“Border’s Top Teams”


「ボーダートップチーム」 (Bouda Toppu Chimu)

Filler and Flashbacks:

Ever since the 50 episode announcement I’ve noticed the increase in filler, and this episode just took the cake. Episode 10 was potentially the worst offender, adapting just over one chapter and stretching out what little there was, but the one-time increase in animation quality was enough for me to overlook it. As for this episode, there was no smooth animation, no artistry present, it was just flat and it could have been so much better. Whilst it followed the same two chapter per episode formula that most of the episodes have, we really could have done with a serious speed up and covered some more content. But this is Toei, and they’ve cursed the series with its ridiculous length, which means they’ve already starting adding filler. The very first scene was one of those moments, and much like Osamu’s extra cleaning/card game it was an attempt at comedy that was completely unfunny. The cheap sound effects didn’t help either.

And when there wasn’t filler, there were flashbacks. Sure, they weren’t as annoying, but when you’re basically given a rehash of what we already know and have seen in the recap at the start of the episode, it becomes very redundant. it’s cheap. It’s Toei. What more can you expect at this point?

Fan Favourites Appear:

Even if I did find this episode lacking in content, at the very least we got to see members from the strongest squads return from their mission, bringing back foreign Triggers that I’m sure will be relevant to the plot in the long run. Kazama Soya (Midorikawa Hikaru) is one of the most popular characters in the series, who I’d consider a much more easygoing Miwa (I always get the two of them mixed up in the manga). Another popular addition is Izumi Kohei (Ishikawa Kaito) who may not leave much of an impression now, though I’m sure fellow manga readers have their own thoughts on him. I like these characters; I don’t love them, but I appreciate the growing cast of World Trigger and if I were say one positive for the anime, it would be that it’s a lot easier to tell everyone apart than it can be in the manga. That being said, the manga is much better in nearly every other way.

Tachikawa Kei (Namikawa Daisuke) is the one character that sticks out the most, if only for his position. He’s the leader of the very top Tachikawa Squad, and holder of the No.1 Attacker title – he’s essentially the strongest melee-range Border agent, so you know he’s someone to keep an eye on. There’s obviously the few S-Rank agents such a Jin who are higher again, but that has more to do with Black Triggers. Still, the promised fight between two of the top Border agents is probably the most exciting event in the series so far. It’s just a shame that we never actually got to see it in this episode like I had hoped (because, again, poor pacing). But that’ll be for next week

Overview – Dropping Coverage:

Sadly though, my weekly coverage of World Trigger stops here. You could argue that things are only starting to get good, but even if we are at the better material now, this adaptation is simply not going to capture what made the manga so enjoyable. World Trigger may not be the best performing manga in Weekly Shonen Jump (right now that we be One Piece, Haikyuu!!, and Ansatsu Kyoushitsu) but it really got the short end of the stick when it comes to anime adaptations. Toei can produce great stuff – I mean, a few of my top 10 anime are done by Toei – but this was clearly not something that they cared enough about to give it the anime it deserved.

To all those who are enjoying the anime, I hope you keep watching and consider reading the manga as well. To all those who hate it and are still watching, I also think you should read the manga if you haven’t already. World Trigger is fun, and I’m glad it’s gotten new fans out of this, but we could have had so much more. This could have been the next big thing but that’s impossible now – we’ll need to wait until a Boku no Hero Academia anime comes out in 2016/2017 before that happens.

Note: If you’re still wanting to see what I think about World Trigger, I’ll be covering it in the Monthly Impressions posts from now on.

 

 

Information Digest:

Synopsis:

  • Four and a half years ago, a gate to another world appeared in Mikado City. From the gate the Neighbours appeared to wreck havoc.
  • But the mysterious Border defence agency arrived to fight back against the alien invaders, allowing the city’s residents to live their lives normally again.

Previously:

  • After learning of the different fighting classes of the Border agents, Chika decided to become a Sniper.
  • Chika, Osamu, and Yuma all met the A-rank agents of Tamakoma and together started on their training in time for the Rank Tournaments.


