Anime 38671 Enen No Shouboutai Reviews Filter Check 3

Fire force is a story about people with fiery hearts fighting fire with fire. Set in a world where people spontaneously combust and turn into mindless burning zombies the Fire Force is responsible for controlling the damage caused by these “infernos”. Many people in this world are bestowed upon by Solomon the ability to control fire. After watching the first two episodes I really thought I would be able to enjoy this, but shortly afterwards the enjoyment I found in the bombastic nature of the first two episodes was burnt and tossed into oblivion.

This is probably the worst directed and worst framed show to come ... out this year. Riddled with sudden cuts, weird framing, stupid fanservice and soulless jokes and characters every bit of potential that the show held was thrown into the nether. Plot elements are pulled out of the author’s ass at very inappropriate times with characters making a sudden appearance and then disappearing just as quickly. Characters are brought into the show and thrown away for the duration of 5-6 episodes until they’re needed again to exposit about the world or the plot.

The characters are, quite frankly, shite.

“Gone are the days when authors wrote personalities and traits and then implemented those traits and associated mannerisms onto the avatar affiliated with the personality in question thus birthing an actual character instead of lazily creating an empty husk decorated with cliché.” – Douchebag Chocolat

The above quote perfectly describes the characters in this show. Instead of giving the characters a personality, they’re provided with certain traits and stupid mannerisms in order to deceive the audience into thinking that each character is somehow different than the next. Unfortunately, except maybe two or three every other character is basically the same. Even the protagonist, Shinra, has a certain habit of “smiling in the face of danger because his face muscles tense up”. There’s another guy who calls himself a knight just because his name is Arthur and he wields a sword. Seriously, this guy is so obsessed with the idea of becoming a knight that his power will literally increase if he even thinks that he’s riding a horse and has a duty to protect someone. The cat girl, Tamaki’s only purpose in life seems to be to get her boobs or ass in someone’s face “accidently” and then to call them a pervert. Iris almost does nothing but blush, the lieutenant is always grumpy and scaring his subordinates. There’s also Maki who can only utter the phrase, “Who are you calling a gorilla cyclops” even when no one has addressed her as such.

The characters don’t have much drive to do anything. Only Shinra and the commander of the 8th division are given any motivation as to why they do what they do. As for the other characters’ motivations and goals, the show usually gives us a half-assed backstory and is done with it. Most female characters like the dark-skinned girl, or the cat girl are used for fanservice. At one time the show almost tuned into a harem as every girl at whom Shinra even looked at started to fall for him.

Personally, I don’t care about the characters, except Joker, he was pretty cool, but it’s a shame that he only gets about 2 seconds of screen time in the whole show. I like the Joker cause he’s cool, not because he’s a well-constructed character. He’s brought in to tell Shinra about the main events that concern the plot and then he disappears.

Almost forgot, there’s also Shinra’s brother, Sho, who was separated from Shinra at a very young age and now he’s a bad, bad guy working as the Evangelist to bring about a third impact and Shinra must pilot th-… oh, wait, wrong anime.

The comedy is… there. The “comedy” usually consists of - a girl slipping out of her clothes for no apparent reason; Shinra and Arthur threatening to kill each other; a girl showing her tits or ass; Arthur claiming to be a knight but being ignored and a girl being molested. All these three situations are used to provide “comic relief”. The comedy also includes Maki shouting about someone calling her a Gorilla Cyclops. This joke was funny the first time, but after a 100 times, it became pretty annoying.

Watching the first episode, I remember thinking to myself “Man, this show is sure going to have some fire fights”, but only the first episode has any good fights. The fights that occur after the first episode are so badly choreographed that neither you, nor the characters can figure out what’s happening. I, in most fights, had no idea as to the spatial relations between the characters who were fighting. One scene they’re having a stare down, the next scene they fly towards each other, the next scene we see Shinra’s feet and then the fight is settled. After that the camera focuses on someone’s face for a bit too long and then abruptly cuts to another fight happening somewhere in the vicinity.

I never gave directors the respect they deserved for properly framing the characters until I watched this show. The camera either lingers on a particular subject for too long, or abruptly cuts to some other subject too quickly. This weird camera work usually happens after someone cracks a joke or when someone pisses someone off and was probably intended for us, the audience, to realize the awkwardness the characters were put in; but all it did for me was make me aware of the fact that I wanted to fast forward through the episode.

Not every fight is awkwardly animated. Some of the fights are really good, like Benimaru, the strongest fire bender vs a demon; Shinra vs the red-haired guy from the 1st division; Shinra vs a demon, but starting from the middle of the show the fights became pretty hard to follow.

The music didn’t appeal to me, but that’s subjective. I did like the first opening and the first ending, the second OP and ED were horrible. The music was tone deaf at times and sometimes the choice of music didn’t fit the scene it was being used for.

