✦ The Industrialization of Divinity: Amaterasu, Technology, and the Girl Who Became a Power Plant
This one may sound like I’m live-blogging a critical theory lecture inside a shonen fandom, but whatever. I have feelings about Amaterasu and exactly zero of them are calm.
Thesis before I spiral:
Amaterasu isn’t divine because she’s worshipped.
She’s divine because she was consumed by a system that needed a god to hide the violence required to sustain itself.
Fire Force didn’t just give us a goddess.
It gave us divinity that has already been industrialized.
Here goes...
✦ I. Marcuse 101: When the Sacred Gets Flattened Into Function
Marcuse tells us that advanced technological societies do something monstrous:
They don’t destroy transcendence.
They domesticate it.
They take everything that should rupture the world; beauty, pain, rebellion, divinity, and fold it neatly into the machinery.
Make it useful.
Make it manageable.
Make it theirs.
And what is Amaterasu?
A cosmic event.
A metaphysical anomaly.
A literal sun in human form.
And Raffles I (Yona) looks at her and says:
“Great. Put her in a generator.”
That’s the industrialization of divinity in one sentence.
She stops being a miracle.
She becomes output.
Her sanctity is not erased; it is repurposed.
Her flame doesn’t illuminate — it powers.
This is Marcuse’s nightmare: transcendence converted to infrastructure.
✦ II. Repressive Desublimation: Worship as a Mask for Violence
Marcuse again (sorry but he’s too perfect here):
Modern systems let you have symbolic rebellion, symbolic desire, symbolic spirituality — as long as none of it threatens the actual structure.
So Holy Sol Temple gives people:
awe
ritual
myth
a story about salvation
None of it destabilizes anything.
Because the worship is built on a lie. People are allowed to love the flame, as long as they never learn the flame is a girl.
You get religion. The empire gets her body.
Worship is permitted precisely because it conceals the one thing that would destabilize everything: that the Holy Light is a human life.
This is repressive desublimation:
You may sublimate meaning and comfort and cosmic reverence onto the box, but you are never allowed to see the violence inside it.
✦ III. Necropolitics: A God Kept Half-Alive
And here Mbembe walks in like: “Hi. That’s a death-world.”
Amaterasu is maintained in a permanent state of pseudo-life:
alive enough to burn
alive enough to produce
alive enough to sustain society
but not alive enough to leave. or speak. or choose.
This isn’t divinity.
This is necropolitical engineering: where marginalized populations (Adolla Burst users) are reduced to "bare life" and subjected to conditions of living death
She is kept in a state between life and death because the empire requires her suffering.
Her combustion is civic function.
Her captivity is national survival.
And because no one knows the truth, there is no guilt.
No tension.
No revolt.
✦ IV. Raffles I (Yona): The Prophet Who Built a Power Plant Out of a Girl
This part kills me every time.
The founder of the Tokyo Empire:
• discovers a burning girl
• boxes her
• scripts a religion
• becomes a savior figure
• erases the human origin of the flame
And the twist is that He wasn’t even Raffles. itwas Yona performing divinity. Meaning the entire theology of Tokyo is a double lie:
A god in a box
and
a prophet who never existed.
Raffles didn’t bring salvation. He brought concealment.
He didn’t establish faith. He established plausible deniability.
This isn’t religion used for comfort, it’s religion used as camouflage.
Raffles I embodies what Althusser would call an ideological state apparatus, a figure whose authority exists to naturalize and conceal the violence underlying the system (Althusser, Ideology and ISA).
His sainthood is propaganda; his miracle is captivity; his legacy is the sanctification of extraction. He isn’t a prophet, he’s the bureaucratization of myth.
His foundational miracle only works if the true miracle—the girl—remains invisible.
(there's more i could harp on regarding Raffles I/Yona but moving on...)
✦ V. The Part That Ruins Me: She Was Just a Girl
Strip away the dogma.
Strip away the cathedral.
Strip away the flame-shaped propaganda.
Before she was “Amaterasu,”
before she was “The Holy Light,”
before she was the engine of a nation—
she was just a girl with an Adolla Burst.
