(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Previously, we looked at the first half of Fire Force S2 where a lot of secrets were exposed and new faces becoming enemies.
(Chibi): It was a wild first half, so let’s see if the second half is just as wild.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Nitsuj): The second opening is “Torch of Liberty” by KANA-BOON. The song is alright, I think the first on was better. Personally, I don’t think this is one of KANA-BOON’s best openings but it is good and fits within the series.
(Chibi): The second ending is “Desire” by Pelican Fanclub. Honestly, didn’t really care for this song. I do like how they kept the game theme in the animation but the song really doesn’t leave much of an impact me. For the record, this song isn’t bad.
Episodes 14-17
(Nitsuj): The second half starts off with Viktor revealing he’s a spy for Haijima and nobody being shocked by this (Chibi: You could see it from space. It was that obvious. (Nitsuj): Yeah, no offence. You’re not the most subtle guy). He says he’s neither with Haijima or the 8th company, however he is siding with the 8th because of their pursuit for the truth. He goes on to tell them how Haijima has been doing severe testing on children such as that one kid Nataku from the first season who has become mentally unstable from all the testing and abuse. Haijima wants to bring Shinra back in to run tests on his Adolla burst and he agrees to do it as he wants to save the kids. The next day Shinra and Viktor go into Haijima (Chibi: Like bosses) where the workers of Haijima know they’re so corrupt that they don’t even deny or bat an eye at Shinra’s accusations of child experimentation (they truly are the worst people in this anime). Shinra gets taken to the testing area where he’ll be fighting again Kurono, a messed up individual who was here when Shinra was a child and enjoys fighting against kids and beating them up because they’re so weak (Chibi: He won’t be saying that when he faces me. 5 minutes is all I need). They start where Kurono actually does have a cool pyrokinesis. He can use black smoke to enhance his reflexes, create weapons with it, and even use it as some kind of veil to hide himself (this is a guy who clearly enjoys fighting and knows how to use his abilities to his advantage). Despite Shinra’s best efforts, Kurono is able to read all of his movements and wants to keep the fight going even after he’s told to stop.
Episode 15 starts by confirming that Nataku is the sixth pillar. Viktor contacts the others and the 8th storm Haijima looking to save Nataku. This whole episode is one big action scene as it becomes a three-way showdown between the 8th, Haijima, and the Evangelists with Inca making her return (psychotic heffa). A majority of the episode is spent with Vulcan and Maki who take on a caretaker of Haijima who uses dolls to fight (Chibi: Ohh~, a puppeteer master). Maki manages to beat one but over exhausts her equipment leaving her and Vulcan defenseless until they get saved by Evangelists who want to make sure nobody gets in their way.
So in episode 16 we get a lot of unlikely alliances throughout the episode. First up is Maki teaming up with the Haijima caretaker to take on Hanuma and Arrow (where good God, Arrow turns out to be a sexy lady under that robe and face mask). While that’s going on, Inca’s guardian Ritsu creates a giant Infernal and traps Nataku in it (hey she’s kind of sexy too. What’s with the Evangelists hiding all these sexy ladies from us? (Chibi): The sexy ones are always the bad ones). As if that wasn’t bad, Hanuma uses his electric pulse on Nataku to make him go insane and attack everyone increasing the level of radiation in the area. This leads to our second and third unlikely team up in the anime, Shinra and Kurono (Chibi: Where this episode does the impossible and makes an unlikable character funny) which quickly dissolves and becomes the team up of Shinra and Charon (what wicked webs this series weaves). With the help of a delusional Arthur (Chibi: Is there any other kind?), Vulcan is able to use Arthur’s plasma sword to create an anti-electric field to return Nataku to normal and now it all comes down to Shinra being able to save Nataku.
