This week on Fire Force a character got topless and it wasn’t Tamaki. No seriously! I was going to talk about all these things like how the camera continuously went from overhead shot to a ground-level pan up view with a sharp cut between the two to establish each character’s mindset in the moment but now… all I can think of is:
A character got topless and it wasn’t Tamaki!
I’m not entirely sure I’m going to be able to do this review at all…
Do you like my funky new mosaic picture layout? I hope you do. I went through a tiny bit of effort to make it happen and I think the results are scrumptious. I’ve been aiming for something like this for a long time!
But let’s try to talk about the actual episode. Somebody got shirtless… I’m joking! I am going to try to mention something else. For instance, what do you guys think of the name Raffles? It’s a weird name, right? It sounds like a pet’s name to me. I’m not sure what to make of it. At first, I thought it was wonderfully goofy but the more I hear it, the more menacing it sounds. I think we shouldn’t trust that guy. He may be long dead.
Also, the fact that Arthur memorized Pi because being a Knight of the round table he looked into circles…Â was one of the best things I have ever heard. It was perfect. Of course, he has no actual idea what Pi is or how it’s used but he knows it. Because circles. If he wasn’t already my favourite this would have cinched it. I’m willing t bet he’s correct about it as well. I hope Victor confirms it though. I’m curious!
Aside from the camera being either high or low to show the characters being overwhelmed or decisive as the case may be, it was straight ahead and centred for the action preamble shots. That always gets an audience revved up and it allows us to really take in the physical space that the fight is taking place in. Having a good grasp of the space really helps to make a fight fun to watch.
There was also some interesting colour stories. The actual fighting and danger took place outside. On a beautifully sunny day, against a bright blue sky with a lush green forest background. That’s the setting that’s supposed to be comforting. On the other hand, Arthur, Victor and friend are quietly exploring the Tabernacle going from dimly lit green shaded from to dimly lit bright red room. Nothing is happening really but those colours bring up the intensity. The green was unsettling and oppressive while the red is disturbing.
Oh and I forgot to mention it u there but one of the first scenes was a close up of Victor’s flashlight and it was absolutely wonderful. I haven’t been the biggest fan of the CG integration this season but I really liked that flashlight. In fact, the light itself in the early Tabernacle scenes was wonderful all around.
So most of the episode was a fight. It was mostly Ogun vs the Demon Infernal trying to buy some time as Shinra attempts to contact the Lady of the Tabernacle. In many ways, it was like a modern retelling of an Arthurian legend! And remember when I said a good sense of the physical space makes a fight more fun t watch, well maybe it was just me but boy was this fight fun to watch. Once I was assured that Noto was o.k. Pfiou!
In case you haven’t caught on, Ogun was the shirtless one and they really went in for that equal opportunity fan service. I dig it. The Pyrookynetic powers are starting to really be all over the place though. I mean Ogun is basically just Superman with shiny tattoos. The fire connection is really weak here. Not that it’s the first time someone’s fire power didn’t have much at all to do with fire.
In content, the episode was pretty light. Victor believes the stone tablets may be a code too “activate the Tabernacle” but it’s already active. The most important piece of information we got was that the scary Tabernacle Lady may actually still be alive in the core and that the Tabernacle much like Amaterasu itself could be powered by living people with an Adolla link. It’s an interesting theory but then why would anyone allow Shinra to join the Fire Force. I mean anyone in on it. Adolla links are super rare and fighting infernals seems like a high-risk job. Also, who is powering Amaterasu?
We can assume this first lady who Shinra called evil despite the animals claiming she was very kind and the little contact he had with seeming to confirm that. Shinra, you can’t judge people by their clothes like that! Black robes are just super comfortable and slimming!
In any case, I had another great week with Fire Force. You know, I bet if I was binging this I would be smitten. Looking forward to next week!
I thought the fight was fun at first, but got a little repetitive. But yea, someone went topless and it wasn’t Tamaki. (I just had to repeat it, because it bears repeating.)
Arthur and pi is fitting, too. Adorable dork. Dee from Josei Next Door once coined the term adorkable. It’s pefert for Arthur.
I thought adorkable was a fairly common term. I seem to remember it getting used when I was still in High School. It’s awesome if it originated in the anime blogosphere!
It probably got coined 100 times over. I’d never heard it before, and I’ve seen the genesis in action, so I know it was coined in that moment. Just probably not for the first time…
I’m gonna chose to believe it was the most important one