The Regenerative Man And The Undying Flame: Analysis Of Agni From Fire Punch
Yes I Used An Image Of Him On a Mug
Fire Punch by Tatsuki Fujimoto is a manga focused on the story of Agni, a boy who is “gifted” with the power of regeneration. The following are technically spoilers but mostly for the first chapter so not that big of a deal. In the world of Fire Punch, the world is engulfed in an ice age after an unspecified event gives everyone powers. We pick up as Agni and his sister willingly sacrifice pieces of their bodies to feed a village of the elderly and long story short, some organization finds out their cannibals, and one of the generals with the power of a fire that will not go out torches everyone. No one survives but Agni and his sister, except his sister only has a strong enough regeneration to tell Agni one word, “live”. And so for eight years, Agni writhed on the ground of the village, flesh in a violent circle of regenerating and burning. Only one word Burned(Pun Intended) into his mind. Live.
To avoid spoiling the incredible story I will be vaguely describing events that develop him as a character. As mentioned before he burned for eight years before the start of his journey so he has the mental maturity of a 15-year-old in a 23-year-old man’s body which also happens to be in constant agony. Throughout the first half of the journey he mostly is focused on revenge and mostly only focuses on since there is nothing left in the world, that is until he meets Togata. Through Togata the plot develops along and now he has a new role to play, literally, as in he is forced to be an actor. Through Togata he builds his first real friendship in the story and the bond goes well. Fast forward a couple more story arcs and now we get to why you get to look at that hilarious mug above. Basically long story short he basically has now adopted an amnesiac person that resembles his sister and is basically making her into his memory of the sister he lost. Along with this, he is living in a house with a bunch of people who he killed the entire family of, which they are unaware of. As you might imagine, this does that lie well in anybody’s conscience to the point where a brutal depiction of depression is splayed out with the common signs like loss of appetite and the less normal action of fatally wounding oneself with the knowledge that you cannot die. The mere mediocrity of my writing cannot encapsulate the feeling the manga feels in this arc to which I must urge you to read it yourself.
He goes through a major change after this but covering it without spoilers is literally impossible but I will vaguely describe it so you have something to think about if you finish the manga. Well basically the end touches on the nihilistic end of everything and even has a space tree that has our main character inside. Now for that part done I’ll wrap this up. I’d be lying if this wasn’t a blatant advertisement to read Fire Punch and I really think it is a manga worth reading, though I can’t promise it is one that you will feel great after reading it. But where it strikes is the quality of Fujimoto’s writing as he produced such a work of art that despite being a heart-wrenching tale still pulled me back in. If interested, look for it on Mangarock.to.
Word Count: 589
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