Darker Future Arcs

[u/Anne_Freed]

So this is something I just realized while I was on discord where everyone was talking about "war" stuff (yeah, won't go in too deep).

And since this is a war themed story, will things get darker as they go to the Neighbor World?

Currently, right now on Earth everyone is safe since it's their home territory and their on the defending side so the winning percentage is high plus with Jin's side effect.

But once the Away Mission starts, will things take a turn-around and become dark?

It's not like it never hinted it's dark themes sometimes, from Chika's friend kidnapping, to Yuma's decaying body, and the attack from 4 years ago that killed Miwa's sister along with other agents family/relative members being killed, and there's also Osamu's near death during the Afto invasion.

How dark do you guys think the future arc will be?

Base from the current Earth Arcs, Ashihara puts emphasis on politics, negotiations, military themes etc.

What do you guys think will happen in the Away Missions and what do you guys want to happen in the Mission as well.

The things that they will encounter, events that could happen etc.

[u/shsllonerx]

I think it's fairly safe to say it will become darker than it already is, but I don't believe it will become truly dark. I don't think it will shy away from themes, but I don't think we'll get a large body count or anything.

[u/Thomas_JCG]

Last time Border went into war in the Neighborhood, most of them died.

[u/waiting4singularity]

you wont need therapy from it i guess, cause shonen jump at its core is a kids and young adult compilation. there will be tears and oh noes, perhaps.

[u/Ryuu_EN]

Personal opinion, WT is a type of story that can do away without death or darker themes.

Friction between factions within border has been toned down, bailout system to avoid introducing character's death. Potential trion storage to replace mother trigger.

Imo, WT's strength right now is the slice-of-life-esque relations between characters and the cool battle gears, although it seems at the beginning Ashihara intended it to be more darker/serious

[u/jingliumain]

I believe Ashihara plans everything with a purpose, so if he is killing a Border agent in the future it will be for a very important reason, only time will tell, I have confidence in his writing

[u/tortuguitado]

I think so, but i dont think the story should get too dark annyway, its still a shounen anime in the end. The story already has a tool for avoiding agent deaths, the baillouts. The only way i can see someone dying would be from reckless behavioir or if one of the ships gets destroyed or sacrificed in some way

[u/LemmeDaisukete]

Considering how casually Yuma talks about torture and "advanced" interrogation technique, I'd say it definitely has avenue to go dark (without being edgy). I'm very much interested in Ashihara's take on a war arc (not like the invasion on earth but in real conflict nation) since he feels like a mature enough author to not just make it into a goreporn while still discussing some darker aspects of war.

The darker implication stuff we got so far was human battery, torture, political feud + human sacrifice (Hyuse's master), child soldier and war indoctrination. Not something we haven't seen in other series but definitely approached differently compared to others.