Should you watch Fire Force? I’ll leave that judgeme(n)t up t(o) you.

I really thought this was going to be different from your typical small deal shonen series. The first two episodes were fun as heck. Supernatural firefighters fought against flames with axes and machine guns while nuns tried to tame them with "holy water". Exactly the type of nonsense I am into, easy to enjoy, I thought.

But then the show showed its true colors. Incredibly unfitting and unnecessary ecchi fanservice and boob fondling. Soulless comedic reliefs. Dialogue is constantly masked as story-telling/backstory narrative in a manner so pathetic that it seems like a parody, whilst lessening the genuity of the characters. Illogical story events are there ... pushing the narrative in preferred direction. Teleporting villains. Asspulled mystery elements that seem to exist just so that the series won't entirely fall under monster of the week formula, and to give the audience at least one reason to watch the next episode -- yet entirely failing to stop the series from feeling repetitive. Build up and world building are greatly missing, making the series very flat and its content insignificant.

Then we have the directing which deserves its own paragraph, or two (more specifically three), because it's seriously goddamn weird.

Scenes are missing entire animation sequences, and scenes play out so randomly, so quickly and so illogically that it almost seems like there is no continuity. This because the directing is all over the place. We're jumping from scene to another either at ludicrous tempo or alternatively waiting for one unnecessary long to reach its end, because it can go on forever. So incredibly many events occur in every episode, they are filled with content, but afterwards, it feels like you didn't really watch anything. It's entirely mixed back and lacking vision to an extent that it makes the entire story board seem way worse than it's on script.

The creativity and overall style is a bonus, but when obviously half-assedly created scenes (such as the entire mid section of episode 3) exist in the meantime, things become super inconsistent, and, more than anything, the high points appear as try-hard attempts to create style-over-substance content. This is how the style stops being a bonus and becomes the only good thing to look forward to, but, unfortunately, very often it's not even worth the wait. In case you have no idea what I am referring to, let me explain what I've spotted:

There are even scenes which come with insanely detailed and fluid animation that are followed by a mid scene still wallpaper (with absolutely no artistic relevance to the scene itself) and then continued with legit animation one second later, but with production values that seem to be from totally different anime. They skip up to 30-second-long scenes by implementing in-between stills in this manner. It's lame and so painfully obvious. You could take 50 screenshots from episode 4, and have people guessing which anime they are from and no one would guess they all lead back to one single series. The artistic approach changes between One Punch Man Season 01 and 02 from scene to another. I can't recall seeing anything this extreme before and I surely don't see this as a good thing. In fact, it made me feel dizzy. I don't think I could marathon this show without legit needing to vomit. It's simply too much to take. And needless to say, with all of these, things like tension and atmosphere are returning 404. Show me the man who planned this disaster and I will kindly, yet firmly, ask them to stop. This is not how you do anime, Jesus Christ.

I could list down more issues and I could forgive some of these to certain extent, after all, it's not like modern anime doesn't come with their own problems, but the point is; there are no strong pros here. Only wide variety of beginner-level mistakes, some experimental directing which is totally gross and very little anything to counter these problems with. What we have at hand is yet another serial production shonen that shows no heart or passion. Perhaps Bones should have been in charge of this because they currently produce the most consistent art work in the industry and Fire Force would really need some. To be more accurate, there are no problems with the audio. SFX, BGM and seiyuu work are all decent (tho, I wouldn't have picked this voice for the nun), and especially the sound mixing stands out for positive reasons, because in action series, the balance of music and SFX is highly important, and it's nailed here. But that's a mild solace.

The characters never had potential personalities, but in the beginning they seemed to be quite a fun bunch of folks due to their insane firefighting techniques. I was hyped for the entertainment value of this partially mindless action and thought it could carry the series. Now we have neko-eared fanservice girl, religious waifubait (with everlasting, ever-so-subtle blush on her face), and firefighter teenager with jedi-sword. Boooo-ring. Personally, I care very little about any of them. Solid reasons to care have not been offered, and I haven't found alternatives myself. The dialogue is really not helping either. Most of the potentially interesting side characters are becoming invisible and their potentially entertaining sides being pushed away.

Then we have the real mc who doesn't have much going on. Devil but actually a good guy who wants to be "a hero". Basically copy-paste of Ao no Exorcist. The lack of factors that make you care about him, make him relatable or worth of caring about further makes the series feel more distant and less significant. MC is the type of character whose persona is cut down to naivete due to his moral compass, but even that side of him can only be found deep under his skin, because this dude's presence is almost nonexistent. Even if the massive room for character development gets realized, you just won't see anything new. After these few episodes, I can say this with utmost certainty, because when so many basic things are wrong, seeing improvement that leads all the way to the other end of the scale is lottery. The cast is not impressive, and the delivery even less. The "villains" have also reached a point where they can be completely dull and unconvincing. At worst, they feel filler-ish. "I came here to be beaten by one of the main characters, so you folks can do his character introduction."

