World Trigger Vol. 1 TP
Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Price: $9.99
Creator: Daisuke Ashihara
Format: 192 pgs., B&W, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9-781-4215-7764-7
Age Rating: 13+
ICv2 Rating: 2 stars out of 5

The story of World Trigger starts simply enough; Osamu is an average high school student living in a town that is constantly under attack by aliens from another dimension called Neighbors.  A mysterious transfer student enters his class one day and soon after Osamu discovers that this new student is actually a Neighbor himself which puts Osamu in a bind because he is secretly a member of the agency called Border which is supposed to protect the population from Neighbors.  Here's the twist: Osamu isn't some bad ass hero who saves the day at every turn… he is actually pretty useless and gets beat up by bullies on a fairly regular basis throughout the book.
 
World Trigger has a pretty basic concept but I had serious hopes that it would pan out into something amazing by the time the book was done.  Wow was I wrong.  This is a book that fails to deliver on just about every page.  The hero is weak and useless and the secondary lead is dense and clueless (which I suppose makes sense since he is an alien from another dimension).  Then you have the artwork and action which can be called less than inspired.  None of it is particularly well done or gripping.
 
If you have a younger reader in your life and you're looking for something that would appeal to them I could see the simple concepts and artwork appealing to them but other than that, it's hard to imagine that this book would appeal to many people outside of that demographic.
 
World Trigger is hardly a series worth writing home about.  There's nothing particularly special about it and I am amazed that it's being turned into an anime series this season.
 
--L.B. Bryant