A child.
Someone frightened.
Someone burning.
And the empire solved that problem by turning her into infrastructure.
Not a goddess.
Not a symbol.
Not a miracle.
A battery.
Canon never gives her a name proper. Her identity was absorbed by the structure that consumed her. Even ‘Amaterasu’ is a misattribution, the name borrowed from the reactor because the girl inside was never permitted one.
The tragedy is not that she is divine. The tragedy is that divinity was forced onto her to justify the violence done to her.
She wasn’t born sacred.
She was made sacred so no one would ask where the power came from.
✦ VI. Conclusion: A Civilization Built on a Burning Heart
Marcuse explains the conversion, Mbembe explains the condition, Althusser explains the concealment.
Amaterasu is Fire Force’s quiet admission that its world does not run on holiness.
It runs on:
extraction
containment
mythology
technological rationality
necropolitical sacrifice
Divinity was not given to her.
It was harvested from her.
And that is why she lingers.
Why she haunts the narrative.
Why her silence feels louder than any reveal.
Because at the center of Tokyo, beneath the hymns, beneath the praise
is not a goddess.
It is a girl; unnamed, unseen, burning so everyone else can pretend the world is holy
Let me just be clear I am not shitting on the show I geniunely believe it is an amazing story. And I am mostly talking about the anime I have not read the manga so I do not know how many of these things apply.
But yeah before we begin;
****trigger warning : Contains mild spoilers for Fire Force season 1 and discussion of sexual violence and abuse****
Fire Force fans that complain about people being put off by the "fan service" or angry that this makes the show not as popular really just show how much they do not care about women.
Because you are basically saying you don't care about the consistent sexual
Because the "fan service" in Fire Force is so drastically different that the sexual posing, the constantly bouncing half exposed giant boobs, or even the ass and boob shots which while sexualizing, annoying and have their own problems are relatively easy to gloss over. The sexualization in Fire Force is pervasive and bordering on harassment ad sexual violence.
Because while Tamaki's luck leacher is played as a gag most of the time it is also something that is shown to actively hinder her life. Not just in fights too, it practically led to her ostracization from society at an extremely young age. It is something we see and are told has such a negative affect on not only how the people that she worked with view her but on her mental health as well. And for fans to just regulate it to an annoyance that distracts from cool fights is so geniunely disgusting. especially when we are talking about a character that is canonically still a teenager and a minor.
But it's not even just that, at least that gag gets addressed by the fandom and has story consequences. The thing that really kills me and irritates me (and I'm talking about the anime because I haven't read the manga so i don't know if this happens there as well) is how no female character( except Maki whose running joke is how unfeminine she is which is whole nother discussion) can enter a single fight without ending up practically naked at the end of it. It's so disconcerting because this never happens to any of them men. They can take whatever kind of beating and their clothes will still be compeltely intact. But the women enter any kind of fight and if they dont comeletly lose their jacket it's in complete scraps.
like this is tamaki at the end of a fight
even worse cause she was getting completely beat up by this dude she really looked up too. And people use these images like they are sexy and cute. Hell it was used on a happy birthday post for her. And find Tamaki just lucky leecher right? Wrong
Here is Iris, a character that is supposed to be a nun at the end of a not even that serious fight.And that is arrow a woman who is literally supposed to be highly trained and had a bunch of men fighting with her whose outfits had not a rip in them.
and this is Shinra (main character) after a fight that completely pushes him to his limits and he was taking hit after hit.
His fit completely intact.
That arrow pic is the one all these youtubers have as their reaction video thumbnail. Like that just doesn't look like sexual violence. Like I don't understand how anyone can look at that picture, especually knowing the context of the absolutely horrible abuse she is facing in it, and not immediately feel icky.
And that's the thing in almost all the fights with female characters especially if they are losing (which when your Tamaki is often) they are posed in such ways that combined with their "artfully" postioned nudity looks a lot like sexual violence.
