The World Trigger Season 4 anime TV series will complete the B-Rank Wars story arc and move on to adapting the Expedition Selection Exam story arc.
But with manga creator Daisuke Ashihara’s health problems still plaguing him and causing multiple World Trigger hiatus, how will that affect the future of the anime TV series? And when will World Trigger Season 4 come out?
The World Trigger Season 4 anime will be produced by Japanese animation studio Toei Animation, which is best known for series like One Piece, Dragon Ball Super, Digimon, and the Sailor Moon Crystal anime reboot.
The main staff for World Trigger Season 4 hasn’t been announced yet. However, it’s likely that at least some of the original staff members will return for the fourth season.
Replacing Kouji Ogawa, the second and third season was helmed by director Morio Hatano. He’s known for being the series director for Dragon Ball Super episodes 33 – 76 and the first 51 episodes of Saint Seiya Omega. If the fourth season is already being planned out it makes sense to have a director like Morio in charge based on his experience.
Several staff members from the first season returned for the second and third. Returning writer Hiroyuki Yoshino (Code Geass, Magi, Strike The Blood) wrote the series composition.
Returning artist Toshihisa Kaiya (Ascendance of a Bookworm, Haikyuu!!) was the character designer. Returning composer Kenji Kawai (Mob Psycho 100 Season 3, Fate/stay night, No Guns Life) was creating the music.
The World Trigger Season 4 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
For the third season, the OP “Time Factor” was performed by rock band Kami wa Saikoro o Furanai, while the ED “Yearning to Be Above the Clouds (Ungair Doukei)” was performed by Fantastic Youth.
The first season had six cours with 73 episodes in total, which were bundled into three Blu-ray volumes released on March 10, 2021.
What’s a “cour,” you might ask? For those unfamiliar with the lingo, a “cour” is a three-month block of TV broadcasting based on the physical seasons, usually composed of 10 to 13 episodes.
The plan for the continuation of the anime TV series is apparently revolving around the manga creator taking multiple hiatus/breaks in recent years. The release schedule seems to have changed on the fly based on how the official announcements were worded.
For example, the second season was apparently intended to be two straight cours. But then according to the official Twitter profile they “decided to make a third season since the story was divided into two parts”.
The second season was originally supposed to end in 13 episodes according to the official Toei Animation website, but then in April 2021, the second season was changed to only 12 episodes.
In effect, the third season was essentially like a split-cour anime, which is when a single season takes a broadcasting break for several cours. But in this case, the separate cours were officially titled as separate numbered seasons. (A similar thing happened with the announcements for the 86 Season 2 anime TV series.)
The third season held another surprise. Originally, the official website only listed 12 episodes in total, but then they unexpectedly announced two extra episodes for January 2022.
Due to that change, the third season’s finale, World Trigger Season 3 Episode 14 (World Trigger Episode 99 in the overall series), was released on January 22, 2022. It was originally scheduled to broadcast on January 15, 2022, but was delayed by a week due to special programming related to the volcanic activity in Tonga.
The first 12 episodes of the third season were released as two Blu-Ray volumes and four DVD volumes. The two BD volumes contained 7 episodes each, while DVD Volumes 1 and 3 contained three episodes each, and DVD Volumes 2 and 4 contained four episodes each.
The World Trigger Season 3 BD Volume 1 release date was on April 27, 2022, while BD Volume 2 came out on June 22, 2022.
- Updated January 6, 2023: There are enough chapters for making World Trigger Season 4.
- Updated April 26, 2022: Added World Trigger hiatus for May 2022.
- Updated February 28, 2022: Added info from World Trigger event.
- Updated January 16, 2022: World Trigger Season 3 Episode 14 release date delayed.
- Updated December 27, 2021: World Trigger 2022 hiatus details.
- Updated December 23, 2021: Added details about World Trigger Season 3 Episodes 13 and 14.
This article provides everything that is known about World Trigger Season 4 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
World Trigger 4 release date predictions: Is a quick turnaround in 2023 unlikely?
As of the last update, Studio Toei Entertainment or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the World Trigger Season 4 release date. Although the ending of the third season promised that the anime TV series will be “continued”, the production of the World Trigger 4 sequel has not been announced yet.
Once the news is officially confirmed, this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the World Trigger 4 release date will occur in the future.
Fans of the series had hoped that more information about the fourth season would be announced at World Trigger Festival 2022 on February 27, 2022. This event at Tokyo Dome City Hall featured the Japanese voice cast from the previous three anime seasons.
Unfortunately, it was only a celebratory event since there was no official announcement or mention of the continuation of the anime TV series. However, the official Twitter account and the various attending celebrities strongly exhorted fans to continue supporting the TV anime series.
As to whether the TV show will be renewed at all, the World Trigger manga continues to be very popular in Japan. In the first half of 2021, it even made Oricon’s sales chart for Top 10 manga series, although by the end of the year the series dropped down to #19.
World Trigger Volume 24 even made the #2 spot on Rakuten’s Top manga volume sales chart in December 2021. It also made the Oricon Top 3 in that time frame.
