I realized that while Fire Force has had many of the shounen troupes (some ad nauseam- see Cat girl), it’s been missing a training arc. We had a tournament really early on (that got kind of derailed), we’ve had fanservice, fights, enemies-turned-friends….but we haven’t had a good, ole-fashioned, protag powerup. Well, this week, we get it – and with the strongest Fire Soldier too!
The intro of this episode…featured the sad return of Silver. Seriously, who let that gag get through? Also, the Princess sitting on top of the couch, with Karim sitting on the floor…that was perfect.
Shocking reveal that Giovanni’s betrayal gets covered up, and we see concrete proof of Viktor and Joker’s connection – okay, that was probably obvious to everyone but me, shhh. I’m really liking Viktor, in no small part due to the fact that I play LoL and am a Viktor one-trick….*ahem*, I mean his character is a wonderful idealization of the fanatical enthusiast who is working his dream job.
Beni is a joy any time he’s onscreen – Fire Force really nails his character: someone with just too much talent not to lead – albeit not their natural inclination.
Now for a small gripe: I’m tired of “chi” being shoehorned into every anime. I felt it was wonky in HunterxHunter (that was one of the better examples too) and it feels downright forced here. Maybe it ties into an overall plot point down the line, but it really just makes me roll my eyes – here we go again. We have people who can control fire…we don’t need chi! (If MHA comes out that Quirks are a product of chi, so help me….) Shinra’s hand motions were pretty funny though, so I have to give it that.
Everyone gets toys, training, and a new move – then eats watermelon and plays with sparklers (strangely fitting in the Fire Force world). That’s about how it should go.
Another overall gripe I have is that Sister is really getting squeezed for screentime, given all the new character introductions. I’m hoping she comes back strong – maybe in the next arc. Wouldn’t say this was the strongest episode, but I think a necessary one, since right now Shinra is light years away from being able to fight Sho. We’ll need to even that field a bit before it becomes an interesting fight.
