Fire Force Season 2, Episode 2 brings forth Shinra’s true form and the revelation that a new Pillar with an Adolla Link is about to be born. Now its a matter of who gets their hands on the new Pillar first…
The battle for the new Pillar has been prophesied by The Evangelist’s First Pillar. Laying the foundation of an intense battle to come between The Evangelist’s White Clads and The Fire Force. Shinra has paid a visit to his old training academy at the Special Fire Force Company 4 headquarters to speak with Company 4 Captain Hague in order to gain more insight about The Evangelist and the Adolla Bursts.
Just a forewarning that there will be spoilers for this episode even though this episode aired last weekend during FunimationCon’s Fire Force Season 2 panel.
While visiting Company 4, we are introduced to Pan and Ogun, former trainers of Shinra and Arthur prior to them joining Fire Force Company 8. We are also introduced to Karin, who is still training at the Fire Force Academy within Company 4’s headquarters. During his meeting with Shinra, Captain Hague reveals to Shinra his encounter with the Adolla Burst and how he longs to feel that again. In doing so, Captain Hague urges Shinra to burn him with his “holy flames” but things go awry.
Karin barges into Captain Hague’s office disguised as the Fire Force mascots 119, urging for a fight with Shinra. As Shinra tries to dismiss the attempt, his Adolla Link fully ignites as the first Pillar makes full contact with Shinra. The first Pillar is Amaterasu, a blonde naked woman resembling Sister Iris.
Shinra, now possessed, attacks Karin but is stopped by Captain Hague. Captain Hague tries to quell the flames and is forced to take the ensuing battle outside of his office to avoid the department going up in flames. Now the interesting thing here is that, and oddly funny at the same time, but also kinda creepy, is Captain Hague’s enjoyment of being attacked by Shinra and his flames. Granted he wanted to feel the flames since the beginning of his meeting with Shinra, it gets a little weird at times but it also has a kind of hilarity to it.
The enlightening part of it all is that we get to see first hand how powerful Shinra would be if he really let himself be consumed by the hatred and anger he’s buried deep inside since he was a little boy. The Pillar knew that too which is why she entices him so much and pushes him to the edge in hopes to get him to kill members of the Fire Force. Granted Haumea is the crux behind it all but it’s interesting to see how the White Clads via The Evangelist were able to bring in someone like Sho into their ranks and keep him there.
We also learn more about Arthur’s past and his parents. While it was nice to see, I think the placement of it was bad. Fire Force has had a knack for doing this with fan service during season one of the series and it seems like they haven’t quite learned their lesson yet. I’m all for adding exposition in order to further develop a character, even more during a fight sequence. But only if it serves the narrative of the fight. I don’t feel like this moment did that, and it also takes you out of the fight. Especially when there’s a friendly rivalry between Shinra and Arthur, and he’s here to save him and the others in the surrounding area, it just falls flat.
Overall though, the second episode of Fire Force Season 2 still delivers and the action pieces do make up for where the show lacks and it doesn’t lack much in my honest opinion. I should say that the action pieces make up for where the show fails to deliver. But it still doesn’t take away from the overall episode itself and what it’s trying to set up for the remainder of the season.
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