(Chibi Isis): Hi! Chibi Isis here and welcome to Project Nitsuj. This week we’re continuing our look at Fire Force.
(Nitsuj): Last time, the squad was falsely accused of a crime they didn’t commit in Asakusa. They managed to calm down Benimaru and tell him they didn’t do it, but he still has his doubts, so he puts them in lockdown while he investigates. What will Benimaru find? Let’s find out now in the second part of Fire Force.
Opening and Ending
(Nitsuj): So the opening this time is “Mayday” by coldrain ft. Ryo. I did not like this song. While the song isn’t bad, and I do like how the singer is singing good English, I just feel that the first opening had more flow and meaning than the second opening. Now, I do know that Atshushi is a huge fan of rock/metal music which is why this song was selected as the opening, but I think they should have chosen a better song that fits more with the series.
(Chibi Isis): The second ending is “Nounai” by Lenny code fiction. While the first ending is still the best, this was another good ending for the series and I did enjoy it a lot more than the second opening. Honestly, this sounds like it should be an opening. I could totally see this as an opening for My Hero Academia.
Episodes 13-16
(Chibi Isis): At the start of episode 13 a few years ago there was an Infernal outbreak in Asakusa which threatened to burn the whole place down. Benimaru and Konro who were watchmen found the Infernal but were exhausted from their multiple battles at this point and also from using their abilities one too many times which is dangerous as we find out it puts them at risk of becoming Infernals as well. Wanting to keep Benimaru safe, Konro pushed him down a stairwell and took on the Infernal himself. Konro won and saved Asakusa, but the fight resulted in him overusing his ability and severely damaging his body that he’s lucky to be able to move. After this incident, their watchmen group became the 7th company of the Fire Force. Back in the present we see members of Evangelist impersonating townsfolks and causing a number of misunderstandings between them (scene here: https://youtu.be/2gHHdxn0U-Y). This of course works in their favor as they start turning people into Infernals and everyone scared and confused on where to go and what to do. While the 8th can’t put out the Infernals as this isn’t their jurisdiction (Nitsuj: Nothings worse than more paperwork) they do their best to help everyone get to safety but they won’t listen (obviously, you’re outsiders, you don’t know how this place works). We do get to see some action as Shinra and Arthur take on members of Evangelist which does mix in some good comedy without taking away from the action and how serious the situation is.
Episode 14 opens up with Benimaru getting everyone to calm down and explain the situation to them where he tells everyone to start beating each other up to find the fakers (Nitsuj: Alright, fight night! Let’s do this). This surprisingly works (too well if you ask me). Back with Shinra and Arthur, one of the Evangelist eats one of the Infernal bugs and turns into a demon Infernal a much stronger form than a regular Infernal (think super Saiyan without the golden hair). Shinra is paralyzed with fear as the demon Infernal resembles the Infernal that torched his family and it’s clear that this Infernal is too strong for them. Luckily, Benimaru arrives onto the scene where he takes the Infernal into the sky to destroy it. As he’s flying up, the other Evangelist tries to shoot him down, but Shinra is there to deflect the arrow and save Benimaru’s life. Benimaru destroys the demon Infernal and Asakusa is saved from the Evangelist (scene here: https://youtu.be/ONJCf2zojb8). Benimaru agrees to be an ally of the 8th and smiles so gleefully that even Shinra can’t help but mock him (Nitsuj: And this is a good example of the pot calling the kettle black).
