World Trigger Vol 3 by Daisuke Ashihara

Yuma, Mikumo, and Amatori have joined the Tamakoma branch of Border, and their hope is to rise to the level of S-Rank so that they can be chosen for a mission to the Neighbor home world.  We learn that Yuma, as well as Jin, possess Black Triggers, the strongest of all triggers, and Border wants to take Yuma's trigger from him.  But, Black triggers are made when someone sacrifices their life for you, so transferring of Black Triggers is nearly impossible.  Yuma and Jin both tell the story of who sacrificed for their black triggers: for Jin, it was his mentor; for Yuma, it was his father during a battle when he was young, preserving Yuma as a twelve-year-old.  Yuma also has a limited amount of time to solve the problem of his preserved body, because it is deteriorating.  We also learn that Yuma's side-effect is really handy, especially when it comes to dealing with the squads from other Border branches who come to steal his black trigger!

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This volume provides some much-needed information on the world of the Neighbors.  Yuma's backstory is tragic, and Ashihara-san has introduced the ticking-time-bomb plot device with his degradation, which will certainly accelerate some of the plot.  And who could have guessed that the big-bad agency fighting the war was also big and... well, bad.  As is a common trope, there is one faction that is altruistic and wants to simultaneously protect Earth and help the good Neighbors from the bad ones, but there are factions that exist only to grasp more power in any way they can get it.  Hopefully, Mikumo can someday soon graduate away from the training trigger he's been carrying all this time, and we'll actually get some other fighters in the mix besides Yuma.

Sara's Rating: 10/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2

Tags: Rating: 10/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Science Fiction