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EP. REVIEW: Fire Force


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AntiKuro



Joined: 01 Aug 2017
Posts: 200
PostPosted: Sun Aug 18, 2019 7:10 pm Reply with quote
DRosencraft wrote:
I haven't read the manga, so I've no idea if the story progresses the same way, but the entire start and finish for the fight between 5th and 8th felt so rushed it comes across like a straight contrivance just to fill space. It's like they got the story going, decided the whole thing with infernals was going forward too quick, so they threw in this bit, but wanted to move on from that too. You usually don't see the "some good guys might be bad guys" angle blow up this big, with the two sides in an all-out brawl, and for it to go out with such a whimper is perplexing. I don't know that a more competent story even has an arc like this to climax a season, let alone condensed as the second act within the first handful of episodes.


The fight between them went about that fast in the manga to. I've read to about chapter 70 in the manga, if I remember right spoiler[I stopped when they entered the netherworld]. Matter of fact I remember commenting to my husband that I was enjoying it so much because nothing was really dragging on, and they where getting right into the story and plot pretty quickly once it got past introductions.

I don't know if it'll slow down latter on after that.

I'd also argue that we've not actually seen the villain of the story yet.

I absolutely hate how they censored Hibana and Iris backstory, however; in this episode and I knew it was going to go that route. This makes me almost wish they'd halted airing the show for awhile and didn't censor it. [/spoiler]
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Sun Aug 18, 2019 10:28 pm Reply with quote
^You mean they were lovers? Hmmm...Anyway I'm more than disappointed that it seems the writers insinuate Hibana was acting out like a child looking to have boundaries set (why she's a little crazy/out of control) and once that's done by Shinra she's in love and willing to make up. Really???
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3627
PostPosted: Sun Aug 18, 2019 10:48 pm Reply with quote
Had to laugh when even more Angels 3 showed up.

With the censorship of the episode I decided to look up the relevant chapters in the manga to see how they compare/what was missing and saw the sakura tree wasn't even in the original! It did seem a bit odd how it burst from the ground unlike any other 3rd gen powers we've seen, but I'm glad they added it as it was a beautiful visual.

Interesting that the ending leaves out Hibana and just has Iris. I wonder if they were holding that info back from some reason or if there's another reason she's alone
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Kuroi Ren



Joined: 09 Dec 2018
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 12:35 pm Reply with quote
The way I see it, Hibana just needed someone. She lost faith and thought that the world is a place where the selfish are the ones who triumph. Seeing Shinra, who fought selflessly despite being against a captain, made her change her mind.

They definitely could have handled it better but the fact that she changed her mind [and fell for him] after a speech {and a punch) from the MC is not unusual in Shounen.

Besides, the way he said he would save her whenever she needed him made her feel secure. [I still feel that deep down, she was just scared]
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steelmirror



Joined: 22 Oct 2015
Posts: 342
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 3:43 pm Reply with quote
I was really excited for this show after the premiere, primarily for how darn good it looked, but also because the city and environments had such visual charm and the situation was just different enough that I felt it had promise. A shonen adventure, obviously, but maybe one with just enough going on beneath the surface to be better than some of its competitor shonen series.

Well, 6 episodes in at least it still looks good!

The entire plot with Hachibana and her company felt like a filler arc. 3 Episodes of it, and I don't feel that I learned anything interesting about the world, any of the main characters, or any of the mysteries. The bad guys were set up as this big powerful group and then immediately jobbed, with the most tactical decision made by a member of company 8 during the entire mess being "oh wait, I'm right handed lol".

Company 8 exhibited more personality in the 30 second introductory fight scene in episode 1 than they did collectively in all of episodes 5 and 6 combined.

The hearts in Hachibana's eyes made be groan out loud. That's the sort of thing I'm usually capable of overlooking if the rest of the episode is good, but a cliche hitting as the culmination of a block of lackluster episodes was not the way to leave things.

It's not BAD, I still don't mind watching it, and the kind of mistakes that it's been making are the kind that can be quickly rectified. But I'm probably downgrading it from "show I look forward to every week" to "hey when I need to turn my brain off with pretty animation it's worth catching up."
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 981
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 4:47 pm Reply with quote
I have a question:

I remember reading and drooping this for a weird reason: Stuff just happened, and I don't mean on a narrative way, but in a "Form" way.

For example, in a Manga a guy is bullied by a moron, then, MC shows up and kicks the bully, normal scene.

In a NORMAL manga this scene would be like drawing of the bullied kid on the ground, then an scene of the bully saying crap, then a close up to the bully face in preparation for the kick, then the kick and then the bully on the floor.

On THIS manga, the scene would be bullied kid on the ground, then an scene of the bully saying crap, then the kick and then the bully on the floor (IF we see the kick and we don't need to infer a kick happened).

There is no "Preparation" scene before an action takes place, so, everything just "Happens".