(Nitsuj): In episode 15 the 8th get a new member courtesy of Haijima. The 8th get Viktor a scientist for their forensic team. Right away you can tell the 8th don’t trust him (Chibi Isis: He’s a creepy man) and he makes no efforts to hide the fact that he has ulterior motives. For the rest of the episode, Shinra, Arthur, and Iris get tasked with going to see Vulcan a master craftsman who’s been asked by multiple companies to join the Fire Force but each time he refuses as he has a deep hatred for the Fire Force and Haijima. Shinra, Arthur, and Iris go to Vulcan’s workshop (watch out for his death grip) where he throws cans at them (except Iris. She’s too cute. It’s like hitting Chibi, it’s just something you don’t do. (Chibi Isis): And if you do, I’ll seek my cyber dragon on you) and refuses to speak with them (scene here: https://youtu.be/FsOCS9AWejY). The group does meet Yu, the self-proclaimed apprentice of Vulcan where we find out that Haijima cutoff all of Vulcan’s suppliers forcing him to go around to other scrapyards just to get supplies. It’s believed that Vulcan’s grandfather and father were both killed by Haijima as the two became Infernals around the same time (yeah that’s very suspicious). Yu helps sneak in Shinra and the others where they meet this red-hot woman (Chibi Isis: Subtle as ever Nii-san) named Lisa who lives with Vulcan after her parents became Infernals and she lost her home (the reason why he keeps her around should be obvious. She makes a mean croissant). We see that Vulcan is an animal lover as apparently in this world a lot of animals have gone extinct due to the planet having limited energy. Vulcan’s dream is to now create an energy source that will breathe new life into the planet and save animals from going extinct. As they talk, they receive a visit from Dr. Giovanni the leader of the 3rd which works directly under Haijima. In the past, he was actually an apprentice of Vulcan’s grandfather but shortly after his death, Giovanni joined Haijima (and the number 1 suspect has arrived). Giovanni has tried multiple times to get Vulcan to join the 3rd and each time he has said no (Chibi Isis: Today will be no different). Giovanni takes his leave and Vulcan tells Shinra and the others to leave but as they do Shinra gets that feeling in his leg and sees a vision which shows Giovanni planning to kill Vulcan.
Things take a dark turn in episode 16. Shinra sends Arthur and Iris to warn Vulcan about Giovanni’s attack who we find out is working with Evangelist while he goes to scout the forest in search of numbers. Shinra gets jumped by Giovanni (who is honestly the highlight of this episode with every scene he’s in. This is a guy who doesn’t mess around but at the same time he has unnecessary pauses along with the dramatic music and lines. He’s like the perfect villain. Scene here: https://youtu.be/-Ox3rbigAAQ). Arthur goes out to fight with Vulcan giving him a knightly appearance to increase his power (Chibi Isis: And by knightly we mean giving him a cape and strapping a donkey’s head to his belt line. How the villains maintained a straight face is beyond me). Sadly, Arthur discovers his gallant horse is really a gallant ass and his power goes down (scene here: https://youtu.be/tpe08hCqPn8). Back in the workshop, it gets revealed that Lisa all this time was an agent of Evangelist sent in to spy on Vulcan and find the key to Amateratsu the perpetual power source of Japan. Apparently, Vulcan’s family built Amateratsu and left behind a key to control it which Vulcan swears he has no idea where it is or what they’re talking about. Once Giovanni enters the workshop and finds this out he’s mad and tries to get information out of Vulcan on the whereabouts of the key is (Chibi Isis: Giving us easily the most unintentionally funniest moment in this episode. Scene here: https://youtu.be/dyQ5WVU894s). He even goes as far as shooting Yu with Vulcan still swearing, he has no idea what they’re talking about all while witnessing the destruction of his family.
Episodes 17-21
At the start of episode 17 Shinra gets rescued by Hibana (that’s always good) and makes his way to the workshop where he gets passed all of the Evangelists and saves Vulcan from Giovanni who found what he was looking for (by random luck). Shinra manages to hold off Giovanni and Lisa while Hibana saves Arthur. Once Shinra knocks Giovanni out of the workshop, he comes face to face with his brother Sho and dotes on him like a proud big brother (Chibi Isis: That perfectly matches Shinra’s character). Unfortunately, Sho doesn’t share the same sentiments as Shinra and attacks him. Sho’s speed outmatches Shinra and just when it seems like Shinra will be captured, he gets saved by Joker who surprisingly isn’t with Evangelist (than whose side is he on?). He distracts Sho long enough for Viktor to come in and save everyone (scenes here: https://youtu.be/W65iKikL5rA and https://youtu.be/H7DMbD1A8Gg). They go to a hospital to treat Yu’s wound where he’s gonna live and take Vulcan under the protection of the 8th where he agrees to become their engineer.
(Chibi Isis): In episode 18 the 8th gets to work preparing for their battle against Evangelist. While Maki receives new gear from Vulcan (scene here: https://youtu.be/zlk6wRGdR7M), Shinra and Arthur receive some hands on training from Benimaru (Tamaki on the other hand just sits in a chapel listening to Iris. So much for woman power). I will admit the training is good as Shinra learns to better control the flames on his feet which allows him to move faster and the new gear created by Vulcan is pretty cool (scene here: https://youtu.be/6A1D5VJTraU).
