Karim Flam

**Karim Flam** (カリム・フラム, *Karimu Furamu*) is a former priest, and a Second Generation Lieutenant of Special Fire Force Company 1.

## Appearance

Karim is a young man with short, straight dark grey hair that is brushed towards the front, with the dark-colored hair at the sides being shaven. He has small and lazy dark eyes and is generally seen with an irritated expression. His outfit consists of a dark-colored cassock, topped by a light overcoat-like garment with a high collar and a skirt-like garment, dark shoes and a pendant with a cross-like symbol as a charm — an outfit which is shared amongst three Company Commanders of his brigade, instead of wearing bunker gear. Karim usually wears headphones, and, in combat, is seen wielding musical instruments.

## Personality

Karim is a rather serious and cautious individual, showing a high disrespect towards strangers, which can result in him insulting people. He also has a bad habit of repeating himself, recycling through the same words and phrases in the same sentence. This results in poor communication and confusing the people he's trying to talk with. Karim gets annoyed rather quickly, even with his comrades, and shows a dislike for playfulness when it comes to a fight. Though somewhat brash and bad-tempered, Karim has portrayed respect towards his colleagues and abides to the etiquette of Special Fire Force Company 1. He has great leadership skills as he was able to quickly utilise all resources to protect a weakened group from a sniper attack. He also shows a strong sense of justice, revealing highly sensitive information about his teammates and his schemes to outsiders that share his goal of uncovering the truth, even after catching them snooping around his belongings. Karim greatly values his friendship with Rekka Hoshimiya and Huo Yan Li. But his sense of righteousness outweighs his personal feelings and he will fight his closest friends if necessary. Following his alliance with Company 8, Karim shows a keen sense of his surroundings and suspects even his commanding officer.

Following Rekka's death, Karim experiences many conflicting emotions and doubts he hopes to resolve through investigating the Evangelist. While Rekka betrayed them Karim believes that he was not able to lie to them or fake that connection. Which leads him to feel like he betrayed Rekka's friendship and accidentally caused his death. As well as the guilt over supporting and trusting Rekka's ambitions while being completely oblivious to his dark intentions. These feelings result in self-loathing and his investigations live him hesitant to continue his own life without finding the answers.

## Abilities

Karim is a Second Generation, who has awakened the ability to generate ice using "Thermoacoustic Refrigeration" — an ability that allows him to collect heat energy from an external source inside the instrument and then transform the energy into sound, thus decreasing its temperature. Repeating the loop several times creates ice, which can be launched at opponents or be used to incapacitate Infernals. In simplistic terms, Karim has compared his ability to how air conditioning functions. While he has shown this ability without tools, the effect is significantly magnified through using his musical instrument. Karim also carries a bell, which he can use to create an alarming noise that can, with the help of his ability as a Second Generation, reduce the amount of heat and collect it for his instrument. His control over his ice is so precise that he can leave air holes inside it to allow trapped targets to breath and he is able of freezing an entire Firestorm almost instantaneously. Karim demonstrated the proficiency to think and come up with an effective plan in a very short amount of time, making him strategically adept.

## Plot

### VS. 1st Special Fire Brigade arc

After the scuffle between the 5th and 8th Special Fire Force Companies, Karim, Rekka, and Foien are approached by Leonard Burns, and discuss the event. Later, when trainees from the 2nd, 5th and 8th Brigades arrive at the 1st Special Fire Fighting Cathedral, Karim suspiciously observes all of them and later leads them to Leonard. In the training grounds, Takeru's attack, which was directed towards Rekka, starts heading straight towards Karim, forcing him to use his ability and freeze the attack. Afterwards, when an Infernal was spotted in the Shinjuku District, Karim leads a squad and incapacitates the threat. During the mission, Shinra spots someone creating an Infernal using artificial means and catches Karim and Rekka at the scene of the crime, but does not approach either of them about the incident. Later, Karim catches Shinra and Arthur in his room, where he informs them that the culprit behind the incidents is Rekka.