I'm sorry like look at this. How does this not just read as sexual violence to you. And maybe in this particular case you could make an argument that it was supposed to be implied because the bird man in the pic was supposed to be mentally manipulating her and it was all just generally really fucked up and abusive. But none of it was explicitly or even outside of this fight, implied to be sexual. It was just in the context of this fight and this and some other posing that felt so sexually violent. That i was honestly so disturbed when I watched it (which admittedly worked cause you were supposed to be disturbed by the levels of manipulation this woman suffered under).
but yeah for fans to not even acknowledge how disturbing this is how uncomfortable this is not only for the female character or the female fanbase but just anyone who might be sensitive to sexual harm or abuse. For alot of these pics to be used as sexy images like we don't know that the context is horrific violence because that's the thing all these pictures I used where taking from moments that these characters where experiencing not just tremendous overwhelming physical violence but also mental abuse and attacks. The least horrific fight here is Iris' but it was still mentally devastating for her as it was being done by someone she considered a sister. To divorce any of these pictures from their context and put them in thumbnails to catch perverted eyes is so genuinely disgusting I can't even fathom it. To not even recognize the sexually violent undertones of the image is genuinely baffling to me.
And I'm not saying all this to shit on fire force or discourage anyone from watching it because I do genuinely think that it has such an amazing story. And such an great representation they have loads of black characters that aren't stereotypically drawn (hell they even have a nigerian which i can't tell you really tickled my nigerian heart) and honestly despite what my post might lead you to believe the female character are so well thought out and incredibly nuanced and diverse. It honeslty does female characters alot better than shows that don't have this problem. Hell even with Tamaki's lucky leecher and the exploration of the deeper trauma of it was so artfully done that it almost made up for the amount of times I had to see this girls panties. The explorations of the different kinds of abuse and societal neglect or religious trauma and abuse, of living in uncertain times where you could die at any moment is so poignant and honestly so well done I've fully never seen in anime some of the ways that the aftermath of abuse is explored like was done in this show, trauma and recovery is not one and done in this show it is continueosly acknowledged and built upon. Hell one of my favorite episodes of the series is an exploration of how trauma can lead to the strangest coping mechanisms and soothing.
The show is genuinely compelling enough for me to push through all this to see the story unfold. Because again just to be clear while the posing looks very sexual no actual sexual violence occurs. And I will be going back to watch season 3 whenever it decides comes out. But it does lead me to just ask why? Why all the heavy sexualization, was there a fear that the show couldn't stand on it's own? It's one of the only animes I've ever seen where the amount of fan service actually hindered it's popularity. it was made by the same mangaka that did soul eater which Ive heard has it's fair share of fan service but wasn't hindered by it on the same level. Which gives me hope that atleast some people felt it but couldn't put their finger on exactly why it unsettled them. (because honestly besides Tamaki and the odd shower conversation scene outside of these fights the female characters aren't really sexualized one or two of them where a revealing outfit but it's just that a revealing out. which is what makes the sexualization in the midst of violence so fucking weird it's just ahhhhh) the show also occasionally falls prey to the MC saving all the damsels in distress because he's usually the one that does MC things to swoop in and save them. Especially with Tamaki but she will then use this not wanting to be saved anymore to try and get stronger. And she honestly goes out there and gets the teacher that taught the boys to teach her and she gets a training montage which I've never seen a female character "i have to get stronger like them" ever get before. so that's neat. It is also the first time I have ever really seen where a majority of the most powerful characters are female. Where there are a good number of powerful female character really who have agency both good and bad.
But yeah anyway I wasn't sharing this to discourage anyone from watching the show and honestly I'd recommend anyone that can stomach it (to reiterate there is no actual explicit sexual violence) to give it a shot, the story really is worth watching, and honestly if it wasn't for all this ick it'd have been one of my faves but only if you can stomach it. But yeah this was mostly me wanting to let people know what they were really getting into with the show and to share the thoughts I've had but never really been able to put into words since i watched the show. And my frustation with fans (mostly male fans) that say we are overreacting or just refuse to get it. But also fans that try to reduce the sexualization of a major character (who just so also happens to be a minor) to just an annoyance during your cool fight.
