Episodes 19 and 20 of Fire Force are a tale of Two Anime. One is a fan-service filled mess, with uneven gags mixed in among mismatched action sequences. The other is an epic, and I mean EPIC, Fire Sniper Duel. Okay, so Episode 20 wasn’t actually all that bad, but it sounded more dramatic when I said it that way. In case you need more convincing…how often do you get to see a cute little nun straight up merc someone with a pipe?
Episode 19 starts off with a tour to the old Tokyo subway system. Why? Never mind logic or logistics – underground abandoned subways make for excellent battlegrounds, ask any FPS! I’m not 100% sure why the 8th thought it was a great idea to walk into an obvious trap, but no matter – also they’re bringing Shinra, the one person that the Evangelist obviously wants? Okay, sure.
I can’t avoid talking about Tamaki in Episode 19. At this point, “Lucky Lecher” is a confirmed plot mechanic, whether I like it or not. I guess the fight was as well done as possible – I suppose anything unexpected can happen on the battlefield, include getting en eyeful/handful. HOWEVER – when our forgettable baddie got his head splattered by the sister, I legitimately jumped. I guess the other concurrent fight with Maki had quite a few fatalities, but I thought they might just knock the guy out or something. Nope, he’s not coming back from that. Fire Force doesn’t shy away from killing baddies – I’m curious if they’re as gung-ho with good guys.
Also, I guess ghosts are the only thing Maki’s afraid of. Because she can’t punch them. Whatever, Gorilla Cyclops (you’re still best girl).
Episode 20 is marvelous (ignoring whatever complicated word games Shinra was doing at the start). The sniper fight, between two of my favorite characters, is just a treat. For a show that’s done so much with bright explosions, the use of darkness/greyscale was superb. Even Arthur’s descent and Samurai-Knight-Whatever showed marked improvement in the fight choreography department. Given the level of animation, if Fire Force has solved it’s choreography problem (like the past couple of fights with the White Clads have demonstrated), this show is going to be Hall of Fame on its action sequences alone.
Finally, we’re getting the big showdown of the Captains and Vulcan vs Lisa. Which, by the way, Vulcan uses this moment to spit MAD game. RESPECT. You can definitely see Lisa wavering here, but I’m quite concerned for her safety – I think she might be the first major good guy to die. Lisa’s “Feeler” also looks a lot better than it did in the workshop, so I’m pretty hyped for this upcoming fight. Giovanni also teases some major plot progression, so I’m sure that’s coming up too.
If you don’t watch any other episode of Fire Force, Episode 20 with the Fire Sniper Duel – watch that one. You won’t be disappointed.
At this point the fanservice is like white noise to me and I just ignore it. I enjoy the show much more for it.
Now one thing that will be interesting is what Fire Force does with its good characters that are beaten. Rekka was KO’d and wont ever be back. Curious what happens with Arrow. Will it be like Jojo where things are just forgotten lol.
Yeah my intense hatred of cat-girl has diminished to the point where I catch myself being like, “Yeah, that was okay. She done good.”
Rekka got a hole straight up through him, so that’s pretty hard to come back from. I’ll be VERY sad if Arrow doesn’t come back, she’s great.