Manga Review: Fire Force Volume 01

Manga Review: Fire Force Volume 01 by Atsushi Ohkubo

On an alternate Earth, the majority of Japanese people have been converted (at least on the surface) to the religion of the Sun God.  This may or may not have anything to do with the fact that the biggest threat to human life is now spontaneous combustion.  The vast majority of people who burst into flames become rampaging monsters.

However, a few become “second-generation” flame controllers who can manipulate fire but not create it, or “third-generation” flame emitters who can create fire and use it in various ways.  Those blessed or cursed with these powers often join the Fire Force, a subsection of the fire department that battles fire monsters.

One of these is Shinra Kusakabe, a third-generation who can ignite his feet to give himself superhuman running speed (technically gliding.)  His nickname is “the Devil” because of his bizarre habit of grinning widely whenever he’s nervous or upset; when he was a small child, he was found grinning over his mother’s charred corpse.  Shinra has a need to prove himself as a hero, and to find the person or thing really responsible for his mother’s death.

This shounen manga is the latest work of Atsushi Ohkubo, the creator of Soul Eater.  It’s done in his distinctive cartoony style, with some terrifying flame monsters.  Special Fire Force Company 8 is the usual assortment of quirky characters, and there’s considerable humor between the dramatic bits.  I also like the creative use of powers.

Before I get into the next bit, I need to talk about “Watsonian” and “Doylist” analysis.  The terms are named after the two writers of the Sherlock Holmes stories; John Watson, the in-story chronicler of his friend’s adventures, and Arthur Conan Doyle, the real world author.  This is used for the explanation of story elements.

A “Watsonian” explanation is “in-story.”  For example, Professor Plum murdered Mr. Boddy in the kitchen with a candlestick because he was being blackmailed over an affair he had with a student.  A “Doylist” explanation is “metatextual.”  Professor Plum murdered Mr. Boddy because this story is a murder mystery, so someone had to commit a murder.

Both approaches have their place, but have difficulties when crossed.   A Watsonian explanation may work perfectly fine in context of a particular story, but trying to assuage Doylist concerns with one doesn’t always work.  For example, if every one of an author’s stories has a damsel in distress being rescued by a handsome man, the explanations for this in each individual story may be quite plausible, but that doesn’t excuse the author from being criticized for not varying the formula.

So when we have a scene of two young women showering (seen from the back) in the introductory chapter, the Watsonian explanation is that they’ve gotten sweaty and dirty from fighting an infernal, of course they’re going to take a shower.  The Doylist explanation is that the writer wants to give fanservice to the primary audience of teenage boys.  (After all, we don’t see the male characters in their shower.)  The scene also serves the purpose of establishing some personality traits of the female characters (by failing the Bechdel test) and establishing that Sun God nuns, unlike Catholic ones, are not expected to stay celibate.

And fair enough, this is a manga for teenage boys, and I also appreciate the female form.  Plus it flows naturally within the story.  So far, so good.

But then we get to Chapter Five, where we meet a bunch of other rookie Fire Soldiers.  The male ones are wearing fairly sensible firefighting outfits that would protect them while fighting fires and monsters.  But the one woman, Tamaki Kotatsu, is wearing an open coat with a bikini.   More, she has a “condition” where she automatically moves in a way such that men around her are forced to cop a feel–and then she gets offended by that, especially by Shinra since he’s got that painful grin on his face.

Now, I am sure there is a perfectly reasonable Watsonian explanation involving the way Tamaki’s powers work that require this.  But from a Doylist perspective, it’s just fanservice, and shoddily done at that.  It isn’t funny, it calls attention to itself, and it’s degrading to the characters, both Tamaki and Shinra.  My interest in following this series crashed.

So, not recommending this one unless you are willing to forgive the crass fanservice.