Karim states that the situation regarding Rekka is to be handled by Special Fire Force Company 1, but specifies that, since Arthur and Shinra are not his subordinates, he cannot order the two to not get involved. A while later, Karim and Foien locate Rekka's whereabouts, where Karim immobilizes Rekka and encases his body in ice in order to stop him from further injuring Shinra and himself. After a flash of light illuminates the area, Karim and the group notice Rekka's body impaled, leaving him dead. Left in shock, a second arrow is fired at the group, catching everyone off-guard. Another arrow is shot aimed specifically at Karim, but Foien saves him by pushing him out of the way, losing his forearm in the process. Quickly, Karim orders Shinra to create a smokescreen in the room to blind the snipers. After asking Shinra to locate the snipers and hearing they are to the southwest, he orders Tamaki to extend her tails in a zig-zag motion in that direction to intimidate the sniper. When she does so, Karim uses his ability to freeze her flames before they reach the snipers. He explains to Foien that this is to give the enemy the impression that they know where they are, while simultaneously giving the Fire Soldiers more cover, stating that snipers tend to attack from secure positions. The plan successfully works and the enemies leave. Soon after, the 1st calls Foien, alerting him that a gigantic Infernal has appeared in the Shinjuku area.

### Preacher Pursuit arc

Karim and Leonard, alongside the seven Battalion Commanders and Fire Officers of the Special Fire Forces, attend a meeting with Raffles III, where the Adolla Burst and issues involving Spontaneous Human Combustion are brought up. After the meeting, Karim approaches Akitaru Ōbi and asks to work alongside the 8th to uncover the truth behind Rekka while tracking the Evangelist.

### Vulcan's Workshop arc

Later, Karim goes to Special Fire Cathedral 8 alongside Hibana and Konro Sagamiya to exchange information about the Evangelist and to form a plan against them. During the meeting, he told the participants about Rekka using Bugs to turn people into Infernals in order to find someone compatible. As the topic changed to if Comapany 8 was capable of fighting the White-Clad, Karim voiced his opioion that Company's 8 rookies has skill but were disastrous in combat, leading to Konro organising them to be trained by Benimaru Shinmon.

### Ōbi's Rescue arc

Before departing to the Prison, Burns tells Karim and Li that his devotion to faith will never change but he entrusts them both to change the world for the better. Following Burns' death, Flam attends the service but expresses frustration that his body was never recovered and that the situation has been so blatantly manipulated to paint Company 8 as villains. Outside Company 1's barracks, Karim tells Li that their Captain was an unreasonably stubborn man but was trying to spark a change in things despite his own unchanging nature and his desire to keep Company 1 as an unyielding symbol. To do this, Karim decides they both need to head to St. Raffles Convent in order to understand Rekka's actions, doppelgängers and possible White Clad motives.

### Post-Ōbi's Rescue arc

Karim and Li arrive on the scene, completely bypassing Kishiri's defence, finding Princess Hibana by the Convent's altar. Hibana's investigation has revealed an underground passage that she and Karim manage to open through their combined powers. Following the path down to the Nether and discovering a research lab, Li and Karim realise none of this follows the Holy Sol's teachings. In the basement they find 8 stone pillars, basement, research materials on botany, agriculture, insect samples and cookbooks. While Flam is confused how any of this relates to doppelgänger experiments, Hibana begins to sweat and almost vomits. She tells her new allies that she and the other sisters were the experiments, raised on food mixed with Fire Bugs to create doppelgängers and pryokinetics.

The three turn after hearing a voice from the shadows: Sister Sumire steps forward. With no idea who this woman is, Li and Karim allow Hibana to handle most of the discussion. Sumire admits to everything and boasts her experiments have created the last of the Eight Pillars. She tells the trio that the Eighth Pilllar is the unaware SIster Iris, who is also a doppelgänger of The First. Distracted by a sudden earthquake, Li is quickly attacked by the woman and she instantly destroys Karim's instrument by vibrating her hands. She then uses her abilities to violently shake Karim's chest, when he attempts to freeze her hands she realises that he must have been Rekka's friend. Unable to stand or fight back, Karim is horrified when Sumire summons Infernalised children from her own shadow, the sisters who supposedly died in the Convent's destruction. The Priests struggle to their feet, realising that Sumire's ability is connected to the Earthquakes through the power of an Adolla Burst. Their lives are saved by both Kishiri blasting the roof of the basement open and the unseen intervention of The Lady In Black distracting Sumire through an Adolla Link. The four escape with Hibana realising that every last one of them needs to cooperate to stop the Evangelist.

