Fire Force S2 E7: An Allegory for Modernity

I’m convinced the latest episode of Fire Force is an allegory for the modern western world. I mean, look at this:

They come to a continent, call it “new” because it’s their first time here even though people have been living here forever, and set out to consume the land. Literally:

Then they decide to forgo masks.

Fortunately, they survive their mask-adverseness, thus allowing them to continue ravaging the local cultures.

The whole clearing your mind thing in the modern west has been imported from a common Asian religious tradition running through Hinduism and Buddhism, though sometimes divorced from its august religious dimension into a kind of hip attitude (represented here by Arthur’s “I am cool”).

But wait! If Fire Force is from Japan, doesn’t that mean that it’s not really appropriation of Asian culture? Not at all: The Fire Force religion as we’ve seen it is based on Roman Catholicism, a clear reference to the West; so within the story’s fiction Eurocentrism is the default perspective. (Wait, does that mean FF appropriated western culture in order to make a point about appropriating eastern culture?! So meta!!)

Of course, as any reader of the manga knows, the real allegory comes into play when you realize Amaterasu represents nuclear power and how it’s a double-edged sword built on exploiting the few for the good of the many. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…