English Dub Review: Fire Force “The Holy Woman’s Anguish; The Man, Assault”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Since learning that her religion was essentially founded by the Evangelist, Iris is unsure how to continue with her faith. As Company 8 needs a lot of their equipment baptized, Shinra goes with her to the Holy Sol Temple to get that taken care of. There, while Iris visits the grave of the church fire that turned most of her fellow sisters into Infernals, Shinra runs into Lieutenant Han of Company 1, who’s also having a crisis of faith, but feels that he worships the sun, not the Evangelist, so that will hold his faith together. But Iris is suddenly attacked by the priest of the church, who has spontaneously turned into an Infernal himself. Shinra quickly defeats him, though that doesn’t keep the other sisters from panicking, since if a holy man like their priest could become an Infernal, there isn’t much hope for them. Still, Shinra tells Iris that her faith should be fine, since it’s for the sun.

Also, White Clad member Assault tries to keep himself from being distracted by Tamaki’s sudden stripping. He fails.

OUR TAKE

It’s taken over half a year, but we’re finally done with three quarters of this season. Yes, we still have six more episodes to go, along with two full arcs, and after a pretty heavy arc, I can see why they decided to have this little stand alone episode between this and the next. The characters have all been through quite a lot and gained major new perspectives on the world around them, so it makes sense to give them all time to reflect on that, especially since a major aspect of their lives as Fire Soldiers is religious faith. Now that they’re learning their religion was basically founded by people who want to destroy the world, its worth exploring whether or not some would find it worth continuing to believe in their faith. I’ve noticed from early on how the sheer randomness of the Infernal combusting should probably make it difficult to believe in this sort of thing, though I didn’t think this should would really examine that in detail, so color me surprised.

“Why bad things happen to good people” is an idea and theme that is quite relatable and something real people grapple with every day, even if we don’t have to deal with our population suddenly turning into fire zombies. Iris also hasn’t really gotten the spotlight lately, so this actually works as a great way of bringing her back into the story regarding something that directly connects to her character, especially since I had also wondered what the purpose of her prayers were in battle beyond the superficial…Which is then made all the more perplexing when this compelling story about characters grappling with the unfair truths of their world is paired with one of the bad guys repeatedly fighting off the worst character in the show and her one note gimmick. I feel like I’ve made my feelings clear about Tamaki, not hating fanservice itself but rather being annoyed as it is overused as a poor substitute for comedy, and this is no exception when her whole gimmick (at least as of now) is based around this as a recurring gag, it’s just now we’re following up with one of the guys she beat in the Nether at the end of last season. Also worth pointing out the reference to the author of the manga’s other popular work, Soul Eater, that likely would’ve gotten a cameo from a certain voice actor were he not fired from the industry for being a sex pest. So while this episode would’ve gotten an 8 for the Iris plot alone, this definitely bumps it down to a 7. Now we wait for the final quarter to begin.