I’m happy to say that I am not getting tired of the way Fire Force looks, i.e. great! It’s distinctive but familiar. The style looks great in action and can handle high speed movement without too much deformation. Heck even when it does get deformed, it just looks cool.
I’m starting to get to know studios and directors a touch more but I still have very little knowledge of character designers and they play a pretty big role in my appreciation of an anime. At least of the visuals. That will be my next bit of research.
In the meantime, let’s just appreciate how good the character designers of Fire Force are. For my appreciation of the writers, you can go check out my write up for the episode over on 100 Word Anime.
We got our first glimpse of the cathedral before the credits and it was properly intimidating. Pink and purple light streaming through to contrast against crisp grey and white uniforms. Very authoritarian!
After the credits though, was a bit of fun to cut the tension. The sky is back to that deep royal blue again. I mentioned it in my review but I would like to point it out here as well. The angles in casual clothes just make me happy!
The fun quickly turned to trouble as companies 5 and 8 strike up a tactical alliance. Just look at that sunset. Specifically the shot of the sun dipping below the water. I feel like I use to see that shot all the time in old school wartime dramas.Things are about to get hawkish.
Obviously you can’t see it in the stills but I included that first shot to show that they animated a gentle wind picking up and dying down through the conversation. That’s why Hibana’s hair is swaying like that. This was a great way to add some movement to the scene but also underscored the precarious nature of this agreement.
I don’t know how I ended up with this many shower pics. I promise I just forgot to erase some but now, here we are. I do really like Hibana’s hair up like that.
I also really like the cool blue they use for luminous accents. It’s such a perfect contrast to the general palette of the show!
I really don’t like this new layout…
As usual, the light is stunning in this sequence. Fire Force does that a lot. Makes light stream through windows at peculiar angles or makes it pass through coloured glass, creating unusual dancing shadows. It More stylish than symbolic although it does someone resemble a dancing flame!
Everybody looks so serious!
Juggernaut’s design is amazing. He reminds me of Luther from The Umbrella Academy. All of them have this exaggerated silhouette in their fire fighter gear but Luther is really taking it to an extreme. Actually, the entire character is not completely unlike a soft Luther. I hope you have seen or read The Umbrella Academy cause if not, this entire paragraph was nonsense.
Arthur’s expression in that last image is just precious.
I feel like I mixed up that last sequence somewhat.
As you may have seen, this was a generally colourful episode. Fire Force likes to create colour washes or more monochromatic palettes so I fell this range of colour make the episode look more playful. Nothing much is happening, the vibe is light hearted. Unlike the inside of the cathedral which has seriously muted light making it feel stuffy.
We’ll see if this holds up next episode!
Its a pretty show. I watch it because its so pretty. Not for the plot inconsistencies or sillyness there. It kind of reminds me of Blood Blockade Battlefront and Bleach, back when bleach was alternative and cool (first 3 seasons). That was 17 years ago.
I just started Bloid Blockade yesterday. It’s fun! From what I can tell so far (which is not much) the political subplot doesn’t quite have all the cloack and dagger thinker tailor soilder spy stuff or the medical research ethics debate if Fire Force but sometimes you just need a romp. I hope it doesn’t get boring
Bbb reminded me of Heat Guy J. Thats a steam noir detective drama from the flatiron building in Nyc, only its a nyc copy on a colony world in the far future.
It’s very hard to not take screenshots of Hibana in general, so I don’t blame you.
Infact, please take more.
I know what you mean. Boy is she pretty!
She is. It’s hard to take sometimes.