Groping Through The Fire
Episode 4 of Fire Force Season 2 cranks up the heat and delivers a non-stop thrill ride of action. With the early season foundations already laid, the fight between the Evangelists and the Fire Force hits its stride with some excellent scenes. We pick up right where we left off from before. Infernals start cropping up all over town as the Fire Force struggle to quell the threat. With the 8th stretched thin, the pockets of fighting are enough of a distraction for Charon and the others to continue looking for Inca. Up on the rooftop, the Fire Force notice Haumea via a drone and send Arthur over to fight her. Meanwhile, Inca and Shinra are faced with a threat of their own in Charon, who eventually tracks down the new Adolla Burst. Despite Shinra telling her to leave, Inca refuses and starts to embrace her powers, telling him she doesn’t want a boring life. Using the similar array of surreal lines we’ve seen in the past, Inca moves her hands this way and that before blasting the ground and fleeing. As she does, a Demon Infernal shows up in the midst of all this carnage and looks to turn the tables for the 8th. Sister Tamaki rushes to the scene too but given it’s her first time in the field, she trips and loses her robes in the process. Thankfully, Karim shows up just in time. As he helps them fight, over with Shinra, Juggernaut and gum-chewing Toru Kishiki show up and fight back the Evangelist goons. Shinra seizes his opportunity and tries to fly over to Inca’s location. She’s been captured though and Charon senses what he’s doing, swatting the kid down to the ground. Meanwhile, Arthur blindsides Haumea and starts attacking her. Mirroring this, Charon and Shinra prepare to fight too which is where the episode comes to an agonizing close.
The Episode Review
Phew, what a great episode! From start to finish, the entire 24 minutes were chock full of great action and lovely set pieces. The animation is excellent this season too and the fight sequences really typify this. Some of the edits between fights (using the establishing shots of the burning town for example) are really smartly edited and help to give a sense of scale and direction to the fighting. If there’s one blemish it comes from Tamaki’s robes falling off in the middle of a fight. It seems like an unnecessary bit of fan service there and seems a bit contrived given the threat of a Demon Infernal looming over them. Despite that though, the episode does a great job raising the stakes and leaving the door wide open for what comes next.
