Drawing closer to the close of the first season, Fire Force is taking something of a breather to arrange all it’s chess pieces in the right place before the fall. It’s a good moment to check on the roster of characters, whilst giving us an episode that’s a little lower stakes but still just as entertaining for viewers to watch. Let’s dive in and see how our favorite Fire Force company is faring!
1. Secrets and cover-ups
The higher-ups of 8th Company, Obi and Hinawa, meet with Princess Hibana and a few other members of the company to discuss and consolidate information that they’ve gathered over the past few weeks. This scene is an effective and speedy way to remind viewers of all the important events that have taken place up until now, without directly being a recap section. The gang touches on things like the Asakusa arc, the Infernal Insects, and the events at Vulcan’s workshop, especially with Giovanni’s betrayal being covered up. It’s a fun way to have a recap episode and intertwine it without the story so that viewers don’t get too bored.
There are also a few core character moments here that are both reflective and silly. Shinra looks back on his first meeting with his brother Sho in the last episode, dreading the moment when he will have to confront him again. Arthur, meanwhile, hangs up his noble steed Sil-Burr, the stuffed donkey head he found at Vulcan’s workshop. As always, Fire Force balances quieter moments with some levity to keep everything in a good mood for viewers.
2. Guess who’s back in the house!
At the start of the episode, we also received a special visit from a few old friends! Namely, Flam, the Ice user from 1st Company, and Konro, Captain Benimaru’s best bud (and also definitely lover – headcanon is great, folks!). Their arrival immediately makes things interesting as they discuss the recent cover-ups and what they plan to do moving forwards since it definitively establishes who’s aligning themselves against the White Clad and that this is a fairly important matter to involve the big dogs from roughly four separate Fire Force companies.
The gang discusses what they will do against the White Clad once they discover them, which is pretty rational decision making for action anime. Of course, they decide to give their boys Arthur and Shinra some bonus training considering their massive potential. Hibana also expresses some distrust for Viktor Licht’s role in the 8th Company since he was allegedly sent by Haijima. This is actually totally justified considering Licht is working for Joker, but the show keeps it vague whether or not Joker is on anyone in particular’s side, adding a further mystery to the overall narrative.
3. Secret special training
Shinra and Arthur head off to Asakusa to attend their special hand-to-hand training because naturally, the one best suited to teaching these rowdy kids is our favorite take-no-bullshit captain, Shinmon Benimaru. Once they both get there, Beni wastes no time pulling these guys into line and showing them the kind of constant intensity that they will be going through during this training, with Beni hitting them in just about any moment they have spare time or let their guards down. It’s entertaining, but there’s something so traditional and wholesome about it that you can’t help but love the bond that is being formed between teacher and student here.
The animation during this initial training sequence involves some slick fight choreography too, simply because there’s little in the way of fire powers or anything else flashy being thrown around. We simply get tactile movements and reactions that feel weighty and make a lot of sense for the viewers to be able to follow along with ease. At the same moment all this is going on, Licht discusses with Joker that he has an idea to further jumpstart Shinra’s powers, and enters Asakusa!
4. Jet propulsion
Because just about everyone has to do it, Konro sheds his doubts on whether Licht is trustworthy or not when he enters proclaiming that he has devised a special way for Shinra to hone his powers. The method, however, is quite simple and grounded in real physics, which is the kind of logical thinking applied to superpowers that I love. Basically, Licht realized that when Shinra projects flames, a lot of it is spread out flickering like a campfire, therefore leading to a lot of energy being wastes. Licht proposes that Shinra uses his concentration and physical training to be able to project his flames in a much more concentric and focused beam, leading to much more potent power that can propel super-powered kicks and flames to even greater heights.
In light of Konro’s doubt, Licht sits down with him and discusses his way of thinking with him, especially in relation to the way that Shinra is constantly convincing himself to never give up on trying to master this new ability. Licht appreciates how the first step to realizing a goal is to first master your mental state and will yourself to be able to do it, which is a kind of beautiful yet neutrally aligned statement that Konro can totally get behind.
5. Finishing moves
Shinra can’t quite wrap his head around why Beni expends such little effort in controlling his flames, yet for himself, it’s such an arduous task. That’s when we really get into the secret of pyrokinesis, as the episode title touts. Beni explains how he manages self-control through a classic Yoga/Buddhist style explanation, by using hand and body techniques to move and shape the flow of Ki within the body. What I like about this is that Ki isn’t some powerful magic ability like in plenty of other Shonen Action series, it’s a much more abstract concept like in real life that feels more like a signifier for concentration.
Beni gives Shinra a hand action, which he calls Tenokata, that allegedly directs the Ki to the feet, and it’s a logical enough placebo that gets Shinra to focus more on directing his power to his feet. Interestingly enough, this is based on a real-life practice called Ten No Kata, which is a form of focused martial arts, so it’s clear that Atsushi Okubo has done his research on figuring out how this works. Once Shinra starts to master it, however, he gets a signal from his Adolla Link – it seems the crunch time is at hand, folks!