The 8th go down into a place called the Nether in episode 19. The Nether is an unholy place in their world where it’s said the light never reaches and is connected to the Netherworld. Everyone is forbidden from going to it and even investigating the place requires special permission from the Sol Temple. However, the 8th are allowed to investigate the place as much as they want. The 8th believes that Evangelist is hiding down there so they go to investigate (Nitsuj: May the sun have mercy on your souls). They enter the Nether and quickly get separated from each other where Maki fights and defeats a group of Evangelists herself (scene here: https://youtu.be/7a8AZGgzK-U, she’s way too awesome) while Tamaki and Iris take on an Evangelist known as Assault who can create giant fire bullets (a man named Assault taking on women. Nii-chan? (Nitsuj): I know, I feel uncomfortable too). At first Tamaki loses (Nitsuj: And she did so much training and everything. She listened to Iris’s listens so intently) but after a nit slip and exposure which catches Assault off guard, does the fight turn in favor of Tamaki. Even Iris gets in on the action with a lead pipe and the two beat up Assault so bad that they had to censor it (scene here: https://youtu.be/nTMroaKhy4k. Assault got. . .assaulted).
The action continues in episode 20 as Takehisa gets into a shootout with Arrow who uses flaming arrows to attack her foes (I’m writing that down. (Nitsuj): Yeah, write that down). We get a good back and forth fight where we dive a little into Takehisa’s ideology about life and how even though it almost matches up with that of Evangelist, he still says they’re wrong. He manages to beat Arrow but collapses from exhaustion where two more Evangelist come out to attack him (scene here: https://youtu.be/KO98B3QZig0). Lucky for him (I think), Arthur is there to save him where he shows off the results of his training and defeat one of the Evangelist while the other ran away (scene here: https://youtu.be/WxacLPUIx74. (Nitsuj): Weakling. Actually, the same thing can be said for all of Evangelist. I’m beginning to think the only real deal here is Sho and everyone is just hot air. No pun intended). Akiteru and Vulcan come across Giovanni and Lisa (Nitsuj: Dang~ Lisa look good in that Evangelist outfit. She look good) where it’s heavily hinted that Giovanni subjected Lisa to horrendous torture to turn her into the woman she is today.
Things just keep getting better and better in episode 21. Akiteru and Vulcan fight against Lisa (Nitsuj: Still looking good in that outfit) where they manage to beat her and bring her around but her mind still belongs to Giovanni (they really do a good job conveying the fear Lisa has for Giovanni visually). Akiteru takes on Giovanni (Nitsuj: Where I swear he rips off some railroad tracks, climbs them, and then proceeds to hit Giovanni with a diving blockbuster/neckbreaker) where he reveals that the cause of human combustion is the Adolla Burst (scene here: https://youtu.be/OapbonNVPvo). Speaking of Adolla Burst, Shinra and Sho finally meet and my goodness, the animation and action in their fight is amazing. The way it’s shot and how fast they’re moving is just amazing to watch and really shows just how next level these two are. While the two seem evenly matched, Sho reveals that he has the upper hand by being able to stop time by controlling the thermal temperature expansion of the area around him whenever Shinra gets close to him.
Episodes 22-24
In episodes 22 and 23 the fight between Shinra and Sho continues as Sho gains the upper hand by stopping time thanks to the Adolla Burst (Nitsuj: It’s like a kid tattling on their sibling for hitting them). Shinra counters this by using the Adolla Burst himself to move faster which Viktor warns him not to do saying that the human body can’t handle that speed and if he continues his body will crumble. Shinra doesn’t listen and continues to connect with Sho where his memories begin flooding into Sho, managed to reach him and he finally accepts Shinra as his big brother (scene here: https://youtu.be/473-GZk1oCw. Aneki~). However, their touching moment doesn’t last long as another Evangelist comes in, stabs Shinra in the chest with a sword, and takes control of Sho’s mind (no~ all that hard work for nothing). Shinra gets rescued by the 8th (Nitsuj: Where apparently Arthur is immune to mind control. It’s either because of his plasma sword or he’s an idiot) and taken to the 6th company which is the medical company run by Dr. Haung who uses her pyrokinesis powers to help others with pyrokinesis. The surgery is a success and Shinra receives a visit from Burns who admits that he knew all about the fire that killed Shinra’s family and knew Sho was in the hands of the Evangelist this whole time. Burns says he kept all of this a secret because he didn’t want Shinra rushing off and getting himself killed (which he totally would of). Shinra says he’s not the same solider Burns fought months ago, so Burns decides to test Shinra’s resolve by fighting him (not even out of the hospital and he’s already picking fights).
