Is anyone else ready for Thanksgiving? I am more ready for the Black Friday and Cyber Tuesday deals than the actual holiday itself.
I don' t know, as I get older, the more I would rather just have the fixings of Thanksgiving, such as the family communion, sweet potato pie, and baked mac n' cheese, rather than have big traditional holiday. Like I would prefer to travel during the holidays. Which is what my family use to do but the last few years, I was broke college student, my mother had surgery on her shoulder (so I hosted the holidays that year), and then Covid-19 hit. So guess, this year would be a "normal" holiday for my family.
There is still a pandemic however. So whatever we do this year will definitely be small in comparison to previous festivities. I am also conflicted this year which deciding on inviting my partner to join us for dinner or just bring him a to-go plate and spend the evening and Black Friday with him.
Somehow I have been able to catch up on some manga lately during my lunch breaks at work. So I circled back to Fire Punch (2018).
The first volume is did not have much to say because it was so much to take in.
"Literally within the first three chapters, I experienced rape, beastiality, incest, pedophilia, and cannibalism. It was like every chapter kept getting worse and worse. So I was hooked and intrigued. "
I purposely skipped the second volume because it just introduced more characters and provided a fake theme and at the time I assumed the author was going to continue.
In the second volume, following the fight with Doma, Judah has Agni beheaded, and later thrown into the sea outside of the city perimeter. However, a mysterious person named Togata appears to "rescue" him for their film.
By "fake theme," I mean Togata, wants to make a live-documentary of Agni and his battle with Doma. But she mainly wants to manipulate him and his behaviors, in order to shape her movie. When in actuality she just wants to manipulate the plot to benefit her, when she has already admit in private that she planned on killing him once everything was over.
I would like to mention, prior to going into volume three, I am slightly gender confused when it come to Togata. Not that it matters, but when they appeared in the first volume at the end, I honestly thought they were a man. Now as I continue to read, I feel as if they are a woman. But then again I also get the feeling that they are non-binary. I ultimately just do not want to mis-gender them.
Leading into the third volume, Agni makes it known that his primary reason for living was to avenge Luna by killing Doma. But once the Hero's Theory is followed, his true character theme and motive is introduced.
He is living to avenge Luna, but also fight back against the corrupt system that treats lesser Blessings as firewood to keep the city warm from the cold. He is living to put an end to the oppressions, hunger, slavery, and all the other injustice that have occured within this dystopia.
I would say the only positive of having to deal with Togata would be that Agni was provided with fireproof clothing, armor for his arm, and was trained properly for battle. Unfortunately, the negative of Togata is her manipulativeness. They trained him to fight high ranked Blessed, rather than Doma.
Now in my opinion Doma was mentally sick, reserved, and weak. He just look sickly all the way around. Agni does not need to train to kill him.
Unfortunately, once Agni saves the oppressed Blessed, a rebellion shows up to to aid in the rescue. A rebellion made up of people who have been following Agni and sharing their stories of how they ran into him and how he is a god and savor. This intrigues Togata, for their movie plot (what does she have planned now?)
Introducing Judah, one of the well-known Blessed, known for her regeneration blessing. She looks actually like Luna, which confuses Agni, as to why he refuses to kill her.
In this volume, this will be the last time we will see Luna/Judah. She commits suicide in a sense. She touches Agni and absorbs his flames, burning herself alive. She wanted to free herself from lying to the surviving people and torturing the oppressed. She was taught as a Blessed child, that she would have to pretend that "God" and the religion that the government created was real and that "God" speaks to those who need to follow through with his gospel (this is giving a Fire Force plot).
Then soon after Judah dies, the Ice Queen appears speaking to Agni.
She says, "Sorry, but it's not over yet. ... Agni, my child. I love you, So whatever you do, Don't get in my way. If you do, I'll have to kill you."
She says this as she is carrying Judah's head. She looks as causal and possible, nothing threatening. She does not live up to the rumors of the Ice Queen. But keep in mind, no one has ever seen her before.
But what does this mean? What is the Ice Queen's endgame? What does this mean for Agni, with both Doma and Judah dead?