Barrage Volume 1, the review: the precursor of My Hero Academia

Surely you have already heard of Kohei Horikoshi, who has become famous all over the world for creating the highly appreciated My Hero Academia saga. What many don't know is that Horikoshi laid the foundation for his success with another miniseries that appeared on Jump NEXT! years ago and which took the name of Barrage. The miniseries already showed some of the protagonists of My Hero Academia and the artistic style of the author.

Now, nine years after its publication in the Japanese magazine, Barrage arrives in Italy thanks to Edizioni Star Comics and we are here to talk to you about the first volume.

Barrage Volume 1: The Prince and the Poor in a stempunk key

The story of Barrage stands in the middle of a fairy tale in the Prince style and Mark Twain's The Poor is a steampunk-style modern science fiction story. The protagonist of the story is Astro, a very poor boy who lives in the lower quarters of his reign carrying out humble, underpaid and in which exploitation works. The boy lives together with a group of children that he has decided to take in his custody and that he considers his family, but which in some way must also feed and care.

Unfortunately, one evening he is fired from his employer after defending him from a domineering and selfish alien. Due to a fairly mysterious exchange of person, Astro finds himself before the prince heir to the throne of his kingdom, Barrage, who unexpectedly is identical to the boy in appearance, voice and character. At this point Astro discovers a hidden side of himself, which he would never have imagined being able to explore and at the same time a new adventure begins not only for him, but also for all the orphans who will see their daily lives totally distorted.

Barrage is a shonen that takes inspiration from the classic fairy tales, but the upsets with a nice dose of action and detailed attention of the characters. Horikoshi likens his story to that of the Prince and The Pauper to create a reinterpretation with the addition of topics, the consequences are more dramatic, and the topics are very deep, such as the importance of the family and the exploitation of the workers .

Secrets of the court, the wars against the alien exploiters and selfish, small riots, and social inequality are just a few of the topics covered by the Barrage that revolve, however, around the link between the poor man and the prince. Kohei Horikoshi, after all, has always been very clever in the storytelling since his first work at the Crazy Zoo. It has always been in the exhibition of the great qualities of a strategist and planner, and has shown how each element is never left to chance.

The excellent characterization of the characters and graphic style of the inimitable

The theme of family is fundamental, and perhaps also too redundant given that at least once per chapter there will be mentioned, but what stands out most is the characterization of the characters, which is incredibly satisfying, and unexpectedly, it managed to be a shonen quite light and fast (the volumes in total are only two). Due to the brevity of the story, to stand out is the Star that leaves not much space to other characters, but this character is very different from what we are accustomed to see in the manga like that.

The guy is not a protagonist endowed with great powers explicit or implicit , but is rather a normal person with their strengths and weaknesses that he lives in a world of unrealistic, but with the same problems of the real world. Suddenly is at the center of an event that will forever change the life with all its advantages and disadvantages that Horikoshi succeeds perfectly to frame in the characterization of the psychology of the character.

Astro, however, from the first pages instead proves to have the makings of the hero and, to tell the truth, even that of the king, but also shows a great courage and generosity, that comes to lead the furious battles when they notice something wrong.

with regards To the style chart , Barrage is presented as the precursor to the actual of " My Hero Academia. If the story is totally different and distant from the world of superheroes, it contains many elements that we find also in the famous saga, and among these there is certainly the design . The characters are very similar to those of My Hero Academia so much that it's hard to find the difference substantial between Midoriya and Astro.

The stretch of Horikoshi is always very original, easily distinguishable and unlikely imitable. For this reason, you may notice sharp similarities to both of the characters of the plates, with action scenes very detailed and well-designed . To a certain extent, we can also consider Barrage as the true swan song of the japanese author regarding the design, thanks to the presence of plates from the strong aesthetic impact and great quality of details: the inhabitants of the kingdom Industry, the aliens, the lizard men, the creatures of the cave and the demons are original and well defined.

Horikoshi has, therefore, tried to make perfectly distinguishable each character is from the rest, giving something more personal which would remove any risk of cliche chart and narrative.

Conclusion

The first volume of the Barrage, in the conclusion, we read with pleasure, thanks also to the presence of scenes of strong emotional impact . The writing is excellent, the designs are cared for, rich and of great aesthetic impact. The characterization of the characters is perhaps the most unexpected of the entire story because, although it is focused mainly on the protagonist, Astro, this is incredibly effective and likely. We become attached easily to the protagonist, and for this reason are sorry to be aware that the mini-series will end with volume 2.