World Trigger

Episode 4

It's been two weeks since the last World Trigger, and between this and Sailor Moon Crystal that seems to be the sweet spot for making me forget everything that happened previously in a show. To recap: mysterious invaders called Neighbors are invading Mikado City, and an organization called Border fights them off. Border trainee Osamu Mikumo runs into Yuma Kuga, a transfer student who claims to be a Neighbor and has some serious ass-kicking powers. They fight off a few Neighbors, and now Border's shown up and is getting suspicious.

This episode is about Ai Kitora, a neighbor-hunting prodigy and local celebrity who's jealous of Osamu's sudden rise to prominence. As both the youngest and one of the strongest Border agents, Kitora is used to being on top. She wants to seem above it all, but doesn't take competition lightly either. She's in favor of court-martialing Osamu for using his trigger - a border supplied supersuit - against regulations, even though it resulted in him saving dozens of civilian lives. However, the city is attacked on their way to the hearing, and they're forced to put aside their differences to try and stop the battle.

Production values continue to be this show's death knell. There hasn't yet been a moment as transcendently cheap as the first episode's opening slideshow, but its visuals are still unimpressive and unengaging. The animation is choppy even during simple talking heads sequences, and there are plenty of weird issues with the editing. At one point the show breaks the 30 degree rule, an editing principle stating that not moving the camera at least 30° when cutting creates a jarring, noticeable edit. (Lo and behold, this edit was both of those things.) This is such a fundamental principle that you usually don't see issues with it pop up.

It's a shame that World Trigger appears to have negative production values. The content's still not that bad. Unlike other monstrous invader shows (for example Attack on Titan and Neon Genesis Evangelion) it doesn't front-load the stakes with an explosive opening episode, but has let them grow steadily since the beginning. This show seems to be selling itself on taking place within a false sense of security rather than in the immediate aftermath of a breach, and while it's not the obvious choice for engaging an audience, this structure may have something going for it. The characters all have distinct personalities, relationships, and conflicts (although they seriously overuse the duck face on Yuma). Osamu in particular is a likable guy. I like how the main character's heroism is defined by wanting to save as many people as possible rather than taking down the big monster. Yuma's deal is that he's sort of amoral and doesn't know how to function in the real world, but he also sees right through social niceties to people's true intentions. He's a bit like an action version of L from Death Note, and an invaluable ally to the pushover Osamu, whose kindheartedness often forces him into a corner. Kitora is also nowhere near as irritating as she could've been in her role as "prom queen of murdering robotic axolotls."

The anime also drops hints toward things that weren't revealed in the manga yet, like Osamu's relationship with the black-haired girl in his class and the little creeping robots that appear before Neighbor attacks. There were a couple charming jokes, like Kitora's "accidental" posing while people were taking pictures without her consent. (This is the kind of show where jokes are "charming" rather than actually funny, but that's better than them being actively annoying, I guess.) World Trigger could be a competent introduction to an intriguing story, but it's hard to recommend sticking around for that because it's just so ugly.

Grade: C+

World Trigger is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.