With the recent "news" of Ohkubo actually having a child, it made me think - even after recently being reminded of some kinda messed stuff Ohkubo contributed to - about the negative reading I and many others shared about Fire Force's ending, it's telos to be more pretentious.
Guess spoilers if you care for that
So a common interpretiation is that the ending of Fire Force is kinda a retreat into nostalgia, going backwards into the comforting fantasy of Soul Eater, both for the readers and the author "oh remember 2008, everything was so much easier..."
Especially with how the series started as a kinda direct spiritual sequel to SE - with picking right up from the DWMA graduation, making Shinra a fresh recruit to the workforce, basically looking like Soul without his teenage rebelion white hair. It ending with "oh actually this is a prequel" felt like some Freudian return to the womb, like being scared of growing up and facing the "despair" it so wanted to say something meaningful about.
Yet maybe all the talk about not fearing death and the continuation of Shinra's legacy in both direct children and distan future ancestors was not as empty as thought - because if he actually changed his life in a way where he could start a commited relationship with something that lead to an actuall family with kids (not just two netfix watcher with a cat or something lol) - then it may make sense.
Then "making death closer" is the realization of that even if you die you continue on in your children, that you life for them, thus why fear for your own existence, it becomes secondary (well acording to some parents atleast) - even the turning of the world into one full of magical bullshit could be seen as both as experiencing magic again with the birth of a child and the childishness with which one has to explain the world to a knew person (like calling a device that shows time "Mr Clock" etc)
Basically seeing family as an adventure, and the world that Shinra created not being one of some endless DnD campaign to do while the real world rots around you but as something meaningful, even in it's absurdity - like some people say "what can a kid change, they will make your life hell and eventually hate you like you do your parents".
If one stretches, one could then justify the weird focus on sex. Even if porn seems to be the opposite of creating a family in my view - yet if Ohkubo's child was born recently, maybe that was his own juvenile view that know will be transformed by the realities of actually caring about another child and realising, better late than never: "Man maybe drawing the underpants of a 12 year old girl kinda is not the best thing to do?"
Damn.
Anyways, all the kinda hard allegations aside, guess I'll just congratulate Ohkubo for crawling out of his own hole of despair - maybe naively, because of course having children often can bring even larger problems and depresion but let's be positive and hope for the best, redemption and life in all ways - and a personal apology for shitting on him, even if I still moraly disagree with a lot of stuff he did, but in the end grandstanding shouldn't lead to sadistic fantasys, even if it often is.
But if this all seems like a directionless ramble: yeah...sorry
More Fire Force Opinions That Literally Nobody Asked For (pt.2)
Guess who finished the manga~ Guess who finished the manga~ This gal~ I’m surprised that my Fire Force rant/essay meta was so well received by the fandom, thank you guys so much!!! Anyways, today I’ll be discussing some a lot of my ideas, opinions, thoughts, future predictions, and commentary on moments from the Fire Force manga.
Warnings: Spoilers for future Fire Force Season Two arcs, and for the Fire Force manga. Read at your own discretion! Now that the warnings are over, onwards! ヽ(ヅ)ノ
(I’m actually trying to order my opinions via arcs, but I feel that this is really important, so I’m putting it first.)
1. There are no iPhones in the Fire Force.
This is so sad? My favourite characters don’t know the joy that is staying up late, scrolling through social media, watching YOUTUBE, having MEMES, KNOWING👏THE👏GREATNESS👏THAT👏IS👏VINES!!!
I’m slightly disappointed that Vulcan, who is literally named after the god of forging himself, who can make frickin’ HOLOGRAMS, didn’t bring back any of the pre-Catalysm technology to recreate, improve, or experiment with. As an expert engineer (I say this 0.2% seriously, with the two years of high school engineering course experience under my belt), I would’ve been interested to see what kind of gadgets Vulcan could whip up. *insert ‘Inspector Gadget theme song*
Please have this very sad Jigglypuff to show how sad this is.
