It's done, folks! Battle of Zama and the final volume. Ad Astra is now completely translated in English. I think this manga was already licensed and translated into French and Italian (?) so I'm kind of surprised that its translation status in English went through long periods of being dead-in-the-water. I remember when Ad Astra first started its serialization and I read just the first 3 chapters of it. I'll admit that I wasn't really drawn in by the art or character design, and I had my doubts on just how much the rookie mangaka Kagano Mihachi would adapt the gruelling long Second Punic War. So it really wasn't until much later in 2016 that I gave Ad Astra another look. To my pleasant surprise, I saw that Kagano was doing a pretty good job, but to my dismay, I noticed that English readers had been cockblocked right in the middle of the Battle of Cannae. And so I was convinced to pick it up with some nudging by a few readers. Looking back on it, I'm kind of surprised that I did pick it up because I had a lot of other series that I was working (or planning to work) on, and there were still 8 whole volumes to go. Fortunately, it was a pretty easy to translate series, as it wasn't text-dense and had a lot of straightforward dialogue. Honestly, I should have just finished it all last year, considering it only took me and Nixbrod only a little over 2 months to finish these last 4 volumes. Speaking of my editor Nixbrod, much thanks goes out to him. I really couldn't have blitzed through these volumes were it not for his help.
Regarding the actual series itself, I think people well familiar with the Second Punic War were a little disappointed to see these last 4 volumes rush through some events too quickly and even drop some. One missing event which I wish Kagano had covered was the revolt of the Roman troops and some local Iberians led by the brothers Andobales and Mandonius (who did at least make a cameo) during the Spanish campaign. I think it would have brought some more diversity in drama to the story, given that a mutiny among actual Roman troops had not been seen in the manga before, and it would have tested the new commander Scipio in different ways than simply bashing Carthaginians. Still, on the whole, Ad Astra is the best adaptation of the Second Punic War I've seen, and I'm sure many others enjoyed reading the whole series. Now if only someone were to do full justice to the Peloponnesian War...
Download:
Ad Astra v13: Mega
Previous Ad Astra volumes: Mega
