Ad Astra per Aspera chapter 06
アド アストラ ペル アスペラ ch 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Satella uses the mecha Rose to attach Versailles, causing heavy damage. Shinobu recognizes Satella’s voice over the intercom as Patty desperately attempts to steer Versailles to escape. Satella presses the attack, causing Patty to suspect that the mecha attacking them is an F-22, the strongest mech in existence. Satella steers Rose to intercept Versailles, launching another massive attack.

Shinobu pleads with Satella to stop this, but she angrily replies that her kindness and understanding has been betrayed by them. Satella angrily continues to attack as Shinobu pleads, reminding her that he’s not the boy who killed her mother.

Satella has a flashback to the events around her mother and Patty is experiencing a lot of pain. Satella channels her rage into a finishing blow attack, but as Shinobu screams Patty’s name, Satella again sees her mom and apparently hesitates. Patty uses the moment to uses Versailles working right arm to use the katana to do her own finishing blow on Rose.

Patty has Versailles fly to escape, assuring Shinobu that her attack basically delayed the F-22 for an hour at best. She takes Versailles to a place where it can recover as the now shaken Satella sits in the damaged cockpit, citing how she couldn’t see anything.

Thoughts/Review:

This chapter was mostly action, but we are getting some additional character work on Satella.

The action is what it is. There’s not a lot that could be said about this. Should Ad Astra Per Aspera become an anime, this could make for an excellent action sequence in the right animation studio’s hand.

I’m more interested in Satella (I think her name should be Stella, but that’s just me) and the conflict she’s going through. Granted, having someone dealing with the murder of a parent isn’t anything new, but I can’t help but like Satella’s character, so I’m interested in seeing how she deals with this conflict within her.

I’m guessing we’ll see some kind of auto-repair systems in place for both Rose and Versailles. I’m hoping that we get some character work done for Patty beyond her heart condition (or whatever is wrong with her).

Other than that, there’s not a lot to say. The chapter had zero gags (a shock for Hata-sensei), tons of action, and a continued character groundwork being laid for Satella. I do enjoy this manga and look forward to reading the next chapter.