Fire Force Season 2 Episode 2

Fire Force Season 2 Episode 2

Flames of Madness

While I liked the first episode of Fire Force season 2, this second episode is much better. It had both action and comedy, just like episode 1, but it was also more than an introductory episode. It furthered the plot, introduced new characters, and gave us a bit of background on two main characters.

I really don’t have any complaints about this episode.

The episode starts off with some world and character building. Shinra takes a trip to the 4th Company’s base of operation and we get to meet a few new characters such as Captain Hague, Ogun, and Lieutenant Pan. But, we also learn that the 4th oversaw the training school Shinra attended, so he’s familiar with a few people there.

In fact, both he and Arthur were classmates at the 4th’s school. I’m sure the fact that they were classmates was touched on in the first season when they both joined the 8th. But if it was, I had forgotten.

Ogun and Arthur from the anime series Fire Force season 2
Ogun and Arthur

The characters of the 4th who we’re introduced to are pretty cool. We learned that Captain Hague isn’t a pyrokinetic, but he was still able to go from being a regular firefighter to the head of one of the Special Fire Force divisions. But what interests me more than Hague are Ogun and Pan.

Ogun has a cool character design, and I was really hoping to see that he had a cool ability too. Based on the swirl pattern in his golden eyes, I assumed it would be something crazy. But all we got to see him do so far was create some spears out of fire. Hopefully, we’ll see more from him next week.

Pan, while not as cool as Ogun, definitely has a more interesting ability so far. He might be the first fully supportive pyrokinetic we’ve met so far. He doesn’t seem to actually control fire, but he can grant buffs to his allies. In particular, we see him give Ogun a strength buff and Hague a fire-resistance buff.

Adolla Link

While within the 4th’s compound, Shinra experiences an Adolla Link with a new character who we’ve previously seen in the new opening. We don’t know what her name is at this point, but we do get an idea of what her signature ability may be.

Last week, I guessed that her ability may allow her to completely turn her body into fire. If that’s the case, that could make her the first 4th generation pyrokinetic we know of. If you need a refresher: I’m pretty sure the Infernals are considered the 1st generation, members of the 2nd generation can control flames, and members of the 3rd generation can create flames.

Turning one’s entire body into flames would seem to be 4th generation to me. But that’s not actually the ability we see her use in this episode. Instead, she’s able to somehow control people’s minds. She controls both Shinra and a few members of the 4th Company and makes them fight each other.

Shinra possessed by the First Pillar from the anime series Fire Force season 2
Shinra possessed by the First Pillar

I’m probably forgetting some abilities from the first season, but this possession and Pan’s buffs are the first abilities I can think of that don’t appear to be fire-related. I’m sure they are fire-related in some way that hasn’t been explained. But the rest are pretty overtly fire-related.

Another piece of information we’re given about this new villain who Adolla Linked with Shinra is that she’s referred to as the First Pillar by the Evangelist and his followers. The other Pillars that we know of are Haumea, Sho, and Shinra — the Pillars seem to be those who can utilize the Adolla Link.

And, before this First Pillar disappears at the end of the episode, she tells Shinra that a Fifth Pillar is about to be born. The next episode preview basically states that it’s the pink-haired girl from the opening, so I’m looking forward to seeing what her ability is.

Knight King Arthur

The majority of the action and comedy in this episode came from the fight between Shinra (while controlled by the First Pillar) and Arthur. Arthur has always been a strange character for me because in a lot of respects I don’t like him. But at the same time, he’s undoubtedly one of the cooler characters due to his fighting style.

We’ve seen Arthur fight before, but I think this was the first time we really got to see how strong he is compared to another member of the Fire Force. And while before this episode I would have said that Shinra is stronger than Arthur, I no longer believe that to be the case.

Of course, you could argue that Arthur was only able to defeat Shinra here because Shinra wasn’t in his right mind. But that doesn’t really take away from the fact that it was a dominating victory for Arthur — even with Shinra utilizing his speed.

Arthur's imagination from the anime series Fire Force season 2
Arthur’s imagination

However, while Arthur gave us a peek at his true power here, we were also reminded of how his power works. Arthur is only as strong as his delusions. When his delusions are out of control, like they were here, he’s extremely powerful. But when his delusions are broken down, as we saw in the first season during the fight at Vulcan’s workshop, he’s basically useless.

Also, although it was brief, we did get a bit of backstory for Arthur that helps to explain his delusions. He comes from a poor family that was barely able to provide enough food for him — and his delusions were how he was able to cope with this as a child.

His parents then abandoned him one day, which was implied to be for his own good. But, this just made his delusions even greater because now he had to cope with his abandonment as well.

It may have been a short scene, but this background information went a long way towards making Arthur a much more interesting character.

Conclusion

I really liked this episode of Fire Force season 2. But what did you think of it? Do you like Arthur? And if you didn’t before, do you like him now that we know more about him? Also, how do you think Ogun, Pan, and the First Pillar’s abilities work? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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