With that level of popularity, a sequel is inevitable, especially considering how the third season left fans hanging right before the Expedition Selection Exam story arc. And, as it just so happens, by the first week of 2023 the manga creator released just barely enough source material for creating a full single-cour season.
At the same time, the Away Mission Test Arc looks like it will be a long story arc and it was unfinished as of January 4, 2023. It’s very likely that the anime production committee will want to wait until the manga provides a good stopping point in the story and that’s probably why no World Trigger Season 4 announcement was made during World Trigger Festival 2022.
Therefore, it’s predicted that the wait for the World Trigger Season 4 release date will be several years, although the exact timing could depend on the manga providing a good stopping point. However, the fourth season could also be released sooner if Toei Animation creates another filler story arc.
How the World Trigger manga hiatus influences the anime production
The story for the anime series is based on the World Trigger manga series by writer and artist Daisuke Ashihara. The series started serializing in Weekly Shonen Jump in early 2013, but then the manga moved to the monthly Jump Square magazine in December 2018.
As of September 2, 2022, the manga has been collected into 25 volumes (which includes up through manga chapter 223). The World Trigger Volume 26 release date should be in 2023 assuming enough chapters are generated.
When the third season’s finale episode was released in December 2021 the manga was up to World Trigger Chapter 217.
The official English translation of the manga series is being released in North America by VIZ Media. As of March 1, 2022, the English version was up to Volume 23, with the World Trigger Volume 24 release date scheduled for November 8, 2022.
When the second season premiered in January 2020, there were already enough manga chapters available for at least three cours. So, why did the second and third seasons need to be only a single cour each?
The elephant in the room is manga creator Daisuke Ashihara’s health problems. The mangaka has suffered from a variety of physical problems, including cervical spondylosis (wear and tear affecting the spinal disks in the neck) and intestinal issues resulting from gall bladder removal.
The longest hiatus was from November 2016 through October 2018, but in 2019 Daisuke took two breaks that were a month each.
In 2020, Chapter 197 was initially released in early June 2020 as a rough draft and then Daisuke took another hiatus until August 3, 2020, when Chapters 198 and 199 were released. Chapters 200 and 201 were similarly released in the same magazine issue on September 3, 2020.
Daisuke returned to his monthly schedule and was up to World Trigger Chapter 205 by January 3, 2021.
Only a month into 2021 a World Trigger hiatus was announced in late January 2021. The manga went on break so a new chapter did not appear in Jump Square magazine until February 4, 2021.
The official World Trigger Twitter account revealed that the author was suffering from a “sudden illness” but assured fans that he had not caught COVID-19.
On March 29, 2021, another month-long World Trigger hiatus was announced due to the author’s ongoing health problems. The World Trigger manga did not appear in Jump Square magazine’s May 2021 issue, which was released on April 2, 2021, but returned for the June 2021 issue that was released in May. The announcement by Jump Square was quick to say that Daisuke did not have the new coronavirus COVID-19 and that he was recovering.
On September 27, 2021, Jump Square announced yet another World Trigger hiatus due to a “sudden illness” experienced by Daisuke. This time the manga artist took a month-long break in October 2021 due to problems with his head and neck.
The good news is that Daisuke did not take any more breaks for the remainder of 2021. He also released two chapters for every month’s issue in September, November, and December 2021, which completely made up for the year’s hiatus since 13 chapters were released in 2021.
Regardless, it made sense to schedule World Trigger Season 3 for Fall 2021 so the manga author could get further ahead of the anime.
Unfortunately, the World Trigger 2022 chapters were not off to a good start. On December 27, 2021, Jump Square announced that due to Daisuke’s poor health the World Trigger would not be in be the oversized issue that was released on January 4, 2022. The hiatus is only one month since the next chapter was released on February 4, 2022.
On April 26, 2022, Jump Square announced via the official World Trigger Twitter account that the next chapter would not be released on May 2, 2022. Instead, the World Trigger hiatus would last one month and the next chapter would be pushed back to June 3, 2022.
2023 started on a happier note. Ashihara was able to publish 2 chapters at once on January 4, 2023, which brought The Away Mission Test story arc up to Part 25. Since the manga was up to World Trigger Chapter 228 that means there is barely enough source material for making World Trigger Season 4.
As long as Daisuke doesn’t take any breaks, each year he produces enough new source material for making about half a single-cour anime season.
It’d also make sense for Toei Animation to plan a TV broadcasting break around a new filler story arc in World Trigger Season 5. Alternatively, the studio could fill in 2023 by releasing a World Trigger movie that’s an anime-exclusive side story similar to the Fugitive arc.
World Trigger manga compared to the anime’s third season
The biggest notable difference between the anime’s third season and the manga was that the anime episodes frequently used brief flashbacks whereas the manga did not. Considering the long gaps between seasons these visual reminders were helpful to recall what happened previously.
