English Dub Review: Fire Force “The Trap is Set”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Konro finishes his story about how he carbonized saving Benimaru from an Infernal, but it was also the day that the Empire officially turned their makeshift Fire Brigade into Company 7.

In the present, Benimaru starts seeing odd complaints pop up of people blaming their neighbors for strange behavior which the neighbors deny doing. This gives him some reason to believe Company 8’s pleas that Obi didn’t confess to turning people into Infernals, but then that leaves the question of who actually did. They get their answer when they uncover one imposter under the guise of a Company 7 member, which turns out to be the product of Yona, a pyrokinetic working for the White Clad who uses his powers to create facial reconstructions. Konro interrogates the imposter, who only tells him that humans are can only trust Sol before briefly becoming an Infernal himself. They’re also sending in Infernal bugs to create more distractions for Company 8 so that they can attack them directly.

Asakusa is in chaos, but because they’re in Company 7’s jurisdiction, Company 8 can’t take direct action without their permission, but they can at least help evacuate other civilians away from the sniper arrows. Shinra and Arthur end up chasing the sniper, Arrow, and another White Clad to an area to fight them head-on. They almost nail Arrow, but then her friend swallows an Infernal bug. Meanwhile, Konro goes to find Benimaru, who is busy fighting off the newly created Infernals.

OUR TAKE
The ruse is undone this week as we learn more about the White Clad’s plans and members, as well as some more interesting background regarding Company 7. Apparently they got their start through the efforts of Benimaru and Konro working their asses off to protect Asakusa with their own group, being completely autonomous of the Empire’s control. That is, until that last incident that brought them in to offer the two a chance to be another wing of the Empire, which they weren’t exactly thrilled to be after also being left out in the cold for so long. This flashback ends up telling us a lot about Company 7’s relationship to the Empire, namely that they work more or less outside their rules but have been folded in due to being a workable organization in their own right. But even with governmental oversight, Konro knows that they could benefit from their support, as well as having Benimaru be the leader he was meant to be.

We also get to see more of the White Clad, including the arrow sniper, aptly named Arrow, who killed Rekka last arc. She gets some more focus going up against Shinra and Arthur, but I get the feeling we still have a lot to look into with her, at least in terms of uncovering her face and why she joined this group. And we properly meet the one creating disguises that are causing this chaos, Yona. When we first saw these lookalikes last episode, my first thought went to some sort of shapeshifter, since those are often great at laying doubt in friends and comrades. What I DIDN’T expect was someone who could manipulate OTHER people’s shapes with heated plastic surgery. I’m a little disappointed that he’s essentially another mad scientist character who sees his creations as “art that is an explosion”, which is a pretty tired archetype. With HIM, I don’t expect to last the rest of the arc.

But at least this clears up the misunderstandings between the teams and gets both Company 7 and Company 8 to properly work together against this common threat. Still, with the clear religious zealotry on display with the White Clad and one of Company 1 already confirmed to be working for them, I’m wondering how long it will take before more suspicious info comes from that group. Also, we’re over halfway through the season, so is it time for a new OP?