I expected much more from the man who created Soul Eater, because I enjoyed that show enough to watch it twice. And I really hoped this would be the first David Production show -that is not Jojo- which I could approve of. It momentarily fooled me into thinking that this was going to be the case, but it changed my mind fast and looks like it will not be doing that again. Not even slowly. I conclude that everything that was worth of my time in this series has already been shown because it just keeps getting worse. It's a real shame because the backdrops, original design, and color pallet really had some fantastic things to offer at times. + the ED is my personal favorite from this season, but what can you do.

Many people say Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is the hottest new show of 2019 and it’s no understatement. Then, there’s this show called Fire Force where reports told that it had only sold 107 blu-ray disks in Japan. On the other hand, Demon Slayer sold more than 11k copies in its first week. What went wrong?

First of all, I don’t want to actually compare the two shows because they are actually not very similar. Both shows deals with supernatural entities to survive in their world and that’s where the similarity ends. But why did Fire Force suffer so much from popularity? Judging by ... the show on its own, Fire Force actually has a unique premise, one that deals with death by fire. It’s one of the most fearful ways mankind can die since the dawn of time. The thought of being burnt alive is beyond chilling, a way of death that no one wants to happen to them. Unfortunately, in the world of Fire Force, that’s part of a dark reality. People meet the risk of becoming beings known as “Infernals”, where they eventually meet their demise by burnt alive. The three words “Spontaneous Human Combustion” is designated as words of fear.

What is mankind’s solution? It’s called the Special Fire Corps, consisting of individuals who can actually control fires to destroy the Infernals. Think of them as supernatural firefighters dealing with abnormalities. In a world of fear, you’d think mankind would fight for survival. This is where we meet Shinra Kusakabe, the Second Class recruit with a desire to discover the truth behind his family’s death. Being a hothead protagonist, Shinra adapts an impulsive personality that you can find in some dark fantasy shows. And it doesn’t take long for Shinra to start making a name for himself, albeit for some rebellious reasons. While watching Shinra, I come to realize that he is a good natured kid at heart but deals with problems too impulsively that sometimes puts others at risk. His early relationships with his crew such as Arthur and Maki often gets into bickering and arguments that can be best described as very high school-ish. But like I said before, Shinra is fundamentally a courageous young man who we shouldn’t overlook for his actions that speaks louder than words.

And because Shinra is part of the Special Fire Force Company 8, it becomes the most prominently featured group in the show. Not every character will be likable in this group and often times, ideals clashes between their members that results in a ton of silliness. Company 8’s early missions deals with typical assignments to eradicate Infernals but as the show evolves, so does their role. In fact, the true role for the company may be to investigate the other companies in case any of them are hiding something from the world. However, company 8 is symbolic for being rebellious due to the nature of their formation. This often puts their squad in odds with others but that doesn’t stop Shinra to discover the truth. Fire Force sometimes works as an urban fantasy as our main character and others seeks to discover the truth that is hidden from them. The plot gets more complex as each episode ventures on and with 24 episodes, the anime becomes more than fighting fire with fire.

At its best, Fire Force can keep the fans engaged with some of its fluid ideas. As this anime consists of dark fantasy, it also contains settings with thrilling secrets, such as the Netherworld. There’s a sense of curiosity that this show wants us to always be on the lookout for hidden motives. When watching the characters, I also came to realize each them have their own agendas and purpose. Not every character get their significance though so bear that in mind. There are some minor characters that have been easily discarded and be forgotten such as the Infernals early in the show. Others such as the Knights of the Ashen Flame serves as an iconic cult shrouded with secrets. This season only scratches the surface of their roles so it’s an unfortunate case of adaptation issue. Other companies are less featured even with roles of some of the more prominent characters such as Hibana from Company 5 and Captain Benimaru from Company 7. The creators of the show had Shirna and his company to be the group to carry the plot together. It’s a bit disappointing at some instances where I find characters such as Benimaru more fascinating than the main leads. This is especially true for the commander of the Knights of Ashen Flame, Shou Kusakabe. He may be young but Shou is a cold character with a lack of empathy for others. He stands as a major obstacle for Shinra and the others to overcome and in one of those episodes, we see the difference in their fighting skills.

At its worst, Fire Force’s storyboarding suffers from balance. Sometimes, the show can be emotional and make us feel sympathetic for the characters such as the case with Vulcan and Lisa’s relationship. Other times, they seem wasted with endless workplace comedy being dumped into our faces. I get it. Fire Force anime has to keep the mood lighthearted sometimes but I find the cartoony humor unsuitable for this type of show. This doesn’t help but Shirna’s weird condition related to his forced smile, the uncharacteristic fan service gags (mostly thanks to Tamaki), or other elements. Shirna’s character personality can be unbearably annoying at times when you realize how hotheaded he is. Even in battle, he doesn’t hold back and often fights like a maniac on fire. However, I will say that Shirna’s “Devil’s Footprints” skill can be quite a showstopper thanks to the cinematic choreography he delivers.

