Fire Force (Episode 26) - Flames of Madness

Shinra gets to meet with Captain Hague of the Fourth with hopes of finding out more about the Adolla Burst, but as soon as he meets him, things start to get a little weird… All right, a lot weird!

Fire Force (Episode 26) – Flames of Madness

What happened?

Captain Hague welcomes Shinra into his office and then asks him to burn him with his holy flames. As if that wasn’t crazy enough, Shinra experiences an Adolla link and finds himself back in the ashen world. A girl appears before him, telling him to burn them all up. Then, three other members of the Fourth burst in and attack Shinra. Hague gets in the way of Shinra’s attack who also seems to have lost control before throwing him out the window.

Luckily, Captain Obi was worried that something like this might happen and has assigned Arthur to watch over Shinra. After a couple of quick hits, Arthur loses himself to the Knight fantasy and seems to get more power. He even uses Captain Hague as a Shield of Masochism. As Shinra battles with the girl known as the First Pillar who has now taken control, Arthur tells the others about how his family left him as the King of the house when he was younger. Eventually, Shinra managed to knee himself in the face to escape from the girl’s grasp. She leaves but reveals that another Pillar has appeared and the Evangelist is searching for it. Who will find it first?

Fire Force Episode 26 Shinra Adolla Link

What did you think?

As always, I’m joined by Yomu from Umai Yomu Anime Blog to discuss Fire Force episodes, and after the excellent start to season two, we’re already getting serious. I thought this was a fascinating episode and it covered a lot of things while remaining quite vague. Other than that, the imagery was awesome. So, Yomu, where would you like to start with this one?

I suppose we could start with the visit to Section 4 and Captain Hague. If I’m remembering and following this correctly, Shinra has an Adolla Burst, which also allows others to form an Adolla Link with him?

Fire Force Episode 26 Captain Hague asks Shinra to burn him

Fire Force Episode 26 Captain Hague getting kicked in the face by Shinra

I think the Adolla Link was with the First Pillar who was trying to get him to convert him. Hague had only experienced it once when he got the scratches on his face and had lusted after it ever since. I had to laugh when almost the first thing he said to Shinra was please burn me. Had no idea Hague was going to be a raging masochist. I was surprised we went in so deep so quickly, but I’m glad they’re not messing around. Give us the Pillars and the Evangelist. Burn everything!

Hague seemed to think the Adolla Link was caused by his presence and he seemed to be familiar with there being someone who looked like someone else. Shinra thought it was Iris at the beginning. So, now I’m wondering if anyone that has experienced the underworld can be used as a gateway. If only Shinra can work out how to activate it himself. However, it was clearly a coordinated effort as there was Humea who was using the Forth Fire Soldiers like puppets to attack Shinra.

Yeah, Hague came on strong and creepy at first but ended up being pretty comedic. It seems like he holds a pretty weird viewpoint though regarding the Adolla Link, and I recall he referred to the voice from within as an “angel” when talking to Shinra about it.

And the First Pillar, well, assuming that she actually looks like how Shinra sees her in the Link… she’s pretty amazing. That messed up smile of hers was great. The fact that someone like her can invade Shinra’s mind like that is an interesting wrench to throw into the mix.

What do you think their motivations are? Just to destroy the Fire Force completely?

Fire Force Episode 26 Shinra lost control

I’m not sure what their goal is. They seem to want to see the world burn, but hopefully, it’s not as straightforward as that. Maybe when we find out who or what the Evangelist actually is we’ll get a better idea.

The other thing I think we need to talk about is Arthur. We put together a few theories in the last season and I feel like they’re just going to keep coming. What did you think happened to his parents?

That’s a good question. Clearly, they left for some reason, one that we could only speculate on. As to where, I’m sure that we’ll find out more later. Whether they are dead or alive there is a story to be told there.

And speaking of Arthur, he seemed pretty damn strong this episode. It makes me wonder if the source of his power truly is “delusions”, or if he is actually tapping into something else using the technique taught to him by his father. Wouldn’t surprise me if that were the case.

Fire Force Episode 26 Arthur to the rescue

Definitely. If it’s just a defence mechanism to being abandoned it’s quite sad, so I’m hoping there’s more to it than just delusions.

I couldn’t stop laughing when he used Hague as the Shield of Masochism. That was hilarious. So far, I think they’ve got a great balance between the action and the comedy. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.

Yep. Things are really shaping up. It was just a great episode from start to finish, ending with that awesome fight. Plus we got to meet a few new characters, and have some new threads to follow. Looking forward to the next episode.