Fire Force #08
Storyboard: Hiroko Kazui (数井 浩子)
Direction: Shuntaro Tozawa (戸澤 俊太郎)

The duo of Tozawa and Kazui returns to deliver one of Fire Force's most iconic moments, and DAMN do they do a good job.
#FireForceRewatch #fireforce #炎炎ノ消防隊

There's a reason that people post a gif of Shinra destroying Rekka under pretty much any Fire Force related tweet. The buildup, tension, and payoff in this episode's 2nd half is incredible and makes this episode one of the most memorable in the show. Huge props to Tozawa.

Of course, Kazui deserves just as much credit. Nearly every scene has a new kind of interesting lighting and uses numerous angles. Also, it's hard not to notice a trend of Kazui making great use of sunsets in his storyboards. This remained consistent across his 3 episodes.

However, this is definitely an episode of 2 halves. The 1st is much lighter on the direction and has noticeably rough art at points, while the 2nd takes things up a notch in every area. Honestly, after watching the whole episode I almost forgot that the 1st half even happened.

Animation-wise it's the same idea. Yuki Shigeuchi does a neat cut in part A, but most of the highlights are focused towards the end. This makes plenty of sense considering the story content though, so it's not necessarily a problem.

The very first shot hits us with this mysterious, foggy setting and Rekka making a call. This immediately sets the mood and treats us to a spooky type of weather we haven't yet seen in FF.

The background art and layouts do an especially good job of establishing the 1st brigade's base as a populated and active area. The viewer quickly gets an idea of the scale and conditions of this living space just by observing things in the background.

Jumping forwards a bit, Yuki Shigeuchi brings us a solid scene using a 3d background. I've never fully understood the sudden swap to a sky-esque bg towards the end, but it's still a fun scene.

Shinra and Arthur's investigation sports some really nice lighting. I especially enjoy the way the shadows of the windows project onto the ground. Gotta love the varied exaggerated layouts, too.

Karim's room is just as visually inspired. Using that candle to reflect little shards of light around the room is a huge brain move. No idea how they come up with this stuff but I love it.

This warehouse thing is such a perfect location for these events to play out. It takes full advantage of the background art team's skill, and allows for some really strong layouts utilizing the architecture as well as the sunset.

This is easily one of my favorite moments in the episode. Rekka's voice goes from its usual enthusiasm to completely cold at a moment's notice, coupled with that chilling musical cue. This is when it becomes clear as day that this man is absolutely cracked.

Next up is Hiroyuki Ohkaji's scene, which brings us his beautifully animated fire and sparks as always. Not sure how Rekka got behind them, but it makes for a spooky shot all the same. And again, the music is timed perfectly to the events on screen.

From the following scene, here's a comparison of chief animation director Yoshio Kozakai (小堺 能夫)'s correction and the final product in the episode.

I couldn't tell you why exactly Rekka is screaming, but I have to give huge props to his voice actor (Tomokazu Seki) for selling just how insane this guy really is. I can't stress enough how chilling this ost is, either.

Yuuki Yamashita animates a solid portion of the end of the episode, with good art and solid character acting. Rekka's walk has a lot of weight + nice smears when he's kicking Tamaki. This ost (Scorching Heat Requiem) is legendary and legitimately perfect for this scene.

The very next cut is animated by Yasuyuki Kai, who once again proves himself worthy of Fire Force's climactic moments. His smears are on full display next to amazing art of Shinra and all the impact one could ask for.

Words cannot describe the moment that the music swells and Shinra descends with those claw(?) flames. I've mentioned the ost so many times, and that's because it's so meticulously placed in this episode that I've speculated if tracks were specifically composed for these scenes.

The whole 2nd half is a master class in building tension. It finally brings us to this crying scene, animated by Yuki Matsuo and corrected by Hideyuki Morioka. The raw emotion is palpable here, be it the expressions or the jerky way Tamaki moves. What a way to end it.

I've split everything into clips for the sake of this thread, but that final scene really deserves to be experienced in full. It's one of those times where everything comes together to form something truly memorable and special, and it's clear that it stuck with people.

It's a shame that we were never treated to the Tozawa/Kazui duo again, seeing as their 2 episodes were easily among the best. Who knows, maybe it will happen again in season 2 if that whole virus situation doesn't delay it until 2023.

As individual scenes go, I'd say that the final 2-3 minutes of this episode are in the top 2 or 3 of the show, when it comes to how all the puzzle pieces fit together. THAT scene from episode 21 holds the top spot, but I can't deny this one #2.