This is accomplished with the help of David Production and their talented staff. Fire Force’s cinematography commands attention and is described simply as spectacular. Director Yuki Yase had previously worked on unorthodox projects such as Mekakucity Actors, Nisekoi, and Monogatari Series. Granted, you’re not going to see Shaft’s head tilts but there’s plenty more this anime does show you. For instance, every big fight this anime throws at you concentrates on the fire being animated as if it’s alive. Watching the flames burn in various battles shows the complexity and dangers of fighting fire. These fire abilities are also distinctive that takes on different shapes and every one of them can cause devastation. By cause and effect, being burnt alive is a morbid thought to think about and this anime amplifies that feeling to maximum heights. Fire Force also contains visual coloring of is setting and decorative outfits, in particular the company members. The audience may also feel a bit of familiarity for those have read or seen Soul Eater, one of the author’s prominent works. In contrast, the Infernals stands above as the symbolism of horror and despair. Watching their mere presence alone should sent the messenge that they are what mankind truly fears for what they may become.

Fire Force clocks in at 24 episodes, a 2-cour show that’s paradoxical for celebrating the consequences of fire. This may be a dark fantasy but somewhere down the line, you’re going to have some laughs at this show for its innate humor. But seriously, I wouldn’t say Fire Force is a masterpiece or even close. It’s another one of those anime built with a wealth of ideas but drops the ball. The phrase “if you play with fire, you’re going to get burnt” just took on a whole peculiar meaning.

I was looking forward to watching Fire Force with all the PV teasers and with David Productions listed under. I made it something I shouldn't miss.

Boy, was I wrong.

I'm going to keep this review short and sweet. Not much detail necessary to get the message through why this adaptation is shit.

Pacing, pacing, pacing. I'm pretty sure the director doesn't know the meaning of pacing. It's like I'm watching a generic Hollywood action movie that wanted to get on the hype train just because. Either the show is cutting shots literally every fucking second or it holds a still way too long making everything feel ... awkward. There is no direction in the scenes, it could go from the character sexually assaulting another character to a full blown fire fight with a main villain without a moment passing.
The story barely fucking exists cause, well the pacing so weird I can't tell what's happening half the time. So much happens in the episode but nothing happens at all. Can't tell it's suppose to be plot, fanservice or a fight scene.
While the animation itself looks good especially in the fights, it just makes it that much worst imaging how good the adaptation if better care was given.

There is nothing really much more I can say before this review turns into a full on rant. I even gave it 6 episodes just for this review since my earlier review was removed and it is still one of slowest experiences I've had watching any type of shows. Coming from viewer who's spent significant time on Slice of Lifes, I don't see how anyone could watch this show for a "fast paced action Shonen".

Although, the ED bangs.

Let me take you back to 2003. Atsushi Ookubo, creator of Fire Force, is making waves with Soul Eater, a manga that would go on for 10 successful years - sparking an anime adaptation and a spin-off series.

Soul Eater was a stand-out shounen that excelled in not only having a fascinating universe, but also characters that were compelling by having...well, personalities. And while Soul Eater did have characters with wacky quirks - most notably Death the Kid's OCD, used as the butt of many jokes - they weren't the epicenter of every character's existence.

2 years after Soul Eater, Ookubo started Fire Force. And in almost ... every way, it feels like he has de-evolved as a storyteller. Characters in Fire Force are defined by singular traits, and you're bashed over the head with them constantly. Female characters especially, in the form of unfunny and blatant fanservice. Villains are comically evil mustache-twirling, monologue-spewing characters that are so blatant you can point them out the first time you see them.

There is little to no nuance in Fire Force. It has moments where you start thinking "wow, maybe this will actually get good now!", and then it falls right back into its tired, repetitive devices. And it's a shame - because there's no question that Studio David went all out with the action animation in Fire Force. But no matter how elaborately animated the fight sequences may be, it can't save Fire Force from barely scraping the surface of mediocrity.

I don't want to bash on Fire Force entirely - it's not a trainwreck. It is awkward, stilted and has weak convictions. But it does have moments of genuine tension, character growth and curious lore. Fleeting as they may be, they are there. So let's start with the good.

