One alien boss down, countless others to go!
Creative Staff
Art/Story: Kouhei Horikoshi
What they say:
Spunky slum kid Astro gets the chance of a lifetime to end the chaos ripping apart his alien-invaded home planet when the playboy prince switches places with him. Now Astro has become Prince Barrage, a boy charged with the duty of restoring peace to the planet… and given an all-powerful magical spear to do it!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Chapter 6 “Family or Self” & Chapter 7 “Astro’s Determination”
I was wrong to think that Tiamat would go down in one hit from the first real enemy that he and Astro have to face together. In fact, you can see him block some of the blow at the end of the last chapter, if you look really carefully. Also, he wouldn’t be so high in the military if he couldn’t at least handle one alien.
I’m quite pleased with the resolution of the fight with Deadrock. Tiamat is able to figure out the rock man’s weakness by watching his moves during the fight. The clever part is that an astute reader could have picked up on the clues as well, as the author uses inset repeats of panels to display how Tiamat figured it out.
Tiamat is growing on me, he’s quite capable and earnest. He’s still concerned with Astro’s fixation on family, but is starting to notice that maybe that intrinsic instinct to protect at the cost of his own life is what makes Astro able to wield the orgue. Tiamat also brings up the good point that he knows about as much about the orgue as Astro does, and the King needs to be a little more forthcoming with the details.
With the situation against Deadrock cleared up, there’s a brief moment for some amusing antics on the way to the next destination, the second largest city in the country. Another clever bit has Tiamat training Astro on the ride, which frees up actual story time for more interesting events while not forgetting Astro’s development.
Before they can enter the city gates they’re stopped by what can only be described as an interruption of whale sized proportions. It is one of the grandest entrances I’ve ever seen in a shonen manga, and it’s made by a female character! I can only hope that she becomes a party member, although right now she’s currently putting the leads to shame, and I’m afraid that’s going to hurt her chances of becoming a main character. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Release Notes: This VizManga.com edition of Barrage is a part of the Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, as viewed through Viz’s online reader.
In Summary
Deadrock is down and new prince is moving on to his next target. While the opening fights do lack complexity, there are hints that strategy will come into play more in the future. Which is great news for anyone like me who prefers clever tactics rather than power levels in their shonen battles. The introduction of the newest character is fantastic, and I really hope the mysterious woman is going to be a regular. She’s a far cry from the women who have shown up so far, and I’m already excited to see what her story is, and how the boys are going to get past her and into the city.
Grade: B+