Shonen Jump’s World Trigger

World Trigger
Publisher: Viz Media
Serialized In: Weekly Shonen Jump
Story and Art: Daisuke Ashihara

New this week premiering the same day here it did in Japan is the manga World Trigger, serialized in Viz’s weekly digital manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump!

World Trigger is fast paced sci-fi fun in its opening chapter, that will appeal to a few fan bases, reminding us of a cross between Barrage and Yu-Yu Hakusho. One day on Earth, a gateway to another dimension opens up and these seemingly invincible monsters called “Neighbors” begin to cross over, causing all sorts of damage and havoc. However, a group called Border has been waiting in preparation for this, and sends out its members to fight against these creatures. Fast forward a little bit of time later in Mikado City. Yuma is a new student who has been studying abroad and recently transferred to his new school. He is a little odd and very short for being 15, and so some bullies are trying to give him trouble. Classmate Osamu, a little geeky looking but very friendly and just, comes to Yuma’s defense trying to make things easier, although Yuma is far from a push over withe these guys. Before we know it, a gate opens and a giant kaiju-worm-like “Neighbor” appears, and Osamu transforms to save the day, revealing that he is a member of Border. As Osamu battles, Yuma looks on and decides he will transform, too, to save the day. However, his power seems a little different from Osamu’s own! A nice twist ending tops off the action here and sets things up for a grand story to come.

World Trigger is off to a great start! Author Ashihara gives us a quick back story setup so he can dive into the character building for a bit, but then ends things with a nice chunk of well drawn action. Writing side I loved the pacing, because no time was wasted. It was here is what’s going on, here are the characters, and now here is a ton of action. It’s everything a Shonen-based manga should be, and he gives you enough to want to come back and read more. Art side, as mentioned, the action scenes are great, fun, sci-fi battle stuff in these pages. Monster designs are quality, too, the with the “Neighbors” looking like something out of Dune. The art in his dialog sections feels and flows a bit simpler, however, the focus of this manga is geared towards the action side of things and not talking-heads, so all is forgiven there.

As mentioned, World Trigger is now day-and-date with Japan and can be found here in the Weekly Shonen Jumpon Viz’s manga app or website. Get a subscription and check it out!

-->