Fire Force (Episode 13) - The Trap Is Set

Benimaru heads out to verify Captain Obi’s story and finds the streets are full of people arguing, however, his investigation is cut short when a number of Infernals appear all across the district.

What did you watch?

There was no break this time around as Episode 13 of Fire Force continues the flashback from the last episode. Company 8 are still in Company 7’s district and thanks to Konro, things seem to be a little more amicable. This series has had some issues and consistency seems to be a fairly big problem and not just with the release schedule. I will be joined by Yomu from Umai Yomu Anime Blog once more as we discuss the episode. You should expect spoilers.

What happened?

We got the second half of the Konro flashback, but didn’t actually see any of his fight with the Infernal that looked like a devil! Instead, we saw Benimaru waking up to find Konro in a bad way. Then the captain from Special Fire Company 4 shows up and offers to make them an official company. Konro said he’d need to think about it, but it’s a flashback, so we already know that he’ll accept. Back in the present, Konro decides to head out and do some investigating too. Company 8 accompany him…

Outside, the district in chaos as people are fighting about seeing each other doing things that they shouldn’t do. There appears to be a lot of mistaken identity cases going on. Then, a load of Infernals appear all at once, throwing the district into complete chaos. They manage to capture one of the fakes, pretending to be Hikage or Hinata. Anyhow, he combusts and turns into an Infernal. Then, we see the Evangelist’s forces attack, but Shinra and Arthur go back to return to the affection.

Fire Force Episode 13 Arthur and Shinra Fighting

It’s my turn to go first this week and if I didn’t have a structured post, I’m not even sure where I would begin. Luckily, I have structure, so I’ll keep the rambling to a minimum. I can’t make the same promise for Yomu, however, who will be in bold as normal.

What did you think?

This episode was kind of cool, but also quite disappointing. We finished the flashback without seeing any of the good bits. Then, we had the fight between the Knights of the Ashen Flame and Shinra and Arthur, which was good, but also annoying. It then ended with a big cliffhanger so I guess we’ve got to wait for that again. I don’t mind cliffhangers in general, but if it happens every episode it can get tiring.

Hi, Yomu. Thanks again for coming back, even with your hatred of flashbacks. I appear to have pretty mixed feelings for this episode, so, how was it for you?

I think it was fine for them to cut their losses and just end the flashback, but the lack of action does sort of defeat the purpose of showing it to begin with. I actually liked the fight with Shinra and Arthur, because it reminded me of Natsu and Gray from Fairy Tail fighting alongside one another despite their rivalry. Overall though you’re right, this episode sort of felt disjointed, with yet another cliffhanger.

Fire Force Episode 13 Ashen Knight Fire Arrows

What was your favourite moment?

It may seem crazy, but I liked the moment that Arthur pointed out that one Hikage and Hinata was obviously an old man in a disguise. It was even funnier when he leapt forwards and kneed her/him in the face. The reaction from the members of the team was hilarious and I thought they were going to start beating on him, but he stayed calm and just reiterated his original statement. Luckily for him, it was revealed to be an old man as his face slowly returned to normal.

I really enjoyed the 2-on-2 fight with Shinra and Arthur against the Ashen Flame. Watching them bump into each other and get irritated with each other, but then eventually find the right strategy to use was great. If anything though, this scene shows that they clearly need to train more in regards to fighting as a team! Those tactics should have been hammered out long ago!

Fire Force Episode 13 Hikage and Hinata Fighting

Fire Force Episode 13 Arthur Attacked Hikage

What was your least favourite moment?

I’m still fairly annoyed that we didn’t see Konro fight the Infernal, but I thought Shinra and Arthur fighting together was more annoying. Haha, sorry. How many cool fights need to get disrupted by stupid stuff. We had it in the fight between Shinra and Rekka where Tamaki kept getting in the way mid-fight. This time, it was Arthur and Shinra constantly bumping into each other and butting heads. Don’t they all train together? I felt like it was funny once, but now it’s just wasting precious fighting time.

Well, mine should be obvious… the flashback! As you say, not only did we not get any action, making the flashback feel pointless, but there’s something else that irritated me. Why didn’t Konro let Benimaru help him? He’s putting Benimaru at greater risk in the long term by essentially crippling himself and trying to be a hero. Seemed so stupid, especially because Benimaru is probably stronger than Konro and the two of them together probably would have had no issue dealing with an infernal.

Konro said he has no regrets… but now Benimaru has to fight ALL of the infernals. Alone. Doesn’t seem like a very good decision to me!

Fire Force Episode 13 Benimaru and Konro

Who was your favourite character?

I’m actually picking Arthur. I don’t know how he could see through the disguise, but it must have something to do with his own ability. We still don’t know where he went that time that he went missing and what he was doing, so there’s definitely some mystery to Arthur. Oddly, I think that’s one of the more compelling storylines at the moment as we all know that Shinra’s brother is alive and working for the Evangelist.

I agree. Arthur was the MVP of this episode, and it seems as if he knows something. Or as you had mentioned before, he could just be acting incompetent on purpose. Moments like when he had his sword in the wrong hand just seem like a bit much… but maybe we’re building him up to be something more than he actually is. Who knows.

Fire Force Episode 13 Arthur and Shinra Ready to Fight

Who was your least favourite character?

After Obi stepped up against Benimaru last week, he appears to have fallen back into the nothing role again. I get that Shinra and Arthur are the two focal points of the attacks with their powers, but Obi didn’t even give the command to intercept the Knights of the Ashen Flame. Shinra asked if he could do it. I really liked Obi at the beginning, but I feel like he’s been massively underutilised.

My least favourite will clearly be Konro. The guy tried to be a hero and ended up dumping all of the responsibility of protecting their town onto Benimaru. The fact that he can’t realize this, and consider that he made a mistake bothers me. Instead, he takes pride in crippling himself and leaving everything else to Benimaru, not even wanting to help make decisions, because “You’re the leader now, Benimaru”. What a useless guy.

Would you like some more?

There’s still lots that we don’t know and so far, it’s compelling enough that I want to know. I do feel like they’ve made this into a bit of an overly complicated story with all the different districts and people involved. The break didn’t help as it definitely knocked the momentum for me and that’s just been confounded by the lack of real progress and all the cliffhangers.

And I can’t help but agree with you with regards to Konro. All he did was make the burden on Benimaru unbearable and it’s probably why he so sullen now.

Yeah, I think it’d be nice to get back to the main story. I know that the Evangelist made a move this episode, but it felt more like a Konro / Benimaru episode to me, story-wise. This whole detour to District 7 feels like it’s lasted a bit too long, but that might also be partly due to the break as you mentioned. Let’s get another real development going, with some intrigue or answers.

Fire Force Episode 13 Ashen Knight Eating Infernal Insect

Definitely. It’s not had the impact of some of the series that it is competing against and I think that’s hurting it. I am enjoying Fire Force, but it does need to work out what story it’s telling us.

Either give us some story or some epic battles. I think they can’t go wrong with either of those.

Agreed. See, we’re not difficult to please. Maybe throw in some Princess Hibana too. Just stop tiptoeing around the story and give it to us. We can handle it!

Oh yes, more girls can’t hurt either!