Fire Force – 08 – The Starry-Eyed Villain

In the haze of dawn, a mysterious man in a Fire Force cloak promises the “Evangelist” over the phone about continuing his work infernalizing subjects. Captain Hibana’s reasearch indicates an insect is the catalyst for the artificial type. When the alarm sounds and the First is mobilized, Shinra and Arthur witness the infernalization in action, and chase the just-out-of-view culprit down the alley.

In the alley they encounter their lieutenant, Karim Flam, along with Hoshimiya Rekka and Tamaki. Shinra keeps quiet about any accusations. Instead, he and Arthur break into Flam’s quarters to search for clues, and find an insect. When he arrives, he explains he planted it there to test them; confirming his suspicion they were there to investigate someone in the First creating artificial infernals.

That person turns out to be Hoshimiya Rekka, which would be a great shock if I knew who the heck he was or cared. Apparently, Tamaki is extremely devoted to him; so much so that she lures children to meet with him, with him claiming he has a prayer to “protect” them from becoming Infernals. When she wants to witness this prayer, he hugs her so hard she passes out.

Rekka kills the woman who was with the kids, then injects an insect into one of the kids, and instead of becoming an Infernal, the bug and resulting flames are absorbed, which seems to be the result he wanted, in service of creating a “pilot light” for this mysterious Evangelist. Tamaki comes to, and is beaten to a pulp by Rekka, as she’s unable to raise up against a guy she respected and admired for so long.

Still, she’s able to send her pink cat-flames into the sky as a signal for someone, anyone to come and save her and the other kids. Shinra spots the signal, divebombs Rekka, and smashes his face through the ground with his foot in front of Tamaki, who is grateful but also an emotional wreck.

While I admire the show’s penchant for getting on with the plot without dilly-dally, revealing Rekka as the evil, unhinged bad guy feels over-rushed to the point of shrug-ness. I also found it annoying that Tamaki, a powerful and accomplished fire solider in her own right, was so thoroughly damsel-ized in order to give the big hero boy Shinra a chance to shine.