English Dub Review: Fire Force “Those Who Fight Back”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Arthur kills Giovanni and rescues Yu from his control, Charon gives his life while Haumea watches, and the Great Cataclysm finally, FINALLY begins.

OUR TAKE

Yes, that’s right, it is officially the end of the world as we know it, and just about no one is feeling fine. Aside from wrapping up the fight with Giovanni, which is kinda just brushed aside (and I’m more than fine with that), this episode is mainly about the big event we’ve all been waiting to finally pop off, and in the most surreal and insane visual manner possible. It’s been mentioned that Adolla is desperately trying to merge or switch places with the human world, and the dopplegangers we see are versions of human characters who succeed in switching places. So, now that the worlds are closer than ever to merging, we see more civilians turning into Infernals, as well as some Fire Force soldiers like those in Company 5. And of course the aesthetic of the world is inching ever closer to another one of this show’s author’s other works, which everyone who is watching probably knows by now, but I’ll keep teasing it until it starts being relevant to the story itself. We’re here to talk about Fire Force first, connections to other shows, even related ones, second. But don’t worry, that topic will most definitely become important soon enough.

Though the main character focus this week is on Haumea, who we get the most sympathetic look at yet. For a long time since her introduction, Haumea really just seemed like the mysterious and powerful side bad guy who was a total wild card, in behavior and in wardrobe. It was only at the start of this season that we got a glimpse into what her struggles are, namely her unceasing telepathic link with the thoughts of everyone around her. And considering she’s the Second Pillar, she’s been dealing with these powers for long before the main story began. The constant flood of horrible thoughts from every angle forced her to become violent and angry, with Charon, whose powers are absorbing impacts, teaching her to take all that anger out on him to get it out of her system, while he only unconditionally loved her. Thankfully she was able to know this too, which makes Charon’s death to protect her and their cause so tragic. I mean, I don’t support that cause on the principle of not wanting people to burn alive, but it’s still sad for these characters. Now, with only a handful of episodes remaining, we’re about to reach the endgame…AFTER we deal with the next episode, which will prove to be not just the low point in quality for this season, but the series overall.