Astro and Tiamat rush into action to take on the alien boss… because time is one thing these guys don’t have.

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 12 “Fresh Resolve” & Chapter 13 “Meeting the Enemy”
When we last left off, Tiko’s adoptive father had just lost his life. Astro couldn’t stop his death, and the group is a bit of a mess after that battle. In fact, Astro is starting to question if he can really protect anyone. Tiamat steps in to quickly put a stop to that line of thinking. We can’t have the hero loosing heart that early.

Tiko isn’t about to give up that easily either. She straps on an RPG launcher, grabs a shotgun, loads herself with ammo and declares she’s heading out to avenge her old man.

We can’t have that either! Her old man didn’t want her seeking revenge. Astro tells her that he will fight for her, because the dark energy only seems to be affected by the orgue. Tiko stays behind, for now.

Astro and Tiamat take to the streets and begin a whirlwind sweep of aliens on their way to the headquarters. As you would expect, the aliens on the way there don’t prove to be much of a challenge. Very quickly they arrive, only for Black to come out to great them with a giant hand made of dark energy. He plucks Astro up and hoists him up to eye level.

Astro is, of course, shocked to see his mentor is the one occupying the city. Astro wants answers, but Black simply and cryptically tells him that he knew he was a real prince and that there is nothing he can do to stop him. Black will have his way with Industria…

… WAIT! Slow down, slow down! What’s the rush? I know these are short chapters but…
Oh.
Stop the presses… we have a problem.

Back during the Shonen Jump Alpha’s hiatus last week it was announced in the original Shonen Jump that Barrage, which had fallen to the dreaded ‘back of the magazine,’ was being cut short. The reader response cards had spoken, and Jump regularly cleans house to make way for new titles. Barrage’s time is up.

I’m sure Viz knew that this could, and would, likely happen once they started acquiring brand new series for Alpha. The ratio of hits to failures in Jump is not in a new series favor. I’m guessing that Viz was just hoping that the series they picked for serialization would end up having a bit more staying power than this!

I believe that chapter 16 is the last chapter of Barrage. Will the characters go out in a blaze of glory or simple walk off of stage? Let’s see what the author decides to do with the few remaining chapters left.

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
The race is on to save the city from the clutches of the Dark Energy wielding aliens, and Astro’s former mentor Black. However, are heros are still horrible outmatched, and with only 3 chapters left to make an impact before the axe of cancelation comes down, all bets are out the window. Backed into a corner, there’s no telling what the author will decide to do for the conclusion to Barrage.

Grade: B