Hello, new fan to the series here. I just wanted to say a few things about how I feel about it since I haven't triggerpilled my friends yet. Obviously I want to say it's an excellent series. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. When it first released, I watch a couple episodes, and forgot about it. Now I've picked it up again and realized I had glossed over a gem.
The characters and their writing is my absolute favorite. I like how they're all unique and their personalities feel very organic with everything else. It's awesome to see stuff like the Ranbanein encounter where minor characters just run at full steam. It never feels like people are just useless or unimportant, and it creates this illusion of a soul in them, unlike other minor characters in some series who feel like robots. Hopefully that last bit made sense. It's just exciting to meet all the new agents and learn about them.
Triggers and Trion are exceptionally cool when it comes to power systems. The way it's structured leaves little room for "power scaling" and it ALWAYS adds something cool to what's going on, like when Aftokraftor discovered the Bail Out system or when they trapper Enedora in the training room. I really appreciate how everyone uses different loadouts and strategies that become iconic to them. The fight choreography is amazingly clever as well. The scene where Kitora cuts off her own leg, or when Miwa predicts Mira's portals and fires Viper through it to reach Hyrein. Also the entire Ranbanein fight.
One detail I want to comment on and be appreciative is how they specifically mention that they hire younger agents because Trion glands deprecate with age; normally that would lead you to think "Oh, the older characters can't fight then."
*WRONG BUZZER SOUND*
Enter Shinoda. "The #1 Trigger user."
That's just such great nuance to drill into a power system.
I adore the series, so let me say that before this next comment. The Xeno and Lillith arc felt largely unnecessary and I felt it only detracted from everybody and everything else so far. It felt like filler. I was actually deeply annoyed by how everything before that was gold standard for me, and then they hit me with the most egregious filler I've seen since the Big 3. I kept telling myself to just trust it, because I had already liked it so much.
When the arc finished and we resumed back to Rank Wars, all I could notice was that you could skip that arc entirely and it wouldn't make a difference besides them mentioning Shizuka City twice and Xeno & Lilith once. I of course enjoyed the series immensely again and was so relieved. It just went right back to what made me become interested in it, and it's great. But I did seriously consider stopping the series again as I watched the Lilith arc because it was going so far away from the spirit of what made it so good. I'm just thankful it was short lived and we are back to business.
Thanks for reading this far if you did, and I'd like to hear what other people think about the Lilith arc as well. It's my first time taking a look at this sub, so I'm sorry if there's anything here that's been rehashed a lot already.
Also my favorite characters so far are the Yoneya/Izumi/Midorikawa trio for being simultaneously fun and strong, and Shiori because she's so endearing. P.S. Osamu is the G.O.A.T.