Things are staring to feel a lot more shoneny this episode. While this is the beginning of the 8th’s investigation in the 1st division, it’s under the guise of a some kind of training arc. I’m starting to get to the point where I’m not worrying about the little things in Fire Force and just going along for the ride.
After a punch in the face knocked all of the crazy out of her, because that’s totally how mental health issues are resolved, Princess Hibana revealed that through their research, they learned that some cases of spontaneous human combustion aren’t random, but caused by humans. Well, colour me several shades of shocked…
These man-made internals have been showing up within the jurisdiction the 1st, and so the 8th division’s next mission is to investiagte them. Their solution, to send Shinra and Arthur to investigate under the guise of a temporary training reassignment programme. Although it seems like the 1st leader; Captain Burns (really? that’s what you’re calling him?) seems to be onto Obi’s plan right from the start.
Thus we see our hero and his idiot sidekick introduced into the cathedral of the first and introduced to their lieutenants in the form of a good old series of shonen battles.
I know it’s kind of bad form to talk about a piece of media by simply comparing it to other media, but I’m getting a lot of One Piece and My Hero Academia vibes from this particular episode. Meeting all of these new characters, all with their own unique powers throwing our heroes around a bit to show what we’re going to have to deal with.
We’ve got a very Shonen guy who literally has stars for eyes, and just loves fighting. There’s also a Todoroki. Not to mention the return of the weird tsundere cat girl who has been showing up in all of the intros, who seems to be added to the list of women who are into Shinra for some reason.
It’s a good epiosde, full of gags and some really fantastic, if brief fight sequences. There is some real mystery to Captain Burns and whether he’s going to turn out to be a villain or not. (I don’t think he will be) But he has some kind of connection to the fire that killed Shinra’s mother and where his brother went missing, so Shinra obviously wants to kick him in the face to get that information.
Which doesn’t go well because Burn’s mysterious powers are completely badass and he defeats Shinra and Arthur with nothing more than a casual wave of his arm.
The investigation into the 1st begins, and right away they see, far less sketchy than the 5th did. I’ll say one thing for this series; it keeps me on my toes. I have no idea where it’s going to take me from episode to episode. I mean there have been far fewer infernals on show than you’d have thought given the starting premise of the show. Continues to be a lot of fun.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 