Fire Force Season 2 Episode 5

Fire Force Season 2 Episode 5

Corna (Sign of the Devil)

This week’s episode of Fire Force season 2 focused heavily on second-generation pyrokinetics. We haven’t really focused on them before. Sure, we know how their powers work — they’re able to control fire, but not create it. However, we’ve never really been given information regarding this beyond that initial explanation.

There are specific pyrokinetics we know more about, but the new information that came with this episode is about the second generation as a whole, not specific abilities. And, while I’m not the biggest fan of how this information was delivered, it’s nice information to have nonetheless.

So before getting into this information, how is it given to the viewers? Well, it uses one of my least favorite tropes, which is to have one character explain something to another character who already knows said explained thing. In this instance, Hinawa explains second-generation pyrokinetics to Karim, another second-generation pyrokinetic.

Shinra vs. Charon from the anime series Fire Force season 2
Shinra vs. Charon

As previously mentioned, we know that second-generations can only control flames, not create them. As such, you would naturally assume that they’re weaker than their third-generation counterparts (something I’ll discuss in a later section). And, as it turns out, this is something second-generations have to consider when in combat.

They know that their weakness is that they can’t create fire. If they’re fighting a third-generation, they need their opponent to create fire first so that they can use it. It was really interesting to see how they get around this handicap — they fake it ’til they make it.

If they can make their opponent believe that they’re a fellow third-generation, then their opponent won’t think twice about creating flames. And once those flames are created, the second-generation can make use of them to keep up the charade while fighting back.

A Secret Plan

Viktor comes up with a secret plan to both put out all the fires raging around the city and also defeat the one demon-type infernal at the same time. His plan is to bring all the fire and the infernal to the same location and put everything out at once. But, that’s obviously easier said than done.

His plan involves making use of all the second-generation pyrokinetics available in the city. Since they can control flames, his idea is to get them all to lead the flames destroying the city into the central park. This location is optimal for two reasons: It’s an open space where nothing will get damaged and all the wind in the city blows towards that point.

What didn’t really make sense to me about this plan wasn’t the plan itself. It was how everyone else seemed so surprised by even the basic concept of the plan. I don’t know how many second-generation fire soldiers were involved in this operation, but we didn’t see all that many of them.

Maki Oze from the anime series Fire Force season 2
Maki Oze

The reason I bring the number of second-generations up is that if there were only a few, it means they each controlled a fairly large amount of fire. And if they can each control that much fire, why haven’t they done this in the past to control fires?

Everyone seemed shocked by Viktor’s plan. But if second-generation pyrokinetics can really control that much fire, they should have been using this strategy on a smaller scale all along. What’s stopping Maki, for example, from just pulling the fire out of a burning house?

Unless there were far more second-generations present than we were shown, something isn’t adding up. I get that some people might say that the individual fires weren’t as big as a house fully engulfed in flames. However, a few characters did comment that it was on the same scale as the “great fire” of the past.

Which Generation is Better?

I’m sure a lot of you are probably thinking that third-generations are better than second-generations because they can create flames. However, I’m not so sure that it’s that simple. Yes, being a third-generation might be more practical depending on how your ability manifests, but does it make you a stronger combatant?

On the practical side of the spectrum, Arthur’s ability to cut anything with a plasma blade and Shinra’s ability to fly are pretty useful. And even if we look at someone with a more complex ability, like Haumea, she can probably use her electricity for a wide variety of everyday tasks.

But, second-generations aren’t all that far behind. They may not be able to create flames on-demand with their ability. However, creating flames by other means is pretty easy. And something else we learned in this episode is that they don’t even need flames; they just need heat in general.

The frozen firestorm from the anime series Fire Force season 2
The frozen firestorm

When it comes to combat, though, I think I have to hand it to the second-generation. As GHoff pointed out in the comments last week, third-generation pyrokinetics can suffer from a symptom of using their flames too often. This eventually leads to them burning to ash if they continue to use their ability.

Since second-generations aren’t creating their own flames, they don’t have this limit on their abilities. That’s something we actually see in this episode. When I mentioned that it only took a few second-generations to transfer all that fire, this is the reason behind it. And it’s also the reason Karim was able to freeze all that fire in an instant.

Also, the final thing you have to consider is that when a third-generation fights a second-generation, the third generation doesn’t have an advantage. Either they both get to use their flame abilities or neither of them does. I honestly think the second-generations might have it better off overall.

Conclusion

What do you think of Fire Force season 2 episode 5? I don’t think the “fight” against the infernal was all that interesting, but Charon is always cool. And we did learn some nice information. But, which pyrokinetic generation do you think is better? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

2 Replies to “Fire Force Season 2 Episode 5”

  1. “Also, the final thing you have to consider is that when a third-generation fights a second-generation, the third generation doesn’t have an advantage. Either they both get to use their flame abilities or neither of them does. I honestly think the second-generations might have it better off overall.”

    To expand on this several of the Second Gens we know are also really good fighters. Maki, Charion. And while Hinawa has not shown himself to be a physical beast, he has guns and thats all he really needs.

    1. I think their fighting skills are due to the way they need to fight. They can’t always rely on flames the way third-generations can, so they have to compensate for that.

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