WARNING: The following contains spoilers for World Trigger, Season 2, Episode 6, “Strong Will”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Episode 5 of World Trigger Season 2 showcased how well the show's protagonists in Tamakoma Second have leveled-up, using new weapons. In Episode 6 of Season 2, however, it's their opponents’ turn to fight back with some new ideas of their own, revealing how World Trigger allows all its characters, not just its heroes, a chance to change and grow as they compete against each other. In particular, Kakizaki overcomes his hyper-cautious nature to take some major risks.
Tamakoma Second’s biggest advantage is having the only sniper on the field, and an incredibly powerful one at that. Now that Chika can use both her regular cannons to destroy buildings along with lead bullets that are impervious to shields, she is able to clear the battlefield of buildings with her cannon shots which allow her to get a clean line of sight to snipe anyone with lead bullets. Chika’s cannon shot is especially useful when used in conjunction with Osamu’s wires. However, their opponents Kakizaki and Katori teams see through their strategy and decide to team up against Tamakoma Second before they're trapped.
Kakizaki and Katori's teams both have three fighters, which means they can each take on Yuma or Osamu in a one-on-three battle (though Chika might change this to more of a two-on-three battle). Both teams want to avoid encountering the stronger Yuma, but the Kakizaki Unit draws the short straw. Kakizaki Unit has three good all-round fighters, able to use both guns and close-range weapons. Even with such a good team, however, Kakizaki has remained in the middle tier of the B rank. This episode reveals that this is mainly due to his overly cautious personality.
Kakizaki joined Border along with current A rank team leader Arashiyama. At a PR event, they were both asked some tough questions, while Kakizaki was carefully thinking about how to properly answer, Arashiyama already had a good answer. Kakizaki later left the Arashiyama team after they took on PR duties. He believes he lacks the confidence to directly face tough situations, and his cautiousness can often hinder his performances and slow him down during critical moments.
Kakizaki’s carefulness pays off in some ways; his team's three-person formation is very stable so that the team members can always watch each other’s backs. However, there's a downside to this formation: it stops the members from moving away freely even when it’s beneficial to do so. When the team first encounters Yuma, member Kotaro suggests that he should go after Chika first, but Kakizaki decides against it, and this decision caused Kotaro to be taken out quickly by Yuma with an assist from Chika’s lead bullet.
The remaining team member Fumika once again suggests that they need to first take out Chika to have any chance of winning. Kakizaki finally lets Fumika go to attack Chika alone, a surprising decision for Kakizaki as he rarely puts his teammates in dangerous situations alone. Kakizaki has an inferiority complex and feels he is not a good enough leader for his gifted teammates, so he believes all he can do is protect them from harm.
Unfortunately, Kakizaki’s decision may have come a little too late, as he has a very hard time fighting Yuma alone. Even so, his plan is much bolder than people expected, showing that he's growing and changing. He intentionally sacrifices himself and takes Yuma’s attack so that he can get close enough to shoot him. Yuma takes a point-blank hit and is sure to be injured, if not completely taken out of the battle.
Kakizaki’s decisions in Episode 6 of World Trigger demonstrate an evolution in his thinking as he starts to gain the confidence he needs to be a good leader. He can finally delegate responsibilities and trusts his young teammates to freely reach their own potential. While his personality might trend towards cautiousness, he's finally about to take major risks in order to defeat his tough opponent.
