Fire Force (Episode 41) - Boys, Be Weak

Shinra makes an Adolla link with Nataku, but that just fuels the fire. Desperate to prove his worth, Nataku creates an attack that would wipe out Tokyo. There’s just Charon standing in his way!

Fire Force (Episode 41) – Boys, Be Weak

What happened?

Nataku struggled to maintain his perfect results at school and as a result, his father took it out on his mother. From that moment on, he swore to himself to do better. Then, when he was taken away by Haijima, his mother’s words rang in his ears – you can do it. Together with the voice of Rekka constantly haunting him, he lost control. Haumea had done too good of a job on him and now he was about to destroy everything.

The power of the attack that Nataku had pulled together was so large that there was no way to escape. Even Inca could see that. However, there was one hope! Charon was determined to protect the Pillars and took the full force of the attack head-on. He even had flashes of his life appear before him, but that just spurred him on. Having absorbed all of the power, Charon redirected it up. The ball of fire burst through the atmosphere and struck the moon, leaving a giant crater.

That’s when Kurono stepped up and quickly defeated Nataku. He even spoke to him about staying weak for him, which oddly seemed to calm Nataku. Charon decided that Kurono was Nataku’s protector and left him in Haijima’s hands. Haijima, however, had some things to discuss with Shinra, Licht, and Captain Obi!

Fire Force Episode 41 Inca Kurono Shinra Hinawa and Ritsu

What did you think?

This episode was fairly spectacular, however, I’m left feeling like there was something that didn’t really sit well with me. Sure, Charon was incredible, but he did recently murder Inca’s friend for no reason whatsoever. Then, there was Kurono’s relationship with Nataku. I understand that he was taking the pressure off Nataku, but he maintained the stance that he wanted to bully him. Yomu, how did you feel about this one and what burning topic shall we begin with?

It almost felt too quick how everything was wrapped up. From Nataku’s infernal transformation to the dealings with Haijima in the end. But before we get to the meat of the issue, what I wanted to bring up first was how disappointing and pointless the whole Arthur segment was. I understand he was disabling Haumea’s power, but the actual “sword in the… snake” gimmick ended up leading to nothing entertaining in my opinion. It just felt like a stupid little side gimmick to the main course. Considering how it’s featured in the ED, I expected at least a little more from it.

What are your thoughts on this?

Fire Force Episode 41 Charon looking at Natakus power

Fire Force Episode 41 Charon absorbing Natakus power

I had completely forgotten that was a thing until you brought it up which shows just how impactful it was. I don’t like what they’ve done with Arthur. There was a time when he was mysterious and could have been interesting, but now he’s just a pointless joke. I hope that changes.

Did he even stop Haumea? She still defeated that puppet lady and then ran away when she realized that she’d gone too far with Nataku.

I believe there was a single moment where she realized her powers were disrupted or something like that. And other than that, there was talk of radiation or something which ended up leading to nothing also. It’s a shame, because I enjoy watching Arthur in combat, with his plasma sword, and we were robbed of that here.

Anyways, what stood out to you as a memorable moment from the episode?

Well, that’s got to be Charon redirecting Nataku’s attack at the moon. That guy’s got some crazy powers and resolve. I liked that he is so dedicated to his cause that he’ll protect all the pillars. It’s a crazy cause, but it’s hard not to respect his dedication.

Although, I did enjoy Kurono unleashing his full powers. About time he showed it, mind you, especially since they’ve said only Benimaru is stronger than him.

Yeah, Charon’s ability is awesome, and he’s one of those characters that you just have to respect. His showing in this episode actually elevates him above many other characters I think. And that makes me wonder if he’ll always be an enemy, or if circumstances will change in the future to where we see another alliance of sorts with him.

And while Kurono is supposed to be powerful, it seemed a bit overkill that he could just effortlessly chop up the demon infernal’s body. Kind of like those robots last episode that seemed way too strong for what they were, it feels like power creep to have this. Remember earlier in the season how difficult it was for them to take down demon infernals? Well, apparently there’s now someone that can slice them up as if they are a mere tomato.

Fire Force Episode 41 Kurono unleashes his powers

There’s definitely been a jump in power levels of late. It was a fairly smooth progression, to begin with where just taking down one Infernal was an effort and then through the first season, they all grew to the point that we had the showdown with the White Clad and it felt like they’d earned it. This season has made more jumps and just thrown these insanely strong characters at us that would have just murdered everyone in the first season.

How do you feel about the Haijima team-up? I can’t say I completely trust them and their director is a very strange man, even in a world where the hero can shoot fire out of his feet!

Yeah, it’s framed as if Haijima is sort of a neutral party, only interested in keeping their operation growing via more power plants. But I wonder if that’s really the case or not. The director did originally put in the order to kill Licht…

Either way, it seems that Haijima is out of the picture for now. Which asks the question, what’ll the Fire Force do now? Who will be the next source of conflict?

That’s an interesting point. We’ve ruled out going after the church as they may not be aware that it was founded on a sham and Haijima are playing nice for now. I guess that just leaves the White Clad unless anyone else wants to join the party. It feels like a long time since we saw Dr. Giovanni and he keeps appearing on the OP. I also wouldn’t mind visiting Princess Hibana again. I think there are enough characters still out there, it’s just whether they can give us something that doesn’t feel forced.

On the topic of the OP, I feel like both Dr. Giovanni and the First Pillar are due some more attention. So maybe you’re right and we’ll get something on that front. We also haven’t heard from Benimaru since his break-in with Joker, so maybe there we’ll see something from them.

And not to mention, Shinra’s little brother, Sho who has been suspiciously absent from all the White Clad activities.

I forgot he even existed, haha. Clearly, there are plenty of directions for the story to head in. We’ll have to see which one they go with next.

It’s the Fire Force lottery!