You ready for more internal politics of Border? I know I AM. But seriously, this continues the trend of World Trigger to incredible mediocrity and boredom. We learn quid a few things about Border this episode…and basically most of it is stupid.
They bring 4-eyes and Jin to the meeting room and question things. However, despite pointing out he’s there and involved, no charges are put on 4 Eyes at all. So saving civilians is liable for being kicked out of Corpse, but aiding and abetting an unknown and possibly dangerous Neighbor does not require any kind of punishment or looking it over. Jin says how Kuga’s got this Black Trigger, which means he’s super powerful. Jin says how hey, that could be good for defeating Neighbors if they had it (and by extension Duckface) on their side. The big leader guy is like “We could….so capture/kill that Neighbor and steal his Black Trigger”.
But then Jin’s like “oh, I can’t do that, I can only take orders from my direct superior.” Even though the other leaders point out it doesn’t even matter, General Scar gives the order to Jin’s head, Maes Hughes. He’s like “ehhh..get the trigger, but do what you want.” and Scarface is like “Well, you undermined me but whatev’s I need a smoke break.”
Jin’s like “Ok” and then as he’s walking with 4 Eyes, who has done nothing, explains something interesting yet stupid. Apparently all 3 branches of Border are separated into different branches based on ideology. There’s the Douchebags, the slightly less douchebags, and the ones the main heroes are likely going to be in.
So, for an organization that has one goal, to help protect the city and deal with Neighbors, there’s three sections who focus on different things. And its not just differences in ideologies, they’re branches which will undermine and mess with the other purely to keep power, even though THEY’RE ALL ON THE SAME SIDE!!!! I mean seriously…when you fight aliens, you think you can at least stop from messing with each other for your own agenda and just deal with the threat at hand. Basically, Jin being sent to get Duckface’s trigger would tip the balance of power, yeah? Well, here’s a few things. For one, a leader on the OPPOSITE side sent Jin to do it, intentionally causing this. Secondly, there’s the obvious. If one faction reacts to possible allies by blowing them up and another by allying with them, who do YOU think will become stronger?
Wait…three separate factions…giant monsters, soldiers meant to fight them, a military organization with uniforms……
We also find something else out, that Border was founded by…DUCKFACE’S FATHER dramatic music Like…when they ask about Duckface after ordering his death sentence, they find out “oh yeah, its that guy who totally founded Border and gave us all of his before the neighbor attacks even began.” Apparently, he wanted Border to be a bridge between Neighbor’s and humans…but it became, well this.
And even after finding this out, that Duckface isn’t dangerous and is the son of the guy who THEY ALL SERIOUSLY OWE ONE TOO, they’re still like “take the trigger”. These guys would kill a golden goose, then bury its eggs deep in the earth to make goose trees and then lose track of them.
And how does Jin carry out his mission of getting the Black Trigger from Duck Face?
Ask him to join Border.
So, the tension the episode built up of Jin being forced to fight Duckface? Gone, pointless, all a trap. The only tension, however false is will be, is the rest of the Border people planning on ambushing Duckface to steal his trigger.
Ok, there’s one kinda good part this episode, and its between Duckface and Chika. They seem to have a genuinely nice kind of friendship, and while there’s stuff like Duckface still not learning how to ride a bike, its more riveting than people talking in a meeting room about nothing. I like how when Chika asks him about Neighbors, he says how, just like humans, there’s different countries that are unique and see humans a different way. The real reason she asks is because she wants to know if her best friend and her brother were alive, since they were taken. This is fine, but it brings up the point I made when this was brought up. Why take the people close to her if she has such high Trion instead of, ya know, TAKING HER? Did the alien lifeforms want to demoralize the little girl first before taking her for harvesting? Seriously?
But I said I liked this part, right? Well, Duckface talks about his dad, and how his dad gave him three rules to live by. 1. Learn to rely on yourself. This isn’t the same as just caring only about yourself, but its making sure you rely on yourself and don’t rely on others to do everything for you. 2. Don’t stress on finding the right answer. Some problems have multiple solutions, or even no solutions. Make the best calls you can and don’t sweat finding the perfect path. and 3. Don’t blindly follow everything your parents tell you; they’re not infallible. I give kudos because these are actually good lessons and ones you don’t normally see in most shows, especially from parents. I am so used to parents going “just do what I say” but here its like “look I’m not always right and don’t believe all I say is perfect.” So, I likes this part. Honestly, Duckface’s dad seems like the most interesting character…where’s HIS story, dammit!!!!
One last thing to mention is the padding and awful pacing. The episode constantly uses flashbacks of other episodes, for a prolonged amount of time. Any action and sentence is carried out as slowly as possible. Each episode more and more is really, really stretching to make it that 2o minute mark. ‘
Overall, this episode has just raised more questions. I don’t care about the heroes or anything they do, I don’t care about the world. Everything is so bland and lifeless and whenever I find something slightly interesting they bury it and stretch it out till it becomes one with the tedious mess. Honestly, I am glad this series has only one season. I heard it would get good, but this honestly is too little too late.