Inferno Cop

Inferno Cop

Inferno Cop anime series cover art
Inferno Cop

Overview

Inferno Cop (インフェルノコップ) is a short anime series from Trigger, the studio behind hits such as Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia — if you consider that a hit. In fact, Inferno Cop was the very first anime Trigger ever made as a studio, though a good portion of their employees formerly worked at Gainax.

But, Inferno Cop isn’t really anything like what you would expect from Trigger today. Sure, a second season of it is coming relatively soon, but this isn’t the kind of series you would expect Trigger to come out with if you’re familiar with their other works.

There’s basically no animation aside from what I can only assume are royalty-free fire and explosion effects. The character models “move” by being flipped, spun, and bounced — tying back to the lack of animation. And, the dialogue is filled with obscenities.

Inferno Cop shooting criminals from the anime series Inferno Cop
Inferno Cop shooting criminals

It’s hard to really describe what happens in Inferno Cop in any detail without spoiling the series. After all, it’s only 13 episodes long and each episode is three minutes in length. But, to summarize it briefly, it’s about a rogue cop who has a vendetta against a criminal syndicate for killing his family.

But at the same time the series has absolutely nothing to do with that.

Whether this series seems like something you’d be interested in or not, I suggest giving it a try. The entire series only takes 40 minutes to watch, so that’s less than two episodes worth of another show.

The fact that Inferno Cop is so short is actually why I’m reviewing it today. I was planning to review Cop Craft episode 10, but it was delayed by a week so I needed something short to watch to take its place. 

Characters

For a series that’s so short, Inferno Cop has a decent number of recurring characters. In this section I’ll be covering Inferno Cop himself, Mecha Cop, Mr. Judge, Hellfire Boy, and Claudia. There’s also the members of Southern Cross, but surprisingly they aren’t all that important.

Inferno Cop, also known as the Badge from Hell, is your typical skeleton cop with a flaming head and a supernatural ability in his left hand. Despite being a cop, he doesn’t seem to have any real sense of justice aside from revenge — at least after the first episode.

Mecha Cop is Inferno Cop’s evil twin who was created by Southern Cross specifically to take down the Badge from Hell. He’s physically larger than Inferno Cop, has blue fire around his head rather than red, and uses a Gatling gun rather than a revolver.

Inferno Cop (in car form) and Hellfire Boy from the anime series Inferno Cop
Inferno Cop (in car form) and Hellfire Boy

Mr. Judge is one of the antagonists of the series who takes justice way too seriously — unlike Inferno Cop. However, he’s not a normal judge in the same way Inferno Cop is a “normal” cop. He’s more like a super hero who’s persona is a judge.

Hellfire Boy is Inferno Cop’s sidekick. While it’s possible that Hellfire Boy was always his true form, it seems more likely that the boy was turned into Hellfire boy by Inferno Cop. He was bathed in the flames of hell as Inferno Cop returned to the mortal realm.

Finally, we have Claudia. Claudia is a woman who’s obsessed with Inferno Cop. And unfortunately for him, she’s basically a self-aware Haruhi Suzumiya because she can change the universe to match her wants. She turns into an antagonist after being rejected by Inferno Cop.

Chronology (Spoilers Incoming)

So, as I mentioned earlier, there’s going to be a second season of Inferno Cop coming out probably in 2020. Although the season has been announced, no official release date has been, which is why I doubt we’ll be getting it this year.

However, the first season and this upcoming second season aren’t the only Inferno Cop content out there. He also makes an appearance in Space Patrol Luluco and is an acquaintance of Director-General Over Justice. And in that series it’s revealed that he’s a former member of Space Patrol.

My question then is, are the events of Space Patrol Luluco canon for Inferno Cop? And if so, where do they fit in to the Inferno Cop chronology?

Logically thinking, one would assume that Space Patrol Luluco comes after Inferno Cop. After all, it takes place in space and came out four years after. However, Inferno Cop supposedly died in his final fight against Claudia in the original series. This would have meant that Space Patrol Luluco was the prequel.

But, since a second season of Inferno Cop is coming out, does that mean he didn’t die in that final battle after all? And if that’s the case, will Inferno Cop season 2 come before or after Space Patrol Luluco chronologically?

We’ll have to wait and see. It’s possible that season 2 is going to be a prequel — or have nothing to do with season 1 — but that seems unlikely. My guess is that Inferno Cop did actually die, but takes the staircase out of hell once more.

Conclusion

I’d say Inferno Cop is a 7/10. It’s definitely on the lower end of 7, but I don’t think it was quite 6 material. It made me laugh a couple of times, and I’d say that’s enough to justify my rating of it. I do still think Space Patrol Luluco is better, and I don’t see the second season surpassing that either.

Have you seen Inferno Cop? If so, what did you think of it? And are you looking forward to the second season? Let me know in the comments.

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