REVIEW: ‘Fire Force’ Season 3 Episode 9 — “Holy Sword, Resurrected”

Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9, “Holy Sword, Resurrected,” sees Arthur (Yûsuke Kobayashi, Fire Emblem: Engage) and his friends journey into the Nether to satisfy his fantastical need to discover a rare metal to forge Excalibur with. What they find awaiting them in the darkness of the labyrinth is possibly even more surprising.

Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9 nearly spends its entirety following the quest to forge Excalibur. As one could easily surmise, the bulk of the episode’s time is spent trying to create humorous ways to play on Arthur’s fantasy of knighthood. There are a few chuckles throughout the episode, but it also feels like the story begins to mix up Arthur’s fantasy in some strange ways.

Before Arthur, Vulcan (Taku Yashiro, Honey Lemon Soda), Yu (Shoya Chiba, 86), and Lisa (Ayaka Asai, Zenless Zone Zero) can descend into the Nether, they come across a girl crying for help to get her cat out of a tree. It is assured that Arthur will stop his quest to aid the girl, being the chivalrous knight. Rather, he ignores her pleas, stating he’s busy doing the main quest and has no time for side quests.

A sidequest in Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9 fails to fully tap into its humor.

It’s been years since I watched the prior seasons of Fire Force, but I don’t recall Arthur’s fantasy ever involving him being in a video game, as this moment implies. While it’s done as a surprise gag to catch the viewer off guard, Arthur’s make-believe world can be a bit much to swallow at times, and creating inconsistencies in his imaginary world only introduces an annoying element to it.

When Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9 sees its protagonists reach the darkness of the Nether, they are met by a surprising pair: Arthur’s mother and father. It seems they’ve been on a quest of their own, and the prophetic visions of Arthur’s dad guided them to this place so they could see their son.

This encounter goes a long way in explaining who Arthur is. His parents seem just as oblivious to the real world as their child, failing to realize some obvious elements of the situations they create. Why they went off on their adventure certainly feels right for the sort of humor Arthur’s portion of the narrative has always lived in.

However, Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9 sees the joke fall flat. After explaining that they abandoned Arthur because they couldn’t bring a child to the Nether, it is revealed that they have had three more kids, all of whom they are raising in the Nether. The hypocrisy of the situation is lost on no one but Arthur, who still sees his parents as wonderful people trying to save the world, and not the bad parents they are.

More insight into Arthur’s parents yields depressing results.

This attempt to make parental abandonment a joke doesn’t work. The fact that they have disappeared again before Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9 ends makes it questionable if even introducing them was worth the effort in the first place. Happily, they do contribute something to the story, as they are in possession of a substance that Arthur’s mind can accept as the fabled metal he is searching for.

Once back on the surface, Vulcan sets out to forge Excalibur, hoping the new blade will unlock Arthur’s full potential. The design of the sword is wonderful. It feels elegant and knightly, with enough flourish in its design to make it feel like a blade fit for royalty. And this sword has a blade, leaving the question of how Arthur’s power will interact with it. Will he surround the sword with flames, or interact with it in some other manner? Hopefully, the animation will go all out for its big reveal when the time comes.

Before Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9 wraps up, it jumps over to Shinra  (Gakuto Kajiwara, Blue Lock) as he strives to form an Adolla Link, hoping to enter Adolla. With some roughly implemented guidance from Benimaru (Mamoru Miyano, Ranma 1/2), Shinra eventually manages to enter the fiery realm, where he encounters his brother Shu just as the credits start to roll.

Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9 manages to entertain to an extent, but leans a bit too heavily on Arthur’s unique perspective of the world to achieve too much success. However, with his side quest out of the way, it looks like the next episode will bring some more engaging content as Shinra undoubtedly moves to the spotlight.

Fire Force Season 3 Episode 9 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.

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