Fire Force Season 2 Episode 24

Fire Force Season 2 Episode 24

Signs of Upheaval

Fire Force Season 2 episode 24 was a good conclusion to the season. I thought the first half of the episode was entertaining. And as we’ll discuss later on, the second half set up a lot of plot points that will occur in the following season. And yes, I’m assuming there will be a season 3.

Remember how last week I said that I didn’t think Tamaki was ever actually going to redeem her character? Well, that still holds true after this episode. While Shinra and Arthur were being trained to achieve new levels of power, Tamaki was simply watching from the sidelines.

If her character is really going to change in any meaningful way, then she should be training to upgrade her powers as well. The fact that she’s not just goes to show that there’s no serious attempt being made to keep her relevant for any reason other than fan service.

Benimaru Shinmon from the anime series Fire Force Season 2
Benimaru Shinmon

Skipping to later on in the episode, one thing I wasn’t expecting was the death of Captain Hague of the 4th Company. This is a very interesting development that will have consequences for the next season. For starters, who’s going to replace Hague as the captain? Probably Pan, but is he really on the same level as the other captains?

And probably more important is the question of who are the Destroyers? If a single Destroyer was able to defeat Captain Hague, are they stronger than the Protectors? What about the Pillars? And how did the Destroyer’s power work who killed Hague?

If we’re going to be encountering new enemies even stronger than the Protectors and Pillars, it’s no wonder that Shinra and Arthur need to train.

Ultra Instinct (The Press of Death)

I don’t watch Dragon Ball, so I don’t actually know what Ultra Instinct does. But I’m going to assume that the Press of Death is Fire Force’s version of it anyway. I also don’t entirely understand how the Press of Death works. Even so, I’ll try to explain it as I understand it.

As Shinmon says, the Press of Death is what you experience when you push beyond the limit of your limits. And “limit of your limits” just seems to be a long way of saying “your limits.” Anyway, once this is accomplished, your survival instincts will kick in and give you a second wind of flame energy signified by the blue flames.

Now, there are a few issues I see with this power upgrade. First, doesn’t this simply mean that the Press of Death could always be achieved by anyone as long as they kept fighting? It’s never come up before, so does that mean nobody we’ve seen in this series has ever fought to that point?

Shinra feeling the Press of Death from the anime series Fire Force Season 2
Shinra feeling the Press of Death

Second, does the existence of the Press of Death invalidate tephrosis as we know it? Supposedly, a third-generation pyrokinetic will suffer from tephrosis if they continue using their flames beyond their limit. But as we’re told and shown here, that’s not the case.

Shinra and Arthur were both beyond their limits and reached the point at which they physically couldn’t use their flames anymore. So why were they able to unlock a new level of power rather than suffering from tephrosis? It doesn’t make sense.

It feels like tephrosis was just retconned because the author realized that it got in the way of being able to power up the characters. And what about Konro? Surely he can (or could) utilize the Press of Death, but that clearly didn’t stop him from developing tephrosis.

Papermoon

And now, it’s time to get a bit off-topic and discuss the final part of the post-credits scene. This scene features Haumea looking at the moon, which then glitches out and is replaced by the smiling moon from Soul Eater.

If you weren’t already aware, Atsushi Ohkubo, the author of Fire Force, is also the author of Soul Eater. He’s written three series (four if you count Soul Eater NOT separately from Soul Eater), and two of them (or three, depending) were adapted into anime. So he’s had a fairly successful career in that regard.

I haven’t read B.Ichi, so maybe the smiling moon is originally from that. But it’s safe to say that most people identify it with Soul Eater. So why was it included at the very end of the final Fire Force Season 2 episode?

The moon from Soul Eater as seen in the anime series Fire Force Season 2
The moon from Soul Eater as seen in Fire Force

The way I see it, there are three possible reasons for the inclusion of this specific moon. One is that it signifies that Soul Eater and Fire Force are connected in some way, such as being part of a shared universe. That wouldn’t necessarily have any effect on either series, but it would be a neat piece of trivia.

Another reason, which I think is potentially the most exciting, would be that it’s hinting at a Soul Eater reboot of some sort. The Soul Eater anime had an original ending, so maybe there’s going to be a reboot that follows the end of the manga. This seems unlikely, but I’m just throwing out possibilities.

And the last, most mundane option is that it was simply a reference to Soul Eater without any further implications. It would be cool if this wasn’t the case, but that’s probably all it is.

Conclusion

What do you think about the final episode of Fire Force Season 2? Where do you think the Destroyers will stack up against the Protectors and Pillars? Does the Press of Death invalidate tephrosis? And do you think the smiling moon has any significance? Let me know in the comments.

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