I’ve been rather busy (but happy) over the past few weeks so I am not sure where the general public stands on Fire Force at the moment. You can follow my own thoughts on it over on Karandi’s blog. I have a fun time writing there.
I watched the episode before a very long, and very full weekend and I was rather tired when I did, so even though I remember it well, I have to admit, looking over the images in my media library, I was actually taken aback by how genuinely pretty Fire Force is.
Just a short opening tag that was pretty funny. Some really nice camera angles and framing in this sequence! The playful direction fit the mood perfectly.
The first fight scene happens in darkness. I’ve mentioned before that Fire Force tends to set all their fights in darkened environments which really makes the fire pop onscreen. In this case, the background is even a prett6y dark blue which heightens the contrast with the orange and yellows even more! If you look at the top row, a flame is all you can see!
I continue to love Hibana’s face. No insight here, I just like is all.
Aren’t little Hibana and little Iris just adorable? There’s a right answer!
I’ve been looking at Fire Force skies a lot, and maybe it’s because it’s a flashback but it’s a lot greyer and lighter than usual in these scenes. Normally it always looks a deep royal blue.
Am I the only one who adored image of Hibana’s eye lingering in a sea of flames. It’s amazing. First her eye is this beautiful blue, not it’s usual colour and she doesn’t seem to have a white anymore. Second it looks like a drop of water as even the pink flower iris is muted and blueish. To me, this image was saying that the flames have note quite taken over Hibana completely. That there’s still a drop of mercy and sanity left in her.
Considering how often we focus on her eyes and how they are usually shown as bright pink, this image reminded me that there is more than one side to the lady.
I generally find it difficult to focus on anything else when Hibana is onscreen. And Fire Force was very respectful of that, ensuring that she was in fact the only thing we needed to focus on for the most part. The few times Shinra became important, the camera helpfully zoomed in on him to make sure we didn’t miss it.
It sounds like I’m being sarcastic. I guess I am a little. But the screen did get very busy with all the different shiny elements moving around. It was easy to loose focus and then you’ll never know what’s happening. I think this slightly naive direction was the bast way to make it easier on the viewer.
The shiny blue stripes of the Fire Force uniform are often used as a beacon. I think it’s a brilliant and visually dramatic tool. The designers should give themselves a pat on the back.
To think that this wasn’t even a particularly pretty episode or anything. It was average for Fire Force. I really have to keep an eye on David Productions or rather on Yuki Yase. I remember writing in my Makakucity Actors review that the production team were obviously very talented but possibly needed a bit more experience to help focus their vision. Well I guess I was very right! This explains all the eye closeups as well…
