*Chibi Isis is in the backyard testing out her wind magic*
(Chibi Isis): No that’s not good either.
*Chibi Isis pulls out a sheet of paper and begins writing down notes*
(Nitsuj): Hey Chibi, what are you doing out here?
(Chibi Isis): I’m trying to create new wind spells, but nothing seems to be sticking with me. I feel like my creativity well has run dry.
(Nitsuj): Maybe I can help. If you’re creativity well has gone dry than why not find someone who’s creativity well is never dry, Atsushi Ōkubo. While Atsushi’s isn’t groundbreaking or revolutionary to the world of shonen manga, everyone admits that his work is creative and a fun read. Atsushi made a name for himself with Soul Eater, a shonen series that was dark but not too dark where it closed everyone off and still had a good balance of comedy, action, philosophy, and creativity to go along with it. After Atsushi was finishing up Soul Eater he created a spin-off series Soul Eater Not in an attempt to explore the world of Soul Eater more. Sadly, it didn’t catch on due to the bland characters and the fact that the series loss that dark element which gave it that edge, so the series didn’t last long. Luckily, Atsushi would bounce back from this quickly with his new series Fire Force. Released in 2015 and still going on till this day, Fire Force blazed onto the scene with Atsushi returning to his dark elements while at the same time adding something new and different from his previous work. While Soul Eater dealt with death, Fire Force seemed more focus on dealing with life and the beauty of it.
(Chibi Isis): Yeah, but why firefighters?
(Nitsuj): Atsushi considers them to be the closest thing we have to a hero. Anyway, the series was met with success as fans quickly recognized his style and over the years has grown a following to the point that in 2019 an anime was produced for the series.
(Chibi Isis): But animating a series this unique and different from the typical shonen story requires a unique studio to bring to life.
(Nitsuj): Right you are Chibi and the studio they picked to bring this series to life was none other than David Productions (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure). Get your notebook ready Chibi because you’re going to feel the burn of creativity. This is Fire Force.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Nitsuj): So the opening for the first part of the anime is “Inferno” by Mrs. Green Apple. If you’ve read my top 11 anime openings list from 2019 you would know that this was one of my favorite openings. It really is a fun song to listen to with some excellent lyrics and a good beat to go along with it. I especially like the opening animation which showcases all of the characters and their skills.
(Chibi Isis): The first ending of the anime is “Veil” by Keina Suda. Those first 14 seconds of the song are straight up fire and that guitar just kills it for me. Seriously, if you don’t like this song after that first 14 seconds then I really don’t think we can be friends. They lyrics are rather sad and thought provoking which perfectly captures the past of one of the characters in the anime into how she wants to share the pain with her friend and let them know they’re not alone.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts off in an alternate version of Tokyo where a man spontaneously combusts into flame monster known as an Infernal while riding the train (Chibi Isis: Just another Monday. Wish it were a Sunday). Why does this happen, nobody knows. It just started occurring one day and people were scared. The cart manages to stop at a train station where the fire brigade comes in to defeat it using their powers to control fire (fight fire with fire. The old saying has come back to haunt me). Just when a light is about to drop on one of them, a civilian who can also control fire saves her using his ability known as Devil’s feet. With this ability, he can use his feet as jets to move faster, deliver flame kicks, and even fly like Ironman (Chibi Isis: I wonder if I can apply this same concept to my wind magic?). The boy introduces himself as Shinra (no, not the one from DBZ. (Chibi Isis: This would be an interesting career change) a new recruit for the brigade voiced by Gakuto Kajiwara (scene here: https://youtu.be/qoeg1IupMG8). He gets taken to their base which is like a combination between a cathedral and firehouse (which is kind of interesting I’m not gonna lie). He meets the team, the captain Akitaru voiced by Kazuya Nakai (Zoro from One Piece), second in command Takehisa voiced by Kenichi Suzumura (Atsushi from Kuroko’s Basketball), Maki voiced by Saeko Kamijō, and Iris the local sister of the firehouse (Baron: And all around cutie) voiced by M.A.O (Shion from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime). We learn that Akitaru and Iris don’t have powers, Takehisa and Maki are considered second-generation ability users while Shinra is considered a third-generation user. Second generation users need to start a fire or have a fire present to use their abilities as opposed to the third-generation users who can create their own fire. Takehisa manipulates fire with firearms while Maki can create fireballs using pyrokinesis. As Shinra settles in we see that as a child he always dreamt of being a hero to protect his mom and baby brother. Tragedy would of course strike as his mom and brother were burnt to a crisp by some unknown entity (Chibi Isis: A witch’s death). Everyone accused Shinra of starting the fire and having the nervous habit of flashing a Soul Eater smile whenever he’s tense didn’t help the situation. The alarm goes off as another Infernal has appeared and Shinra gets to show off his skills. At first he’s scared but with the encouraging words of Akitaru he’s able to calm down and take down the Infernal single-handedly where the civilians thank him for his service (scene here: https://youtu.be/mG3Ao-fsLwA).
