Contains Spoilers
"Barrage" is the short Space action packed manga by Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of "Boku no Hero Academia". The story follows young Astro, an orphan trying to provide for other kids who had been left by their parents on the Planet Industria. Astro is soon fired for helping his boss out when Aliens breach the city. Because of his appearance, Astro is mistaken for the Prince of Industria, Barrage, and taken to the castle when Barrage is killed right in front of him. From then on Astro parades as Barrage in order to help save the city with the Orgue, the power strong enough to save a planet.
The story is very cut and clear. Aliens are invading the planet and the current King can't do much because he's old and can not wield the Orgue. Barrage, or Astro can so he's going to be trained to become the next King. This is fine but the story never escalates and feels as if there is any real danger. The story was canceled at only 16 chapters so maybe this ties into but during those chapters, nothing extravagant happens. From what we see, there are tons of interesting details of the story but its never once expanded upon. The action we get is very lackluster and is over very quickly.
The characters are fine but you don't get attached to them. Astro's personality is very bland as he has nothing for himself. Everything he does is for someone else or "Family" which is said so much that I eventually started skipping panels where he was talking about it. Astro fights to keep families together and his entire demeanor changes. Its very annoying and does nothing to make him a good character. Tiamat his teacher and the right hand man of the King is essentially Eraserhead from Boku no Hero Academia but he has a very stupid character flaw, he's scared of woman. It's hard to take him seriously when the man can barely look at a servant woman fully clothed.
The rest of the characters in the series are just lackluster run of the mill characters. No one stands out besides the villains towards the end of the second volume who are beaten so easily. The main villain was a boneless Sensui from Yu Yu Hakusho. He wanted to destroy the planet because he tried to help some humans from aliens but they just shunned him so he fell to the darkness. He was defeated in one stroke of a sword, soon after we learn his reasoning.
The story is lackluster. The art is great and so are some of the character designs but nothing sticks. You could see where Horikoshi wanted to go but it seems like he himself didn't want to hop in the car. With this series and even with MHA sometimes, Horikoshi has his foot on the peddle doing 30m/h in a 60m/h lane. He's taking it safe and slow to his destination. "Barrage" is a decent read but it never propels you to care about it whatsoever.
"Barrage" is the short Space action packed manga by Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of "Boku no Hero Academia". The story follows young Astro, an orphan trying to provide for other kids who had been left by their parents on the Planet Industria. Astro is soon fired for helping his boss out when Aliens breach the city. Because of his appearance, Astro is mistaken for the Prince of Industria, Barrage, and taken to the castle when Barrage is killed right in front of him. From then on Astro parades as Barrage in order to help save the city with the Orgue, the power strong enough to save a planet.
The story is very cut and clear. Aliens are invading the planet and the current King can't do much because he's old and can not wield the Orgue. Barrage, or Astro can so he's going to be trained to become the next King. This is fine but the story never escalates and feels as if there is any real danger. The story was canceled at only 16 chapters so maybe this ties into but during those chapters, nothing extravagant happens. From what we see, there are tons of interesting details of the story but its never once expanded upon. The action we get is very lackluster and is over very quickly.
The characters are fine but you don't get attached to them. Astro's personality is very bland as he has nothing for himself. Everything he does is for someone else or "Family" which is said so much that I eventually started skipping panels where he was talking about it. Astro fights to keep families together and his entire demeanor changes. Its very annoying and does nothing to make him a good character. Tiamat his teacher and the right hand man of the King is essentially Eraserhead from Boku no Hero Academia but he has a very stupid character flaw, he's scared of woman. It's hard to take him seriously when the man can barely look at a servant woman fully clothed.
The rest of the characters in the series are just lackluster run of the mill characters. No one stands out besides the villains towards the end of the second volume who are beaten so easily. The main villain was a boneless Sensui from Yu Yu Hakusho. He wanted to destroy the planet because he tried to help some humans from aliens but they just shunned him so he fell to the darkness. He was defeated in one stroke of a sword, soon after we learn his reasoning.
The story is lackluster. The art is great and so are some of the character designs but nothing sticks. You could see where Horikoshi wanted to go but it seems like he himself didn't want to hop in the car. With this series and even with MHA sometimes, Horikoshi has his foot on the peddle doing 30m/h in a 60m/h lane. He's taking it safe and slow to his destination. "Barrage" is a decent read but it never propels you to care about it whatsoever.
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