2. Sister Iris and Religion in the Fire Force Storyline
In the beginning of the Fire Force series, I’ve accepted the fact that Iris' role as noncombatant, meant to act as the religious and public face of the Eighth Company. I think it is a fascinating role, because it allows the story to explore the idea of religion and belief in depth, which I was really looking forward to. I was excited how the author would handle Iris’ character, but I’m somewhat disappointed that it took so long for us to see Iris and other side characters like Maki and Tamaki become more fleshed out (I’m not counting Iris’ and Hibana’s backstory in Season 1. I felt that was more backstory to flesh out Hibana’s character rather than Iris’).
Throughout Fire Force’s story, some of the things I looked forward to the most were the religious elements, motifs, themes, and questions that are sprinkled throughout the story, one of my favourites being the portrayal of the dichotomy of religion. In Joker’s backstory, we see the darkness of the Holy Sol faith, and what happens when any religious belief is taken TOO far, without any regard for human life or rights. This idea of viewing humans as a collective, no regard for the individuality and feelings of a single person in the pursuit of faith is embodied by the captain of the Shadow of the Holy Sun, Joker’s former captain and abuser. However, we also get to see the goodness religion and belief can achieve in Iris’ mini arc, which focuses on Iris’ internal struggle as she struggles with her faith after being informed of the Evangelist’s part in the founding of the Holy Sol’s religion. Shinra and Huo Yan Li, the bucket hat 1st Brigade lieutenant (Seriously, which is the correct way to pronounce this guy’s name? Huo Yan Li?? Foien Li???) interaction in the Iris arc really summed up the arc and Iris’ character beautifully. Religion and belief gives people closure, hope, and strength to keep on moving forward. Seeing the anime adaption was an amazing experience. Fire Force’s animation was the reason I decided to watch it in the first place (before staying for the intriguing plot and religious side plot), but this particular episode?? Pure art. The colouring, ambience, storytelling? So good＼\ ٩( ᐛ )و /／
Like, the little detail of the burning nun in Iris’ eyes? (lmao sorry for the extra trauma, sweet child) *chef’s kiss*
The importance of belief is also hinted in the Asakusa arc, where all the district’s inhabitants believe in Benimaru, and expanded upon in later manga chapters, when we learn that Adolla is linked to humanity’s perception and beliefs about the world around them.
I would’ve liked Iris a lot more if we got to further explore her character and the affects of religion on others more deeply, perhaps see Iris visiting the Infernals’ families and loved ones, trying to help give closure through the nation’s (mostly) shared faith in Sol. They mentioned offhandedly in both anime and manga that Iris visits the deceased’s families, and I felt it would’ve given the deaths more significance and depth if we get screentime of how families are affected by the death of their loved ones. It would have also given the Holy Sol’s religion more depth and meaning if we saw believers of Sol’s actions due to their religion, (also giving more impact when we learn surprise surprise! The Holy Sol temple is founded by the Evangelist!) since belief without actions is just lip-service.
I would have also liked to see how Iris’ prayers affect others in the Eighth company. We do get to see this, 140+ CHAPTERS LATER in the mini Iris arc does Shinra (finally) mentions how Iris’ prayers helps him not lose sight of why he serves as a firefighter and kills Infernal. I’m glad that we got this scene, because better later than never, especially since Iris’ and Shinra’s discussion and overall the entire Iris mini arcs shows the power of prayer, but I would’ve like to have this topic discussed sooner.
2. Obi’s Sole Flaw
I think that Obi was an okay character, but they kind of pushed the boundary of his “normalcy” when we saw him topple pillars and rip railways out of the ground with “brute strength”. There are limits to the human body, it is fragile, and it doesn’t matter how much conditioning or “going beyond your limits” you do. People do experience boost of adrenaline, which is probably what the very anime-like titled “Pressure of Death” is based on, since life or death situations can heighten your performance and strength. However, I do understand that this IS shonen, and it isn’t meant to be realistic.
