Fire in his Fingertips

Very seldom does the cover image for an anime make me want to look into it, but every so often one manages to. I go hunting for something, then find the manga, and start reading. I got up to date for what was out when I started reading, but won't keep up with this series for a number of reasons. It's a shame when something actually does draw me in, and fails to deliver in any way. With trying to find more things to write on though, I find myself drawn to far more media.

Fire in His Fingertips has a second season of anime out this summer. The manga is still ongoing, and is easily found. It's the story of a firefighter, and his childhood friend who over a series of convenient events wind up living together, and start a romantic relationship. What they don't talk about though, are the things like failed communication, lack of chemistry and compatibility as people, and the blatant disregard for consent through the entire series. It's a poorly fetishized friends to lovers story, which has no real redeeming factors after reading more than I ever should have.

A handful of pages in, the firefighter is already being sexually abusive to his childhood friend, trying to blame it on her, and claiming she must be happy about it. This continues every time, and the few times she initiates anything, she's either drunk, feeling insecure about proving herself as desirable over someone else, or both.

And on the subject of insecurity, these two characters, who have supposedly known each other since they were practically toddlers, have no trust in each other. Souma, our firefighter, follows and stalks the girl while she's on a work trip. Rather than trusting a friend she's known, he has to show that he has so little security in their relationship that he spends the day sneaking around after her. It's every part of the abusive relationship that we hope to never deal with, but without any real endearing balance to create sympathy, or hope for change.

They never share a conversation about their relationship. In fact, after Souma stalks this girl, as an ultimate act of insecurity, rapes her against the front door to her home, and pins her down with so much force that she winds up bruised. She winds up making excuses, and acts like it's all fine. When friends ask her why she likes him, she can't answer them other than being able to act like herself. When you've known someone for your entire life, I would hope that's the case. That's not love, that's familiarity. If anything, we see both main characters continuously becoming worse versions of themselves. One showing worse behavior as time goes on, and the other, attempting to justify it because she things she should love him.

This is meant to be a romance. It's meant to be hot, and maybe a little quirky for sexy purposes. If the porn was good, I might allow it, but it's the exact same sex scene over and over again like a broken record every other chapter.

This manga is a story of abuse. The sort of gradual abuse that destroys people in the long run. This story is a warning, because things like this do happen in the world. This is the type of story to show people as a wake up call. The kind of manga you hand to people to teach them what a friendship, relationship, or any other type of love should never look like.