English Dub Review: Fire Force “Despair Saintess”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Shinra and Sho confront Haumea, who uses the full power given to her by the Evangelist to try and make Shinra submit to despair and rage in order to finish the Great Cataclysm.

OUR TAKE

Now that’s what I’m talking about! We’re in the final three episodes with the fated final confrontation between Shinra, self-described hero and beacon of hope, against Haumea and, by extension, the Evangelist: the collective embodiment of all of mankind’s fear and despair. And as much as it’s a bit tragic to see things like Inca fulfilling her own premonition of burning to death or flashbacks to horrible events of mankind’s past, the fact of the matter is that this all comes down to Shinra. Sho is the angel on his shoulder and Haumea/The Evangelist is, ironically, the devil, with both trying to sway his resolve one way or the other to decide the fate of the world. Sho, someone who Shinra helped to see past the hopelessness of the White Clad’s cause, comes up with any and all ways to show that things are not futile, to boldly claim that hope can win in the end. And on the other shoulder, Haumea is…well, kinda being what she always was: a troll trying to rile people up, only now she says it in a calm and soothing voice as tears roll down her face instead of with a helmet on a snickering grin.

Shinra holds his resolve for a good long while, helped by us checking back on the ground to see that the Fire Force is still doing all they can to protect as many people as possible. But just as the tiniest seed of doubt can corrupt someone’s confidence, one last doppleganger appears in the form of Captain Obi and instantly slits his throat, sending Shinra over the edge and engulfing the world in black flames. The Second Great Cataclysm is complete and the Earth will soon become a second sun. HOWEVER. While the villains gloat and bask in their great work now being done, hope is, somehow, not all lost just yet. For one, Benimaru does the Benimaru thing and gives everyone in Asakusa a toast to vow and enter the next life together, which is a perfect capstone to how we met them all back in the first season. But secondly, we see Arthur’s remains still floating in space and clutching his sword. Plus, we still have two episodes left, so we gotta do SOMETHING with that remaining forty minutes! So, see you next week for the penultimate episode when we see just what the hell can be done to turn this all around!