What made Obi’s sole flaw (and a physical flaw, at that!) was his “normalcy” while surrounded by more powerful individuals then he, and having to make up for something he can’t help by working twice as hard as everybody else. Now, although I was disappointed that Obi didn’t have any character/moral flaws, what made Obi’s character mediocre to me wasn’t the choice of Obi’s sole flaw. In fact, I could see how this could be an interesting character narrative IF WE LEARN MORE ABOUT OBI’S BACKSTORY, THEREFORE EXPLORING HIS CHARACTER MORE!!! (We only know Obi was a regular firefighter, being decorated twice, and then having his titles revoked for prioritizing the lives of citizens before becoming the captain of the Eighth.) No, what I didn’t like about Obi’s character is that we never see him STRUGGLE with his flaw, how others were born “superior” to him thanks to there invulnerability to flames, how he lives knowing one day he could just burst into flames. There’s SO many interesting things about Obi’s character, that could explained further, making him so much more interesting!!!
On the other hand, Obi’s character is a great role model for what a “normal” person can do (while jacked up on adrenaline, and when they manage to overcome flight reaction in fight or flight). He works hard, training to the best of his ability, doing what he CAN do, pushing his limits so that he can go above and beyond, overcoming the “Pressure of Death”, and staying true to his ideals, something very hard to do in a world where you might burst into flames at any given moment. I know that if I were to wake in a world where I could die any second (I mean, I could die tomorrow in Real Life™, but what are the chances of that?), I would definitely find myself struggling with my faith, and staying true to the morals I admire and was taught by my parents, especially if I was putting myself in danger despite of this weakness.
3. Asakusa Showdown Arc and Shinmon Hibachi
The Asakusa Showdown arc. Yes. Just yes. I-
It was amazing, periodt. The art, the overall aesthetic, the storytelling. *Cue violent fangirling* I took SOOOO many screenshots of the fight between Benimaru and Hibachi, I’m pretty sure my camera roll is 95% manga caps now. I love how the author actually gave a (fairly) valid reason for the cool Japanese aesthetic of this arc, in that Adolla is slowly gradually colliding with the Fire Force universe, causing people’s perception of the fight to seep into the universe. Overall? It. Was. Amazing. Albeit not my favourite arc, (that honour goes to the mini-Iris arc) I think that the Asakusa Showdown arc is easily in my Top 5 Fire Force arcs.
The Asakusa Showdown Arc mirroring and showing the ideals taught in the Mini Iris Arc was quite clever, though I’m not sure if this was purposefully done Okubo, or if I’m just scrabbling at crumbs.
In the Mini Iris arc, we see how religion and belief gives closure; a stark contrast to Asakusa with its proto-nationalist/atheist values. In THIS arc, centering around Asakusa and it’s proto-nationalist inhabitants, we see what happens when there isn’t enough effort to emphasize or give closure in what happened to Hibachi, and his subsequent death.
Shinmon Hibachi, as the leader of the neighbourhood fire watch, understood the significance of killing Infernals; of taking somebody’s life. But because of the unwillingness to let others (i.e. the inhabitants of Asakusa, that one kid who stabs him) understand the weight of killing Infernals and gain closure through understanding the reasons behind his harsh actions, Hibachi shoulders the consequences of both his and the actions of his predecessors’ ALONE, therefore leading to his demise.
The kid who stabbed Hibachi was still a CHILD, and children don’t always have a comprehensive understanding of death and the consequences of responsibility (no matter how much that kid believes he was ready to be an adult and support his mother).
3.5 Extra Worldbuilding Questions About Asakusa
I also have so many questions about Asakusa in general! How is Asakusa powered without being supported by Amaterasu, which is the country’s (and isn’t that mind boggling, that a whole country is supported by one power source with no backup source or other forms of energy/electricity, because of patriotic pride in a machine that might one day shut down, cough manga readers where u at?) I’m assuming that Asakusa mainly use coal, candles, and lamps for energy and lighting, since we did see one example of lighting in Asakusa (an ancient oil lamp), but I’m not sure if that would be sufficient to support a whole district of people. People were able to do that in the olden days, but back then there was a smaller concentration of people, and power necessary to support them.
