World Trigger

, also known as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by . It was initially serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from February 2013 to November 2018, and transferred to '' Jump Square'' in December 2018. Its chapters have been collected in 28 volumes as of February 2025. In North America, the manga has been licensed for English release by Viz Media.

An anime television series adaptation produced by Toei Animation was aired on TV Asahi from October 2014 to April 2016. A second season aired from January to April 2021, and a third season aired from October 2021 to January 2022.

Synopsis

Setting

One day, a gate to another world opens in and monsters called start appearing from it. Humanity struggles to fight the Neighbors, as their weapons are ineffective against them, until a mysterious organization appears that is able to repel the Neighbors' attacks. The organization is called the National Defense Agency, or "Border", and has appropriated the Neighbor technology "Triggers", which allows its user to channel an internal energy called Trion and use it as a weapon or for other purposes. When a Trigger is activated, the user's body is replaced with a battle-body made of Trion.

Plot

Four years following the appearance of the gate, the people of Mikado City have become accustomed to fighting with the Neighbors and have mostly returned to everyday life. One day, a mysterious white-haired student named transfers to the local school. Kuga is actually a strong humanoid Neighbor, which he seeks to hide from Border. At school, he meets another student, , who is secretly a C-rank Border trainee. Since Kuga is unfamiliar with life in Mikado City, Mikumo must help him adjust to life there and keep him a secret from Border.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by , ''World Trigger'' started in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' on February 9, 2013. Due to health issues on the part of the author, it was put on hiatus in November 2016. The series resumed publication on October 29, 2018, and ran until November 26 of the same year, before being transferred to the monthly manga magazine '' Jump Square'' on December 4, 2018. Shueisha has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was released on July 4, 2013. As of February 4, 2025, 28 volumes have been released.

In North America, Viz Media licensed the series for English release in 2014. The first volume was released on October 7, 2014. As of August 1, 2023, 25 volumes have been released.

Anime

In May 2014, an anime adaptation of ''World Trigger'' was announced to start airing in October of the same year. The series is produced by Toei Animation and was broadcast on TV Asahi from October 5, 2014 to April 3, 2016. The series is directed by Mitsuru Hongo with series composition by Hiroyuki Yoshino. Toshihisa Kaiya and Hitomi Tsuruta are the character designers and animation directors, and the music is composed by Kenji Kawai. The cast includes Nobuhiko Okamoto, Rie Kugimiya, Hideyuki Tanaka, Nao Tamura, Jun Fukuyama, Tomo Muranaka, Yūki Kaji and Yūichi Nakamura. The series was slated to run for 50 episodes, but ended up having 73 episodes. In summer 2015, the ''World Trigger'' Summer Festival 2015 event announced ''World Trigger: Isekai Kara no Tōbōsha'', a brand new series with an original story not presented in the ''World Trigger'' manga, and with new characters and concepts. This "new series" actually ended up being the "Fugitive Arc" of the anime, which ran from Episodes 49 to 63. On March 7, 2016, it was confirmed that the ''World Trigger'' anime would end, after it was announced that TV Asahi would be replacing the time slot airing it with sports programming. The Nagoya trio Sonar Pocket performed the anime's first opening theme, . The second opening theme is by AAA. The third opening theme is by Pile.

During Jump Festa '20, it was announced that the series would receive a second season, with the cast reprising their roles and Toei Animation returning to produce the series. Morio Hatano is the new series director, while the rest of the staff are reprising their roles. The second season aired on TV Asahi's block from January 10 to April 4, 2021. The opening theme is "Force" by TXT, and the ending theme is by Kami wa Saikoro o Furanai.

During Jump Festa '21, it was announced that the series would receive a third season. The third season aired from October 10, 2021 to January 23, 2022. The opening theme is by Kami wa Saikoro o Furanai, and the ending theme is by Fantastic Youth.

In North America, Toei announced in July 2015 that they would be producing an English dub with Ocean Productions. The series began airing in the United States on Primo TV on January 16, 2017. The English dub became available on Crunchyroll on February 11, 2020. In September 2020, Crunchyroll announced a "home video and electronic sell-through distribution" partnership with Sentai Filmworks to distribute anime titles on home video. The series was released on Blu-ray on June 8, 2021. On October 8, 2021, it was announced the English dub of season 2 will be released in 2022. The dub for the second and third season were released on a variety of download to own platforms beginning on October 4, 2022.

Video games

A PlayStation Vita action game developed by Artdink titled ''World Trigger: Borderless Mission'' (ワールドトリガー　ボーダレスミッション) was released in Japan on September 17, 2015. An iOS and Android game developed by Ganbarion titled ''World Trigger: Smash Borders'' (ワールドトリガー スマッシュボーダーズ) was released on July 21, 2015. It was later released on PlayStation Vita on February 17, 2016. Both were published by Bandai Namco Games.

Reception

Manga

''World Trigger'' was the 20th best-selling manga of 2016, with over 1.2 million copies sold. By July 2023, the manga had over 15 million copies in circulation.

The series ranked 43rd on the 2014 "Book of the Year" list from Media Factory's '' Da Vinci'' magazine, where professional book reviewers, bookstore employees, and ''Da Vinci'' readers participate; it ranked 33rd on the 2015 list; 31st on the 2019 list; 44th on the 2021 list; ninth on the 2022 list; and 26th on the 2023 list.

In a 2016 reader's poll on Goo, the series was voted as the fifth most likely to become a ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' signature series. On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, ''World Trigger'' ranked fourteenth.

Rebecca Silverman of ''Anime News Network'' said that "''World Trigger'' is an exciting read that distributes its information organically rather than relying on info-dumps."

Anime

The anime series ranked tenth in the Tokyo Anime Award Festival's top 100 TV anime series of 2016. During NHK'S top 100 anime voting, World Trigger placed 158 out of 400, tied with '' Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare''.

The first season of the anime received criticism stemming from Toei's handling of the adaptation. Gabriella Ekens from ''Anime News Network'' referred to the production as "incompetent" and "baffling", stating "''World Trigger'' isn't a bad show, but it's a terrible adaptation."

References

Further reading

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Adventure anime and manga
Anime series based on manga
NUMAnimation
PlayStation Vita games
PlayStation Vita-only games
Science fiction anime and manga
Sentai Filmworks
Shōnen manga
Shueisha manga
Toei Animation television
TV Asahi original programming
Viz Media manga