What Happens When You Apply Battle Manga Energy to Society? - On "Trion" in "World Trigger"

In many battle manga, such as the "Ki" in "Dragon Ball," "Nen" in "HUNTER×HUNTER," Chakra in "NARUTO," and "Cursed Energy" in "Jujutsu Kaisen," characters have hidden powers within them that are given specific names, and the amount of this power becomes a crucial concept that determines victory or defeat.

Furthermore, the hidden abilities of the protagonists and other major characters in battle manga are truly staggering; in series like "Dragon Ball," they reach a level where blowing up the entire Earth is a trivial task.

This brings to mind a question, or perhaps a thought: what would happen if we used this overwhelming power to generate electricity, for example? Not just for power generation, but what kind of contribution could be made to society if this energy were applied in various ways?

In fact, "Jujutsu Kaisen" did touch upon that possibility for a moment. While it mentioned the potential for military use or energy applications of "Cursed Energy," and discussed the uniqueness of it being mostly exclusive to Japan, it was a bit disappointing that it was barely depicted until it was actually put into operation. Well, since the main theme of battle manga is, after all, the battles, one could say there is no need to force that into the narrative.

Tatsuki Fujimoto's "Fire Punch" handles this battle energy problem in a rather cruel way, but it didn't become the main theme of the story. I suspect the author might have suppressed it because if you start thinking about what would happen if you used the protagonist's never-extinguishing flames for power generation, the story would be completely pulled in that direction.

As an aside, the Hoi-Poi Capsules in "Dragon Ball" are still an incredibly attractive gimmick, and I still have a feeling that I would have liked to see more of the early-stage vibe that made full use of them. Though, if that had been the case, it might have been canceled early on.

Let's get to the main point. There is one work that tackles the energy problem in battle manga that I have been vaguely thinking about head-on.

The name of that work is "World Trigger." This manga presents a very interesting answer to what happens when you utilize and apply battle manga energy to things other than fighting.

The Uniqueness of "Trion" in "World Trigger"

In "World Trigger," the energy used for battles, equivalent to Ki or Nen, is called "Trion." It is something that every human possesses, and it shares a commonality with other battle manga in that there are individual differences in capacity. However, what makes it significantly different from other works is that you cannot really expect to increase your capacity through training or practice—meaning growth is limited—and the range of applications beyond combat is extremely vast.

Well, even with "Ki" or "Chakra," if you could generate electricity with that overwhelming energy, various applications would be possible. However, in the case of "Trion," it can be materialized and solidified, making it applicable even to buildings and vehicles; it is a versatile and convenient energy source.

What makes "World Trigger" a unique work is that it depicts how, by making full use of this "Trion," battle energy is "civilized" and utilized in every aspect of society, including social infrastructure.

And since "Trion" is extremely convenient and versatile, and above all, directly linked to "military power," conflicts over "Trion" inevitably unfold. While Trion is something every human possesses, it is also a "strategic resource" itself for maintaining and developing a nation. The more a rich civilization is built, the more Trion is needed, and to meet that demand, the story depicts a cold and cruel power game between nations where "humans as resources" are kidnapped and conscripted.

If "Dragon Ball" is the symbol of the "Battle Energy 1.0" era in battle manga, where that vast battle energy was poured almost exclusively into battles, then the "Battle Energy 2.0" era is when battle abilities became multi-functional and diversified through ideas like Stand abilities in "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" or Nen abilities in "HUNTER×HUNTER," where energy began to be applied to things other than battles, such as the manga artist Rohan Kishibe—who appeared in Part 4 of JoJo, served as a protagonist in spin-offs, and even had a live-action film adaptation—or the chef Tonio Trussardi. And I believe "World Trigger," which depicts how that battle energy is used to build social infrastructure and civilization itself, is the work that opened the "Battle Energy 3.0" era.

So, if you use battle energy in various fields like that, what do you do with it? You build organizations and society. Yes, the theme of "World Trigger," a manga of the "Battle Energy 3.0" era, lies in organizations. I will continue to write more about what "World Trigger" is trying to depict through the organizations built by civilizing battle energy, so please stay tuned.