THE GOOD:
The Asakusa arc takes place in the middle of the anime, and it is by far the strongest arc in this season. Why is it so much more satisfying than anything else that happens in the series? Because it advances the plot in meaningful ways, and the ways in which it does it are EARNED. Characters do things for believable reasons, and conflicts are resolved in sensible ways that give strength to the plot. I thought the anime did a 180 for the most part during this arc, and had high hopes for what came after. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

The fighting animation is fantastic. It is also complimented by the sound effects used to add impact to the fire-based fighting. Altogether, it's easily some of the best choreographed and heart-pumping sakuga out there. The characters of Fire Force shine their brightest when they are fighting. Mostly because they dialogue is so weak, but hey - you get what you can take.

The universe and lore of Fire Force is pretty interesting - when you get some. There's clearly something sinister on a cosmic level that's going on in Fire Force that slowly gets revealed as time goes on. And i'm sure there will be more of that in the 2nd season.

Unfortunately, that's about it for the good.

THE BAD:
The direction outside of the fighting scenes is weirdly robotic and disjointed. Shots are flat, uninteresting and tonally confusing. Conversations are punctuated with a lot of awkward silence, still shots are held for too long, and you're often left wondering if there was supposed to be a punchline. It's worth noting that a lot of David Pro have come from Shaft, where many worked on the Monogatari series. While this is pure speculation, I can't help but wonder if the decision to use the same directorial stylings of Monogatari on Fire Force was due to this, because you can definitely make some parallels here. Unfortunately, for a shounen, it really doesn't work - especially when we get to the next bad thing: the humor.

Comedy is important in shounen. It can help sometimes to break up serious moments or sadness with a little bit of humor. But it's also easy to stretch a joke too thin. Fire Force is tirelessly overdoing its recurring gags. I get the feeling Ookubo might find his jokes a lot funnier than they actually are - and he uses the same ones over and over. As mentioned earlier, a lot of characters have a singular quirk that is shoved in your face over and over. One of the worst ones is easily Tamaki's. Her character is repeatedly shoved aside for a single joke that is played out to excess - her clothes are constantly falling off and she always finds herself being accidentally groped by the MC Shinra in the most impossible situations. Now, this would be fine if you were making a brainless ecchi fanservice show - but Fire Force wants you to take it seriously quite often. So it's tonally bizarre when at one moment there is death, tragedy and destruction, then suddenly some girl is squeaking while her bra and panties magically pop off and her boobs are in some guy's face. This kind of stuff happens more often than it really should, and for me almost none of the humor landed.

On the subject of Tamaki, I have to unfortunately give a knock to the female characters of Fire Force. It's not like Soul Eater wasn't full of fanservice, but at least it had an incredible female lead by the name of Maka Albarn, who wasn't a constant source of cheap sexual gags. Fire Force seems to treat every female character as a certain type of fetish - like strong girls? There's Maki. like scantily clad ones? There's Tamaki. Like femdom? There's Hibana. Like the innocent type? There's Iris. Outside of maybe 2 or 3 scenes, these characters are thoroughly shoved into their corner of pandering to something so juvenile that it's honestly just sad - especially considering that they (with the exception of Iris) are incredibly powerful fighters that deserved better.

Not only that, but the way some of these characters are treated ranges from disappointing to downright disturbing. Two examples that come to mind are Hibana's "turn" to join the 8th Company during her fight with Shinra. Shinra does a little talk no jutsu, punches her in the face, and just like that, she completely changes her mind about her life's ambitions AND - as an added bonus - falls madly in love with Shinra. It's the first arc in the series and really takes a lot of the wind out of your sails, because it's supposed to be the climax of the arc and it falls totally flat. The second one is when Tamaki finds out someone she idolized is actually an evil person. That evil person proceeds to mercilessly kick the shit out of her while she cries and does absolutely nothing to defend herself, despite being entirely capable. It's uncomfortable to watch and comes off as weird fetishy torture porn.

The male characters are not much better, just that their one-note quirks are inherently not sexual. Shinra is the main character. You see, he's a hero, so he has to say that all the time - just in case you forget. Arthur fancies himself a knight, and so he has a lot of jokes about being a knight. When he feels like a knight, he fights good. When he doesn't, he fights bad. To be fair, the male characters can be decidedly more well-rounded than the female characters, because they actually take the time to give them some backstory. So there's that.

Finally, the villains range from comically evil to downright incompetent. I'm gonna have to give "dumbest villain of the year" award to none other than Giovanni - a man with a plague mask who mostly just stands around talking - who managed to incapacitate his cult's #1 target, then proceeds to leave him alone in a forest with no guards instead of taking him somewhere where he couldn't escape. Then - of course - he escapes, after Hibana finds him somehow - and proceeds to get kicked in the face while he is busy talking about how evil he is elsewhere.

