The Nether arc of Fire Force continues this week with a look into how some of the other members of 8th Company are dealing with the White-Clad that they run into. We get a bit of spotlight on characters like Hinawa, Arthur, and Vulcan, proving time and time again that Fire Force handles it’s larger cast with as much care and finesse as it does its main characters.
1. Rapid-Man Kick
Even though this episode is largely about developing the rest of the cast, we do get a little moment of development on our enthusiastic boy Shinra as he runs into a White-Clad holding Viktor Licht hostage (I know that I don’t have to spell out his full name every time but there’s something very satisfying about sounding out Viktor Licht in my head as I type it out). The plotline here is building on the training scene with Benimaru from two episodes ago, showing Shinra applying the yoga-style mediation and focus techniques that he learned whilst sparring with the enigmatic Captain.
There’s a great little moment where Viktor Licht has to prompt the absent-minded Shinra into remembering that he has this technique available. The turnaround is perfectly timed too, as Shinra dispatches the White-Clad with a movement so fast it is unrecognizable to the human eye. The real fun part, though, is that we see Shinra and Viktor Licht developing a fun little relationship as they theorize whether to call the move simply “Rapid” or, as Shinra prefers, “Rapid-Man Kick”. It’s interesting seeing Viktor Licht get so involved with the gang despite his ulterior motives.
2. Two tanks in a firing match
The next big scene I want to touch on is between Lieutenant Hinawa and the White-Clad we’ve seen numerous times in the past, the aptly-named Arrow. From what we’ve seen of Hinawa in the past, he’s been something of a stoic rock to Obi’s brasher and loud-mouthed leadership. In this fight, we see that sheer concentration and emotionless passion in the way that battles with key attention to placing and strategy. Interestingly enough, this fight does a lot of development for Arrow’s character too. We’ve seen her in the past as more of a support fighter, picking off characters after big fights, but in this battle, she’s fierce – literally stepping out of the shadows and firing round after round of powerful fire arrows.
The interesting part of this scene is the ideological debate that the two have mid-fight regarding them both being characters that are hesitant to show emotions or feel emotion at all. It’s a big stepping stone for Hinawa as while he does agree that it’s easier to be blasé about dealing with life at times, he does not agree with taking away other’s, specifically Shinra’s rights to feel and be emotional. We see him get angry about this, and it feels like a significant character shift for the better, as he uses Arrow’s own flames to power up his bullets and takes her out.
3. The rogue element
The next character that we get spotlighted in this episode is none other than the naive crowd-favorite, Arthur the King-Knight. After Hinawa nearly gets ambushed by a bunch of White-Clad in the wake of expending his energy in the Arrow fight, Arthur drops down from the ceiling with a quick save, with all the charming and genuine panache that he’s known for and that makes him so endearing. It’s a great sign of the camaraderie in 8th Company that Hinawa was willing to stake his life on Arthur rescuing him at the last minute, but this fight is much more than that.
This fight feels like a natural progression from the last time we saw Arthur in the spotlight, almost a direct continuation since it’s against the White-Clad who he fought at Vulcan’s workshop. However, Arthur’s picked up some abilities that help him in this fight – abilities that feel a little uncannily tailored to this specific match-up, but it doesn’t stick out like a retcon so I’ll let it slide. Arthur hilariously refers to himself reclassing as a Samurai-Knight and consciously picks out which of the White-Clad’s illusions are real or not by listening out for the sound of breath before a killing stroke. It’s a great, logical way of dealing with fantastical superpowers, which I always appreciate.
Continued below4. Who are you calling a Gorilla Cyclops?!
The battle between these two ends with a great deal of satisfaction. For a moment, it seems like Arthur accidentally heard Hinawa’s breathing and struck to kill him, which plays on our expectations well because it’s the perfect in-character goof we can expect from Arthur. However, it turns out he did hit the White-Clad, who was behind Hinawa and trying to take him out the whole time. Our sassy, self-confident boy is getting his moment in the spotlight that he’s always deserved!
There’s a brief interlude here as Tamaki and Iris meet up with Maki, who is stalking through the Nether corridors with her gigantic hammers light up like great, firey demons that happen to scare the crap out of the other girls. It’s not as revelatory a character moment as the others in the episode, but it’s a nice moment to breathe for viewers with a bit of well-characterized levity as Maki pulls out her token-defensive line of worrying she’s being called a “Gorilla Cyclops”. We’ve all been there, girlfriend.
5. Getting the family back together
Because this show works harder than most, we get yet another scene dedicated to fleshing out and developing support characters, in this case, even relatively newer additions like Vulcan. Teamed up with Obi, he conveniently runs into his treacherous former friend Lisa, who’s now going by the incredibly-uncomfortable name Feeler (because of her fire tentacles… eugh), and the creepy-ass Dr. Giovanni. There’s a real quick but fantastic character beat here between the two. Lisa goes straight for trying to insult Vulcan’s naivety in believing Lisa/Feeler (I’m sorry, I can’t use the name Feeler) was ever his friend, and how strange it must seem to see her in the enemy’s colors. Vulcan doesn’t bat an eyelid, and being the Himbo-smooth talker he is, replies “You look good in anything”. Oh, my sweet, sweet Vulcan.
There’s not much on this confrontation in this episode, but there’s a whole bunch of dialogue from Dr. Giovanni that hints at a whole bunch of world-building and nefarious plans. It’s interesting, but my favorite little detail here is subtle movements that make Giovanni so unsettling, from his hands twitching to his plague-mask flapping back and forth like… a balloon in the wind? It’s a very visceral movement with vivid sound effects that leaves an imprint as few other things do. Thanks, Fire Force, for imprinting this indescribable sound into my memories and most likely haunting my dreams.
