Karim Flam



is a 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 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 and a sense of justice, showing a willingness to reveal highly sensitive information about his teammate and his schemes to outsiders that share his goal, even after catching them snooping around his belongings. Karim greatly values his friendship with Rekka Hoshimiya and Foien Li.

Abilities
Karim is a Second Generation, who has awakened the ability to generate ice through his musical instrument 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. 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. Karim demonstrated the proficiency to think and come up with an effective plan in a very short amount of time, making him strategically adept.

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.

Fifth Pillar arc
Karim appears in this arc.

Ōbi's Rescue arc
Karim appears in this arc.

Post-Ōbi's Rescue arc
Karim appears in this arc.

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.