Fire in His Fingertips: A Flirty Fireman Ravishes Me with His Smoldering Gaze Volume 1 Review

Those of you familiar with publisher Seven Seas will be aware that the company recently established a new ‘mature’ imprint known as Ghost Ship. This has allowed Seven Seas to license more adult titles, which has led to series like To Love Ru and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs being picked up. Today I’m here to take a look at Fire in His Fingertips: A Flirty Fireman Ravishes Me with His Smoldering Gaze, which is the imprint’s first series with a female audience in mind!

Our story follows office worker Fujihashi Ryo who is trying to set up her childhood friend Mizuno Souma with someone from her workplace. Soma spends his days working as a fireman and has a reputation for being a bit of a playboy who has no intentions of settling down anytime soon. 

One day Ryo’s apartment complex catches on fire and she’s rescued by Souma. With nowhere else to stay, she agrees to spend the night at Souma’s until she can sort something else out but it’s not long before the attractive fireman is making a move on his childhood friend. Could it be that he’s been in love with Ryo all this time or is she just another notch on his bedpost? 

It turns out Souma has indeed been in love with Ryo for many years and acts the part of a playboy to try and get her attention. On the night he takes her to his apartment, Souma ends up making moves on Ryo and they end up all but sleeping together. From there a relationship of sorts begins, but with Souma unable to admit his feelings, Ryo is left wondering what his true intentions are. 

As a female reader, it’s certainly nice to see a mature title (that isn’t a yaoi/BL) come to the West with my demographic in mind, but I have concerns about Fire in His Fingertips. These largely come from the first chapter, where Souma making a move on Ryo is questionable given she’s just gone through a life-threatening incident. To then seduce her doesn’t set a good tone for me and the sexual acts they engage in that night are not quite consensual on Ryo’s side. 

If you’re someone who regularly reads yaoi then you’ll be familiar with the blurry lines of consent that Fire in His Fingertips is guilty of. It’s certainly not as bad as some series in that genre can be, but it doesn’t feel comfortable either. However, it is only that first chapter that is so heavy-handed – later interactions between Ryo and Souma are very obviously okay with both parties. 

Having said that Fire in His Fingertips did prove an enjoyable read. Both Ryo and Souma are likeable characters and I enjoyed seeing the more innocent side to Souma. Ryo doesn’t consider the two a couple yet, but I’m hoping that in future volumes Souma will open up to her about his feelings and break down the misunderstandings between them. 

If you’re a fan of romance novels or the josei genre, then you’ll certainly enjoy reading this series. It’s nothing outstanding but it is fun. If it does well, it’s more likely we’ll get more series like it in the West because it’s certainly about time the female market was better catered to in regards to mature titles.

Where artwork is concerned, author Kawano Tanishi has done a good job of designing a pair of attractive main characters. Souma especially has the kind of design a lot of readers will enjoy seeing topless. Backgrounds throughout this volume can often be bland, but a lot of detail goes into the characters instead, which pays off in the long run. The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was how Tanishi sometimes drew Ryo in a ‘chibi’ form where she looked like a bobblehead, but that won’t bother every reader.

As previously mentioned Fire in His Fingertips comes to the West thanks to Seven Seas and has been translated by Jennifer Ward. The translation reads well with no problems to note. The series is currently ongoing at 3 volumes in Japan and Seven Seas have Volume 2 scheduled for a release in English in June.

Overall, Fire in His Fingertips offers something different in the mature manga section. While I wish it wasn’t quite so wishy-washy with consent in the first chapter, the series offers a likeable cast and entertaining story. If nothing else it’s sure to set your heart alight!