(Chibi Isis): In episode 2 we find out that Shinra will be representing his station in a rookie tournament against other rookies along with another rookie who’s joining the team as well named Arthur voiced by Yūsuke Kobayash (Subaru from Re:Zero). Arthur, just like Shinra is a third-generation user who can create a plasma sword from his own flames he calls Excalibur (Nitsuj: Another King Arthur. Well give Arata credit, he’s got good taste in literature. (Chibi Isis): And this Excalibur isn’t annoying like the other one). Shinra and Arthur meet in the hallway where we find out they trained together at the academy and didn’t get along with each other (because they are both different types of idiots). The two have a sparring match with Maki to test their skills where they both wind up losing after Arthur insults her (scene here: https://youtu.be/qTL9L04coDA. (Nitsuj): Why they would anger a former soldier is beyond. (Chibi Isis): It’s like you angering Seras. You know what she can do to you. She won’t kill you, but she’ll snap your bones in three places). After enjoying some ramen, the alarm goes off signaling the appearance of an infernal at a residential area. Shinra and Arthur stupidly show their weapons out in public which makes Akitaru mad. He explains to the two that there are some people in the organization who get a sick pleasure out of doing this (I can sadly see that) and that they mustn’t forget that even though their job is exterminating infernos, what they’re doing is killing other human beings. After that talk, they go into the home where the infernal is a man whose wife also became an infernal 2 years ago leaving him and his daughter behind (Nitsuj: Oh man, I feel so bad for the daughter). They find the father where he’s just sitting peacefully at a table waiting to be killed. Arthur puts the father out of his suffering and as they leave a third party makes the house collapse a little (like pouring salt on an open wound). Akitaru manages to save the family photo and give it to the daughter (scene here: https://youtu.be/oQNXS4j_szo). The episode ends with Shinra vowing to find the cause for these Infernal outbreaks and put an end to them once and for all.
The rookie games begin in episode 3 (which, trivia time, was delayed by David Productions who wanted to pay respects to those who were affected by the KyoAni fire. Latom. (Nitsuj): Latom. (Chibi Isis): They even edited down the episode to make the flames look different. A very big move considering that this was one of the most popular animes being aired at the time, so major respect to David Productions for doing this) where we get to meet Tamaki a member of squad 1. She has the power to turn into a fire cat and is also a magnet for the lucky lecher as she keeps finding herself in perverted situations with boys (scene here: https://youtu.be/pQ0R4DXLiAg. (Nitsuj): Oh, that’s just fanservice sweetheart). Because of this, a lot of people consider her an annoying character as the fanservice with her can get a tad bit out of hand and ruin the seriousness of some scenes later on. So, nothing much really happens this episode aside from Shinra, Arthur, and Tamaki fighting against this mysterious man named Joker who’s been responsible for the recent fires. He drops a bomb on Shinra saying that his little brother Sho is still alive (because of course he is). He then leaves by blowing up the building with Shinra saving everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/t-nVBzWng0U). Later on, Shinra asks Akitaru some serious questions about their organization and what it’s really all about (are they heroes or devils in disguise?). Akitaru explains that the organization is controlled by 3 factions, the Holy Sol Temple, the Tokyo Armed Forces, and the Fire Defense Agency. They each have different levels of influence within the organization. The Sol Temple is strong in squad 1, squad 2 reports directly to the Tokyo Armed Forces, and squad 5 is controlled by the Haijima corporation who make all of their equipment and hold a monopoly on it (Nitsuj: That is very dangerous. This means they can practically do anything they want). Each faction keeps information about spontaneous human combustion they find to themselves and from each other. Akitaru believes that they know the truth about Infernals and why they exist, which is why squad 8 was created. The Fire Defense Agency wants them to investigate the other squads, find the truth, and use that information to save people.
