about the book
Osamu Mikumo always does the right thing, no matter what. He is a fifteen-year-old nerdy high schooler whose home is in Mikado City.
One day, as a gate to another dimension bursts open above the city, monsters invade Earth. Some of the monsters are horrible and invincible. Others are not scary at all. These humanoids could pass for your next door neighbor, and that is what they are called…Neighbors. Scary looking or not, all the alien monsters have one thing in common: they are single minded on completing their mission—taking over this world.
Before the city is totally overrun, a group of special warriors, the Border Defense Agency, show up. With technology from other dimensions, they fight the monsters, stabilize the city, and control the dimensional gate. Life goes on as normal.
One of the warriors, Osuma Mikumo, is training to be one of these elite soldiers, but he isn’t very good yet. Of course, he must keep his warrior identity secret. Between homework assignments and class time, Osuma joins in the battles. If a civilian realizes that Osuma is a hero, their minds are quickly erased.
A new transfer student, Yuma Kuga enrolls in the school and ends up being Osuma’s next door neighbor. A friendly feisty kid, he seems to be a little out of it. But Yuma has his own secret, and it’s a doozy. He really is a humanoid Neighbor. Osuma’s world is about to be turned on its head.
Yuma can help Osuma; he has both the experience and the strength. If these two enemies can become friends, there will be far reaching implications for the future!
(Check out the comic panels during the battle scenes. They change size and shape, overlap, jut out, lay at crazy angles. It makes for a really unusual look!)
about the author/illustrator
Daisuke Ashihara was born on February 13, 1981, in Tokyo, Japan, and now makes his home in Okayama. He began his career as a mangaka at the age of 26. His manga Room 303 won second place in the 75th Tezuka Awards. In 2009, his first series Super Dog Rilienthal began serialization in the prestigious Weekly Shonen Jump.
World Trigger is his second serial and also appears in the Weekly Shonen Jump. It has been printed in graphic novel format and is being made into a television anima series. Daisuke also does several online one-shots of both Super Dog Rilienthal and World Trigger.
World Trigger came about when Daisuke’s editor encouraged him to be more bold and come up with a new manga very different from his previous work—“to go for it!” You’d think Daisuke would go a little crazy and just jump into ideas, but he went after his new goal very methodically. First he created characters and placed them into different roles to see which would be the most interesting. He added new characters, tossed some of the others out. Then he started working on building an entire new world and coming up with a story plot.
Daisuke is real sci-fi fan, enthralled with the idea of bringing future technology into the present and using it in unusual ways. He reviewed Doraemon stories, and Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and Tunnel in the Sky. A gate that led to another part of space was the perfect vehicle for his characters. World Trigger was born.
Sources:
Author/illustrator details: Anime News Network
Author/illustrator Q&A: Wikia
Also by Daisuke Ashihara:
World Trigger (Books 2-12). Viz Media. 2014-2016.
read more!
Seraph of the End : Vampire Reign : 1 by Takaya Kagami
After an epidemic kills every adult on earth, vampires enslave the remaining children as blood donors. Yuichiro and his friend Mikaela dream of escaping, but when the children stage an escape, all are murdered during the attempt except for Yuichiro. Now his only goal is to get revenge. He must overcome his aversion to working on a team so that he can earn a spot in the Moon Demon Company of the Vampire Extermination Unit.
World Trigger : 2 by Daisuke Ashihara
Together with his friendly neighbor, Yuma, C-Ranked Border Agent Osamu Mikumo has been making headway in the fight against the waves of seemingly invincible aliens. However, another Border Agent may have found out that Yuma is really a half-humanoid alien Neighbor. If his identity is exposed, many will want to kill him for his technology—and that will spell real trouble.