Is Asakusa a district that is mostly atheist or polytheist? Do the inhabitants believe in no gods, not just the Sun god brought by the White Clads and Raffles I, including the Shinto or Buddhist gods from before the Catalysm, or do they believe in multiple gods/ancestor worship and they just don’t want to worship the Sun God like the rest of the Tokyo Empire because they’re unwilling to accept the new culture, immigrants and religion caused by Amaterasu, wanting to keep up the old Japanese traditions?
4. Arthur Deserves Better Parents 2k20 (Hint of Arthur’s Secret Ability?)
When Team Vulcan + Arthur found Arthur’s parents in the sewers Nether... Honestly, I don’t want to touch on them much, since I want to be (fairly) logical in my opinions on them, not letting my personal feelings twist my hypotheses for what may happen in the future of the Fire Force storyline.
Putting aside Arthur’s parents obvious neglect and bad parenting, I’m curious if Arthur's dad is actually a prophet or did he just get lucky with his delusions. Is this related to how Arthur can notice the difference between dopplegangers and real people? Perhaps because Arthur’s delusions of knighthood are so different from how he truly is (an abandoned child who deluded himself as a knight), therefore allowing him to notice the difference between dopplegangers and Adolla, as they are created by people’s perception of a subject.
5. Let Sho Be a Normal Kid at the End of the Show 2k20
Please let the small child be happy at the end of the manga. I mean, being raised by a cult underground isn’t exactly a Hallmarks childhood. For example, in the beginning of chapter 231, look at how Sho looks longingly at those kids on scooters and was so happy when he got a balloon from the firefighter mascots! (bruh, same balloons bring me so much joy)
I hope that in the end of the manga Okubo lets Sho, Shinra, and Eighth have some quality time. In one of the early arcs (with the first speaking demon, Minamoto?) Shinra saw some kids going to school wearing school uniforms, mentioning that if Sho was still alive, he’d be old enough to go to school. I’d be so sweet if at the end of the manga, Sho would have the chance to go to school, maybe the Fire Force academy (if it’s still running if by the end of the manga they’ve discovered the reason behind Human Combustion), makes friends and beat up anybody who badmouths the Eighth.
6. Cool Combat Medics!
I’d love to see more of the cool combat medics from the Sixth! We only saw the captain, Kayoko Huang, in action with her Asclepius staff pyrokinesis, which, might I add is a fascinating and terrifying ability. Think about it, she’s controlling CELLULAR DIVISION!!! She could start creating tumors in the bodies of her enemies! Could disintegrate people cellularly and no one would know, because fire snake, so no fingerprints!
Anyways, that is all I have right now. Thank you for reading my opinions about “Fire Force”, and for the nice response I got when I published my first opinion piece! Bruh, it took so long for me to edit this... 😔 I’m thinking of doing another meta going more in depth with my theory on Arthur and how he’s able to distinguish the difference between people and their dopplegangers, but that’s for another day. Feel free to discuss about your own ideas or thoughts in the chat, or tell me what you think! I promise I don’t bite. Have a wonderful day!
My Opinions on Fire Force That Literally Nobody Asked For
I’m in the middle of watching Fire Force Season 2, and I'll probably write a whole essay rant about the symbolism, religious elements and motifs, and the representations of real life problems in this anime before keeping it in my drafts, never to be posted, because I always overthink my ability for rational thought and deductional thinking. Until then, here are some of my opinions, thoughts, and predictions about the show in no particular order.
Warnings: Spoilers for Fire Force Season One and some spoilers for Season Two. I have NOT read the manga, so keep that in mind.
I checked Benimaru’s wiki page, and he’s 22 years old. 👁👄👁 (I thought he was in the 25-30 range, he always looks so Done™, lol.)
Despite looking like he wants to go sleep for 14 hours and never wake up again, Benimaru be looking ✨hella fine✨, if you catch my drift.
