This manga really caught my attention, even if it started as a simply fish out of water history, the sci-fi aspect of the series looked to have an almost endless potential, all kinds of different worlds to explore, cultures etc. But for the better part of the last 100 chapters the history is on an endless training arc that, with all things considered is not that interesting, not only the author expects you to remember the name of a lot of different characters that may only do 1 or 2 things per battle, but in the most recent arc we are also supposed to remember their personalities... World trigger is not bad by any means, the art is really good, the characters are likeable but I just cant find myself being interested in any of the things currently going on in the history

characters, premise, art: all fine. the pacing truly lets this series down. if you are intrigued by the initial premise of an invasion from another dimension... well the series more or less leaves that behind and focuses on an endless training/ranking arc. maybe it will pick it up again at some point, but it's been 150+ chapters...

dropped.

... Last updated on April 11th, 2023, 11:22am

>mintyxx (Known status:Chap175)
"Wow I love the story. So far after catching up my favorite character is definitely Kuga, but Jin is a close second. Something I cannot wait to see be revealed is how Although I gotta say the manga get's a bit repetitive at times"

This is the best example I've seen lately of an overly used formula that's actually good. Story is as generic as they come, still decent, chars are well done, interesting and funny, fights are interesting and make sense for a change and the world created is consistent and coherent which is where most mangas fail most of the time.
It's a real pity this is in a hiatus and who knows if it's ever continued.

My third favorite manga of all time. World Trigger does so much good. I wrote an immense review for the series but basics: a huge cast that is actually mostly likable, an emphasis on teamwork and strategy that is never compromised, unique and exciting action, excellent sense of humor. The series is not necessarily going to grab you at first, though, so give it 20 chapters to really get going.

Full review:
https://terrenceswiff.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/world-trigger/

Really love this series, its certainly not the best, its not the most polished, but its everything I enjoy in manga.

A large, interesting and diverse group of characters with their own fighting styles and abilities, some interesting quirks here and there, and the strong characters aren't unbeatable gods of combat.

It can definitely be cheezy and the shounen elements are patently obvious, especially at the beginning, but its surpassed alot of my expectations, the story just keeps getting better and better. The writing is solid all the way through, its almost as if World Trigger were written for more western audiences in mind; the premise isn't really gimmicky or extreme compared to many other shounens, and the attention to detail in the writing is very strong. Overall, i look forward to reading more of this

Hybrid between Naruto and Bleach minus the constant power ups, add in a bit more tactics and a bit less 1v1s. The intricate team fights are what keeps me reading this despite some annoying factors (like how slow the pace is at times).

Human(oid)s will always be the main antagonists in these type of battle shounen with the robots/monsters just being mere pawns. The internal politics and strife presented in the plot seem forced, but it gets toned down after an arc. The doppelgängers fights with easy escape don't offer much suspense during most of the fights. It's basically people fighting in video games and then overload you with tactics theorycrafting for an arc.

And god damn I don't know why it bugs me so much that shounen stories NEED to have the majority of their cast be under the age of 20? This setting allows no reason for a huge age range of people being enlisted for service. Heck, if you ignore the excuse of innate magic talent, it makes more sense to see 0 kids in the fighting force, let alone the elite sector.

I did not expect to like this manga so much. The pace is rather slow, but in exchange, this is one of those rare shounen battle manga in which both protagonists and antagonists act smart (or at least much smarter than outright dumb). For instance, they strike at weak points, don't attack when they don't think they can win, don't explain their abilities (I hate it so much when that happens), use special abilities (like foresight, camouflage, etc.) in smart and not trivially obvious ways, and so on.

