English Dub Review: Fire Force “A Pair of One-Eyes”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Burns reveals that he and Joker have actually been working together, much to Captain Shinmon’s surprise. Apparently Joker, back when he was known as Fifty-Two, acted as Burns’ liaison in the Shadows, but a chance encounter with a strange Infernal gave both of them a sudden look at Adolla, including the Evangelist, which blinded them each in one eye, but Joker grabbed a stone from Adolla to prove that what they saw was real. From then on, they began working together to bring down the Evangelist, Burns searching from within the church for evidence of its existence while Joker worked outside the system. However, even with all the access Burns had by being the captain of Company 1, the only real big find he could get is a diary by the wife of Raffles the First, the founder of the Holy Sol Temple.

The main takeaway from it is that, in the days after the Great Cataclysm of 250 years ago, Raffles’ caravan was attacked by something that killed everyone except for him, but even he didn’t act like himself since then, leading his wife to suspect he wasn’t the same person. Shinmon thinks this sounds like one of the White Clad who was shown to be able to change appearances of himself and others, and we indeed learn at a brief check-in with the White Clad that Yona, the one who disguised several of their members to cause chaos in Asakusa, is indeed the creature that impersonated Raffles centuries ago and began the Holy Sol Temple on the orders of the Evangelist.

Meanwhile at Company 8, Lisa, the former Ashen Knight and Vulcan’s girlfriend, officially joins the company and everyone learns about Joker and Burns’ findings, deciding to investigate Haijima next. They also remember that Licht was sent BY Haijima, suspecting he may be more connected than they first thought. An indeed, it is confirmed that Licht was placed in Company 8 to monitor them and Shinra, though his recent report about the Tabernacle in China seems to have ruffled the feathers of the higher ups, including President Gureo Haijima. Licht is ordered to bring Shinra to the facilities for testing, though it’s mainly a cover. Once they’ve separated Licht from Shinra, they plan to make him an Infernal to get rid of him.

OUR TAKE

WOO! For an episode that is mainly standing around and talking, we sure are learning a lot about the goings on in this world and what to expect going forward. The side arc bringing together seemingly disparate gruff characters reaches its end with the unveiling of many dark secrets that will propel events moving forward. For one, the weird religion that has shown to be dominant in the culture of this world turns out to be simply made for plans of the Evangelist, showing how deep their roots go in things and likely how high up the companies will have to go in order to fully be rid of them. And to make things even worse, they’re also at least somewhat connected to Haijima, meaning they’re controlling both the biggest religion AND the biggest conglomerate in the world. With that in mind, I wonder why the White Clad are forced to work as clandestine as they are, though I suppose there is benefits to having one part of your evil group being the public face while the rest of the group works on the “good” side, including institutions that will take major social upheaval in order to get rid of.

With that, we get a better understanding of how difficult stopping this group will be, as well as setting up the next arc of the story, which will be primarily taking place within Haijima and paying off Lichts connection there. Personally I’m pretty interesting in seeing them finally get some spotlight, as the Church and its history has gotten lots of focus while Haijima has stayed in the background. Now we’ll be getting a look at their operations, plus checking in on that one kid who Rekka Hoshimia infected with an Infernal bug but seemed to not die. Still, it’s good to finally know that Burns, while not working as directly with Company 8 as some of the other captains, seems to be a good guy who is working with everyone to stop this. That’s more than half of the existing captains who seem to be helping Obi out in some way, which is going to be helpful if they’re intending to take down huge parts of their own society to stop this evil organization. Next time, we see the beginning of a five part arc, along with the proper start to the second half of the season, along with a new Opening and Ending! I’ll miss the ones we currently have, but it’ll be neat to see what’s coming.