Now that we’ve settled down from the events of the fight with Rekka, Fire Force is spending some time in this episode laying some more groundwork and worldbuilding. We get a kind of two-in-one episode here in which we see just exactly how and why the covert 8th Company was formed, and we visit Benimaru, the strongest captain from the last episode. Let’s dig in!
1. *Record scratch*
I kind of love that the episode literally starts with Shinra asking as to how the 8th got formed in the first place, the moment could only be topped if Obi then grabbed the camera and took it aside for a soliloquy. Alas, we will have to cope with what we have. We first get to focus on Lieutenant Hinawa, who we see is a member of the Tokyo Imperial Armed Forces back before the Force. Naturally, the show depicts him as even more emotionless, only he’s also an asshole this time and preaching to his friend Tojo about atheism! The friend in question I thought for a minute was Obi since they have similar mannerisms and looks, which seemed like an odd visual choice to make since this is a charming young fellow named Tojo.
We also see Maki in the Armed Forces, although we don’t see much of her personality here. Most of it is unfortunately explained to Tojo via Hinawa, in which he basically sums her up as having daddy issues. Young Hinawa, you’re a real prick!
2. An unfortunate confrontation
During the argument about atheism, Hinawa stuck to his point that guns didn’t need to be baptized to shoot Infernals better because there is no Sol and a gun is a gun. Tojo rebutted saying that either way, he’d prefer to be shot by a baptized weapon, intensely foreshadowing the events to come! We later see Hinawa and Tojo in their dorm when Tojo, peacefully reading, combusts, and Infernalizes (taking the poor book with him!). It’s a terribly tragic moment and encapsulates how sudden and shocking and difficult to handle this can be for any of the characters who have had this happen to someone close to them.
Tojo begs Hinawa to take him out whilst he still has sentience, but Tojo’s words of preferring to be shot by a baptized weapon are resonating through Hinawa’s head. The animation is really overly detailed here and serves well at showing the intense internal struggle that Hinawa is undergoing, where one small irrational thought can completely paralyze you in the heat of a moment. Tojo is soon gunned down by the dorm’s security, leaving Hinawa in shock.
3. An unlikely team
Later on at an Infernal hot spot, we see Obi appear as one of the local firefighters. He and his gang are holding down the fort and quashing the fires until the Fire Force gets here, and it’s interesting to see Obi acting so practically and normally. When the Fire Force arrives and joke about going after one of the more active Infernals to score more points, we some of that toxic masculinity in highly institutionalized workplaces shine through, which Obi thankfully tries to object to. An older lady standing by tries to convince them to deal with the docile Infernal first because it’s her husband and he’s trying his best to fight it, but the Soldier rejects it, considering immediate danger over empathy and mental health. Boo!
Hinawa, who had been watching the whole time from the sideline, joins up with Obi and proposes that they go and take care of the lady’s Infernalized husband, rejecting the notion that the Fire Force soldiers are heroes for the people. They take care of the clearly struggling man before the scene skips ahead to see the pair arriving at their new 8th Company headquarters in need of new recruits. It’s a bit hamfisted in the way that it positions the firefighters’ priorities, but it certainly makes them clear and easy to analyze.
4. Mr. Cool Guy
The second part of the episode looks at the 8th Company arriving in a traditional Japanese country town protected by the 7th Company’s boss, the widely acclaimed toughest Fire Soldier, Benimaru. We get a short intro scene of him wandering around the town of Asakusa, popular with the townsfolk and keeping his cool, dismissive attitude up even when a friendly local proposes a drink with him. It’s a great way to introduce a character and make him immediately interesting, especially leading on from the enigmatic appearance he made in the last episode.
The 8th Company surprises Benimaru in his door because they know he doesn’t like formal meetings, but he’s still obviously bothered by a bunch of Soldiers cramming into his home for a work meeting (I would be too!). Shinra gets heated and tries to exclaim why they need him to fight the Evangelist, but his words fall flat when Benimaru doesn’t believe in the claim that anyone is Infernalizing people on purpose. Our passionate boy Shinra then tries to challenge him to a fight, but before things can get formulaic, the pair is literally saved by the bell.
5. How to mourn the dead
The bell harkens a local Infernalization, and it, unfortunately, happened to the old man who proposed a drink with Benimaru earlier (and you should know how effectively bad things happening to old people gets me upset!). 8th Company tries to pitch in and help, but Benimaru is already in with his own bombastic method of putting his friend to rest. The local townsfolk, all oddly cheery, send up these mop-like weapons for Benimaru to ignite and uses as missiles to… destroy nearby blocks of houses? After a while, Benimaru is flying through the air destroying block by block and making a veritable ceremony out of this event. It’s a little disturbing until we see him come face to face with the old Infernalized man.
Benimaru utters words of remorse before quickly laying the man to rest with a powerful hand stroke. One of the townsfolk explains to Shinra that the property damage is a ceremony of sorts, an offering to the Infernalized who’ve suffered. On top of that, Benimaru is the one who lays each victim to rest, so each citizen is comforted knowing they’ll be dealt with by a local hero and a friend. It’s one of the most positive relationships with death I’ve seen with anime, and it’s really touching to watch.
