Welcome back folks, to another look at the scathing hot new Shonen anime, Fire Force! This week, we get our token school/sports competition with the Rookie Fire Soldier Games, plus the world starts to open up in a super interesting way. Also, Shinra is still weird as heck. Let’s get a move on!
1. The world outside your Crunchyroll window
The episode opens in yet another different way to the previous two, actively choosing to go against the grain of generic anime pre-opening sequences. In this case, it sets up some really interesting stuff regarding the state of the world at large. Two characters discuss that most of the world is, in fact, engulfed in flames and that it is only a small section of Tokyo, Japan that has been able to remain a functioning civilization. What makes this even more interesting is the character behind this narration. He discusses it with another character and it seems to be suggested that he might be an unreliable narrator, leading us to truly question what the state of this world outside our narrative bubble is really like?
There are also some great points made in this scene regarding Fire Force’s 8th Company, which Shinra is a part of. The mysterious second character, who seems to be the enigmatic character behind the last episode’s fire, discusses the fact that the 8th Company’s leader, Obi, was once stripped of his rank for prioritizing saving lives over other orders, telling viewers a lot not just about Obi, but the operators of the Fire Force themselves.
2. Ew
Fire Force, unfortunately, rears its lecherous side in this episode with the character Tamaki, and her interactions with Shinra and other characters. You see, Atsushi Ōkubo thought it was a good idea to put a character in his manga that had the… uncomfortable ability (is it an ability? Who knows?) called a ‘Lucky Lecher Lure” that seems to attract characters around her into performing sexual acts. But surely, I hear you ask, it can’t be that bad, Rowan! Well, beloved readers (yes, the two of you), you must not have seen Shinra not only grope Tamaki’s breasts, but also her butt, within roughly two minutes of playtime. It’s a highly unfortunate anime trope that I had hoped Fire Force would avoid, but it chose not to, and so we must hold the text accountable.
What is a little more interesting in this scene is that we see one of the Force members from back when Shinra’s mother died and he had his Devil accident. He seems like a powerful company leader, but he’s dismissive, and the narrative seeds suspicion about his true motives quite well.
3. An unfortunate meeting
The start of the Rookie Fire Soldier Games seems to bode well for Shinra as he jets fire from his feet to immediately gain a height advantage over the other competitors. Tamaki, thankfully proving to be more than the male gaze-y character of the series, sets off her own cat-like fire abilities and starts to climb up the tower after him in jealousy. The narrative lures you into a false sense of security here, seeming like it will start into the usual multi-episode competition arc, but a certain mysterious character confronts Shinra in the first room of the tower that he arrives in. That’s right, it’s the kooky gentleman behind the fire from episode two and from the prologue of this very episode, who turns out to go by the title Joker. It’s a great shocking moment for viewers as Joker has also taken out most of the people working on the inside of the tower for the competition.
Coincidentally, Joker is able to momentarily catch Shinra’s attention by revealing that he has knowledge about the fire that killed Shinra’s mother twelve years ago. The narrative keeps pretty well in character for Shinra here, being the troubled protagonist that he is, and has his interest piqued by this offer. Thankfully, however, this doesn’t go on for too long, and Shinra proves quickly that he cares more about being a hero and saving the workers Joker has taken out.
4. Who are the real Jokers, though
Continued below
You can tell this is an action-focused Shonen anime purely by looking at the quality of the animation just before and after Shinra and Joker’s battle. Some of the facial expressions and body language used in the prior moments are especially awkward looking, with Shinra’s already inhuman grin looking even more offputting in the wrong ways. As I said, however, it seems that the show was really saving up all it’s animating energy for the fight, because it’s a stunning display of shiny visual effects. It has the freewheeling energy of a prequel era Star Wars duel, but with the weight and kineticism of a martial arts battle infused thanks to Shinra’s feet-focused abilities. At one point, Shinra says something about how all heroes perform flying jump kicks, and absolutely inclined to believe him based on how pretty he makes it look.
Arthur and Tamaki make it up to the scene eventually, and there’s conflict. Of course, when Shinra explains they need to run out the building and get help because he’s fighting a baddie, they’re suspicious and think that our evil-grin-bearing buddy is pulling a fast one on them to get ahead. It, unfortunately, takes a lot of tension out of the fight but doesn’t last too long, and soon they join the fight alongside Shinra.
5. Corporations are bad
The fight ends with an explosion, which this show still manages to make exciting after setting one off every episode. Shinra does the heroic thing and grabs his comrades and jumps out the window, and is saved uncannily by Captain Burns, the standoff-ish Force elite that was their back in Shinra’s mother’s incident. It gives him a very unknown quality, which is interesting. As viewers at this stage, the only bad word we have against this character is from Shinra’s own speculation, which may not be 100% accurate. While he may seem morally dubious at times, at this moment he’s performative and heroic, even to the point of complimenting Obi on his choice of recruits. We don’t really know much about this character other than what we’ve seen here, which is a great way to incite mystery early on in an anime’s lifetime.
Towards the end of the episode, Shinra realizes that maybe Fire Force isn’t quite as lawful good as it might seem, and has a talk with Obi about it at the wreckage of the competition building. Obi reveals a significant plot point, which serves as a good way to drive the series going forwards: that the 8th Company exists as Obi’s personal team to investigate the other seven, due to them being manipulated by the several massive corporations that take part in owning Fire Force. It’s a big reveal for the third episode but shows confidence in pacing and in the general intrigue of the narrative.
