Fire Force Season 2 Episode 16

Mind Blown

Fire Force season 2 episode 16 was much better than the previous episode. After all, there was actual action rather than characters standing around and talking about how they’re going to take each other down. And this action started almost immediately, which was great to see.

I often forget that Maki is actually a martial arts specialist considering she’s typically portrayed as the “witch” of Company 8. Sure, Maki wears a witch hat and controls two fireball familiars most of the time. But when she’s actually serious, she uses her fists instead, and that’s something I want to see more of.

It’s a bit interesting how much weaker the female characters on the “good” side of this series are compared to those on the “evil” side. And I don’t mean weaker from a power perspective, I mean it from a character perspective. The female villains are just so much better than the female members of Company 8 most of the time.

Another thing I liked about this episode was how we got to see characters from all three factions fighting over Nataku actually team up together. The most notable of these combinations were Shinra and Kurono followed by Shinra and Charon when it became apparent that Kurono wasn’t going to be much help.

What I thought was cool about these pairings is how it showed that there isn’t exactly a firm line separating the three factions. Haijima and the Fire Force aren’t really enemies — they just have competing goals at times. We already knew this through Haijima’s connection to multiple of the Fire Force companies.

And at the same time, despite Charon really being an enemy of the Fire Force, he protects Shinra because he’s one of the pillars.

Arrow and Haumea

The most surprising part of the episode to me was seeing how “thicc” Arrow actually is under her outfit. I already liked Arrow as a villain. She has a pretty cool ability that’s simple, yet effective. I also think she has a cool outfit. But, I do think I’d like to see her more often with her face exposed.

Arrow’s appearance aside, I actually really enjoyed seeing her paired up with Haumea because it gave the series an excuse to explain more about these Pillar/protector pairings we’ve seen. Normally, Arrow would be paired with Sho and Haumea would be paired with Charon. But not this time.

So, why are the Pillars and their protectors paired up as they are? Simply because those are the most compatible pairings as Arrow explained. Arrow is a long-range attacker, so she’s normally paired with Sho who uses a sword at close range. They compliment each other’s fighting styles.

On the other hand, Haumea and Charon are probably the most compatible of all the Pillars and their protectors. As with Sho and Arrow, Haumea and Charon each excel at a different form of combat. Haumea is more about fighting from a distance while Charon uses close-combat.

But what makes Haumea and Charon work so well together are their personalities and special characteristics. Haumea is pretty chaotic. She doesn’t seem to think twice about harming her allies, and that could be a problem. But thanks to Charon’s indestructible body, he can withstand her abuse.

This synergy between Haumea and Charon actually reminded me a lot of the “Zombie-Combo” of the Akatsuki from Naruto: Hidan and Kakuzu. Those two were paired up because Kakuzu tended to kill his partners. But since Hidan is immortal, he can’t be killed.

Haumea’s Abilities

Sometimes the series refers to Haumea as a plasma user, as do I. While that’s technically correct, the true plasma user of the series is Arthur. Haumea is more of an electricity user. And in this episode, we saw her use her electricity in a few more ways that we might have not seen before.

Or maybe I just missed when she used them, which is very probable.

The first new ability she appeared to show was the ability to pull other people towards her. In the image within the previous section of her electrocuting Arrow, it looked like she used her electricity to pull Arrow back into her.

It was almost like she turned her own body and Arrow’s body into polar opposite magnets that attracted each other. If this is in fact what she did, that’s a pretty neat ability that could be used in some cool ways. I believe there were also a pair of twins in a One Piece filler arc with that kind of ability.

The second ability Haumea used, which I feel like she may have been shown using before, is a Spider-Man-like swinging ability. She shoots out a “web” of electricity which can stick to buildings. She then uses these electric webs to swing just like Spider-Man. Oh, and she even does the Spider-Man hand sign when she shoots the “web.”

Ritsu the Necromancer

Finally, let’s discuss Ritsu for a bit. I’m not actually sure whether I like Ritsu’s ability or not, but I do think she has a pretty good character design. Ritsu’s character design is based on a zombie maid/nurse, which is pretty fitting once you learn what her ability is.

Ritsu is a pyro-necromancer. She’s able to resurrect the dead “sort of” and use an Infernal as a catalyst to make a giant, Infernal monster. Remember the giant Infernal from the first episode of the season that felt out of place because we had never seen anything like it before?

That was Ritsu’s doing.

There are a few issues I have with this ability, though, which is why I’m not completely sold on it. For starters, would her ability have worked if the deceased people she “resurrected” weren’t burnt to a crisp? If so, how would that look?

From what we got to see of her ability, the zombies she created didn’t look all that different from Infernals themselves. I think the only real difference between them is that Infernals have a connection to Adolla as the source of their power while Ritsu’s zombies don’t.

The other thing I don’t really like is that Ritsu creates these massive Infernals out of her zombies. The zombies themselves fit with her character design and necromancy ability. But once you combine them with an Infernal to make a giant Infernal, that connection is kind of lost.

Conclusion

What do you think of Fire Force Season 2 episode 16? Did you think it was any better than the previous episode? Do you want to see the White Clad members mix up their partnerships more? And, which White Clad protector has your favorite ability? Charon is my favorite member, but I like Arrow’s ability more.

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My review of the next episode is available here.