I hate dropping things, and didn’t have anything better to watch at the moment, so I continued and am glad I did.
What attracted me to the show was the animation. It was colorful, and the fire effects are great, along with the scenes where the pyrokinetic characters use their powers. Shinra’s Devil’s Footprints were a standout, and the final swordfight was sick! Character designs were appealing: Shinra’s smile, Maki’s muscles and witch hat, Sister Iris’s firefighter nun outfit, Arthur's “knightly costume” and his plasma sword, Lieutenant Hinawa and his weird baseball caps, and even Tamaki (ugh) looked cool. Almost everyone else in the show has cool tattoos or scars, the pupils of many pyrokinetic characters are shaped, so everyone is easy to tell apart. All of the pyrokinetics have different powers, and they’re fantastic in action.
Story-wise, I started getting into it around episode 8, and was all the way in by episode 11, which shows the formation of Special Fire Force Company 8.
The world they live in is really interesting: people spontaneously combust at random and turn into demons (Infernals), while the church, the government, and a large corporation all have secret agendas involving these Infernals. The eight Fire Soldier companies aren’t united. Oh, and by the way: there’s an evil cult running around too. And a few other shady guys.
The characters started out stock, and stayed about the same throughout. By “stock character,” I just mean they weren’t that distinctive from almost every other shonen action show I’ve seen: the aspiring hero whose mother and brother (allegedly) died, the talented but dumb rival comrade guy, the strict, glasses-wearing second-in-command who is always writing on a clipboard, the good-natured but serious captain/mentor, the sweet church girl with a tragic past, the hardworking girl who’s actually a big softie and is conscious of her body image, etc. Stock characters aren’t necessarily bad, though, and I thought some of Fire Force’s were really cool. I liked the female fire soldier Maki a lot, and Vulcan the mechanic, Captain Obi, and Arthur, who provided some good laughs during the Vulcan’s Workshop arc. I can’t think of a lot of development, but our protagonist Shinra learns to control his powers better, so that’s something. I didn’t stand around thinking, “Man this guy is frustrating!” so I think he was good enough for a shounen action show.
I don’t pay much attention to the music and sound design in most shows, so forgive me if this section of my review is lacking. Both OPs are kickass. I liked the first one more, but the second was good too. The EDs are good as well, but I was paying more attention to the visuals. The first one shows a character’s backstory and there is an absolutely chilling shot… which was blacked out from ep 3 onwards due to the KyoAni arson attack. The second one had scenes from another person’s past, and I desperately wanted to know more, but I don’t think the manga has even covered it in the 20+ volumes released so far. The sound effects for the fire powers were cool.
And now to the most agreed-on aspect of Fire Force: the painfully unfunny and badly-placed fanservice. Tamaki—our token half-naked pyrokinetic cat girl—made me want to kill her. One of her “lucky lecher lure” scenes ruined the atmosphere in a VERY serious fight. Her other scenes outside of battle made me roll my eyes, but didn’t really bother me. She has cool powers too, which were almost completely ignored since her real power is getting groped. What a waste.
To give you an idea of how I got into Fire Force, I’ll rate the arcs:
Introduction arc, eps 1 - 4: Bad
VS. Company 5 arc, eps 5 - part of 7: Okay
VS. Company 1 arc, eps 7 - 9: Average, but with plot getting better. Features Tamaki’s worst scene.
Preacher Pursuit arc, eps 10 - 11 (first half): Average
Asakusa arc, eps 11 (second half) - 14: Good or Very Good
Vulcan’s Workshop arc, eps 15 - 18: Good or Very Good
Netherworld arc, eps 19 - 24: Very Good
Despite all of its flaws, I am looking forward to season 2, and / or reading the manga.