 

Details Digest:

Chapters Covered:

  • Chapters 24 – 25

New Character Introductions:

Perspective Matters:

Preview

Omake

23 Comments

    1. Kind of. But I tried to be as positive as I could because I enjoyed the manga, but then again I did think last episode was one of the better ones in a while. This one wasn’t. But the main reason for dropping this is the sheer length of the adaptation and how it’s likely to fair in the long run. We saw in this episode that they’ve started with the padding filler, and it’s only going to get worse. I said from the start that I was really hoping this would be two-cour, but that’s not the case anymore. If it was I would 100% have stuck with it until the end, no matter how bad it was.

      That being said, I’ve enjoyed covering it, but I just wish we got a better adaptation, y’know?

      Samu
  1. Wow, been a busy weekend, but there is nothing better than you start the new year with your favourite animes.

    Thank you for the reviews so far, Samu. It has been enjoyable reading them. I understand and share some of your frustrations with this adaptation and Toei. For some reason the studio does not seem to care and it is not very fair on the original source material, although, my criticism for this show is lenient compared another Toei series that I’m following right now.

    With regards to this episode, I think Jin is a really nice person. I particularly liked it when he said to the pursuers, “It may be a mere Black Trigger to you, but to the original owner it is more important than his life.” And Konami’s shocked expression reminds me of something from The Rose of Versailles.

    WarriorsHeart
  2. Can’t believe they managed to delay fight -.- I was looking forward to it and I thought that it would be good episode for your last coverage but I guess Toei ain’t so generous XD

    Half episode spent on fillers that really served no purpose and this is the first time I was annoyed by them (especially that card/cleaning filler)..Despite that I am genuinely enjoying World Trigger in big part thanks to characters that I find likeable. Usually by now I would found some characters to sigh over or some girl would be to saccharine for me but that is no case with World Trigger, I like them all, some less some more but no one is annoying me 😀

    Thanks for covering it, since I had no interest whatsoever but your first impression and praise made me go watch it early. Looking forward to monthly impressions 🙂

    Kaguya
  3. This is the only weekly article I’m reading on this website. I’m sad and disappointed that you gave up on it (and I’m sure I’m not the only one). Thank you for covering it.

    disappointed
    1. I’m sorry that you’re disappointed, but I appreciate that you enjoyed my coverage that much. I hope you can find some other posts to follow weekly – it may not be the best anime season, but there’s sure to be something that’s caught your eye.

      Samu
  4. I didn’t read the manga yet, but I like the anime. It’s a bit slow sometimes, but I don’t think it’s as bad as people say it is. For me this was one of the most enjoyable anime’s of the fall season, together with Nanatsu no taizai and Akatsuki no Yona. I’m sure I will enjoy the rest of the series as well.

    Vercammen
  5. I haven’t read the manga either and I enjoy the anime. Yes, its slow paced, but still entertaining.

    So Samu, even if its a bad adaption, it can still catch ppl for the show. Don’t feel too miserable about it. ^.^

    Pega
  6. “World Trigger may not be the best performing manga in Weekly Shonen Jump”

    It actually is. It finished December in 4th place.

    And this anime adaptation is pretty decent. I don’t really get all the whining. Outside RandomC, I see people enjoying it too.

    André
    1. World Trigger performing well in the table of contents on only a few occasions isn’t enough to say it’s one of the best performing manga in the magazine, by which I mean it’s pretty average, though closer the bottom. It’s not near the top dogs (in terms of ranking, popularity, sales) like One Piece, HQ!!, Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, Bleach (despite its poor rankings it still has great sales), Gintama, Shokugeki no Soma, Nisekoi, and Toriko. They all generally do better than it.

      Also I think the ‘whining’ has been very tame here in comparison to what I’ve seen on several other sites.

      Samu
    2. “And this anime adaption is pretty decent.”

      IMO and in the opinion of others it isn’t. I don’t really get all the support. Outside of RandomC, I see people hating on it too.

      Noragami!

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