Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru

A manga about a weak boy who becomes a space traveling samurai on a quest to save the world.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

Hmmm, where to begin with this.

This manga is Masashi Kishimoto‘s follow up to Naruto but the art work is being handled by his previous assistant Akira Okubo. I think Okubo’s artwork is impressive but I find the panels are really busy with backgrounds that clutter the pages. Kishimoto’s writing is pretty poor in a lot of ways. The lore setup that a samurai must protect a princess that prays for his power feels really antiquated in modern times. And I’ve yet to see a female samurai and male prince combo that breaks this sexist stereotyping.

Towards the beginning there was also what seemed like a non-binary character who’s two hands spoke to them. One hand being female and the other being male. But Hachimaru tells them if they have male genitals that means they’re male and that throwaway line comes off as transphobic. I’m pretty sure Kishimoto didn’t intend it that way but in today’s political landscape this manga just comes off as ignorant.

Although I was interested to see how Kishimoto was basing this series off of Doraemon I don’t think I want to stick around until I see those direct connections. The series itself seems to be struggling in popularity and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being canceled sometime in 2020.

~dakazu