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Description:

               Shinra and Arthur are temporarily assigned to the 1^st Special Fire Force Company to investigate it.

Appearance:

               Character of the Episode: Captain Leonard Burns

                              CAN YOU SAY FLEX?! Captain Burns absolutely demolished both Arthur and Shinra with the bare minimum amount of steps. First of all, this man put the fear of Sol in Arthur by just moving his hand, and then drove that fear home by shattering Excalibur with his bare hand. Then, he just takes every blow Shinra can give before TAKING A SINGLE STEP and blowing our protagonist’s innards to oblivion (not really, but you get the point).

                              I can’t wait to see this demon in a real, serious fight!

Honorable Mention: Karim Flam

                              This may seem annoying to some people, but the fact that this guy speaks mostly in meaningless sentences when he meets strangers is interesting. I think it’s just his way of seeing how they react to insults or if they’re smart enough to realize that his “insults” aren’t insulting at all.

Execution:

               What I liked:

                              Being a captain of your own Fire Force Company has very little to do with combat capability. It is easy to assume that that is the case because this is, after all, a shounen anime. But, as we see by how easily Shinra beat Princess Hibana yet can’t lay a hand on Captain Burns, that is not the case. I like this because it shows that this show isn’t solely about power scaling.

                              Another, smaller thing, that I liked was the shower scene with Hibana, Maki, and Iris. It is clear that Maki has some self-image issues with her body, envying the willowy bodies of Iris and Hibana. Hibana immediately shuts that down and tells Maki that her body is beautiful as well. I don’t know if it meant anything to anyone else, but I think it was a small moment of women uplifting women that speaks volumes about Hibana as a character.

               What I didn’t like:

                              Tamaki’s “lucky lechery” is unnecessary. I foresee it being used as a cheap joke whenever she is present on screen and that’s just going to annoy me at some point. Hopefully, my foresight is wrong.

Taste:

               Things are getting real now. Company 8 is starting their espionage and I am beyond excited to see what they discover. But, more than that, I can’t wait to see how every captain acts and interacts with Shinra.

               This was a solid episode! Can’t wait for next week.