At the end of the day, a lot of these plot contrivances can all be chalked up to one thing - lazy writing. I don't know why Fire Force ended up being such a huge step backwards from Soul Eater narratively. There's a lot of reasons to speculate, but it doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, Fire Force is what it is - the most baseline of shounen action, coupled with awkward humor, bizarre scene direction and stunted characters. For every moment you're pumping your fists, you get ten where you're rolling your eyes or raising an eyebrow in bemusement. All in all, it's kind of exhausting to sit through.

Should you watch Fire Force? Maybe if you've got nothing better to do. It struggles to even elevate itself to mediocrity. And in a genre as over-saturated as shounen, a lot of viewers are looking for something better. And there's plenty better out there than this - including the author's previous work.

(NOT SO SPOILER FREE BUT WHO CARES? IT'S GARBAGE)

Fire Force. The concept from the start to me was interesting because it's stupid. Fight fire with fire. It looked like a shitshow I could enjoy and I was right but Episode 19 made me reach my limit and ultimately gave this show a 1/10.

Fanservice, a part of anime that is avoidable yet inevitable because "eCcHi iS lIfE!!!!". This show uses it in the worst way possible. There are times in this show where there is a serious battle/dialogue ongoing then suddenly, unexpectedly, abruptly, and all other words related to it, a fanservice scene appear. It ... is beyond stupid. It ruins the tension and the vibe all together. Do you know the feeling when you are about to sneeze then suddenly it gets interrupted and you can't sneeze anymore? That is how it feels. Back to Episode 19, the moment that made me reach my limit is during the Tamaki and Assault fight. Assault lost because it is his first time touching boobs and got distracted. A supposed to be professional fighter lost like that. WOW! R.I.P Tension, Logic, and Good Writing. At the first place those villains have no proper build up at all so it had no build up if that character is actually a pervert or just got caught up in the moment. Someone said "iT iS sUpPoSeD tO bE fUnNy!!!". It is not funny. It is an illogical and nonsensical BS. Lastly during the earlier episodes, the part when Hibana pulled a 180 (from hating Shinra to loving Shinra) was so cringy and become a dragged out fanservice relationship that makes me eyeroll everytime it appears on screen.

Back to the story, it is pretty generic and predictable. Typical "I want to be the best" or "I want to save someone" cliche storyline that almost everyone is tired with. They could save it by good execution but no, it is executed in the most generic way possible. The moment Sho got introduced as a villain, it is obvious that he would team up with the good side in the most cliche way possible (Only at Ep.19, but I am calling it). The villains so far are bland cardboards. "We want to give everything back to the Sun" is one of the worst motives I have ever seen in anime.

I have mumbled enough flaws but despite being a 1/10 anime, it also has positives. The start of the Benimaru arc was pretty solid (but it turned into a generic training arc and got ruined by the hot garbage ending). Joker is actually an interesting character, probably the only one in the series.

So this is a typical Shounen with the dead parents, dead sister/brother, dead everything setting (feels like a disney movie lol)

Like why do we need this? Fire Force is just as a generic shounen as Kenja no Mago is a generic isekai. These motivations, the rivalry between the two young boys everything is just generic. When I watched the anime I felt like "Why would i watch this? I have already seen Ao no Exorcist." and yeah the two is literally the same thing. At the beginning the protagonists family gets killed by a "Demon" and this becomes his motivation to become an exorci... fire ... fighter, he has a "rival" just as edgy as him and life goes on.

Characters:
The characters are a joke. There is the good hearted squad captian, the strict lieutenant, the fanservice 1, the blonde and always blushing priestess, the edgy rival and later in episode 3 fanservice 2 gets introduced.
Why is so many fanservice in this show? I dont hate fanservice when its spaced normally, but in Fire Force the female charcters are just for every type of fetish and for fanservice. You like Onee-sans with abs? We got Maki! Do you like always blushing shy girls? We got Iris! Maybe some cat girls? Tamaki is just for you!
And this guy, I mean Shinra, his hands are magical, because they slip through every type of female clothing. Its just ridiculous.
3/10

Story:
The story is generic as ever, like I have earlier said there isnt a single original idea what we havent seen somewhere before. In a nutshell, in this world there is a phenomenon called "Spontaneous Human Combustion" when humans randomly catch fire and they turn in to "Infernals" fire zombies or something like that. And the job of the fire fighters/exorcists to put these people to rest. Some people have the ability to control the flames in different ways like the MC Shinra and these people are classified into "Generations" of course with every generation the powers become stronger. Of course Shinra is in the latest generation, the third one.
The story is promising at first, but it became generic later.
3/10

Art:
The art is pretty weird, it goes from really good to pretty messy in just 2 cuts. Some of the fights scenes are fluid and the animation can be amazing, but sometimes I just couldnt follow whats going on. David Productions knows whats the deal when it comes to animation, but many times its really bad, some of the standing frames are just too long and they become awkward and the style of the animation changes a lot and while there are many good looking fight scenes, many of them have some really big animation issues too.
5/10

