super inspired by sci fi cult classics. Sadly, I don’t think there are many teen consumers of sci fi for Shonen Jump. It’s a hard genre to sell in the comic industry which is a bummer.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series didn't deserve to be cut short. I will admit that it has info dump moments, but overall you eventually start to care about some of the characters. The Mangaka's character development is really good.

Masashi even managed to wrap up the series nicely even though it got cut short and left it open ended a little bit. For a possible continuation, if only it is needed.

My only other gripe, is that the artwork is strange sometimes, however I still enjoy it.

[David Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series was a tough one for me to rate, as I read though I kept bouncing between a 3* and a 4* rating. I liked the story, the characters, and their growth, but sadly the story was rushed and over all felt flat to me. I really had high hopes for this and could see its true potential to be a great series but sadly because it lacked a fan base the author didn't spend as much time as he could've. The ending is left open so if it does pick up on readers he can continue the story.

[Kyle Dinges · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very abrupt ending to the series. This one never felt like it barely got a chance to really get started, but given that it never drew me in, it's not hard to see why this one got dropped before it got that chance. Just never really landed. I wouldn't really recommend starting this series for most anyone.

[Sean Lees · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found inner peace reading this, it deconstructs life and death to a level of existence in a physical and spiritual sense. I’m a little upset that the series only lasted 5 volumes, there’s a lot within the concepts to create a fuller drawn out storyline and a sequel hook of sorts at the end. I’m going to dedicate time to exploring Naruto, which is Kishimoto’s most popular work.

[Shatiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo manga aveva davvero tanto potenziale e mi stava piacendo molto.
I personaggi e l'ambientazione erano interessanti. C'era molto altro da raccontare proprio come con Naruto.
Peccato che l'abbiano concluso cosi, tagliando e correndo e senza dare un vero finale alla storia.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I skipped the previous three volumes, but it doesn't seem to make much difference in the comprehensibility of the story. It's a shonen climactic fight against a bad guy; what more do you need?

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

An abrupt ending but also showed a bit more promise than the first few volumes. It's still not good, but hey. The fact that this entire series isn't 1-star should be considered a crowning achievement.

[Xavier Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel that this series was so underrated. It had so much potential but it was just a little vague with some of the details and the ways it introduced concepts. Overall, I loved it! Probably my favorite series like this.

[ReadingFrog · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars.

[Ilaria Manferdini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il manga poteva essere davvero bello vista l'idea di base, peccato per la realizzazione, qualcosa è andato storto infatti è stato chiuso al 5 volume.

[Jenan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this last volume. However, I didn`t like the ending that much.

[Jim Erkens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bummer it got canceled

[Eva Zanfi · Rating 2 out of 5]

[SERIE COMPLETA]

[Buchstabenschloss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Reise neigt sich so langsam dem Ende zu. Nachdem die Freunde Benkei besiegt haben, versuchen sie die restlichen Schlüssel zu finden und die Büchse der Pandora zu öffnen. Dabei kommen ihnen Freunde, die vorher Rivalen waren, zur Hilfe.

Das Cover ist wieder wunderschön und auch der Zeichenstil von Akira ist wieder großartig.

Ich muss gestehen ich bin leicht geschockt. Denn dieser Band ist der Abschluss der Reihe. Damit habe ich überhaupt nicht gerechnet. Das Potential für ein paar weitere Bände ist definitiv vorhanden.

Ich mag die Geschichte rund um Hachimaru und An total gerne. Vor allem Hayataro ist mein absoluter Liebling. In diesem Band wurden jedoch sehr viele Informationen reingepackt, die das Ende leider überladen haben. Das hätte man durchaus in zwei Bände strecken können. Die Ereignisse überschlagen sich regelrecht und ich kam teilweise nicht so ganz mit, was da nun gerade geschieht. Dennoch finde ich das Ende sehr gelungen. Vor allem lässt ein Hintertürchen offen für weitere Bände oder eine neue Serie, die ans Ende anknüpft. Denn das Ende ist definitiv offen…zumindest für einige Charaktere.

Eine wirklich gelungene Reihe, die durchaus noch das eine oder andere Band hätte füllen können.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a non-ending

The very definition of dropping the ball. If it was not the final volume fine, but this was NO ending in any sense of the word!

[Tarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

actual rating: 3.25 stars