Fire Force (Episode 42) – The Holy Woman’s Anguish / The Man, Assault
Iris is struggling to come to terms with the origins of the Sol Church until Shinra offers her some advice. Meanwhile, Assault has been preparing to face off against his nemesis – Tamaki!
Fire Force (Episode 42) – The Holy Woman’s Anguish / The Man, Assault
What happened?
It’s been some time since the origins of the Sol Church have come to light, but things have continued regardless. Infernals still appear and the Fire Force is expected to put them to rest and send them on their way to be reunited with Sol. Latom! However, it’s getting to Iris, especially as she is the one responsible for saying the prayers and blessing their equipment. If anything, there’s been more than normal and that means there’s a lot of equipment to baptise.
Obi sends Shinra to accompany Iris to the Church of Baptisms. He’s quite excited to help and spend some time with Iris. Of course, while she baptises the equipment, he’s left to enjoy the surroundings. Iris, however, is distracted and cannot shake the feeling that everything she’s doing is pointless. After the baptisms, she goes to see her old friends who died at the nunnery. Then, a priest bursts into flames and must be put to rest by Shinra. Will that shake her faith further?
Since the fight between the Eighth and the White Clads in the Nether, one warrior has been training relentlessly. He was supposed to end the battle but he was taken out by Tamaki. At long last, his training is complete. Assault challenges Tamaki to a fight, knowing that she is the only thing standing between him and the Eighth.
What did you think?
We weren’t sure exactly where this series would go after the last arc. We even threw out some names of people we’d not seen in a while, but we didn’t even get close. That said, I thought the Iris story was a good one to focus on as that is no doubt a huge change for many in the Fire Force, but none more so than the Sisters that aid them. And then there was Assault. It was a strange mini-arc, but I laughed all the way through. Yomu, where should we start things off?
May as well start with the whole Iris side-story, which is what this felt like. A bit of a break from the overarching story, but not a bad way to address the fact that the religion, and Iris, are still around and relevant, despite the revelations that the religion itself may have ties to the Evangelist. And personally, I felt like this episode was sort of a way of telling us that there is something wrong with the Church of Sol, and so they’re sort of coming up with their own offshoot version of the religion that is more of a personal thing than a Church thing.
What are your thoughts on the Church and religion after this episode?
Yeah, it was an interesting topic, although personally, if it had been me, I would have walked away from the religion and not looked back. There has to be a reason the Evangelist created the religion and remaining faithful to it can only strengthen that reason. We said it earlier in the season how the Fire Force are handicapped by the religious practices whereas the White Clads are free to do whatever they want. I liked that we got to see a little more of Iris although I also feel this was a way to bring things back to the First Pillar, especially as Shinra saw a flash of her while looking at Iris.
Agreed that the religion seems to hold them back, and it was even confirmed this episode that some of the Fire Forces were no longer using baptized equipment against infernals, which in my eyes is implying that the Church practices aren’t actually necessary to put an infernal to rest.
And I really hope so with the First Pillar, either they’re really messing with us, or she’s going to come back into the picture soon enough. Hopefully, Shinra will be able to communicate with her better next time.
Shinra has a better idea of who she is, so that should be a really interesting meeting, if it happens. Hopefully, we’re looking at the final arc of the season and it’s going to focus heavily on her and Amaterasu. So, now we need to talk about Assault and his feud with Tamaki. I’ve already said that I thought it was hilarious, so what was your initial reaction?
A fun bit of comedy, certainly more successful than what they’ve tried to do with Arthur recently. And while I’m sure the critics didn’t approve, you and I both enjoy a bit of fan service here and there. Not to mention it felt like a great time for it when we’re sort of in-between major conflicts with the main story. I wonder where things will go with this next episode, but I’d be happy to see a bit more of this gag before things get serious again.
For sure. I had been wondering what happened to Assault so it was funny seeing how he’d been training, but no matter what he did it was never enough to defeat her. It reminded me of the calendar shoot at the beginning of the season in the way it used humour to reintroduce us to some of the characters. I’m looking forward to getting back into a serious arc, but this was a nice go-between and, as you say, better than any of the comedy they’ve tried with Arthur this season. Any expectations for the remaining episodes?
I’m still on the same page as we were last episode: let’s see Dr. Giovanni and the First Pillar again, and get some of our longest-standing questions answered. Surely the story has to head back to them before this season wraps up.
How about you, any hopes for what’s to come?
I think we’ll follow a similar formula to the end of the last season where we’ll see a number of fights, possibly with various team-ups. I hope we’ll get some answers to some of the bigger questions, but I think we may have to settle for big flashy fights. I’m expecting to see Sho at some point too.
And in the worst case, there’s always season 3.
Other posts in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Shinra Kusakabe Enlists
- Episode 2 – The Heart of a Fire Soldier
- Episode 3 – The Rookie Fire Soldier Games
- Episode 4 – The Hero and the Princess
- Episode 5 – The Battle Begins
- Episode 6 – The Spark of Promise
- Episode 7 – The Investigation of the 1st Commences
- Episode 8 – Infernal Insects
- Episode 9 – The Spreading Malice
- Episode 10 – The Promise
- Episode 11 – Formation of Special Fire Force Company 8 – The Mightiest Hikeshi
- Episode 12 – Eve of Hostilities in Asakusa
- Episode 13 – The Trap Is Set
- Episode 14 – For Whom the Flames Burn
- Episode 15 – The Blacksmith’s Dream
- Episode 16 – We Are Family
- Episode 17 – Black and White and Gray
- Episode 18 – The Secrets of Pyrokinesis
- Episode 19 – Into the Nether
- Episode 20 – Wearing His Pride
- Episode 21 – Those Connected
- Episode 22 – A Brother’s Determination
- Episode 23 – Smile
- Episode 24 – The Burning Past
- Season Two
- Episode 25 – A Fire Soldier’s Fight
- Episode 26 – Flames of Madness
- Episode 27 – A New Flashpoint
- Episode 28 – Groping Through the Fire
- Episode 29 – Corna (Sign of the Devil) / A Secret Plan
- Episode 30 – The Time to Choose
- Episode 31 – Road to the Oasis
- Episode 32 – Smoldering Malevolence
- Episode 33 – The Core
- Episode 34 – The Woman in Black
- Episode 35 – Dark Hero
- Episode 36 – Shadows Cast by Divine Light
- Episode 37 – A Pair of One-Eyes
- Episode 38 – The Ashen Reaper
- Episode 39 – A Three-Way Melee
- Episode 40 – Mind Blown
- Episode 41 – Boys, Be Weak
- Episode 42 – The Holy Woman’s Anguish / The Man, Assault
- Episode 43 – The Oze Family
- Episode 44 – Weapon of Destruction
- Episode 45 – Enemy Contact
- Episode 46 – Plot for Extinction
- Episode 47 – Firecat
- Episode 48 – Signs of Upheaval
- Bonus Posts
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Thank you very much for your nice following 😊 Welcome 👏👍
No worries
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Excellent story and stunning pictures. You’re published a book?
Thanks. I did publish a book but have since unpublished it to rewrite it.
🆗 👍
Many to do. I know that. I rewrite my book many times. Maybe you can found friends on Wattpad?!
Beautiful story 🙂 well shared thanks 😊
Thanks