Tatsuto’s speech in Fire Force.
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2026 7:26 am
I’m not exactly sure if this belongs here, since the reason I’m bringing it up is that it could fit into a MAP discussion, but it’s not really related; however, since I find it interesting enough to present, I’ll try to summarize the events as I remember them.
For those who aren’t familiar, Fire Force is the latest work by Atsushi Ohkubo, published in a weekly magazine dedicated to shonen. Within the story, among the main characters, there is a young girl who embodies the classic fan service often seen in Japanese works. This character, if I recall correctly the controversies, was heavily criticized by Western audiences for her fan-service nature. Her recurring gags, where she ends up losing her clothes (although not gratuitously—it serves the plot), were not appreciated by many people, provoking the typical scandalized reactions (I don’t know the exact nature—whether from tourists, feminists, puritans, or others).
In the latest chapters of the manga, for which the corresponding anime episode has also recently been released, there is what many consider a self-insert of the author. Through a conversation between a mother (scandalized) and her son (the author), he responds to the criticism he has received on social media.
The mother plays the role of the educated, intellectually elevated person who is scandalized by those who expose and exploit their own body, talking about effort and study. The son, a kid, counters by emphasizing the girl’s effort in training, highlighting that intelligence can also be a privilege dictated by biology, just like physical beauty, and that there is essentially no real difference between someone who pursues a career using their intelligence through study and scientific work and someone who trains and leverages their body instead.
But the most provocative part of his speech, the part that I believe has the greatest impact, is that he described the girl criticized for her beauty as… beautiful. And I think this point is even more striking because of the childlike nature of the character. Even a kid can recognize a body as beautiful.
I’m not sure if it was intentional, but I think that speech also subtly challenges the idea that children cannot recognize or see a physique as beautiful.
For those who aren’t familiar, Fire Force is the latest work by Atsushi Ohkubo, published in a weekly magazine dedicated to shonen. Within the story, among the main characters, there is a young girl who embodies the classic fan service often seen in Japanese works. This character, if I recall correctly the controversies, was heavily criticized by Western audiences for her fan-service nature. Her recurring gags, where she ends up losing her clothes (although not gratuitously—it serves the plot), were not appreciated by many people, provoking the typical scandalized reactions (I don’t know the exact nature—whether from tourists, feminists, puritans, or others).
In the latest chapters of the manga, for which the corresponding anime episode has also recently been released, there is what many consider a self-insert of the author. Through a conversation between a mother (scandalized) and her son (the author), he responds to the criticism he has received on social media.
The mother plays the role of the educated, intellectually elevated person who is scandalized by those who expose and exploit their own body, talking about effort and study. The son, a kid, counters by emphasizing the girl’s effort in training, highlighting that intelligence can also be a privilege dictated by biology, just like physical beauty, and that there is essentially no real difference between someone who pursues a career using their intelligence through study and scientific work and someone who trains and leverages their body instead.
But the most provocative part of his speech, the part that I believe has the greatest impact, is that he described the girl criticized for her beauty as… beautiful. And I think this point is even more striking because of the childlike nature of the character. Even a kid can recognize a body as beautiful.
I’m not sure if it was intentional, but I think that speech also subtly challenges the idea that children cannot recognize or see a physique as beautiful.
