Fire Force Season 2 Episode 18

Fire Force Season 2 Episode 18

The Holy Woman’s Anguish

Fire Force Season 2 episode 18 was a pretty average episode overall aside from the increase in animation quality. But I’m not some animation nerd, so all I have to say about it is that it looked extra nice this week. The rest of the episode wasn’t anything special.

The first half of the episode focused on Iris and her internal conflict regarding the fact that the Evangelist(‘s people) founded the Holy Sol Temple. I don’t believe I mentioned this in one of my episode reviews, but over on our Discord server (which you should join), I basically laid out this entire half of the episode a month ago.

Sister Iris flexing from the anime series Fire Force Season 2
Sister Iris flexing

Back on October 2nd, I said that Iris is going to struggle with this knowledge, but that she and the other sisters won’t be going anywhere. Even if the church was founded by the Evangelist, that doesn’t matter. What matters is the role that the church, and more specifically the sisters, play.

I even said that the sisters are important because their inclusion in Fire Force companies helps the mental states of the fire soldiers. Without the sisters there to say the prayer and perform the rites, the fire soldiers would feel as though they were murdering innocent people rather than laying tortured souls to rest.

But, the fact that this was all predictable even a month ago doesn’t make it bad. In fact, I think it’s good that this was illustrated and explained in this episode because it would have been odd to leave it out. It was so predictable that it needed to happen for the developments to make sense.

The only problem is that it leads to an episode that isn’t surprising or all that exciting.

Gods and Men

I’d say that the one interesting portion of the episode came with the discussion of whether or not the Evangelist is the god that the members of the church believe in. Technically speaking, this isn’t the case, because they worship Sol (the literal Sun), not the Evangelist.

It also doesn’t matter as I pointed out earlier. It doesn’t matter what god they believe in as long as they find solace in that belief. Though, luckily for the believers of the Holy Sol Temple, the Sun is a real thing. So, I guess by default that means that their god really does exist.

However, Shinra brought up a good point. Based on his Adolla Link with the Evangelist, he mentions that as far as humans are concerned, the Evangelist might as well be a god. Why does that matter? Because the “Holy Sol” might actually be referring to her.

The Evangelist and Sho in Adolla from the anime series Fire Force Season 2
The Evangelist and Sho in Adolla

Have you ever seen Ancient Aliens? Because it’s very possible that’s the route Fire Force is going to go down. It may be that modern people within the Tokyo Empire believe that the “Holy Sol” mentioned in their scripture is referring to the Sun. You know, because it would be crazy for it to be referring to an otherworldly being.

But, in reality, the “Holy Sol” could have been the name given to the evangelist by the people who originally witnessed her appearance. It’s pretty easy to see how that would be the case if you go back and look at how the Evangelist was depicted in season 2 episode 13 when Burns and Joker saw her.

She shines as brightly as the Sun itself, and as Shinra stated, she has an otherworldly, almost godly aura to her. It’s easy to see her being referred to as the “Holy Sol.”

The Man, Assault

I’ve made my opinions on Tamaki pretty clear ever since she was introduced into the series and we learned of her lucky lecher “ability.” I think that she generally detracts from the anime and that it would be better if she wasn’t included at all in her current form.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with including ecchi in a series. But for Tamaki, “ecchi relief” is the only reason she seems to be in the Fire Force series. And in many cases, this “ecchi relief” comes right in the middle of some climactic action.

I get it. The author wanted to include some fan service. But do you know what better fan service is? Not interrupting the action scenes that your fans want to see with some out-of-touch ecchi.

Assault from the anime series Fire Force Season 2
Assault

So, naturally, I’m not really a fan of Assault as a character either. The second half of this episode, which focused on Assault and Tamaki, honestly wasn’t that bad. However, I would have much rather it not have been included at all and instead have been replaced with some meaningful content.

I’ll admit that it was funny at times. But at the end of the day, I feel like half of the episode was wasted. If the whole Assault vs. Tamaki thing was only like two minutes long and came after the credits, that would have been perfect. But for it to be a main feature of the episode was a bit much.

Just imagine how cool Tamaki and Assault could be if they weren’t solely used for comedic (and ecchi) relief. I brought this up a week or two ago, but Maki is really the only strong female character on the “good” side of this series. Iris is alright, but Tamaki can barely even be considered a character.

If the author wanted to make use of her sex appeal, he could have at least done it in a way that puts her in control. The whole accidental nudity thing that always happens with her is a bit weird.

Conclusion

What do you think of Fire Force Season 2 episode 18? Do you think the Evangelist is the “Holy Sol” referred to in the scripture of the church? Did you like the Tamaki vs. Assault portion of the episode? And more importantly, do you like Tamaki and Assault as characters in general? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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