YMMV / Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru

• Ensemble Dark Horse: Nanashi. Even critics of the series admit to of having liked them due to their oddly intriguing characterization and rather unique Ambiguous Gender attribute, with many being disappointed that they ultimately didn't join the main cast.
• Fandom Rivalry: With fellow Science Fantasy Shōnen manga EDENS ZERO by Hiro Mashima (Rave Master, Fairy Tail), which launched 11 months before Samurai 8. Fueling the debate is which artist decided to make his Science Fiction manga first, especially since Mashima admitted the reason he set his manga in space was because no one else was doing it at the time.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: More popular outside of Japan than in; while the series' sales were horrible in Japan (compared to expectations anyway) which led to its cancellation only ten months after it started, there were high in other countries.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Nanashi's Ambiguous Gender Identity, considering there's another famous series with a character named "Nanachi" whose gender is also unknown.
  • In the manga series Soul Eater, there's a character called Black Star who bears many similarities to Naruto. Many years later, Kishimoto would team up with Akira Ohkubo, brother of the creator of Soul Eater.
  • The main conflict of The Last: Naruto the Movie was preventing the Moon from falling to Earth, Chapter 16 deals with Muun falling into Hachimaru's planet and everyone trying to stop it.
• Memetic Mutation: Chew that squid.^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.
• Moe: Ann, Hachimaru's "Fated Princess". She has an adorably shy, clumsy and stuttering demeanor, which made many readers to instantly compare her to Hinata.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: 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.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: While Chapter 18 sets up the potentially interesting idea of a planet-wide battle royale where thousands of Samurai square off to be the last 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 montages. The Character Development given for Hachimaru and Ann was well-liked, however.
• Tough Act to Follow: Inevitable, given that 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 the series would be cancelled and forced to Wrap It Up just two months shy of a full year after its debut.

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