World Trigger Vol 5 by Daisuke Ashihara

Training and rank wars continue as several top, elite agents test the apprentices of Jin to see what all the fuss is about. First up is Mikumo against Kazama. The two go 25 rounds, with 24 going to the A-ranked Kazama, and a tie on the very last battle. Then, after fighting for as many rank points as he could, Yuma challenges A-rank Satori for being disrespectful to Mikumo. Chika also wows the trainers and execs with her off-the-charts Trion levels. It’s all fun and games until Jin’s side effect predicts a massive invasion from Neighbor, which leaves everyone preparing for battle.

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This series is a really well-done adventure story. There are a lot of characters when you take into account all of the teams that play a part in the Border agency, but through natural storytelling, we are starting to focus on specific ones and learn more about individual members.  There are some more reveals in this volume that are necessary.  Overall, there’s a good piecemeal feeding of background/world building information that’s not overwhelming. Every volume, we get a little deeper into the mechanics of the Neighbor world, and after what was given to us in this volume, I am even more intrigued by the concept of Neighbors.

The illustrations continue to be really detailed and well done.  Action sequences are easy to follow.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4

​Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Science Fiction, Action Adventure