### Asakusa Showdown arc

Three months later Karim has noticed the connection between the stone pillars and the replica is found in Sumire's hidden room. With no choice but to battle the rising number of powerful Infernals , Karim and Onyango place their trust in Company 1's new captain: Huo Yan Li. The Company's meeting is interrupted by a chain reaction of Infernal; all three sentient and communicating. Karim escorts his Captain to the battlefield while also trying to keep new team member Konyango under control. The fight against these talking Infernals is ended suddenly by a doppelgänger summoned by Haumea destorys them. While it initially stands in front of them, another earthquake signals the arrival of the Seventh Pillar and it departs to Sumida Bay in order to battle Benimaru.

Karim and Li arrive to see the battle between Benimaru Shinmon and a copy of Hibachi Shinmon above the waterfront begin. They are joined by Captain Hibana and Konro. As the battle intensifies, the four of them notice that the ocean is beginning to wrap and distort. Hibana speculates that Adolla is going ever closer and being brought much faster due to sheer firepower of the duel. Stunned by Benimaru's ever impressive power, Karim witnesses the battle's ending and is absolutely horrified to see that the moon itself has changed. Hibana and Licht (disguised as Doctor Marimo) conclude that Adolla is a realm defined by human imagination and that cataclysm is an attempt to fuse it with reality. Karim questions how it could possibly aline with the White Clad's goal of burning the world and killing the human race: Hibana concludes that goal and human desire must be identical.

### Great Cataclysm arc

Karim is among those who are stunned by the beginnings of the Second Great Cataclysm. Seeing Firestorms flair up across the city, Karim is sceptical of Company 1's attempts to evacuate civilians as he cannot imagine a safe place on Earth at this stage. Simply staring at the storms in resignation, his fears are quelled by a sudden radio broadcast to all fire companies, Captain Obi of Company 8 tells them all that inspiring hope in other is the only thing the Fire Force can do to directly counter the end of the world. Karim, using a new Pipe Gun modified by Vulcan, manages to freeze multiple Firestorms at once in order to slow the destruction as much as possible. While the public are put at ease by this display of power and bravery, the fire soldiers know that new giant disasters are breaking out and that their efforts are not fixing anything. In this moment of doubt one of Karim's storms cracks and explodes. He is horrified to see that Rekka Hoshimiya has returned.

## Trivia

* Karim seems to share some traits from Justin Law from the manga *Soul Eater*, which was also created by the same author of Fire Force. Both characters dress in clerical clothing, have a taste for music, and are incredibly strong and high in rank of a holy order.
* Karim's room at the Company 1 headquarters is Number 306.
* There are several characters in *Fire Force*whose names are allusions to or directly taken from both monotheistic and pantheistic religions and notable religious figures.
	+ "Karim"is both a given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable" and is too one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran.
* Karim's surname comes from the musical term *flam*, which is defined as "one of the basic patterns (rudiments) of drumming, consisting of a stroke preceded by a grace note" in a reference to his ability, which makes use of musical instruments.
* According to his Character Profile:
	+ He is self-proclaimed to be the First’s Shield.
	+ His favorite foods are shaved ice and cold cold noodles. His least favorite foods are spicy spicy food.
	+ His favorite music is classical, funk, and jazz (He's especially fond of wind instruments).
	+ His favorite animals are parrot.
	+ His favorite colors are blackity black black black and whitey white white white.
	+ His type of woman is a compassionate person
	+ He respects Miles Davis.
	+ He does not hate, nor is he afraid of anyone.
	+ His hobbies include collecting audio until it’s collected.
	+ His daily routine involves taking care of and remodeling the cooling pipe.
	+ His dream is to repay the debt of Rekka and Foien’s right arm.
	+ His shoe size is 27 cm.
	+ His eyesight is 1.3 and 1.3.
	+ His favorite subjects are physics and chemistry. His least favorite subject is national language.

## References

1. ↑ Fire Force Manga: Chapter 27, Page 2
2. ↑ Fire Force Manga: Chapter 23, Page 15
3. ↑ Fire Force Manga: Chapter 31, Pages 7 - 10