I like the main characters, too. There's the typical genius outsider, but there's also a character that doesn't have any particular talents in combat and becomes a leader figure anyway. Incidentally, the story's focus is distributed over quite a lot of characters. Pretty much all of them are likeable, and a surprising number of them get moments of glory. In this regard, World Trigger is one of the few manga I've seen which actually manage to cope well with a huge cast (in contrast to e.g. Tower of God, whose cast grew way beyond the author's ability to handle it). (One simple but smart choice: Before every team battle, all side characters are introduced via a caption, no matter how many times they've appeared before.)

Finally, the battles in this manga are large-scale squad battles, and while they always take lots of chapters, they're handled with astonishing grace. They're way above anything I'd come to expect from typical shounen: not just about every combatant using their trademark move once and then calling it a day, but rather about trying to outwit, outflank and out-coordinate the other side. The battles and confrontations here constitute a peak of battle manga storytelling. They're not as sneaky, mind-gamey or filled with unique superpowers as in something like Hunter x Hunter, but these more down-to-earth team fights are on a similar level.

PS: In terms of rating, this is a clear 10 for me, and the individual story arcs are highly recommended, but given the manga's pace and the author's health issues, I'm worried whether the overarching arc will receive a conclusion worthy of what came before.

PPS: The scanlations of early chapters in particular often have a terrible translation quality. Luckily, World Trigger was popular enough to receive an official licensed English version, and I had no issues with translation quality there.

... Last updated on November 4th, 2018, 6:22am

It's been a long time since I've felt so excited about a (fairly new) shounen action series. (Or, at least, one from a mangaka that I've never heard of before.)

World Trigger begins fairly typically: with monster invasions and an overpowered boy who is more than he appears appearing and saving the day. If I was judging this manga just by its opening chapters, my reactions would definitely be "bored" and "unimpressed." It definitely seems like a "been there done that" series at first glance. And, while it never entirely rises above the story cliches it uses, it does undoubtedly set itself apart with its battles and characters.

Let's start with characters.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Osamu wasn't a bait-and-switch protagonist. You know the type: appears on the first color page, has a prominent role in the first chapter, but ultimately is shown to have bitten off more than he can chew and is then saved by the real protagonist. Aforementioned boy then either disappears into oblivion or is relegated to the support of comic relief background character for the remainder of the series. Well, Osamu isn't like that. He actually remains an incredibly prominent main character throughout the series, and, as an added bonus, he doesn't get a shounen power-up to make him more in-line with traditional "strong" male protagonists. Instead, even when he is made the "leader" of a team, he remains mostly weak, and his primary strength is his hard-working personality. I don't know about you, but I for one really appreciate protagonists like these who show that you don't have to be superpowered in order to be a hero.

Chika is also a great protagonist to read about, especially because she fulfills all the criteria for the typical damselled girl character (or one who is consistently put into a supporting role), but the mangaka averts this by making a point to say that Chika herself wants to fight on the frontlines. The recent chapters have definitely been great at showing this point.

Yuuma is probably the weakest, character-wise, of the three protagonists, though the mangaka's careful rendering of his backstory (and consequent explanations for his appearance and actions) definitely makes up for it. I also like the fact that, while Yuuma is undoubtedly the strongest of the bunch, he never takes up too much of the spotlight, and the mangaka is really good at dividing up the screentime between the different characters.

Now, the battles are another thing that World Trigger does really well and really differently.

Unlike most other shounen action manga, World Trigger's battle sequences are heavily dependent on strategy. They're very incredibly thought out, too, especially for a weekly series. It's rare that I find a series that's able to put this much thought into action scenes (even monthlies often have trouble with this!) while still having it flow smoothly from chapter to chapter. Honestly, I can't think of another shounen action series that employed this much strategy in each of its battles. The huge cast of supporting characters doesn't make this easy either, but the mangaka handles them all wonderfully.

Of course, the story for World Trigger is in its very early stages right now, and, as I mentioned, the premise itself is still riddled with cliches, so I can easily see this going downhill if the mangaka runs out of steam. However, this really is the first time in a truly long while that I've read a shounen action manga and went, "Wow, this could definitely make something of itself. Something incredible that everyone will remember forever." So I'm definitely giving World Trigger the benefit of the doubt, at least for now.