We get a chance to dive into Nataku’s subconscious where we discover that he’s always had to deal with the pressure of perfection. His parents would get mad whenever he didn’t bring him a 100 on his test (Chibi: What the heck is wrong with them. You got mad at him because he got an 87? (Nitsuj): Yeah, I got that score on a science test I consider that an epic win). He continued to feel the pressure when he became a pillar as everyone expected great things from him and something inside of him broke (Chibi, have I ever put too much pressure on you to be the best? (Chibi): No, you’ve been good to me Nii-chan. (Nitsuj): Thanks, that makes me feel good). Nataku unleashes a blast that could wipe out the whole city but Charon is there to deflect the blast back to the moon creating a huge crater (and here I thought it was going to be a tie-in to Soul Eater). Kurono steps in and manages to slice through Nataku’s hardened body as well as calm him down (Chibi: In his own little messed up way he does care for Nataku. (Nitsuj): This is without a doubt one of the unhealthiest relationships I have ever seen). The Evangelists retreat for now after exhausting themselves and leaving Nataku in the hands of Haijima. A few days later Shinra, Viktor, and Akiteru go to meet the president of Haijima who has all the rudeness in the world by playing a Gameboy all while talking to them. Anyway, the president wants to form an alliance with the 8th saying that they’ll withdraw their order to kill Viktor and support the 8th in their endeavors (Chibi: What’s the catch?). In return, Haijima gets to use Shinra in their Adolla burst experiments. We find out that Haijima isn’t working with the Evangelists meaning Giovanni was acting on his own (and giving us a good laugh in the process). Haijima’s end goal is to create another Amateratsu even though they know it runs on a pillar, but they don’t care (of course they don’t). Vulcan bursts in saying he plans to create an alternative to Amateratsu. One that doesn’t sacrifice a person’s life. This gets the attention of the president who agrees to fund Vulcan’s project as long as Haijima gets credit for it (I feel like this is a meeting at Amazon). As for Nataku, he’s doing a lot better. Haijima is monitoring him more closely and they’re conducting safer experiments with him.
Episodes 18-21
(Chibi): A good chunk of episode 18 focuses on Iris and Shinra. When the two go to get the weapons baptized at the church, we see Iris question the one thing that’s been on everyone’s mind since Shinra’s mission to Avalon, her faith. Is the church of Sol really a fake religion created by the Evangelist to lead people astray and if so then what has Iris been doing with her life? While at the church one of the father’s becomes an Infernal and Shinra has to lay him to rest and continues talking to Iris about her faith. He says it’s okay to believe in her religion as she’s not offering her prayers to the Evangelist and her faith has nothing to do with the Evangelist. This talk makes Iris feel better and restores her faith. The second part of the episode is where the laughs come in. Assault has returned and he seeks revenge against Tamaki. In order to counter her lewd acts he engrossed himself in porn (Corbin: Yeah, this plan won’t work. (Chibi): Why? (Nitsuj): Because the real thing and what you see and read about are completely different). Assault calls out Tamaki where sure enough she slips and flashes her panties which distracts him and he loses (she was doing so good these last few episodes. (Nitsuj): Actually, this is where her lucky pervert powers come in handy and are use really well here. You see, in the past, her lucky pervert moments came up at serious and poorly done times. Here, it’s being used for comedic effects in a comedic fight against an opponent who believes he won’t be distracted by her perverted actions. (Chibi): Yeah, but it takes away from a serious character. (Nitsuj): Assault was never a serious character to begin with. They established that in the first season with the way he lost. There’s no way you can take a character like that seriously). Once Assault realizes that the real thing is different from what he saw and read, he decides to get his body accustomed to the real thing. He goes out to cabaret club (where we get a cameo from “Spirit”) and once again challenges Tamaki where he loses again because he didn’t account for her amateur bashfulness and reactions. He goes to do more training and the episode ends with them about to battle again where it’s hinted that he actually likes Tamaki.
(Chibi): Episode 19 is all about Maki. The episode starts with Maki having dinner with her family who are all great people. We got the military dad who likes to dote on his daughter. Takagi the older brother who likes to pick on his sister, but cares about her a lot. Finally, we have the homebody mom who’s not afraid to lay down the law when she needs to (Nitsuj: I like this family). After that, Takagi and another military officer head down into the Nether where they come across an Evangelist lab (Nitsuj: It’s like a coke lab except they make bugs that turn people into Infernals). The lab gets destroyed by a suicide bomber and Takagi sustains some injuries. Maki’s dad who is a general in the army calls for a joint operation between the 2nd and 8th to investigate the Nether and find the Evangelist’s labs. When the 8th receive their letter for the operation, Maki’s dad orders Maki to return to the military. He’s worried for his daughter’s safety (in fact, he never wanted her to leave the military in the first place) and even Takehisa thinks she should return to the military which shocks her (low move Takehisa). Maki returns to the military hurt and becomes secretary taking on a desk job (Nitsuj: Welcome back to your cage little birdy).
