Wow… I just realized it’s been about two MONTHS since my last book review! Damn… Talk about SLACK! Actually, I’ve just been working on other things, AND I’ve been REREADING my books before doing the reviews, sometimes multiple times, because I’m drugged at night, now, so everything gets all weird after dark, and I even SLEEP now, which is really weird. It seriously cuts into my READING time, now that I'm not an insomnia anymore, that for sure!
All of that junk aside, I finally finished reading the first collection of Fire Force for the fourth time, (not joking), and feel properly prepared to discuss it. Let’s go…
[This is a photograph that I took of the actual digital comic that I read. The image is included for review purposes only!]
Atsushi Ohkubo – Fire Force Volume 1 (2016) – Translated by Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
Fire Force is strange, not-quite-superhero, not-quite-horror, not-quite-teenage romance manga created by Atsushi Ohkubo, who is probably most well known in the U.S. (where I live) for his series, Soul Eater---which I’ve never read, although my son-in-law HAS read it, and he said it was quite good. This book, Fire Force, starts with a strange premise: that people (wherever and whenever the book takes place---it feels modern, but with bits of anachronistic elements thrown in for flavor (like a character who believes he is a knight and lives by the knights' code)…that people have begun to die by spontaneous human combustion. For SOME reason, which nobody seems to understand, people have begun to just burst into flames---and some of them don’t die quickly, but instead become INFERNALS, living zombies engulfed in fire that walk around incinerating buildings, trains, and whoever gets to close to them when they ignite.
This phenomena has become so common in the story that units of “Fire Soldiers” have been formed to fight the blazes that are constantly being set and to lay the “infernals” to rest---by whatever means necessary. One such fire fighter is the primary character, Shinra Kusakabe, a new recruit who dreams of being a hero. His story is a sad one (I won’t spoil it), and he’s been nicknamed “The Devil” by some of the students who attended school with him when tragedy struck, but now, older and more capable, Kusakabe plans to train hard and save as many people from death by fire as he can.
The art style is quite clean, but detailed when it needs to be, particularly the backgrounds and cityscapes and such. One thing that Ohkubo (the artist) is EXTREMELY good at are his flaming, ghostly, demonic “infernals.” These characters look very creepy, and sometimes ACT very creepy, but the narration never lets you forget that these WERE PEOPLE, something that doesn’t always happen in a “monster” story. If you saw the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, you’ll no doubt remember the scene where two of the supposed protagonists are picking off zombies from the top of a building, laughing as they put holes in monster heads---but in Fire Force, Ohkubo frequently reminds the reader that these creatures were PEOPLE, with families who will miss them and lives that have been devastated by the fires. It’s a surprising element, humanizing a threat, and it gives the scenes some extra tension and pathos. I like that.
There is also a lot of character development in the book, particularly with the main figure, Kusakabe, who has a nervous twitch in which he involuntarily smiles a wicked looking smile when he’s anxious or stressed out. If he sees a girl who he finds attractive, he smiles like a maniac. If he’s being yelled at by a superior officer on the force, he grows a bit, wicked grin. Again, it’s a clever quirk, not only giving the character a bit of definition, but also contributing to the plot by making other characters angry or uncomfortable. (It's also drawn for maximum comedic effect. Well done!)
I don’t actually SEE a rating on the book cover, but I’m guessing this story is intended for a TEEN audience. It doesn’t have too much violence or much naughty language, although it does have a few scenes of “fan service,” though no explicit nudity. I was a bit bothered by the sexually suggestive elements on my first read-thru, as they seemed unnecessary and frankly a bit juvenile, but after the fourth time through, I wasn’t as bothered. (Desensitized, I guess.) It’s certainly not P.C. or in keeping with the spirit of these #MeToo times, but it’s not tentacle porn, either. Probably something closer to the actual level of sexual interest that a teen with raging hormones (male or female) might have. (I’m also an old grandpa now, so I’m supposed to be prudish and aghast at naughtiness, so---mission accomplished!)
The story moves along well enough, and there is a decent balance between humor, character development, and action, and as I said above, I like the scary monster-people. Like I also said, it’s not quite romance (nobody is actually being romantic), not horror (because it’s not gory or too terribly scary), and not exactly a superhero story, although some of the characters do have superpowers which they use to help put out fires and fight the monsters. What this book certainly IS, though, is fun! I enjoyed the book more after each time finishing it. Even after rereading the story FOUR times, I still found it entertaining.
There are a lot of characters to get a handle on, plus my head isn’t screwed on that well lately, so it took some work for me to fully grasp the comic, but normal, non-drugged humans (or only recreationally drugged, perhaps), will probably have little trouble following what’s happening. Overall, it’s a good book. I may be inclined to read another volume sometime in the near future, once I finish reading and reviewing the three OTHER books I’ve also been reading for the last few weeks.
(We’ll see how long it takes for my next review to come out. Hopefully, not TWO MONTHS this time!!!) Later, skaters! Now go READ A DAMN BOOK!!!
---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)
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