Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts
Fire Force Season 3 Episode 8 – Quick Summary
In Fire Force Season 3 episode 8, “Holy Mother of Darkness / The Knight King’s Great Adventure,” the revelations from the previous episode shook Hibana to her core. But the shocks kept coming. Just who was Sister Sumire? What’s her plan? Meanwhile, Arthur could not shake himself out of the funk left behind by Excalibur’s destruction. Vulcan has an idea to help, but this is Arthur we’re talking about. Will Vulan’s idea help – or make things worse?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Fire Force Season 3 Episode 8
Lisa seemed to take Yu’s observation in stride. Capture from the Crunchyroll’s stream.
The thing I like about Arthur stories is that they’re simultaneously insane and perfectly reasonable. They tend to draw in the unwary and the well-prepared within the story. This episode contained a good example.
Arthur was super bummed. Excalibur had failed him during the battle with Dragon. It was so bad Arthur had begun to doubt Excalibur was a holy sword at all! In other words – dude’s world was coming undone.
Vulcan knew that he had to re-engage Arthur’s imagination if they had any chance of fighting the White Clads. So, he came up with an Arthur-compatible plan. He came up with a quest to find the special (mythical) metal to recreate the sword. Vulcan asked Lisa and Yu for help. He described the plan to them, then headed out the door, intending for them to follow him.
When Yu expressed doubts about the success rate for plans dumbed down enough for Arthur to get into them, Lisa replied (17:23), “Well, Vulcan’s an idiot, too.”
There’s just something about the 8th…
Favorite Moment from Fire Force Season 3 Episode 8
This episode was really hard on Hibana. Capture from the Crunchyroll’s stream.
Setup: Crying Wolf
My favorite moment is like a microcosm of the entire show. See, I think Fire Force has some fantastic dramatic and emotional beats. They hit as hard as Hinawa’s blasts back in the tank battle during season 1’s episode 20.
But then, they’ll something, like strip Tamaki, that not only blows the mood. It disrupts a scene’s emotional momentum. The end result can still be something enjoyable, but diminished. That’s insanely frustrating!
Just like my favorite moment in this episode.
For example, Hibana, Karim, and Foien Li’s conversation with Sister Sumire hit some horrifying moments. Remember when realization slammed into Hibana, and she choked out (02:58), “The culprit behind that fire, behind everything was…”
This should have been a profoundly moving moment. But worry that the story would pull some prank distracted me. Capture from the Crunchyroll’s stream.
“That’s right,” Sumire answered (03:22). Her voice was sweet and maternal; a model of sisterly affection. “You’ve always been hardworking and studios, so you’d always check your answers with an adult, like you did just now. Ah, nostalgia.”
But they were talking about using the children as Infernal experimental fodder. That’s horrifying stuff! So much so that I thought something monumental was going to happen when Sumire said (05:52), “I do believe that’s enough of this little chat. All of you will be buried alive here.”
I thought, “Okay, cool, something’s about to go down!”
Nothing went down. They started talking again. Damn it! That was disappointing!But it still set up my favorite moment. I’ve always liked Hibana. Yeah, she’s gorgeous, and that’s part of it. But she has a powerful will that I admire, and she’s patient and determined (when she needs to be). As she listened to Sumire, as the realizations came in waves, you could see her become more and more distraught. Kudos to the voice actor, Lynn, for bringing these moments alive.
Delivery: A Moment of Horror
Hibana finally said that she had come back to the convent to (07:58) “exact revenge upon the person who stole my dear friends’ lives from them!”
I swear to God – the hair on the back of my neck stood on end when Sumire said (08:05), “You truly believe that they all died?”
I knew where this was going, and it felt horrifying. Yet, at the same time, I felt a bit of fear that the show would toss in some weird bit of humor to ruin the moment. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Fortunately (in the sense of impact), what happened next pushed Hibana to her limits and reminded us, the viewers, of who the enemy was here.
Three sets of small hands crawled up out of the pool of darkness around Sumire’s feet. One of them, in a tiny girl’s voice, said (08:18), “Hibana… It’s so hot.”
The freckles were a nice touch. Capture from the Crunchyroll’s stream.
“Sakura?” Hibana said, recognizing the voice (08:29).
Hole. Lee. Hell. That’s the proverbial ton of bricks right there. The whole convent had been an experiment in linking Infernal doppelgangers to their human counterparts. All the classmates of Hibana and Iris, all those innocent, happy children, had become Infernals.
How could I not choose that as my favorite moment? In the sense of dramatic impact, of course. Thank God this is fiction! Wouldn’t it be terrible if anyone in this day and age intentionally exposed children to danger like that?
Wouldn’t that be a horrifying thing that would be.
What did you think of Arthur’s misinterpretation of Vulcan’s carefully dumbed down clues? What were your favorite moments? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
Fire Force Season 3 Episode 8: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Enen no Shouboutai: San no Shou • Fire Force Season 3 – Episode 8 discussion
- But Why Tho? REVIEW: ‘Fire Force’ Season 3 Episode 8 — “Holy Mother Of Darkness/The Knight King’s Great Adventure”
- Otaku Orbit: Fire Force Season 3, Episode 8: “Holy Mother of Darkness”
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 1: Indomitable Resolve
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 2: Prisoner
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 3: Incarnation of Flame
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 4: Golden Secret
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 5: Chance Meeting with an Arch-Enemy
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 6: Beyond Prayer’s End
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 7: Sleeping Truth
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 8: Holy Mother of Darkness / The Knight King’s Great Adventure
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9: Holy Sword, Resurrected
- Fire Force Season 3 Episode 10: Advent
Remember my Excalibour theory? I now wonder whether I was overthinking things. Maybe Arthur will just stumble upon him in the next episode? Instant bond due to the name. Arthur looks like one of the very few people who coud just be in awe of his stories.
If you’ve seen the next episode, then you know how it played out. I still favor your interpretation, given how this series relates to Soul Eater. Now that you brought it up, I just can’t see Arthur’s name as a coincidence now!