Did they fix this on the Anime?
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4563
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 7:59 pm Reply with quote
I'm as far as the Toonami broadcast (episode 4), and while I enjoy the basic premise of the series, and it has some impressive fight scenes, the actual episode direction frequently feels really...disjointed. There are awkward pauses with no dialog after certain scenes and frequent jump-cuts without much context, and it isn't doing any favors for the overall episode flow. One of the episode reviews suggested that it's going for a panel-by-panel manga adaptation, and from what Minos said, that sounds very likely. It's a seriously ill-advised decision: manga and anime are two very different visual media, and things like scene transitions need to be handled differently in both.

(Also the "accidental molestation" shtick is just gross. Who is that for? Who over the age of 12 actually enjoys that shit?)
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-SP-





PostPosted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 12:32 am Reply with quote
Got about 10mins into the episode, but it was so boring and it was censored so I stopped watching.
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Kuroi Ren



Joined: 09 Dec 2018
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 3:30 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
I'm as far as the Toonami broadcast (episode 4), and while I enjoy the basic premise of the series, and it has some impressive fight scenes, the actual episode direction frequently feels really...disjointed. There are awkward pauses with no dialog after certain scenes and frequent jump-cuts without much context, and it isn't doing any favors for the overall episode flow. One of the episode reviews suggested that it's going for a panel-by-panel manga adaptation, and from what Minos said, that sounds very likely. It's a seriously ill-advised decision: manga and anime are two very different visual media, and things like scene transitions need to be handled differently in both.

(Also the "accidental molestation" shtick is just gross. Who is that for? Who over the age of 12 actually enjoys that shit?)


Accidental molestation? What are you talking about?
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Amibite



Joined: 01 Jul 2004
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:00 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
(Also the "accidental molestation" shtick is just gross. Who is that for? Who over the age of 12 actually enjoys that shit?)


Ton of people. That's why it's so common in anime. It's a fanservice action manga aimed at boys so it's to be expected.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:39 pm Reply with quote
Kuroi Ren wrote:
The way I see it, Hibana just needed someone... [I still feel that deep down, she was just scared]
My biggest problem with her characterization and Ep6 is that I couldn't see any consistency between previous words and deeds and how things ended up. I try to keep "shounen" in mind with this sort of show and I think I'm a bit of one myself so I appreciate some things but when she so quickly "fell apart" when Shinra refuses to let her get the better of him and flips from being an out-of-control megalomaniac/dominatrix to a meek schoolgirl with a crush, it's a little much. And on top of it, Shinra goes from involved in what could be a life-or-death struggle to a completely unconcerned proclamation of support and affection (?) without sufficient motivation I can see. He could sympathize and understand she was "acting out" from hurt but it seems really dumb that the next step is "it's OK, we're all good now".

Were I to do some analysis, I'd say that the tragedy (or whatever happened) at the orphanage/cloister made her re-evaluate the value of her special abilities and "fire" itself along with the whole philosophy of the Sol Church. It would seem she concluded that the philosophy was BS and turned to hate herself, her abilities and the fire itself. All that left her with was knowledge and a special ability that could get her what she wanted, but only that. I didn't see earmarks of inner fear like defensiveness, just the opposite, she seemed almost over-confident that her power was unbeatable.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4563
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:50 pm Reply with quote
Kuroi Ren wrote:

Accidental molestation? What are you talking about?

Um, how about the character who only exists to be a literal fanservice "magnet"? The character who has a named "ability" to get assaulted? The character who, within 30 seconds of our introduction, had her breasts and ass groped by our protagonist? That ringing any bells?

Amibite wrote:

Ton of people. That's why it's so common in anime. It's a fanservice action manga aimed at boys so it's to be expected.

If you're anyone other than a horny 12-year-old and you obtain any sort of enjoyment out of that hoary obnoxious trope, then I think you seriously need to re-evaluate your life. Hell, even for the target audience it's gross. Depictions of relationships should at least have the tiniest bit of thought put into them, and if you have to rely on schlock like that to get someone to notice your work, you've already failed as a writer.
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:08 pm Reply with quote
I was just wondering about my life and whether I needed to reevaluate it. But thanks, guy on the internet, I now know that spending a couple seconds chuckling at the incorrect thing is the key indicator.
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Gasero



Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Posts: 939
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:40 pm Reply with quote
The fact that people are defending the sexual antics depicted in Fire Force is a sad indicator that society still has a long way to go in terms of maturing when it comes to depictions of romantic interactions or depictions of 'sexual' features in general.

Whereas I (a straight male in late 20's) have turned away from the series because of accidental or non-consensual gropage, there are people who may be driven to the series because of the gropage.

It's a shame because the world of Fire Force is very interesting. But I don't think I can keep watching if sexual fanservice will continue to distract from plot and character development. Sexual fanservice has its place in media, but I wish that it didn't infiltrate so many shows that interest me.


Last edited by Gasero on Wed Aug 21, 2019 8:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 5:16 pm Reply with quote
I'm not really sure what you consider the "maturation of society." The Puritans sure didn't put up with this kind of thing, did that make them a more mature society? Or were they so terrified of their immaturity that they thought that any exposure to such ideas would lead them into a life of sin?

Maybe, as societies mature, they come to accept that there are different people that make up a society who approach entertainment in different ways, and it's not the end of the world if fictional boobs put a smile on someone's face after a long day of doing "mature society" things.
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