World Trigger Season 2

Episode 3

Welcome back to another action-packed episode of World Trigger! Last week, I mentioned I was struggling a bit with how to cover this current battle, since it's split across nearly a half-dozen different skirmishes. Thankfully the show has taken pity on me, and is already whittling down how much is going on, which I'm personally very grateful for. That isn't to say they're cutting things short, but rather World Trigger has never been one to focus on multi-episode 1-on-1 fights, with its most memorable battles being multi-squad chess matches, and with our enemy so sparse and divided it just makes sense that Border would work to take down lone enemies quickly and efficiently.

Kitora and Kuroe's fight against the remote-controlled Trion soldier starts us off, and while it doesn't necessarily resolve, it reaches an effective stalemate pretty quickly. Game Boy (yes the Galopoula characters have names but by god am I not going to learn them) quickly figures out the trick to Kuroe's high-speed attack, but damaging her isn't enough to end the fight, and since they can track which soldier he's controlling through Amo's side-effect, they've effectively neutralized his ability to shift the larger battle. It's a little underwhelming, honestly, especially since I was psyched to see Kitora in action again, and Kako Squad seems pretty cool too. There's at least a reminder that for all her cold exterior, Kitora's actually a pretty emotionally supportive person, as she reassures the younger agent that this is all part of the push-and-pull of battle. It's not exactly a pivotal character moment, but if you're a Kitora fan it's a nice moment to have.

Meanwhile Miwa Squad's battle against Jim Jelly and his Slime Shield also wraps up pretty quickly, though they do it by stalling and luring him into Jin's range for a sneak attack. This is definitely the least interesting of the fights, and mostly serves as a reminder that Miwa still has a grudge against neighbors over the first invasion. It is kind of funny that Jelly John's plan was to stall by talking to them, only to get it turned around on him, but otherwise this is an afterthought. It also suffers the most from this episode's more conservative animation – it's still head and shoulders above what constituted Season 1's “average” quality, but things are decidedly stiffer and simpler than last week's smear-filled, stylish flexing.

Thankfully they saved the highlights for the real stars of this show: Nasu Squad. Their fight against Copy Kat also finishes this week, but in a way cooler fashion. For one, their opponent puts up an effective and admirable fight even going 2-on-1, using her illusion triggers to chip away at Kumagai's trion while keeping Nasu occupied. Heck, she almost wins by using a double-bluff that would have landed a decisive blow if that asshole Kikuchihara hadn't leapt in for an assist. But on the other hand, that gives Nasu the opportunity to absolutely annihilate the enemy with some glorious Viper action. It's a sharp reminder that while their Squad is firmly B-rank, Nasu herself is an absolute monster, especially when you mess with Kumagai.

Closing out the episode is the fight between Border's top attackers and the Neighbor leader, Beard Dad. Not a whole lot really comes of this segment, as it's mostly both sides sizing up the situation and planning their big moves for next week. It is a nice reminder that both sides are more than just pure power, and with the invaders taking some definitive L's this week it's important to establish they aren't just fodder. Really, the biggest issue is something that WT has struggled with before – while the stakes of this fight are technically high with the Away Mission on the line, it doesn't feel all that weighty. There's no lives on the line that we know of, and Jin's foresight precludes any big twists compared to last time, so there's not really an emotional throughline to any of this. You've got Konami there, why not give her something to worry about, like wanting to protect the ship so all of Tamakoma-2's hard work isn't wasted? It would at least be something to give the fight texture.

Regardless, this arc looks to be wrapping up next week, at least for the time being. There's still the question of Hyuse's escape, as he's entirely absent this week, and if nothing else it should be cool to see what Tachikawa has planned. Mostly though, I just want to see this conclude so we can get back to Tamakoma-2 and see how their new strategies work out in the Rank Wars.

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World Trigger Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.