So it finally seems like the series is back on track with the plotline they started out with. They took quite the detour… I’m not sure if I’m just done with this series but I just was not feeling this episode. And while I can understand that this episode was the cool down from last week’s episode, it felt like not much really happened.
Shinra and Arthur are tasked into going undercover to check out whether the 1st is involved with shady business. Especially since after joining forces with Hibana, she revealed to them that she learned through her experiments that some infernals were being created by someone. Though it seems like not all infernals are created, however it seems like the 8th is on the right track of eventually figuring out what causes combustion. And I admit that I like Hibana as a supportive character rather than an antagonist. It actually makes more sense for her character to want revenge against the people who are forcing people to turn into infernals rather than just being evil. I wasn’t really convinced of her initial drive, so it was nice to see her actually put her research to better use. Not to mention that high five with Obi was nice since it basically confirmed their united stance on looking into the other forces. I love it when characters high five no matter how cliche it may be.
It’s also pretty hilarious how doting Hibana is towards Shinra now. Freaking feeding him while they rest under an umbrella. Also justice continues to be served to bubblegum guy as it should.
Anyways, I’m not sure if I suspected the 1st could possibly be in on the creation of infernals at first. However, the more the series goes on, they are starting to feel a bit fishy. Especially since it was that guy in the eyepatch was with Shinra after the incident and refuses to admit he remembers it. Even though it’s pretty obvious that he does know a lot more than he lets on. Shinra also seems to have his suspicions, especially after all the 5th revealed.
Three more high ranked characters were introduced, all of them looking pretty formidable. Ain’t gonna lie, I’m digging their outfits. ANYWAYS, they all seem to be pretty interesting if not shady in one way or another. Though out of the three of them, Karim was the most interesting to me. With his really strange habit of repeating things where he’s literally just calling something what it is while making it sound like an insult. Not to mention his ability or technology is able to take fire and somehow turn it into sound and cold, which I still can’t understand but I feel like I don’t really need to. I wonder if it’s because of the blue hair that I’m kinda interested in him as I am somehow always drawn to blue haired characters. But I also appreciated how supportive he was towards Arthur and Shinra at the end after their spar with Commander Burns. Any character to tell others to “hang in there” is good in my book.
Speaking of which, probably the biggest thing that happened this episode was how Commander Burns basically tanked all of Arthur and Shinra’s attacks and blasted Shinra into next Tuesday without moving. It’s still unclear exactly what power this guy has, however, just the way he carries himself screams “final boss.” It’s definitely mysterious as to what this guy’s power is. However, I think it’s safe to say that this guy is OP as heck. The way that he beats Shinra by just stepping down reminded me a lot of Father from Fullmetal Alchemist. However, he does strike up some decent points when he asks Arthur if his plasma sword is all that he can do and that Shinra needs more growing up to do. While he may be a tad shady, he does have valid points and seems encouraging on the outside. But I guess we’ll see just how valid this guy actually is. Especially since he’s raised a few suspicious flags throughout this episode and in the episode where he made his first physical appearance.
Overall, this episode was… okay. I didn’t dislike or particularly like this episode. It was just okay. It still had the weird continuity problems in transition frames but the overall action was fine. It gave me another character to be interested in I suppose and I’m hoping that he isn’t bad. However, I do appreciate the cooperation of the 5th to help the 8th, despite how abrupt it was. We’ll see if this series can stick to the plot thread it’s chosen and follow through with it.
Four things.
The other sisters didn’t turn into Infernals. They just burned to death. The church caught fire and Iris and Hibana were the only survivors.
This has to do with your look at the series as a whole, but I feel you are under a massive misconception.
Spoiler
Joker isn’t the main villain. He’s a villain right now, but not the main one.
Joker knows about the greater plot, and he hates the Fire Force, but he is not the Main Antagonist. He even describes himself as an Anti-Hero.
This episode is ultimately where the REAL plot of Fire Force starts. If comparing this to Soul Eater, Episodes 1-3 were equivalent to Maka, Black Star, and Kid’s introduction, while Episodes 4-6 were the equivalent of the Stein introduction.
In other words, the first six episodes introduced the major characters: Company 8, Tamaki, Joker, Hibana, and Burns. It also hinted at several plots: Shinra’s family dying, Sho still being alive, the mysterious Joker and his hatred of the Fire Force, the corruption amidst the Companies, the idea Infernals are being manufactured, and the significance behind the Third Generation, aka, the “Devils”.
The pacing may seem off, because it is. The anime is heavily rushing through a lot of stuff. So far, 24 chapters have been adapted, in only 7 episodes. Episode 1 chapters “0” and 1, Episode 2 adapted chapters 2-4, Episode 3 adapted chapters 5-9, Episode 4 adapted the rest of chapter 9-13, Episode 5 adapted the rest of chapter 13-17, episode 6 adapted the rest of chapter 17-20, and episode 7 adapted the rest of chapter 20 through 24. Episode 8 however appears to only adapt chapters 25 and 26. The anime appears to be trying to rush to the actual plot of the Manga and go past the earlier chapters, since readers consider the manga to have hit its stride after Hibana’s arc ended.
It wasn’t particularly clear from how the anime portrayed it, especially since Hibana explains how her sisters suddenly “burned up” while showing a heavily censored image of infernals standing in flames (they were even making infernal noises). So the directing of that scene probably misdirected me into thinking that.
Soul Eater definitely did a better job at introducing its characters as they showed me the dynamics between the characters that was believable and exactly how they were able to grow as a group. While Fire Force seems to be making Shinra out to be the most OP out of the group (basically separating him from the cast) and kind of fastforwarded through group bonding and development that would allow me to feel attached to them.
But yeah, as an anime only, my knowledge of the series is very limited and the show isn’t showing events in a cohesive way, making it difficult to follow along sometimes. So there will be times where I’ll miss the mark.
Just to let everyone know, because of Crunchyroll Expo this weekend, I’ll be doing a double post of this week’s ep and next week’s ep of Fire Force next week! Have a good weekend everyone!