The Fire Hunter – Season 2 Episode 3 Recap & Review

The Great Tree

Episode 3 of The Fire Hunter Season 2 starts with Kanata leaving Koushi, Roroku, and Kun behind because Touko might be in danger. Koushi and Kun plan to follow Kanata while Roroku and his canine companion Mizore plan to look for Akira. Elsewhere, Hibari animates an origami bird for the Flickering Flame to observe. 

During their exchange, we learn Hibari and the Flickering Flame are related. Then, the two discuss Touko and Hibari wonders if the Flickering Flame wants him to take her to the palace. The Flickering Flame tells Hibari Touko needs to reunite with Kanata. The Flickering Flame mentions that Tayurahime once traveled with a canine named En at her side and compares Tayura with Touko.  

The Flickering Flame says she wants to see Tayura again and send Touko home. Hibari informs the Flickering Flame the divine clans are plotting to make her the next Lady Goddess by using Kira as a vessel. By having the Flickering Flame bear this burden, Hibari says it’ll grant them access to divine power. 

Meanwhile, Koushi and Kun are running through the plant factory. Koushi says they’ve lost sight of Kanata and wants Kun to use his bugs to track him down. Kun detects a flame-fiend horse instead, and this horse runs past Touko and splashes her with blood. Touko’s surprised by this development but continues her venture. 

She stumbles upon an abandoned location that has a large collection truck inside. Then, she spots several dead human bodies alongside a horse’s corpse. Touko spots footprints and follows them for a bit. She stops investigating because she’s worried about Koushi, Akira, and Kanata. At the factory, Kun detects Kanata’s presence and believes he’s getting close to finding Touko.

Touko and Kanata reunite. Kun detects a giant device near Touko’s location and Koushi believes she found Takiguchi’s first lightning cannon. Kun tells Koushi that a shadowy figure is heading toward Touko’s location. Suddenly, an earthquake occurs and a giant treefolk emerges in front of Touko and Kanata. 

Additionally, another treefolk emerges from the giant treefolk’s bark. This female treefolk explains why they’ve decided to leave their home and what happened to the treefolk Touko and Koushi met in the prior season. Suddenly, a plant bud rises from the ground. A woman arrives and the female treefolk says she’s Ruri-Matsuri, a Wood Clan member who recreated them. 

The female treefolk asks Ruri what happened to her companion Kiri. Ruri says that Kiri’s tending to wounded humans’ injuries and says Koushi’s sister Hinako’s with her. Then, the giant treefolk, Touko, and the others notice several trees burning nearby. Ruri says humans caused the fire and Touko questions Ruri about that. 

Ruri mentions several humans working in unison with the Spiders. Additionally, some are setting themselves on fire to the trees and factors down because they’re not content with digging secret tunnels beneath the capital’s manufactories. Moreover, Ruri states that humans ate up Hibari’s tale about people reviving with unburnable bodies. 

Ruri leaves. Touko tells the female treefolk that she and Kanata plan to reunite with Koushi. She asks the female treefolk and her large companion to help Kiri and Hinako. Meanwhile, Kun relays intel about On’s life and the bugs the Spiders use to Koushi. Koushi reflects on On’s statements to him and shares his theory on how Kanata knew where Touko would be.

Koushi and Kun hear people heading their way and hide. Several maids rush through the canal. Koushi and Kun try to continue their venture but get stopped by one of the maids. Koushi realizes this maid works for the Okibis. He tells the maid he has to see his friends, but the maid suggests he and Kun hide, otherwise, they’ll burn. 

The maid reveals she’s no longer human and the episode closes with her crushing Koushi’s lantern. 

The Episode Review

The amount of psychological torment Touko’s endured so far will pique some viewers’ interest. From the new insight we receive about potential opposing clans to the disheveled human and animal remains, fans can’t help but feel bad for Touko here. Fortunately, Kanata found Touko before she experienced more internal pain. 

Hopefully, the two can reunite with Koushi without sustaining any injuries. Moreover, this episode gives viewers some insightful details regarding the capital’s current state of affairs and adds more horrid developments involving the capital’s humanoids. At the same time, the series’s lore can be challenging to process for certain fans. 

Therefore, it might be wise to revisit some of its prior season’s dialogue-heavy chapters to stay updated on what’s transpiring here. While the animation and visuals remain stiff and unappealing, the deadly corpse incident and horse flame fiend running sequence benefitted from the anime’s poor visual quality. It made our story’s current matters feel more dreadful to sit through. Nonetheless, like previous chapters of The Fire Hunter, this was a decent showcase at best.