Title: Astro Royale Vol. 6
Author: Ken Wakui
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 174
Genre: Action, Supernatural
Publication Date: June 2, 2026
Final Thoughts
With this series only being six volumes, and based on how the pacing was going for this final arc, what I feared the most happened… the manga ended in a super-rushed fashion and robbed us of one of the biggest fights that had been built from the beginning.
Normally, I don’t like to go into big spoilers, but I have to voice my displeasure here over the fact that Hibaru vs Shio never happened. They focused on the end of the tournament, pulled a new “final boss” from out of thin air, did a time skip, and explained what happened to Hibaru and Shio in a small 2 x 3-inch narration box with a single sentence. They also ignored the fact that Shio had multiple pieces of the Daybreak Ore and acted as if Hibaru collected everything with the two pieces he acquired. Then, they offered a rushed explanation of what the Daybreak Ore was by giving it a backstory, but it just completely missed the mark.
I can’t help but compare this to Tokyo Revengers because Ken Wakui fell into the same pattern. He came up with an incredible idea, drew you into the world, and then the story fell off the rails at the end. The difference here is that it fell off HARD due to the sheer lack of length of the series overall, whereas with Tokyo Revengers, it was a slow decline over the final arcs across 31 total volumes.
I feel as if I’ve had to say this about so many series as of late, but there was just nothing but wasted potential here. With the way things ended, I highly doubt that someone like Ken Wakui made the conscious decision to end this series like this. It’s fairly obvious that the series got canceled, but the reasons why remain a mystery outside of the fact that readers probably didn’t resonate with the story.
To his credit, Wakui did fix the problem with his main character. In Tokyo Revengers, Takemichi was just a punching bag. He couldn’t fight at all in a world that relied on fists and violence to settle scores. Having such a weak protagonist fueled by hopes, dreams, and beliefs can only carry a series so far. Sooner or later, that character needs to learn how to fight, but it never happened. Here, Hibaru had a spine. He knew how to fight, but he carried within him similar hopes and dreams as Takemichi. That right there was a massive improvement.
Rather than rely on just fists, Wakui went the way of a shonen battle series by giving everyone powers via an asteroid and wishes. Perhaps many readers wanted this to be a redemption of Tokyo Revengers, and hoped it would be a similar series, but when they saw that it was just a shonen battle series, maybe that was their reason for disappointment?
There was certainly a vast enough cast to support a long-running series, and while the story wasn’t anything mind-blowing, it was still pretty unique and entertaining for what it was. It established Shio as the main antagonist, sewed dissention within the broken remnants of a once-powerful Mafia family, and showed splintered factions of those who struggled to hold onto that power the family was once known for… all while Hibaru called for change. Keeping it confined within a family affair made things interesting, but then the tournament arc happened.
I am not sure if this arc was meant to go longer, but from the rushed nature of the first rounds in Volume 5, it was obvious Wakui was told his series was canceled at this point. That begs the question of why he didn’t just cut the tournament aspect of it short by having Shio interrupt the final match, thank everyone for gathering the last pieces of the Daybreak Ore for him, and then transition into the final battle that had been built up since the beginning? It still would have come off as rushed, but at least we could have gotten the ultimate battle that was already established. Instead, we just get a small narration box after a time skip, and that felt like a slap in the face.
Even if a series is canceled, I feel there is always a better way to handle the ending. Will it ever be perfect? Of course, not, but there is always a better way to make the most of a bad situation, and this series completely failed to do that. It took something with potential, and just tossed it away with this final volume, and that left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
Ending aside, as I said, the series was interesting for what it was, and the earlier volumes do a pretty good job of hooking you into the world of the Yotsurugi Family. It has some pretty good lore established, but it all makes you wonder if this series had been so well-received, how much deeper could we have gone? Sadly, we’ll never know.
If you want a decent and short read, then this will be a good choice to pick up, as long as you curb your expectations for a proper conclusion. I still feel there is enough good here to warrant a read, but it’s certainly not going to be something at the top of anyone’s favorites list.
Overall Score: 2.5 / 5
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