I really like Benimaru’s and Joker’s voices. They have very deep and rich voices (I almost fell asleep when listening to Joker monologue, it was so relaxing). So I checked my faithful wiki page, and it turns out Shinmon Benimaru is voiced by Mamoru Miyano!1!1! (ⁿᵒ ʷᵒⁿᵈᵉʳ ᴵ ᵗʰᶦⁿᵏ ʰᵉˢ ʰᵒᵗ) AND, AND, AND!!! Joker is voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda!!! I recognize his voice now!!! I really loved his voice as Lero Ro from “Tower of God”, and Narihisago Sakaido from “ID: Invaded”.
I find myself relating to Hinata and Hikage on a personal level 50% of the time, since sometimes, I like to sit back and watch the chaos unfurl. The other 50% I relate to Hinawa, because I too am a tired Mom who wishes my friends could make good life decisions, while dragging said friends out of bad life decisions.
What, in the frickity frackity F*CK are with the Evangelists boot... things. Like, I.. I have no words, simply disappointment. They’re... not even proper footwear?! I couldn’t find a GIF showing an Ashen Knight’s feet, but it’s like if somebody (aka the author) were to surgically remove a “My Little Pony™” leg and wear it as.. armour?!?! How are you supposed to fit your foot in a shoe (if it can even be called a SHOE) the size of a TEACUP, while the area protecting your knees are designed to have plenty of room???? Are all these finger quote “Ashen Knights” finger unquote so BLIND after living in the sewers (oh excuse me, the “Nether”, because we need to make the Subways’ more scary and edgy to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies) for so long, they cannot put their shoes on correctly?!?!?!?! I’VE NEVER BEEN THIS PISSED OFF (except for whenever Tamaki’s “Lucky Lecher” activiates. I have a whole other rant about THAT).
I REALLY, REALLY hate Inca. I can understand why she’s like how she is, but I still can’t help but be angered by her logic, philosophy and decisions. I also wish Shinra would understand that not everybody WANTS to be saved, even though people SHOULD be saved. For example, when Inca decided to follow through on what SEEMED to be her only option of setting Panda (the guy from her gang she lead) on fire, because it was “decided by destiny”? Utter bull. Inca can, in fact, see where fires will appear in the future, by smelling where they will appear in the form of threads (which reminds me a lot of Tanjiro from “Demon Slayer”, and how he can smell the “Line of the Interval”).
However, it is obvious to viewers that the explosions she creates (note the word “create”. A conscious action!) by tracing the threads are a result of her physical actions of tracing a line. She was not mind controlled, rather chose to trace the lines under the flimsy assumption of “it’s destiny so I HAVE to!” Inca should have more deeply considered the fact that maybe it’s not “DESTINY” but her own obvious FREE WILL in that she can CHOOSE to create these explosions. I dislike how she shuns normalcy and safety when so few of the people in the “Fire Force” universe have the PRIVILEGE of experiencing it. I can understand why Inca dislikes safety, so it’s not one of my more hated traits of her character, since it is understandable since her abilities allow her to always avoid danger. This causes Inca to narcissistically believes her life is MORE valuable than others, treating other peoples’ own lives so callously, and is one of the characteristics I hate about Inca. Every individual life is precious in it’s ability to change their morals and way of living, in that they can accomplish so many things in life despite the brevity of it, and that even the worst people have (a few) redeemable traits. Inca did go through a traumatic event, which lead to her realizing the preciousness of her own life, but failing to recognize that others’ lives have that same preciousness when presented the chance, (i.e. the boys from her gang, the people she robs, and the people who were also in the Great Fire who died), which is what I hate the most about Inca. I don’t wish for her to die, but I would love for her to be PROPERLY face the consequences of her crimes, hopefully living a life of normalcy and safety for the rest of her life.
Thank you for reading some of my opinions about “Fire Force” Season One and Two. I have a lot more opinions that I wish to share, including Shinra’s hero complex and the cause behind it, an in depth analysis of Sho’s character, my thoughts on the Christianity, evangelism, and religious elements, proto-Nationalism and it’s symbolism of Japanese history with Christian missionaries, opinions on the female characters of “Fire Force”, my opinion on the redeemibality of villains, Tamaki’s “Lucky Lecher”, and theories on the future events of “Fire Force”. Have a nice day!