The investigation in the Nether begins in episode 20. Every member of the 8th will be working with a squad separately from each other (Nitsuj: Aww~, they pulled a Yoko). In Takehisa’s squad, Takagi joins the investigation (by force of course) as he’s a little upset at Takehisa for tricking his sister (and now he has to deal with the overprotective big brother). At 8am the investigation of the Nether begins where right away it doesn’t go well. They get attacked by Infernals with some of the soldiers getting killed and being used as puppets to attack their comrades. In Tamaki’s group, the squad gets killed leaving only her, Juggernaut and another pyrokinesis soldier who gets killed by Orochi, a Knight of the Purple Haze (Nitsuj: So we introduce a cool and silly character only to kill him 3 minutes later). Tamaki tries to fight Orochi only to get owned by her and her fire whip (this was to be expected). Juggernaut steps up to fight and save Tamaki (Nitsuj: He finally grew a set). It takes him a few tries, but he manages to defeat Orochi to end the episode (I’m sure this doesn’t change Tamaki’s feelings for him).
At the start of episode 21 it gets hinted that Juggernaut might have died in his battle against Orochi (Nitsuj: No. Too good of a side character, he’ll live). We then cut to Takehisa’s squad who are being pinned down by the second member of Purple Haze, Iron (what is with the weird names for these knights?). Honestly, the fight against Iron is short and not really the focus as Takehisa and Takagi keep arguing about Maki (is now really the time for this?). Takagi hates how Takehisa got his little sister involved in such a dangerous line of work. In his eyes, Maki is a delicate flower who needs protection (Nitsuj: Okay, she’s a flower, but she is far from delicate. She is BRICC). Takehisa manages to beat Iron with some well-placed shots on his joints as those are the areas he left unprotected in order to move. Shinra and Arthur also get to see some action as they team up to fight Giovanni who has modified his body with bug DNA (now I have all the more reason to see him get squished). Tamaki stands her ground to fight against Infernals and protect Juggernaut’s body until two Evangelists show up and she’s no match for them (Nitsuj: Just flash them). She’s gets saved by Akiteru who just straight up punches out one of the Evangelists like it was nothing. Viktor arrives onto the scene as well where he pieces together that the Evangelists plan to use the bodies of the Infernals to blow up the Nether and sink Tokyo. The find of the finding of the Infernal lab and getting them to come down and investigate the Nether was all a trap set by the Evangelists to get the bodies they needed for their master plan.
Lots of cool stuff in episode 22. We start off with Shinra and Arthur fighting Giovanni where he says that Sho has become a potato for Hamura to play with (Nitsuj:. . .Phrasing Chibi, phrasing). We cut away from that battle to focus on the massive Infernal detonation that is about to happen. Viktor says they can control the fire with a second-generation pyro user but none are really strong enough to handle that much. As if right on cue, Maki shows up ready to save everyone (Nitsuj: Yay~ waifu’s back. (Chibi): Banzai). However, even with Maki’s help the group will still get burnt alive by the fire (except for Tamaki because fanservice and whatnot). Viktor says if they can direct the fire to a lower location, they’ll be fine but without knowing the full layout of the Nether he isn’t sure how to direct Maki. Luckily, Takagi has been studying and analyzing the layout of the Nether for this operation and can direct Maki on where to send the fire. Combining their powers, Maki and Takagi save Tokyo and everyone else by directing the fire safely to the bottom of the Nether. Back with Shinra and Arthur, Arthur manages to slice Giovanni in two but Giovanni is still alive (so gross) and escapes (next time go for the head). During the fight we get a surprise by seeing Shinra perform an Adolla link with Giovanni despite the fact that he’s not a pillar. According to Giovanni anyone who has come in contact with Adolla can perform an Adolla link as well (which means that somehow someway this madman made contact with Adolla). Everyone soon returns to the surface where Maki comes back to the 8th (Nitsuj: Still confused why she was let go in the first place). While her brother and dad are still worried about her safety, they finally understand all of the important work she does.