TLDR; while the story itself isn't all that interesting or unique, the characters and the battles are. read it for them; it's worth it.

edit: OK, almost 100 chapters now, and I'm still really enjoying this. It's still strategic in the best ways and really, really friendly in the way it handles defeats. I myself have gotten really sick of the upsurge in grimdark shounens recently where everything is DEATH and SUFFERING (well more of the latter than the former--shounen leads seem capable of losing so much blood without any lasting consequences), so World Trigger is a really nice change of pace. It's a rare thing to see a manga where the stakes feel real/tangible but side characters aren't dying like every two chapters.

It's still not really elevating itself in terms of overarching plot, but each chapter is so well-thought out and just plain fun that I don't even care. (Also, if you're buying the volumes, Ashihara's comments are hilarious. He's really great at nailing dry humor.) World Trigger really sets itself apart with its consistency--it's just a really solid series with a solid cast.

edit2: Just came to say, now that we're on chapter 226, I'm still enjoying this series a ton. In fact, in between waits for new chapters, I even reread previous chapters just because they're so good. I don't usually like drawn-out tournament or training arcs, but World Trigger's is incredibly fun to read because they rely on super interesting strategic battles in the former and very fascinating looks into each character's own mentality in the latter.

Like, if you're expecting a typical battle shounen, this series is definitely not for you. It has battles, sure, but it's really focused on the strategic mind battle aspect of these encounters rather than the actual pew pew parts. And, yes, it does expect readers to feel some kind of connection to all these various characters, because Ashihara has each of these people's strategies and mentalities down to a T. So if you're not interested in an ensemble cast with relatively equal focus given to other characters alongside our main trio, then World Trigger will probably frustrate you. But, oh gosh, is Ashihara good at making each character distinct or what? All of them have very clearly thought out personalities and reasoning for why they do what they do, and I love it when Ashihara turns the spotlight on a lesser known character and give them their time to shine.

Anyway, yeah, I still love it. It moves through its central plot fairly slowly, I agree, but the stuff we get in between (mainly the strategizing and genuinely interesting mental training tests) definitely make up for it, and they're what makes this series one of my favorites. (It's also a better series to read all at once, then piecemeal, so rereading it has been a blast too.)

... Last updated on October 31st, 2022, 8:57pm

I will not be basing my review on the quality of the translation. It needs to be better proofed, but as it is, it doesn't greatly hinder enjoyment of the story.

World trigger is a great read. Three characters are the focal point. One is weak, but crafty. One is strong, but cocky. One is powerful, but timid. These three leads are a wonderful complement to each other. The art is nice and clean and the action sequences are easy to follow. The best part though is the pacing of the story. 37 chapters in and the things have progressed nicely. Truth be told, a lot hasn't happened, it felt like 10 chapters were spent on one fight, but the chapters were so damn entertaining and didn't drag at all. This is due to the fact that the characters who were fighting weren't spending six pages each explaining their moves. Exposition was handled on the side with cuts to trainees who were learning about the different triggers. This meant that the people who were fighting were actually fighting without unnatural pauses to give their life stories and other nonsense. The whole thing felt natural.

The world setting is also interesting. Parallel dimension with invaders coming through to harvest/kidnap humans for their own war effort. Things are grim, but not totally bleak, and the author does a good job of explaining why people aren't cowering in fear in the first few chapters. This makes the whole "something horrible is going on, but people are behaving like nothing is amiss" schtick more believable.

If I had to ding something though, it would be the whole usage of ranking systems and competitions between different members to increase their rank. It is a cliche that I am not fond of, but that being said, the pacing of the story is great and the potential for character growth (both strength and personality wise) is amazing so I can run with it.

For now, assuming the author keeps up the quality, I can easily given this an 8.5. It could go lower or higher in the future.