English Dub Review: Fire Force “Where Hope Is”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

With the Great Cataclysm in full effect, Obi rallies the rest of the Fire Force to protect civilians and help maintain hope among the populace, but more powerful Doppleganger Infernals appear, one of which being of the former White Clad member Assault.

OUR TAKE

This episode took me a little bit to process, mainly in regards to its last ten minutes. For the majority, it feels perfectly in line with the rest of the episodes we’ve had so far in this part of the season, aside from the rather trippy opening monologue by Sumire in her live action pre-Cataclysm form (which is the only reason the episode isn’t getting a 1). We’ve had plenty of final spotlight episodes for characters so far and this one happens to be about Tamaki, who has suffered from a “Lucky Lecher Lure” which is the in-universe reason she keeps accidentally losing her clothes in impossible situations (AKA a cheap excuse to have fanservice that slightly nods at similar situations in other anime), as she faces a doppleganger of the White Clad member Assault, who has given her trouble in the past. And look, if you wanna draw cute girls in your manga who wear little to no clothing, that’s mostly perfectly fine as long as they’re adults. But THEN the tone takes a turn when people in the crowd observing the fight start bad mouthing her for losing her clothes all the time. There’s been some hinting that this was something Tamaki dealt with in her younger days, but nothing like this in the present day. And when one woman from the crowd starts being the focus of the rants, the intention of this becomes clear: this is the author shouting back at people who criticize his weird story and character choices.

This quickly devolves into this nameless woman (who apparently is nameless on purpose) ranting and raving about talking points that don’t really address the underlying issue, while her young son suddenly starts talking much more eloquently and articulately than before just to look like the intelligent one in the argument while she looks like a prudish lunatic. And then when the characters realize they don’t know anything about her, she vanishes from existence. There is just so much bullshit in this that I don’t even know where to begin, and I was really hoping the anime would cut this out, but no such luck. It really is no wonder that Tamaki is a deal breaker for so many people who have tried this show and its manga, and while I have held my nose about that to enjoy its other aspects, I have to call it out when it’s being shoved right in my face. This is cringe. There’s no other word for it. This makes me cringe. It’s embarrassing.