Sennin

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images

Written and Illustrated : Atsushi Okubo, Studio : David Production, Direction : Yuki Yase, Script : Yamato Haishima, Character Design : Hideyuki Morioka, Music : Kenichiro Suehiro

Synopsis

The victims of the human combustion are called Infernals as they lose their identity and starts killing everyone nearby and will continue to do unless they are stopped or they forfeit their lives.

For unknown reasons, a bizarre and horrifying epidemic called spontaneous human combustion occurs where people are suddenly on fire for seemingly no reason at all (which I am pretty sure they will give the reason in the future episodes).

The only way to kill them is to destroy their core which is located in the heart is destroyed. An elite task force called the Fire Force are created to defeat the internals, find the cause of human combustion and put an end to the flame terror.

Our protagonist Shinra Kusakabe, 3rd generation pyrokinetic (the ability to create and control fire) joins the Fire Force’s 8th division to become a hero. But his other reason to join the Fire Force is to find the origin of the fire which killed his mother and younger brother.

What happens in this episode

The main character Shinra and his teammates are shown where we are given a short intro into the team members abilities and their personalities. We are also shown their base and their machinery. They are immediately called for help when a woman in a factory is on fire. They immediately rush to the place in their vehicle.

Characters/Development

In this episode, we are shown the characters who are going to be with Shinra throughout the season.

Shinra Kusakabe: The protagonist and the wannabe hero. He has a unique trait where every time he gets nervous he smiles.

Maki One: a second generation pyrokinetic (the ability to control existing fire but not create one) is a very strong and fit woman. She is a tomboy character but her head is filled with romantic loves stories and princesses.

Iris: She is the sister of the group who sends the soul to the afterlife. She prays when the infernal are being destroyed and also she provides relief to the survivors and relatives of the infernals. She is comparatively a more serious character than Maki.

Takeshisa Hinawa: The lieutenant of the 8th division. He is an extremely serious character and when not fighting infernals he is in charge of running the division. He also brings the members in line when they go overboard including the captain

Akiharu Obi: The captain of the fire force 8th division He a jovial and carefree guy, likes to tease people. When he is not fighting he always trains. Even when introducing himself he is still training.

So we have this diverse set of characters but they all come together when fighting an infernal. They all have a strong sense of justice. They are all shown to be very caring to their fellow team members. There are still two more characters to join their team according to the opening soundtrack visuals.

I am excited to see their past, how they ended up here and how they will improve ( in both character and ability) from here on.

Current 8th division members

Animation

The animation is really fluid and smooth. The color tone in this episode is mostly dark colors. Even during daylight, there is a slight bit of dark color present. This conveys the overall mood of the series.

Conversely, the flashback of Shinra is all bright and cheerful. The uniform also has luminescent blue which is a color which gives hope and especially during the fight sequences it works well with the orange/red of the flames.

Since there is a lot of fire involved, they have made sure to differentiate the fires on the surroundings which is a lot more rough and wild compared to the ones on the infernal and ability users which are a lot more soft and controlled.

The animation and design of the infernals are really good. On the whole, I enjoyed the action sequences and the animation.

Music

The opening music “Inferno” by Mrs Green Apple, it’s a great piece of rock music and the visuals accompanying it are also pretty good. The whole team (while showing the unknown two members) are fighting against an infernal over a wide area. They really did a good job of matching the visuals with the music.

The ending son is “Veil” by Keina Suda, a j-pop song. The visuals showcase sister lily’s life a little and also another character which they showed in the key visuals (The purple hair girl) so she has some kind of history with that woman. I don’t think the music meshed well with the video music because the music is fast-paced whereas the video showed something grim.

I couldn’t find the names of the OST but the track where they are getting ready and moving in their vehicle is really good as the music gives an ominous feeling and at the same time showing us that there is still hope and these guys can do it.

The same slower version of the song is used before the fight sequence during the end. Both versions show how the same music used in a different speed and applied in different situations will still be effective.

Final Assessment

One thing that didn’t sit well with me is that Shinra kind of became a full-fledged team member too fast. It usually takes time adjusting to new people for both Shinra and the others. But I think it went too fast. In the First scene he joins the team and in the next, he is already a full-fledged team member.

At the end we also see him smiling genuinely with a slight blush. I think that was a nice scene. I hope that they don’t use more dialogue and chanting prayer during the fight sequences as it interferes with OST and also slightly lowers the overall impact of the fight.

On the whole, the story and the characters are interesting and they make me eager for the next episodes. I think this is a wonderful first episode and hopefully, they can maintain this pace throughout.

Marks : 4/5