In episode 4 while Shinra and Arthur are out doing a service to the community, we cut to a courthouse where a firefighter named Miyamoto who killed about 5 people gets found not guilty because he’s considered mentally ill (Nitsuj: What is this the DC universe? Give him the chair). He soon turns into an Infernal but unlike the other Infernals we’ve seen before, he has a sense of self (and his sense of self is a murderous killer). Just before he can go on a killing spree in town, Shinra corners him and beats him. Just when Shinra is about to deliver the final blow, squad 5 arrives led by their captain Hibana (Nitsuj: The sexy seductress dominatrix. If it wasn’t for the attitude I would make her mine. Scene here: https://youtu.be/ntsSNVYjA2w) who capture the Infernal so that they can study him as he’s a rare specimen. Since this is squad 8’s territory, Shinra tries to fight them but gets stopped by Akitaru who allows squad 5 to take the Infernal as long as they share information about it which Hibana agrees to do (scene here: https://youtu.be/ALC6fpUlrDA).
Episodes 5-8
(Nitsuj): Episode 5 is where the action begins. Akitaru and Takehisa tell the group that they’re going to raid squad 5’s HQ to get the data on Infernals. Iris sneaks out and goes to speak to Hibana as the two seem to have some history with each other (Chibi Isis: An iris and a rose. Both lovely but one can hurt you) but their talk goes south as Hibana doesn’t care what Iris has to say and actually burns her clothes (man Iris can pull off the cute and sexy sister act perfectly. (Chibi Isis): Innocence can be very powerful when used correctly). Squad 8 (minus Akitaru) raid squad 5’s HQ and began wreaking havoc looking for Iris and the data on Infernals. We see just how weak squad 5 is as they can’t even defeat 4 fire fighters despite having the number’s advantage (scene here: https://youtu.be/y_tQgotjNVg, just goes how much work they do in the field). Even Arthur gets a chance to shine by beating that Infernal from last episode who joined squad 5 after being tortured by Hibana (is everyone in squad 5 a masochist besides Hibana? Scene here: https://youtu.be/0z0nbe_k9j8). As the episode ends, Shinra reaches a giant building where he thinks Iris is being kept.
Episode 6 gives a good backstory into Hibana and Iris. Both girls grew up in a covenant together. Even at a young age Hibana displayed impressive skills as a 3rd generation user to make fireflowers (which I’m not gonna lie were pretty cool) and make everyone else smile. Being the oldest girl there, the other girls looked up to her especially Iris who was shy girl around this time (Chibi Isis: That’s very hard to believe. Scene here: https://youtu.be/0r3cTmejEjI). Despite being in the covenant, Hibana wasn’t a devote follower of the faith and her perception of faith only got warped when everyone besides her and Iris became Infernals and died. Hibana soon came to see her powers as evil and decided she would become evil as well believing that the only salvation in the world is using everyone and everything to get to top. Using her knowledge of science, she bought the title of captain and became the leader of squad 5 to continue her experiments on Infernals under free reign. Back in the present, Shinra takes on Hibana. It takes him a few tries, but he managed to get a punch in to beat her and promises to be her hero whenever she needs help. Hibana soon falls for him after that (scene here: https://youtu.be/muvCn1ErgdM. (Chibi Isis): Is this a cliché? (Nitsuj): Yep. (Chibi Isis): Is it stupid? (Nitsuj): Yep. (Chibi Isis): Do you still like it because a busty dark-skinned beauty is now on an ally to the main character? (Nitsuj): Yep. (Chibi Isis): I thought so). While everything is settled, they decide to cover up the battle by saying it was a training exercise between the two squads and we end on a laugh with Akitaru getting ready to join them only to find out it’s all over.
