World Trigger Episode 21 (It’s a Wonderful day in the Neighborhood)

 So, when last we left, we basically had a big boardroom meeting thing. This episode begins with that, so for the first chunk its pretty much exposition, but exposition that somewhat makes sense. Here it does so, and its not especially dull or boring, at least by this show’s standards. Its characters explaining, figuring things out, etc. While not extremely exciting or compelling, I can see a few finding some fascination with it.

So the Neighbor world s really more like the Neighbor’s worlds, since apparently, every country is in its own little world/pocket dimensions and its only when they orbit the other that they can come into contact/fight/etc. This explains why the Neighbors attack so infrequently; they have a limited time frame before their world is out of range to coming to earth.  It makes the Neighbor’s world seem much more alien (much more than having spears and medieval castles…>->), but also does give a better idea of why and how Neighbors operate. We also get a bit of info on Jin’s power, and how its not as broken as we first expected.

This..makes a lot of sense, and its a nice rule that keeps Jin’s powers from being just insanely overpowered. While he’s strong to those he knows, if he hasn’t encountered the threat or Nieghbors, he can’t see their future, which means he can’ fully predict when and how the invasion will occur.  They discuss which countries might be invading (and we learn each country is like Star Wars planets and defined by one thing), and even learn a neat tidbit that adds more to the Trion soldiers we’ve been seeing.

They’re essentially pokemon/capsule monsters. They’re formidable enough, they can be spammed out, and not take up space since apparently it takes a lot of Trion to go between worlds so conservation of space is key. Overall, while this scene wasn’t entertaining, it did at least world build a bit and hey, I’m a curious guy. Even if I find the main plot mundane, I can never get tired of nerdy world building trivia.

On the more mundane side, we first see a new character, Chika’s friend Izuho. I kind of like her. She’s sort of a slacker, but also friendly, laid back but also easily frustrated. So far, she adds more personality to this group that very much needs it. (Though I know Hideki still misses Konami).

We have a very brief scene with the angry guy and Jin, mostly with him being angry and brooding and making Hideki want him to just die because he hates him.

Jin comes along, saying he’s seen the future, and knows Osamu will be in trouble, but that jerk face will be able to help save him. While Jerkface doesn’t want to help, Jin says that he can recommend that jerk face gets his black Trigger. One thing I like about Jin is that, while he’s fun and cool and laid back and plays himself as this lovable upright guy, he’s really an expert manipulator who uses his foresight and charisma to be sometimes just scary in how good he can work people. I’m glad he’s on our side.

Duckface has a small scene where he says he won’t just take a promotion to B rank, but will do things the normal way, so as not to upset people who’d feel he got preferential treatment. However, at the same time, while being an official member of Border, he says to Replica he is not going to hold back from using his Black Trigger if his life is in danger. It does set up at least some conflict this show needs, as so often the danger and strain of these connecting parties just seems to fall flat. I hope they do go somewhere with that.

Anyways, we finally go back to school, which apparently they’ve been going to. I mean..time seems to be really askew now..i can’t tell how much time has passed since all the chaos at the beginning. And despite it happening at least we assume a while ago, only now does the student body know Osamu is an official Border agent. They act so impressed and fan over him, and being his usual self, Osamu is mostly embarrassed and unable to handle all the attention. Apparently also Izuho is a student at this school too.

We get a scene with everyone on the roof, reflecting on how things have gone and changed since they all met. I admit, I was almost nostalgic, thinking back all the way to when Hideki and I first saw this show….but then I remembered how much nothing has happened. Honestly, with all the content, we could have had these episodes split in half and the pacing would be much tighter. Its no longer extremely boring, but it hasn’t really impressed me yet either.

Also, unless you have never seen this show before, predictably at the end, the invasion begins. Its like..the fourth time the show has done this. Its not a surprise anymore when you have the bad thing happen as a cliffhanger, World Trigger!

Well, we had our episode of plot, exposition, and miiiiinor character development. We’ve had…3 episodes of build up for this invasion, so let’s see if it delivers. As always with World Trigger I am…cautiously optimistic. Until then, the series remains as it began….baby’s first shonen.