What They Say:
The Rookie Fire Soldier Games and The Hero and the Princess
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Fire Force is going into high gear in these two episodes. Episode 3 kicks off with a tournament arc but it doesn’t go off as planned and the tournament is cut short by Joker. I felt that this tournament was too short and could have lasted a bit longer to further introduce other squads.
Joker is the one who causes the tournament to come to an abrupt stop. He feels like an anti-villain. He exists to question whether what all of the Fire Squad units are doing is morally just or wrong. He tempts Shinra with information about the fire that killed his family and reveals some unsettling facts in order to get him to quit being a hero and become a devil. This information was kept hidden from Shinra and it seems that some squads had knowledge of this. This information does provide some great foreshadowing about the future.
One thing I didn’t like about episode 3 is how Tamaki is introduced and depicted. In her first scene, she meets Shinra and he somehow ends up groping her in multiple scenes. She calls this unlucky quick “Lucky Lecher Lure” in which she ends up in weird situations. I feel this was one manner that was used to create humor with this tactic but I don’t feel this is the best manner to create humor in this anime and it isn’t very hilarious.
Near the end of the episode, Obi is affirming to Shinra about how what Squad 8 is doing is right and explaining the purpose of all the squads. In episode 4, Squad 5 appears and their focus on technology and their leader is Princess Hibana. Princess Hibana is a masochist and treats all of her members like stepping stones and other squads like they are garbage. All the squads share a similar purpose but this purpose has lead the squads to go into different paths regarding this purpose.
Squad 8 and 5 end up fighting each other for an inferno who has retained many of his personality traits when he was a human. Squad 8 wants to put the inferno to rest but Squad 5 want to keep this inferno alive so that they can research the inferno. It’s nice to see the conflict between these different groups that should be working towards a common goal.
This episode does have one scene where humor is naturally created and it flows well. Hibana has Shinra on the floor and he looks up and is able to get a peak up Hibana dress. These episodes do have other instances where humor is attempted with some gags but the fall flat and aren’t able to deliver.
In Summary:
Episode 3 and 4 begin to expand more into the world of Fire Force. These episodes do a great job of creating suspense and mystery of Shinra’s family and why some people are attempting to hide the truth. Comedy isn’t this anime strongest point even though it is trying so hard to create humor.
Grade: B
Streamed by: Crunchyroll and Funimation
