World Trigger (Japanese:ワールドトリガー,Hepburn:Wārudo Torigā), also known asWorTri (Japanese:ワートリ,Hepburn:Wātori), is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated byDaisuke Ashihara [ja]. It was initially serialized inShueisha'sshōnen manga magazineWeekly Shōnen Jump from February 2013 to November 2018, and transferred toJump Square in December 2018. Its chapters have been collected in 28tankōbon volumes as of February 2025. In North America, the manga has been licensed for English release byViz Media.
Ananime television series adaptation produced byToei Animation was aired onTV Asahi from October 2014 to April 2016. A second season aired from January to April 2021, and a third season aired from October 2021 to January 2022.
One day, a gate to another world opens in Mikado City (三門市,Mikado-shi) and monsters called "Neighbors" (近界民,Neibā;lit.'Near-world people') start appearing from it. Humanity struggles to fight the Neighbors, as their weapons are ineffective against them, until a mysterious organization appears that is able to repel the Neighbors' attacks. The organization is called the National Defense Agency, or "Border", and has appropriated the Neighbor technology "Triggers", which allows its user to channel an internal energy called Trion and use it as a weapon or for other purposes. When a Trigger is activated, the user's body is replaced with a battle-body made of Trion.
Four years following the appearance of the gate, the people of Mikado City have become accustomed to fighting with the Neighbors and have mostly returned to everyday life. One day, a mysterious white-haired student named Yūma Kuga (空閑 遊真,Kuga Yūma) transfers to the local school. Kuga is actually a strong humanoid Neighbor, which he seeks to hide from Border. At school, he meets another student, Osamu Mikumo (三雲 修,Mikumo Osamu), who is secretly a C-rank Border trainee. Since Kuga is unfamiliar with life in Mikado City, Mikumo must help him adjust to life there and keep him a secret from Border.
Written and illustrated byDaisuke Ashihara [ja],World Trigger started inShueisha'sshōnen manga magazineWeekly Shōnen Jump on February 9, 2013.[2] Due to health issues on the part of the author, it was put on hiatus in November 2016.[3] The series resumed publication on October 29, 2018, and ran until November 26 of the same year, before being transferred to the monthly manga magazineJump Square on December 4, 2018.[4] Shueisha has collected its chapters into individualtankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on July 4, 2013.[5] As of February 4, 2025, 28 volumes have been released.[6]
In North America,Viz Media licensed the series for English release in 2014.[7] The first volume was released on October 7, 2014.[8] As of August 1, 2023, 25 volumes have been released.[9]
In May 2014, ananime adaptation ofWorld Trigger was announced to start airing in October of the same year.[10][11] The series is produced byToei Animation and was broadcast onTV Asahi from October 5, 2014 to April 3, 2016.[12][13][14][15] The series is directed byMitsuru Hongo with series composition byHiroyuki Yoshino. Toshihisa Kaiya and Hitomi Tsuruta are the character designers and animation directors, and the music is composed byKenji Kawai.[16] The cast includesNobuhiko Okamoto,Rie Kugimiya,Hideyuki Tanaka,Nao Tamura,Jun Fukuyama,Tomo Muranaka,Yūki Kaji andYūichi Nakamura.[17][18][19] The series was slated to run for 50 episodes,[20] but ended up having 73 episodes.[21] In summer 2015, theWorld Trigger Summer Festival 2015 event announcedWorld Trigger: Isekai Kara no Tōbōsha, a brand new series with an original story not presented in theWorld Trigger manga, and with new characters and concepts.[22] This "new series" actually ended up being the "Fugitive Arc" of the anime, which ran from Episodes 49 to 63. On March 7, 2016, it was confirmed that theWorld Trigger anime would end, after it was announced that TV Asahi would be replacing the time slot airing it with sports programming.[23] TheNagoya trio Sonar Pocket performed the anime's first opening theme, "Girigiri" (ギリギリ;lit.'Borderline').[24] The second opening theme is "Ashita no Hikari" (アシタノヒカリ;lit.'The Light of Tomorrow') byAAA.[25] The third opening theme is Dream Trigger (ドリームトリガー,Dorīmu Torigā) byPile.[26]
During Jump Festa '20, it was announced that the series would receive a second season, with the cast reprising their roles and Toei Animation returning to produce the series.[27][15] Morio Hatano is the new series director, while the rest of the staff are reprising their roles.[28] The second season aired on TV Asahi'sNUMAnimation block from January 10 to April 4, 2021.[29] The opening theme is "Force" byTXT, and the ending theme is "Mirai Eigō" (未来永劫;lit.'The Endless Future') by Kami wa Saikoro o Furanai.[30]
During Jump Festa '21, it was announced that the series would receive a third season.[31] The third season aired from October 10, 2021 to January 23, 2022.[32][33] The opening theme is "Time Factor" (タイムファクター,Taimu Fakutā) by Kami wa Saikoro o Furanai, and the ending theme is "Ungai Shōkei" (雲外憧憬;lit.'Yearning to Be Above the Clouds') by Fantastic Youth.[34][35]
In North America, Toei announced in July 2015 that they would be producing an English dub withOcean Productions.[36][21] The series began airing in the United States onPrimo TV on January 16, 2017.[37] The English dub became available onCrunchyroll on February 11, 2020.[38] In September 2020,Crunchyroll announced a "home video and electronic sell-through distribution" partnership withSentai Filmworks to distribute anime titles on home video.[39] The series was released on Blu-ray on June 8, 2021.[40] On October 8, 2021, it was announced the English dub of season 2 will be released in 2022.[41] The dub for the second and third season were released on a variety ofdownload to own platforms beginning on October 4, 2022.[42]
APlayStation Vita action game developed byArtdink titledWorld Trigger: Borderless Mission (ワールドトリガー ボーダレスミッション) was released in Japan on September 17, 2015.[43] AniOS andAndroid game developed byGanbarion titledWorld Trigger: Smash Borders (ワールドトリガー スマッシュボーダーズ) was released on July 21, 2015.[44] It was later released on PlayStation Vita on February 17, 2016.[45] Both were published byBandai Namco Games.
World Trigger was the 20th best-selling manga of 2016, with over 1.2 million copies sold.[46] By July 2023, the manga had over 15 million copies in circulation.[47]
The series ranked 43rd on the 2014 "Book of the Year" list fromMedia Factory'sDa Vinci magazine, where professional book reviewers, bookstore employees, andDa Vinci readers participate;[48] it ranked 33rd on the 2015 list;[49] 31st on the 2019 list;[50] 44th on the 2021 list;[51] ninth on the 2022 list;[52] and 26th on the 2023 list.[53]
In a 2016 reader's poll onGoo, the series was voted as the fifth most likely to become aWeekly Shōnen Jump signature series.[54] OnTV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series,World Trigger ranked fourteenth.[55]
Rebecca Silverman ofAnime News Network said that "World Trigger is an exciting read that distributes its information organically rather than relying on info-dumps."[56]
The first season of the anime received criticism stemming from Toei's handling of the adaptation. Gabriella Ekens fromAnime News Network referred to the production as "incompetent" and "baffling", stating "World Trigger isn't a bad show, but it's a terrible adaptation."[59]
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