With Hibana now cooperating with the 8th, their next investigation is the 1st squad since a lot of Infernals have been appearing in their area (Chibi Isis: Well that’s not suspicious at all). Akitaru sends Shinra and Arthur in to investigate the 1st using the rookie trade system. Basically, it’s a system that allows those in their first year to go to other squads to train and learn from them for a short period (think of it as a learning excursion or study abroad for a month). Shinra and Arthur along with that bubblegum guy from the 5th and another soldier from the 2nd, go the 1st and enter the Holy Sol temple where they meet Burns captain of the 1st. Shinra already suspects him of being the guy behind these Infernals as he kept dodging Shinra’s questions back in episode 3 about the fire that supposedly killed his family. Shinra asks for a sparring match where he and Arthur take on Burns, but they’re way out of their league as none of their attacks seem to hurt him (scene here: https://youtu.be/onHwSd-I3Tg). There is one guy from the 1st named Karim who has a cool ability that can convert fire to ice using sound and instruments (scene here: https://youtu.be/bjmd_2AWmZ4, it’s pretty cool). While Burns acknowledges the skills of Shinra, he says that he has a long way to go before he can consider himself a hero.
Episode 8 is a fast episode. 5 days have gone by since Shinra and Arthur joined the 1st and still have no leads until they see a mysterious figure push an insect onto a normal man which turns him into an Infernal (that bite is going to burn). Shinra chases down the figure in an alleyway where he sees Karim and Rekka and suspects that one of them is their culprit. Shinra and Arthur sneak into Karim’s room where they find the insect but get discovered by Karim as well. Karim explains that he’s not the culprit but their ally who has been investigating the 1st as well (Chibi Isis: We found an ally on strange lands). With Karim cleared, that just leaves Rekka as the prime suspect and sure enough he’s thr guy. Rekka has been secretly kidnapping children with the help of the unsuspecting Tamaki to see if they’re a suitable host for the pilot light (Chibi Isis: What’s that? (Nitsuj): No idea. From the episode alone, it’s some kind of power that allows people to stop themselves from becoming Infernals). Rekka injects one kid who’s able to return to his human form after becoming an Infernal, so he moves on to next one and kills them if they’re not a suitable host. Tamaki tries to stop him but gets beaten up for her troubles where just before Rekka can deliver the final blow, Shinra does a dynamic entrance to save her and take Rekka out (scene here: https://youtu.be/8lYknOcSoOw, new girl added to the harem).
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 we get a good fight between Shinra’s feet and Rekka’s fist. The two seem to be evenly matched, but Rekka’s flame does seem to be a little stronger (experience plays a factor). However, Shinra shows us he’s more than just a talented fighter by managing to kick Rekka in the air and bring the fight to his home turf the sky (Chibi Isis: Here, he is king). Shinra delivers a powerful attack but Rekka gets back to fight as he’s determined to capture Shinra as he seems to be a suitable host for the plot light (scene here: https://youtu.be/2jxkzCE8j9Q). Karim shows up and freezes Rekka in a block of ice so he can interrogate him later. However, later will never come as Rekka gets shot with an arrow by assassins from Assassins Creed (okay, even though I don’t play Assassins Creed anymore, this anime just got 10% more badass). They manage to scare the assassins away and take a breath of relief. After the credits, we see Shinra return to the 8th, Arthur got lost and is missing (Chibi Isis: And here I thought Zoro was the master at getting lost), and Tamaki is now with 8th serving a suspension for help Rekka. While it’s true she unknowingly was sending people to their death, that still doesn’t excuse the fact that she was an accomplice.
