World Trigger, Episodes 1-24 (2014)

[PictureGuy]

At first, I did a double take. The first season of World Trigger has 73 episodes? Yes, it’s true! They happen to be spread across a year and a half. So why not break it up into two or three seasons? Actually, there is a season 2 and a season 3, both being considerably shorter. Anyway, I figured I’d break season 1 down to thirds rather than go through all 73 before I post my review.

Portals to another dimension are opening up and spilling out monsters called “Neighbors.” Oddly they all seem to be appearing in just one Japanese city. An organization called Border is created to stop these monsters. Border has a secret weapon which is sure to save the city – TEENAGERS!

Have you seen this before? Of course you have. More times than you can count, I bet. But World Trigger starts off with a different approach. Osamu, age 15, is a Border trainee, even though he is rather weak. Still he does not hesitate to put himself in danger to protect others. One day he meets a new schoolmate, Yuma. Despite his small size, Yuma also is 15 – and much stronger than Osamu. As it turns out Yuma is a humanoid Neighbor, only not hostile. Osamu befriends Yuma who is rather naïve about the ways of our world. As Osamu protects Yuma from Border, Yuma protects Osamu from the monsters. The result would seem to be a buddy anime, rather than just an action/monster anime.

Though as refreshing as this approach may be, it is abandoned after just a few episodes. Soon it does become an action/monster anime, though it does get by with some good character development. With the final premise not being all that original, and with the animation being not quite average, the characterizations are the one thing which kept me interested. The characters are well defined, and there are many of them, from young Border agents to experienced veterans, and the divided adult leadership of Border.

Soon we meet Chika, a 13-year-old with a vast amount of Trion energy. What’s Trion energy? That’s what gives Border agents their strength, and what the Neighbors hope to control. This makes Chika a target of the Neighbors, as well as leading to her recruitment as a Border agent in training. She, as is Osamu and Yuma, befriended by one of Border’s top agents, Jin. And soon the team of Osamu, Yuma, and Chika are facing the Neighbors.

As I said, it is the character development which makes the series work, though I would have like to have seen this series maintain the premise of a buddy anime. I will get back to World Trigger eventually.

[PictureGuy]

The problem with long series is that eventually they start repeating themselves having run out of new ideas. World Trigger did not have to go as far as other series before they ran into this problem. I watched episodes 25-32, and I just got bored. They are just one long battle which does not develop or push the plot. Instead, we get the Border agents fighting an invasion against all odds. Gee I wonder who wins? Anyway, World Trigger has just become a repeat of practically every other action anime I have seen. Only the animation is less impressive.

The way the series started out, as stated above, it looked like it would be a buddy action anime with some laughs. Well, that premise was quickly dropped. Now we are getting the routine cliches.

I'm not going to watch anymore of World Trigger, unless someone can swear to me that it does get better soon.