Sound:
The sound and music is pretty decent and I love both the OP and ED. The voice acting is pretty nice too, for some reason Maki's voice is just nice to listen to and Shinra's voice actor maybe calmed down after voice acting Asta in Black Clover and screaming that many so he is pretty good too hehe.
7/10

Enjoyment:
I cant really enjoy this show because its just so dumb and generic, you better watch Ao no Exorcist, because its like the same story and far more enjoyable.
4/10

And one personal problem, when they exorcise, the priestess says at the end of the prayer the word "Látom" its something like amen I think, the problem is that Im from Hungary and the word Látom means in hungarian something like "I see" or "I see it" or "I can see it" (yeah its a complicated language). So everytime they say it I become a little bit annoyed.

I started watching this as soon as it came out. I had high hopes since it has the same author as Soul Eater and it fits my Shonen trash tastes but I've been nothing but disappointed.

I've dropped this show twice since I started. I gave it a second chance because of the amazing animation and interesting overall concept but I just can't deal with the unnecessary fan-service and unfitting pace.
I've only read a few chapters of the comic but even that felt better because I could go through it quickly. When it comes to fan-service, as a girl, I hate it but usually ... I don't mind as long as it's actually funny or done tastefully But! in this show it's just so jarringly uncomfortable. What happened to girl characters like Maka? Why is even the Nun sexualised!?? SHE'S A NUN!!

The MC is cool though. I like that he grins when he's nervous cuz that's a Mood^TM.

I reached episode 11 and so far the story didn't grip me. The first major "Fight/Plot development" happened against Squad 5 and the Ex-nun, S lady but it was so anticlimactic. Homeboy punched her and she was like Lol u right. Like??? I mean I guess the plot gets better but not a strong start.

Basically Aesthetically its great but everything else falls short. Just go re-watch Soul eater instead.

Fire Force was my most anticipated anime of 2019. As a person who loves Soul Eater, I was looking forward to seeing another of Atsushi' works animated in its beautiful and charming glory. I really wanted to love Fire Force just how I loved Soul Eater.
I genuinely don't know what happened to Atsushi between the years 2013 and 2015 because I felt like degraded as a writer and a comedian between the 2-year gap of Soul Eater and Fire Force and it really shows from his character handling especially with the females, story structure, pacing and writing.

The biggest problem you will notice right out the ... gate is the pacing. The Fire Force has absolutely no idea of what pacing is since everything from start to finish was either rushed or dragged out. The show moves at an inconsistent pace meaning it's really hard to get invested in anything that the writers were trying to present to us.

Due to this, the show has frankly destroyed itself because how can I get interested with the characters, the world, themes and conflicts if the pacing is broken?
Pacing can make or break a show and unfortunately, the pacing totally broke Fire Force. What's the point of an anime like this if the writers don't allow me time to comprehend it?

It doesn't really matter since the plot is an unbearable cliche storm.
By the way, you will be hearing the word unbearable a lot throughout this review. Anyway, just by watching the first three episodes alone you can spot over 25 cliches on a notebook.

MC family gets killed by a demon, MC is late on his first day. MC wants to become a firefighter because of tragic backstory reasons. MC saves a female from danger, constant flashbacks about his dead mom, (what is this shit, the Quiet Man), inner monologues about his motivations, you know the drill. It's incredibly irritating and it really cheapens the writing in general. Once you get past the cliche storm first episode, the writing only further deteriorates to a point where the story becomes a tedious chore.
This has got to be the most tedious shounen I have ever seen in a long while and I watched the Black Clover anime. Despite that show having a lot of standout moments, especially the current intriguing elf/black devil arc but when that show got a tedious slog it became a tedious slog with its sluggish pacing, hamfisted unfunny comedy and shallowly written arcs.

Fire Force takes it to a whole level. Every single arc in the series has been done better in better shounens. The writing is soulless, lazy, and overall uninspired.

The nail in the coffin for this pathetic excuse of a story is the insufferable comedy I have never seen comedy and humour this tasteless and unfunny in my life. I know that Atsushi Okubo has an intellectual taste of comedy as shown in his previous work Soul Eater, but he didn't have to crank it up to unbearable levels.
Mindless boob/butt jokes, cringeworthy insults, gorilla cyclops and showing butts and boobs for no reason other than sick pandering. What makes it even worse to a point where I literally wanted to punch my computer monitor on the screen was that the show was actively pleased about it.

There's no self-awareness nor any remorse behind the tasteless comedy. Episode 9, in particular, takes the atrocious comedy to the next level. During Shirma and Rekka fight the show had the nerves to shove in fan-service in the middle of the fight where Shirma bumps into Takami breast.

Completely breaking the tension just for tasteless fan-service because that's what the horny teenagers desire these days. Screw having consistent pacing, character development, compelling themes and stakes am I right.

