With the anime's second season recently ended, World Trigger is one of Shonen Jump's biggest sleeper hits, clocking in at over 200 chapters and nearly 100 episodes of its anime. Featuring an invasion storyline with an ever-growing cast, World Trigger has been incredibly long-lived in both animated and published form, becoming a hit with fans thanks to its unique sci-fi premise.
With a third season of the anime confirmed for later this year, here's how readers and viewers can get caught up with one of Shonen Jump's most underrated series.
The Story of World Trigger
World Trigger was created in 2013 by Daisuke Ashihara. When Mikado City is attacked by interdimensional insectoid monsters referred to in the series as "Neighbors," Border, or the National Defense Agency, are the only ones with the technology and weaponry capable of repelling the beasts, who are otherwise impervious to everyday human technology.
Thanks to the protection of Border, Mikado City and its citizens are able to return to a sense of normalcy, even if they still have persistent run-ins with the deadly Neighbors. Meanwhile, a boy named Yuma Kuga, who's actually a humanoid Neighbor, begins attending a nearby school. He befriends Osamu Mikumo, a student who secretly works with Border and helps Kuga hide in plain sight from a society primed to hunt him down.
Where to Read World Trigger
World Trigger's manga ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2013 to 2018, when it was moved to Jump Square, where it has been published ever since. All of World Trigger's 208 chapters are available via the Shonen Jump app, with the several most recent available for free on the Manga Plus website and app, as well. The series can also be read on Viz Media's website.
The series currently has 22 physical volumes available in English. These can be purchased through online and physical retailers like Amazon, Books-a-Million, Barnes and Noble and Wal-Mart. It can also be read online through Comixology and Kindle.
Where to Watch World Trigger
World Trigger's anime adaptation was done by Toei Animation, with its initial season airing from 2014 to 2016. This first season was a total of 73 episodes, which is unusual even for a shonen series. Its second season, which ran from January to April of this year, was much shorter at just 12 episodes. It was announced, however, that the third season will be arriving later this year, further bolstering the nearly 100-episode long size of the series.
The anime was once available on both Netflix and Hulu, but that's sadly no longer the case. It can, however, be streamed through both Crunchyroll and VRV, with the former also partnering with Sentai Filmworks for physical home releases in English, as well. This includes a recently released Blu-ray collection of the series so far, which can be purchased on Right Stuff Anime and Amazon. Fans can use these means to catch up with the anime for when it finally returns later this year.