In the final episode Shinra learns the truth about what happened 12 years ago. It turns out the fire was started by Sho who awakened to his Adolla Burst powers and couldn’t control them just yet (he’s only like what, 8 months old at the time? What did you expect?). The fire resulted in Shinra awakening to his Adolla Burst as well. As for the Infernal demon Shinra saw, that was actually his mom trying to save Sho. Shinra’s mom managed to save Sho but soon fell under the control of the Evangelists where her whereabouts remain a mystery. Burns admits that he lied to Shinra in order to keep him out of this mess (Nitsuj: Well that lie was as affected as say trying to break glass with a nickel. Scene here: https://youtu.be/_EnMUhpbQGg). After Shinra gets discharged, he returns to the 8th to tell Akiteru everything and now that he knows that Infernal demon is his mom, he vows to find a way to change her back. The episode wraps with a party welcoming Shinra back and the promise of a another season.
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): So that was Fire Force, a fanstatic anime from beginning to end with good action and a fun concept.
(Chibi Isis): The various plots and twists throughout the anime are good. Some of them are a bit cliché and predictable, but still enjoyable. The characters are all good as well. Shinra may be your typical shonen protagonist, but he has a good heart and cares about his teammates and everyone around him. Maki and Takehisa were cool, Vulcan was funny and caring, and Akiteru is a good father figure to everyone in the squad. The one character I had problems with was Tamaki. I get that her blatant fanservice is a joke, but it gets old rather quickly and starts to become annoying especially when we’re in the middle of a serious moment or fight scene.
(Nitsuj): Yeah, I have to agree about Tamaki. Actually, the characters in general are shockingly the weakest point of this series for me. In Soul Eater the characters felt real and relatable. By the end of the third episode you quickly fell in love with them and wanted to follow their story. Here, we really don’t get that. The characters feel out of a place. Like they’re cartoon characters in a real-world atmosphere and they’re trying to blend in only to fail. If they were in the world of Soul Eater they would fit right in, but in this real-world like setting they feel out of place with some of them getting demoted to eye-candy. Luckily, the characters start to get better as the series goes on. The anime can start to lag at a few spots and even become kind of boring to watch with arcs not really expanding on the characters or seeing them grow for the better. Creating a wasted opportunity. However, they make up for it by giving us very good fight scenes. Seriously, the fight scenes were fire. Imagine the fight scenes from Soul Eater only with better animation, a faster pace, and bigger explosions/powers. The best fight by far had to be Shinra and Sho’s fight. They knew they had to make this fight the best and they succeeded. I was totally invested into the story they were telling and was really sad when Shinra came so close to getting Sho back only to lose him. The rest of the fight scenes were also good as well. David Productions has always been known for their good fight scenes and they manage to do the fight scenes justice here with the right speed and excellent animation.
(Chibi Isis): Speaking of animation, the animation is really good here. I especially like the animation of the fire and how their uniforms glow blue. The music is also good with it matching up with the scenes wonderfully and even though the anime is serious for the most part, they know how to get a good laugh out of you. Whether it be Shinra, Maki pummeling people, Arthur and his delusions, or Tamaki and her fanservice if you’re into that sort of thing.
Final Score
(Chibi Isis): I give Fire Force an 8/10.
(Nitsuj): I’m have to give the anime a 7/10. This was a fun anime to watch. Can it be predictable, lag at times, and waste opportunities? Yes. Our these deep characters that you’ll find yourselves invested in? As of right now not really. However, as a fun shonen story that tries something different and succeeds at it, it more than earns a like from me.
(Chibi Isis): Me too! I’m very excited to see the second season and I can’t wait to try out some of the new techniques I’ve come up with from watching this anime. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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