History YMMV / Samurai8TheTaleOfHachimaru

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Creator/MasashiKishimoto had allegedly been planning the story since 2016, which could be so that he could avoid making the same mistake with ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' by [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants writing it as he went along]], which led to him having a hard time figuring out a believable way to dispose of Madara and consequently the infamous creation of [[TheScrappy Kaguya]].
** It's generally agreed upon that establishing the Samurai Leader, the strongest samurai in the setting, as a woman in the first pages of the work was an attempt by Kishimoto to avoid the criticisms from [[Manga/{{Naruto}} his previous work]] that the female shinobi were overshadowed by their male counterparts. What is up for debate is how well this saving throw works.
** One of the sticking points of ''Naruto'' was how the boy-girl relationships and potential romance was handled, with Kishimoto himself admitting his weakness and aversion to writing these issues; ''Samurai 8'' on the other hand establishes early on that the relationship and interpersonal development between Hachimaru and Ann will be crucial to the story.

* ShockingSwerve: TheReveal in Chapter 25 that [[spoiler:Benkei, the organizer of the tournament, is actually a criminal pretending to be a legendary Samurai, and that Kotsuga was actually TheMole working for him]]. A few lines from [[spoiler:Kotsuga]] lightly hint at the latter twist, but it's virtually impossible to guess ahead of time because of how little lead-up is given.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: More popular outside of Japan than in; while the series' sales were horrible in Japan (compared to expectations anyway), there were high in other countries.

* MemeticMutation:
** Chew that squid.[[labelnote:Explanation]]In the author comments of the first volume, Kishimoto compared reading this series to "chewing dried squid" and it will "get good eventually". Readers and critics mocked this sentiment.[[/labelnote]]

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: More popular outside of Japan than in, where the sales for the series did horrible in Japan, meanwhile in other countries the sales were high.

* ToughActToFollow: Inevitable, given that ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' is one of ''the'' most popular manga/anime series ever created. Kishimoto has acknowledged this in interviews and expressed his hope that, even with the hesitance some readers may have, they'll be able to enjoy his new work. Unfortunately, this wouldn't come to pass, as in March 2020 it would be announced that the series would end at only five volumes and 43 chapters.

* ToughActToFollow: Inevitable, given that ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' is one of ''the'' most popular manga/anime series ever created. Kishimoto has acknowledged this in interviews and expressed his hope that, even with the hesitance some readers may have, they'll be able to enjoy his new work.

* ShockingSwerve: TheReveal in Chapter 25 that [[spoiler:Benkei, the organizer of the tournament, is actually a criminal pretending to be a legendery Samurai, and that Kotsuga was actually TheMole working for him]]. A few lines from [[spoiler:Kotsuga]] lightly hint at the latter twist, but it's virtually impossible to guess ahead of time because of how little lead-up is given.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: While Chapter 18 sets up the potentially interesting idea of a planet-wide battle royale where ''thousands'' of Samurai square off to be the lost man standing, many readers found the execution very underwhelming. The entire battle takes just four chapters, only two of which are about the battle itself (the others being about Ann's backstory, and Hachimaru having a rematch with Ryu), with virtually all the Samurai being easily beaten by Hachimaru's party with little effort in montage. The CharacterDevelopment given for Hachimaru and Ann was well-liked, however.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Ann. A good number of people like her by due to her endearing CuteClumsyGirl personality, sweet relationship with Hachimaru and her tragic backstory. Others find her a SatelliteLoveInterest whose characterization reeks of StayInTheKitchen.

* {{Narm}}: Hachimaru's declaration that, despite being a mediocre Samurai, he can still fight by virtue of being [[IKnowMortalKombat a great gamer]]. Needless to say, what was supposed to be a badass line was routinely mocked by people, given that "Gamer" is a term laden with negative connontations in the modern day.

* SlowPacedBeginning: Without a doubt, the biggest complaint surrounding the series. Of the first 16 chapters which comprise the prologue, a good number of them are dedicated to explaining the very complicated lore and setting of the series, with it taking a total of 10 chapters before the series major inciting incident (Ata attacking) occurs. Kishimoto admitted to this in interviews, but said that he expected readers would be willing to sit through that because of his name value. Needless to say, many disagree there.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: While Chapter 18 sets up the potentially interesting idea of a planet-wide battle royale where ''thousands'' of Samurai square off to be the lost man standing, many readers found the execution very underwhelming. The entire battle takes just four chapters, only two of which are about the battle itself (the others being about Ann's backstory, and Hachimaru having a rematch with Ryu), with virtually all the Samurai being easily beaten by Hachimaru's party with little effort in montage. While the CharacterDevelopment given for Hachimaru and Ann was well-liked, even the series staunch defenders will admit more could've been done with the tournament itself.

* {{Narm}}: Hachimaru's deceleration that, despite being a mediocre Samurai, he can still fight by virtue of being [[IKnowMortalKombat a great gamer]]. Needless to say, what was supposed to be a badass line was routinely mocked by people, given that "Gamer" is a term laden with negative connontations in the modern day.

* It's generally agreed upon that establishing the Samurai Leader, the strongest samurai in the setting, as a woman in the first pages of the work was an attempt by Kishimoto to avoid the criticisms from [[Manga/{{Naruto}} his previous work]] that the female shinobi were overshadowed by their male counterparts. What is up for debate is how well this saving throw works.

** It's generally agreed upon that establishing the Samurai Leader, the strongest Samurai in the setting, as a woman in the first pages of the work was an attempt by Kishimoto to avoid the criticisms from his previous work that the female Shinobi were overshadowed by their male counterparts. What is up for debate is how well this saving throw works.