The issue with the B-Rank Wars arc running so long is that’s easy to forget why the characters want to win. Yes, it’s endlessly repeated that they wish to go on the expedition to Neighbor worlds, but the motivations for the journey have been gathering dust in audiences’ memories thanks to the long waits between anime seasons.
So, in order for the third season to feel thematically complete, it really needed a big climax that brings the story arc to a close. Thankfully, the third season succeeded on that note by surprising anime fans.
The first 10 episodes of the third season adapted Chapters 160 through half of 184. Dialogue-heavy episodes would adapt up to two chapters while battle sequences tended to be quick-paced so those episodes would adapt up to four chapters. That meant the adaptation pacing averaged 2.5 chapters per episode.
World Trigger Season 3 Episode 11 finally started the final battle of the 63-chapter-long B-Rank Wars story arc. The problem that Toei Animation faced is that the final battle ran from Chapters 185 through 195… and that’s not even including the post-match analysis!
Episode 11 concluded with a cliffhanger ending from Chapter 186 that left Hyuse in a big predicament and at the time it seemed like the third season’s finale was going to leave audiences hanging. And then Toei Animation surprised everyone by announcing that the third season would be extended into Winter 2022 in order to properly finish off the final match!
Remember, only 12 episodes were officially confirmed up until the announcement on December 23, 2021,
All in all, the third season’s finale, World Trigger Season 3 Episode 14, found a stopping point corresponding to the first four pages of manga Chapter 196, the ending of Volume 22.
That’s definitely the best stopping point for ending the third season even though technically the B-Rank Wars isn’t quite over.
The good news is that this stopping point means that World Trigger Season 4 could be released in 2023.
Manga readers who wish to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to Volume 22: Chapter 196, which focused on the post-match analysis by the commentators.
Why a 2022 World Trigger movie would have worked better
Unexpectedly extending the third season in the middle of the big battle wasn’t Toei Animation’s only option. They could have condensed the remaining 11.5 chapters into only two episodes, but who really would want to watch a rushed climax?
Another option would have involved rearranging the World Trigger timeline slightly. Without getting into major spoilers (see below), there’s a shorter mid-tier match that runs from Chapters 197 through 199 which is the actual ending of the B-Rank Wars arc.
By shuffling the ordering the anime could have adapted Chapter 183, jumped to Chapter 196’s last several panels, and then back to Chapter 184 to end the third season with Episode 12. In this manner, this alternative stopping point sets up World Trigger Season 4 by still ending with a battle.
In addition, if Toei Animation had finished the third season that way they could have adapted the final B-Rank Wars battle for Tamakoma-2 as a 2022 World Trigger movie. While Western anime fans would have been annoyed by having to wait even longer, releasing only a film in 2022 would have given creator Daisuke even more time to get ahead of the anime.
But since they didn’t go that route the Toei writers are still faced with the problem of catching up with the source material. So, they’ll most likely need to create an original story as a World Trigger movie or as a filler arc for the next two seasons.
World Trigger 4 anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The big moment is here and Chika Amatori’s resolve was tested after Hyuse bails out after a failed largescale Meteor strike gambit. Against all odds, Tamakoma-2 was finally able to reach second place in the rankings and qualify for a spot on the away team.
The final battle isn’t actually the ending since a mid-tier match ultimately determines the overall ranking outcome. Yuba Squad will be fighting hard in the final B-Rank match to remain in the top tier.
Chika is especially interested in watching the vertical Cityscape C battle since it’s senior sniper Akane Hiura’s final match. Akane manages to be the last agent standing, scoring Nasu Squad one much-needed survival point that pushes them into the top-tier B-Rank for the first time!.
With the season over, all thoughts turn toward choosing the agents who will join the away mission. The choice for who joins the away team also comes down to cold-hearted calculations since Border HQ needs to choose agents who can safely leave their squads without exposing Border to risk. These agents also can’t know any damaging Border secrets in the event they’re captured by enemy Neighbors.
Speaking of which, a pair of Galopoula Neighbors named Reghi and Ratarykov try sneaking into Meeden by not using Trion bodies so the sensors won’t pick them up. The Galopoula are a vassal state under Aftokrator, so Yuichi Jin uses his foresight to make contact with them since he knows the Neighbors’ goal is to interfere with Border’s upcoming away mission.
Jin’s goal is to make an alliance with Galopoula since his side effect shows it’ll give both Border and Galopoula an advantage in the future. But what can Jin give the Neighbors that is valuable enough to make them turn on their Aftokrator masters?
As if matters are not getting even more complicated, simply ranking number two isn’t enough for Tamakoma-2 to join the expeditionary squad since the agents need to face the multi-phase away mission selection test.
“Four Eyes” Osamu Mikumo knows this test will be the biggest obstacle he’s ever overcome and even Jin admits that the future could go either way.
What’s more, Border HQ has decided to use the event as an opportunity to determine the strongest members of Border. As such, they’re shuffling squads… which means breaking up the current teams and forming new squads with new provisional captains!
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the World Trigger Season 4 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!