The main characters step up to the plate!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Daisuke Ashihara
Translation: Lillian Olsen
What They Say
Destroy thy Neighbor! A gate to another dimension has burst open, and invincible monsters called Neighbors invade Earth. Osamu Mikumo may not be the best among the elite warriors who co-opt other-dimensional technology to fight back, but along with his Neighbor friend Yuma, he’ll do whatever it takes to defend life on Earth as we know it. As the Neighbor invasion continues, Osamu’s brave defense of Chika lands him in combat against the Neighbor commander! Border’s weakest agent will have to do better than his best to win against a Trigger that seems to generate life itself. Follow the exciting saga in volume 8 of World Trigger!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the volume kicks off, the battles keep on rolling. The first big moment we get is the old man, Viza, using his trigger Organon. And as it’s a National Treasure of Aftokrator it shows off some serious power, effortlessly dicing some buildings to shreds. Reiji of course quickly falls to it, though he does manage to tag the old fellow in the leg before bailing out, which is something. And finally, the true battle starts up as Yuma and Jin take on Viza and Hyuse.
Yuma kicks things off in his fight with Viza, pulling off a few interesting tricks in the midst of the slugfest. On the other hand, Hyuse goes down to Jin pretty easily, which feels like something of a shame considering his rather interesting abilities. In one of the most interesting little bits of the volume, the members of Border actually manage to lure Enedora into the training room. This is a huge boon for them considering it both stalls him and lets them thoroughly analyze his powers, and it’s also rather clever of the book to use something like this in such an unorthodox manner.
Finally, Hyrein takes center stage with his ability to create “animals” that turn any Trion they encounter into cubes. When Chika gets hit by his attack, Osamu has to take charge of her massive power to get her to safety, but can he possibly manage the task?
In Summary
Though this volume is the one that sees the “main” battles kicking off with the central cast, it actually doesn’t really live up to the “side battles” of last time. Which isn’t to say it’s bad, but it’s hard to say any of the fights really push things very far here. Osamu does get a nice moment in the spotlight here, and of course Yuma does get a solid fight himself, unsurprisingly. And we do get a cool little moment of Border utilizing an unexpected asset in their defense, which is nice to see. On the other hand, though, Jin’s fight is a bit too simple and feels like kind of a waste, and the volume is just a little lacking in the wow factor needed to push things over the edge. Still, this is a solid enough read that should keep fans happy, and hopefully the arc will pick up a bit more steam as it continues to approach its conclusion.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: January 5th, 2016
MSRP: $9.99
