Many fantasy series and JRPGs take on the journey of how the hero defeats the Demon King. In Japanese media, the first example you can think of is from Dragon Quest. In fact, you can tell with the use of levels that Helck draws inspiration from those JRPGs.
There are a few things that separate Helck right away. First is that the story starts with the hero beating the Demon King, who we learn early on was Helck’s younger brother, Cless. What has happened throughout this time since that happened? The humans are missing, and these Winged Soldiers are waging war with the Demons. The fact we get the perspective of demons is a viewpoint we don’t get too often in the fantasy genre, even despite Helck serving as the primary protagonist of the series.
Many fantasy series serve as a coming-of-age story, and Helck goes in quite a different direction. The label of Helck as a comedy is a joke to mention how Helck is a tragedy. The two protagonists of the story, Vermilio & Helck are two of the strongest in the series. It is designed to show how valuable friendship and companionship are. As strong and mighty as Helck might be, there is only so much despair that one man can endure. In Helck’s flashback arc, we can see what he endures and why there is so much sadness in his eyes when the series starts out.
Vermilio’s role is how we learn of various events from the human side. As such, like her, we come to understand the viewpoint of Helck. We see the development of Vermilio to consider Helck as a friend, but there are a few miscues as Vermilio learns to understand Helck. Friendship is a two-way street. We see Helck understand who demons are, and now he has a place for him. Vermilio learns that Helck wants nothing more than to save his human friends. She learns that his true wish is to live among his friends, as it is clear he has given up. Vermilio having Helck’s back through the end shows how important friendship is when faced with despair.
Friendship aids in Helck’s theme when it talks about your duty and your legacy. What the series calls “The Will of the World”, as for Helck the trauma of losing all his allies could easily make you think it is inevitable. Even a character as strong as Helck is powerless. Rather than give into that despair as it feels like it is fated to happen, Helck’s friendship with Vermilio is what pushes him to seize his own destiny, at least. While the world is always pushing for change, you can’t let the world’s will stop you.
Another theme Helck tackles is what it means to be a hero. In many fantasy and JRPG stories, there is always one true hero. What if you had multiple heroes? In Helck these Winged Soldiers unnaturally gain the power of heroes. One thing that this series shows is the difference between an artificial hero and a true one. It comes from the heart. These Winged Heroes are forced to fight against their will at times, and despair breaks them. Anything in life where you are forced to do something, you can’t give it your all. The other manner is justice, and a true hero seeks the truth in justice. As Helck learned that Demonkind is actually nice and humanity was rotten among its leadership. That rotten leadership ended up spreading among the nobles, and it made society worse. Where it was normal for humans to only think of themselves first. Where we see Mikaros and Raphaed backstab the nobles. As they knew, they were rotten.
Helck isn’t all sad throughout its story. Piwi the 3rd, the central character, and Helck at times bring some light. The one who turns the tide toward the end of the story is Piwi himself. While the series plays as a tragedy first, it has enough comedic, feel-good moments that keep the story from being a complete gloomfest.
In terms of art and paneling, Helck more so gets the job done. With how powerful both Helck and Vermilio are, it is not a surprise to see that the fights aren’t notable. Even the art is mostly solid, and it gets the job done. Where the art is at its best, though, is when it is used in emotional storytelling. Things like the darkness and pain Helck feels are executed very well.
Should you read Helck, I would say if you love fantasy, it is a must-read. It gives you a different pace than you normally get from fantasy in an outstanding way. It delivers on giving you an emotional connection to the cast up until the end. You won’t regret giving Helck a read.