At the start of episode 23, Shinra tells the others about his Adolla link with Giovanni and what he learned from him. Shinra also says he performed an Adolla link with Konro and this immediately makes everyone suspicious of him. Shinra doesn’t think Konro has any connection to the Evangelists and decides to pay him a visit with Hibana joining him (their first date. (Nitsuj): Ah~ young love. Despite being in different companies and rankings I can’t help but cheer for them). Konro’s suspicions rise even more when they catch him on the outskirts talking with an Evangelist. Konro easily defeats the Evangelist showing off his swordsman skills and then he talks with Shinra. Konro admits that he saw Adolla during the night of that great fire where he took on an Infernal that mirrored his powers and movements. Konro defeated the Infernal (Nitsuj: And gained a scar to prove his valor) and Hibana believes that he fought was his doppelganger from another world (Nitsuj: He was better looking). In the second half, Shinra and Arthur receive some more training from Benimaru. Tamaki joins them deciding that she has to get stronger (and stop being a fanservice character. Seriously, you’re becoming Lucy from Fairy Tail). Benimaru puts her in the hands of Hikage and Hinata where they play tag. At first, Tamaki looks down on them because they’re children, but catch her and tell to stop wasting their time (Nitsuj: If you want to get strong, take this seriously. If not, get out). As Tamaki runs away from the plans we get glimpse into her past such as how she originally was planning to be sister, but discovered her powers and decided to a Fire Soldier/Sister. We also see how she was shunned by other girls because of her perverted nature (the girls hated it, I’m sure the boys enjoyed the hands on experience. (Nitsuj): Again, phrasing Chibi) and always sat in the corner by herself away from everyone hiding her true self from everyone. However, during her game of tag and remembering Shinra not being afraid of her, she finally unleashes a glimpse of true power and actually lasts a minute against the twins. As for Shinra and Arthur’s training, they’re being burnt at the stake.
In the final episode, after a long brutal training and a moment of unleashing their rage on Benimaru (Nitsuj: Which fails horribly. That’s like asking for a death wish), Shinra and Arthur manage to unlock and control their hysterical strength after coming close to death and feeling it (and all it took was Benimaru jerking them around. (Nitsuj): So are we just done with phrasing? I’d like to know for future reference). As Shinra unlocks his hysterical strength, he senses that Hague has been killed (Nitsuj: I knew his masochist antics would be the death of him). His death was chalked up as a suicide, but nope, it was the Evangelists who killed him (Nitsuj: Not to worry, he comes back as a perverted skeleton who wants to see women’s panties all the time. (Chibi): And he plays a mean violin). Despite losing Hague, the 8th and the companies remain united and are now determined more than ever to defeat the Evangelists.
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): Overall, Fire Force S2 was a great season. A lot of the complaints from the previous season have been addressed here and the story has progressed greatly while building up a mystery around the Adolla link. I like the twists of their religion being started by their enemy and them finding unlikely allies.
(Chibi): The anime had a good beginning, got a little boring and tedious in the middle, but picked up speed near the end to finish the season on a strong note. I did like the growth of characters like Shinra and Tamaki as well as meeting new characters and villains in the show. Well except for Inca, that good for nothing tramp. You really do come to despise her character and that’s kinda the main point. She’s a character you’re not supposed to like and they do a good job at making her this unlikable character. She’s messed up but not insane as she knows what she’s doing and doesn’t care who or what she hurts as long as she gets what she desires. Hands down the best new character was Ogun. His awesome moment in episode 9 was out of this world. I wish he would have joined up with the 8th so we could see more of him.
(Nitsuj): Speaking of characters, I like how they made the Evangelists a lot tougher this time around. Near the end of the last season they made them look weak and not all that threatening, but here, they really do come across as a legit threat with strong characters and powers that perfectly offset our main characters and give us good matchups. I also liked the story with Maki’s family. I like how her dad sees her as this delicate flower he wants to protect at all costs. His intentions are good, he wants to protect his daughter from harm and doesn’t want to see her get hurt like any good parent, but knows he has to let her live her own life and do her job even if it’s a job he doesn’t want to see her do. The story of Joker and his connection to Burns was intriguing and something I look forward to seeing more of in the future. Like Chibi said, the middle part of the anime is where things got boring, mainly the stuff with Haijima. While we got some good fight scenes out of it the story that they were telling was told in a rather boring way.
(Chibi): The animation is the same as last season so not much has changed there, but where this season excels is with it’s great fight scenes all throughout the anime. While the fight scenes in the first season weren’t bad, the defining fight was Shinra vs Sho. Here, each fight is memorable from Shinra vs Charon, to Ogun vs Tempe to the battles in the Nether. The music is still good and the humor of the series still shines through. While the series will probably never be seen as an epic shonen story it was never meant to be one. It’s a series that’s meant to be read for fun and enjoyment just like the author’s other work, Soul Eater.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): My final score for this season is an 8/10. I well done improvement over the first season that managed to story and characters better.
(Chibi): I’m also giving it an 8/10. Even though I’m giving it the same score as last season, I think this season was overall better.
(Nitsuj): If you liked the first season, definitely check this season out. As of right now the third season is coming out soon so do yourself a favor and get caught up.
(Chibi): Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.