is a show that goes to great lengths to emphasize that you don’t have to kill fire demons to make a firefighter’s job look fun. When I originally sat down to watch the premiere, I thought I was watching a new supernatural, bombastic fire-themed action series in a similar style. Don’t blame me for making such a comparison. There aren’t many shows that focus on firefighters, although the job of a firefighter has a relatively interesting element that can lead to a gripping story. Thankfully, not only was I wrong, but the series seemed to be becoming what I wanted it to be.
Based on a thirty-year-old manga, the episode opens with a seemingly apocalyptic-scale event. The focus is mostly on the two main actors we later discover, Daigo and Shunsuke. As firefighters are doing their best to rescue people from collapsing buildings, the tension is palpable. The entire audience is quiet, and while the animation is a bit distracting, especially with all the CG vehicles, there’s enough gripping element there as our protagonist, Dago, pushes himself to subtle but dangerous breaking points to save his victims. All of this is shown from the perspective of Shunsuke, who seems to be Daigo’s best friend, constantly nagging him that if he is not careful, he may die one day.
Then, all of a sudden, the show flashes back to a few years ago, when society didn’t seem to be on the verge of collapse. Shunsuke is now a year old trainee and he is still our point of view character. There, we begin the monotonous and sometimes brutal training that has become embedded in our protagonists. Shunsuke and Daigo have just met, and the strong bond hinted at at the beginning has yet to develop. This gives the impression that the show will likely follow the relationship before dealing with any inciting incidents that occurred earlier. The story structure intrigued me, especially our extremely soft-spoken leader who probably only spoke about five lines in the entire episode. He’s hiding things and has some history related to why he joined the Fire Academy in the first place.
Coming this fall on Crunchyroll1688245022 broadcast.
1688245022