(Chibi Isis): In episode 10 the emperor, Raffles III, calls for an emergency conference of the captains to discuss the recent Infernal outbreaks and the Evangelist who are causing these Infernals to appear and want to turn the planet into a second sun. Shinra and Tamaki get to go as well because they were directly involved with the incident from the previous episode and we get to meet the other captains (scene here: https://youtu.be/jfPJ9yuWr0Y. (Nitsuj): Look at all the freaks. I’m putting them all on the suspicious list). Raffles III calls for all the companies to come together to take out the Evangelist, but the 7th refuse to cooperate with anyone other than themselves. We also learn that Shinra is the holder of the Adolla Burst, a pure flame that Sol used to create the world (basically, Shinra is holding a power that could potentially power all of Japan. (Nitsuj): Talk about energy efficiently). Shinra runs into Joker again where he says Sho is a commander within Evangelist (and the trope of brothers fighting against each other lives on). Shinra tells the others this and they start forming a plan to face Evangelist and save Sho. Speaking of Sho, we get a shot of him at the end of the episode (scene here: https://youtu.be/UgQ9T4VYnIg. (Nitsuj): Oh God, he’s albino).
Episode 11 gives us backstory into how the 8th company was formed. It all started with Takehisa who was part of the military who didn’t believe in Sol and was considered to be a cold man who barely interacted with anyone except his friend Tojo who knew that behind that rough exterior was a kind man (who was just born with a scary face). Things unfortunately went bad with Tojo who spontaneous combusted and became an Infernal. Tojo begged Takehisa to kill him while he still had his humanity, but Takehisa couldn’t pull the trigger and thus Tojo got decimated by a bunch of other soldiers (Nitsuj: Geez, you’d think they were trying to shoot down a lion). Takehisa inherited the gun of his former friend and came across Akiteru who was battling against the corruption of the Fire Force. At this time, Akiteru was a normal firefighter who informed the Fire Force that there were two Infernals on the loose. One is docile while the other is going on a rampage (Nitsuj: Probably because it’s on fire). The Fire Force chooses to take out the one going wild as it’ll give them more points and not worry about the docile one. Akiteru decides to take it upon himself to kill the docile Infernal only to get discovered by Takehisa who joins him in taking out the Infernal. Akiteru would soon start his own Fire Force company recruiting Takehisa and Maki on a recommendation from Takehisa (Nitsuj: What about Iris? Where does she fit in to all of this?). In the second half the episode, the 8th begin investigating a possible lead on Evangelist. Their investigation leads them to Asakusa which is the 7th territory. It’s here that they come face to face with Benimaru said to be the strongest Fire soldier out there as well as the most obnoxious as he refuses to cooperate with the 8th. However, despite his obnoxiousness he has the skills to back it up. Not only did he single-handedly get his small town fire watch recognized by the church of Sol that it became an official Fire Force company, but he has both the abilities of a second and third-generation pyrokinesis meaning he can control fire that’s not his own as well as make his own fire (scene here: https://youtu.be/aofIx4jM6Z0. (Nitsuj): He’s way too OP for his own good).
In episode 12 the 8th decide to help with the rebuilding of Asakusa. Konro, Benimaru’s second in command and the only person he probably listens to tells him to give the 8th a chance and Benimaru considers it as he starts to see that they’re not like the other companies and are actually similar to one another. Unfortunately, the Evangelist are in town and trick Benimaru into believing that the 8th were the ones who caused the Infernal to appear (no, they’re just magnets for trouble). In a fit of rage Benimaru attacks the members of the 8th where he actually does a good job taking them on himself (wow, he is OP for his own good). It eventually turns into a fight of the captains before it finally gets stopped by Konro who tells Benimaru to listen to what they have to say first (scene here: https://youtu.be/MXbBEF9Y9F4). Benimaru decides to investigate where they were and tells them remain in a room with Konro who was a former third generation fire user until an accident which took him off the frontlines.
(Nitsuj): And this looks like a good place to spot.
(Chibi Isis): Aww~, but I was learning so much. I got so many new ideas already.
(Nitsuj): Which gives you plenty of time to put those ideas to the test until next time. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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