World Trigger: Ch. 200-202
I'm back with the WT re-reads!! Yayyy!
World Trigger: Ch. 200-202 ~ Ruka Shinoda, Yotaro Rindo ③, Galapoula ⑭
And what a way to begin with these chapters because there's so much new info! More lore!
We find out so much from these chapters! We're introduced to Ruka Shinoda, but we find out that she is actually not related to Director Shinoda, just as we find out that Yotaro Rindo is actually not related to Director Rindo!! Ruka and Yotaro are actually siblings, and were survivors of Border's allies. Them being relatives of the two directors is their cover so they can be looked after by Border. The dynamic between Ruka, Director Shinoda and Sawamura is very interesting, I wanna see more of it~ Ruka's also very funny because she acts like somewhat of an entitled ojousama, freaks out over Cronin playing so roughly with Yotaro, but goes and does the same thing herself. Definitely a tsun-tsun lady here, haha.
We also have contact between Tamakoma Branch & the Galapoula Neighbors and learn even more backstory about Ruka and Yotaro. They're not just normal civilian survivors, but they're royalty from the Neighbor nation of Aristera that got destroyed five years ago! Earth (or Meeden as named by the Neighbors) got their Mother Trigger from Aristera when they escaped (we also see Cronin so he was probably their vassal/guardian of sorts). Mother Triggers are what makes life possible in the Neighborhood. With Earth, since they normally are able to to thrive without Trigger, they have no need of a "God" / Mother Trigger (Ruka just operates it), but they're able to develop technology that allows them to utilize Trigger and build their technology for it. Another bomb that gets dropped is the existence of a Crown Trigger, which exists to serve/aid the Mother Trigger and their roles differ from planet to planet. AND THE CROWN TRIGGER OF ARISTERA'S MOTHER TRIGGER IS RAIJINMARU!!! That was a shocking piece of info, and Jin was apparently shooketh when Yotaro went after Hyuse who made contact with Reghi, because he was more afraid of what Raijinmaru (who was tasked to protect Yotaro) would do. That said, I wonder why Raijinmaru, being the Crown Trigger, is protecting Yotaro and not the Mother Trigger, or Ruka. Is it because Yotaro is the prince/heir to Aristera? Or is there more to that?
Anyways, Galapoula and Tamakoma branch strike an alliance, and it's confirmed-confirmed that Jin won't be going on the away mission since he's giving the communication device Rata gifts to Osamu. Probably makes the most sense given his SE being so OP, they'll need him for sure while a bunch of their elites end up on the Away Mission.
And the final bomb drop we get is about RATA! He's apparently Galapoula's fourth prince & fugitive: Orkan Marduk. In some earlier end-of-chapter/volume notes, Ashihara-sensei did mention to pay attention to Rata, and it all makes sense. He also made a comment how his original hairstyle was supposed to be more like Reghi's, but ended up going for the buzz cut, and noted that there's some significance to that buzz cut. Wow, everything is just making sense now!! Well, Tamakoma is not aware of this (maybe Jin with his SE depending on how relevant that is to future events, but not likely?? yet??), but I definitely understand their motivation behind why they would want to ally with Tamakoma even more. Given that their royal family (Rata's family) was killed, and Mother Trigger taken hostage by Afto, it's more than just them being a vassal state doing Afto's work for them, but they're probably also trying to find a way to fight back and reclaim Galapoula & their Mother Trigger for themselves. Maybe not soon, but this idea was probably something they couldn't even dare dream of, and thanks to this alliance with Tamakoma, there's some sliver of hope.
Some additional thoughts: It's mentioned that Aristera got attacked 5 years ago, so I wonder if that same nation that attacked them caused the attack on Earth pre-series. Is there also any link to the one who attacked Yuma?? There's also the previous background knowledge of old Border losing a bunch of their members when they were trying to aid their allies, so Aristera's attack might be the event that caused it. I wonder if we'll get to learn more about Border's other allied nations: Dexia and Meson. I also would like to learn more about the world Yuma lived in where the Crown Trigger there are called Tsuchigami, they look like little cats with a lot of teeth, which I find super cute!!
Ahhh so much revealed, but also so much I want to know!! Very excited to be re-reading World Trigger again!!
Masterpost of other chapter reviews.