The Fire Hunter – Season 1 Episode 9 “The Lightning Cannon” Recap & Review

The Lightning Cannon

Episode 9 of The Fire Hunter begins with Mrs. Okibi not wanting Kanata to stay in her home. However, Mr. Okibi says they will stay with them since Kanata means so much to Koushi and Hinako. Koushi puts Hinako to bed after telling her that Haijuu (their father) died. He leaves Hinako in her room and visits Mr. Okibi in his office. To Koushi’s surprise, Akari and Roroku are there as well.

Akari tells Mr. Okibi about the dragon guardian attacking the collection truck and warns him that the Spiders used natural flames to wound hunters. She asks Mr. Okibi if he can request more collection trucks to visit villages that are waiting for them. Mr. Okibi asks Akari to investigate the Spiders further and promises to request more collection trucks. After the meeting, Koushi heads to his room and meets the person who claimed to be Yokohanahime. They reveal themselves as Hibari of the Wind Clan. Their mission is to oversee the spies (the paper enemies).

Hibari tells Koushi the Spiders will arrive at the capital in nine days. The Spiders plan to gather their troops and assault the capital with natural flame. He’s telling Koushi this information to amuse himself and doesn’t care if they burn the capital since the world’s reaching its conclusion. Hibari says the Flickering Flame, aka the Lord of the Fire Hunters, may arrive soon. He argues Hajiuu may have been the one to claim the title but perished too soon. Hibari vanishes. Mr. Okibi introduces Koushi to Mr. Takiguchi and Ibushi the next day. Koushi shows off his bottled lightning launcher invention and explains its functionalities.

They take a smaller version of the device outside to test it out. After that goes off without a hitch, they try out the collection truck bottled lightning launcher. After the experiment, Koushi meets up with Akari and Roroku. Akari thanks Koushi for the bottled lightning canisters as they helped her pay off Shouzou’s medical expenses. Akari reveals that she and Roroku go way back, and she’s from the capital. Koushi asks Akari and Roroku to follow him to the library’s archive room. Koushi shows them the book he read episodes ago. Koushi reveals the book belonged to a red-haired gentleman, and it appears this same person is Akari’s brother.

Akari returns to Shouzou’s family’s place at night. She notices Touko can’t sleep, so the two head t the roof to chat. Akari tells Touko she should hitch a ride on a collection truck that will arrive in the capital. Akari says the divine clans killed her brother because they marked him as a threat for telling them about the Flickering Flame.

Akari plans to use Touko’s muku paper to submit an appeal to the palace. Touko asks Akira if she can tag along for the journey. Touko doesn’t want anyone to die and wants to see Akira become the new Lord of the Fire Hunters. The episode concludes with Touko and Akari staring into the starry sky.

The Episode Review

Things pick up in this week’s chapter of The Fire Hunter. We get properly introduced to the person who was in charge of the spies from the previous episode and he’s as cunning as a character can get. It seems Hibari will be playing a neutral role in this war between the capital, the divine gods, and the Spiders. However, it was kind of him to relay information to Koushi. However, it appears Koushi and the capital are ready to strike at any moment.

The art and animation for the bottled lightning launchers looked stunning compared to what we’ve seen from the anime so far. From the sparks to the damage it caused on land and in the air, the Spiders will have to tread the capital silently if they hope to cause a ruckus in this environment. Although the anime’s building up Akari to be the new Lord of the Fire Hunters, I fear that won’t be the case. This is solely based on the information shared by Hibari about Koushi’s father, Haijuu.

There’s a slight chance Touko will be the next ruler since she’s fought a flame fiend with Haijuu’s sickle before. It would be somewhat predictable and strange, though. Touko’s never trained with Haijuu’s sickle but wasn’t afraid to use it when Kaho and Shouzou were attacked by the bear flame fiend. While it would be a decent twist, it would feel slightly contrived.

Overall, this was a nicely-paced and thoughtful episode of The Fire Hunter. I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen next.