Do you know what the show does after that scene? The show decides to not only decide to burn Takami clothes to a point where she almost flat out naked but it decides to have Shirma bump into Takami yet again but this time kissing her head while his left arm is hugging Takami breast.

It was that point where I drew the line Fire Force and everything that I stood for. Even if the show does have some redeeming qualities, nothing can unbearable episode 9 because that episode perfectly highlights just how downright sexist and incompetent this show is.
Never before have I seen a shounen that treats the viewers like incompetent retards, a show that treats its female characters as sex objects, a show that prioritises sex appeal over story and characters. Fire Force storywise is an end product of arrested ambition and not giving a damm.

The cast of Fire Force had the potential to be fun and engaging as much as the Soul Eater cast, but the horrendous writing and pacing have sent the cast to the shadow realm.

Shinra is the typical lead that you have seen before. Want to become a hero to overcome his tragic past and false self, has overpowered abilities, loves flirting with girls, do I see to say more?

The rest of the cast range from generic to downright awful.
Arthur is the stereotypical cocky dumb hero who lacks common sense.
Iris is a dense nun and fan-service device for the show's amateur hour humour.
Hinawa is a generic strick guy with glasses.
Captain Obi is a typical friendly, loyal tough dude.

You may think I'm just half-fasting my thoughts on the characters, but that's all they are. You frankly know what type of tropes these characters are going to be the minute they show up in episode 1. This is soulless writing at its finest, and it makes the show even more tedious to watch, especially when many of the characters don't develop for shit.
The only character that I liked in Fire Force was Maki a Tomboy who's a capable fighter. I also enjoyed her personality a lot. She may be the typical tough chick but at least it was well executed and she plays off with other characters very well.
It's such a shame that the writers had to degrade her to the most cringest gag since Gauche sister complex nosebleeding gag from Black Clover.

Every time someone calls her a Gorilla Cyclops. I get insulted because she doesn't deserve this. There's nothing wrong with being a tomboy yet the show thinks that tomboys are a bad thing.

The worst character in Fire Force is by far Takami. I absolutely detest this bitch from beginning to end. She's got my nerves very quickly due to how annoying she is.
She's not interesting at all, she has no character development through this 24 episode pile of sexist waste.
Her powers are utter shit as her fire powers make people do sexual things with her because we haven't found enough ways to further degrade our female characters.

On top of this, she's a knock off Maka from Soul Eater. Actually, I take that back calling her a knock-off. Maka would be an insult to her character because unlike this annoying sack of shit Maka has character development as well as a likeable personality. If the tedious pacing did not kill Fire Force for me, then it was Takami. The unbearable poorly written dipshit. So yeah screw this character.

By the time I finished the first half of the Fire Force, I had gotten a massive headache because the characters were so atrociously written to the core.

To cure my headache caused by Fire Force I decided to pick up Soul Eater from my anime DVD collection and watch it in its entirety. Just by watching the first five episodes of Soul Eater was enough to cure my headache because Soul Eater, not only the characters, were memorable but the writing and pacing were on point. Sure, the cheesy ending had much to be desired but the amazing character dynamics, consistent pacing, attention to detail with its world, humour and mostly top-notch writing make up for it.

Soul Eater is a fun and intriguing show that has a lot of passion and heart into it. Fire Force is a lazy and uninspired mess that has no passion or heart.
Even without the Soul Eater comparisons, the character would still be terrible but comparing it to Soul Eater only sunk this show further into terribleness.
I honestly hope to God the second season maybe redeems itself because as of right now the story and characters are putrid.

If Fire Force had any redeeming qualities at all it would be the visuals and music for the most part. David Production did a fantastic job with the character designs, scenery and animation, especially how the show animates fire. It feels like I am watching a well-choreographed action flick which is only enhanced by the excellent sound design which I talk about in the bit. It's such a shame that the direction outside of the fight scenes was not up to par. It wasn't outright horrible as many people say it is but you can clearly tell the show prioritise its animation budget fight scenes. Because of that, we get a tone of awkward shots and still frames.

Finally, we have the soundtrack for Fire Force and it's excellent. The tracks are all memorable in their own right and they fit the anime perfectly. Notable tracks include Fire Force Main Theme, Joker, The Shots Fired, The Dark of Hibana, Heart Sound of the Determination and Bright Red. The excellent mix of orchestra and bass music score make the soundtrack let alone the anime feel alive. This is easily my second favorite soundtrack from the talented Kenichiro Suehiro who did the soundtracks from Re:Zero, Golden Kamuy and Goblin Slayer.

The sound design, on the other hand, is fantastic. I feel like the sound staff behind this show truly understand sound design and I picture them recording actual fire, so they can use that as the actual sound effect of the anime instead of using a stock fire sound effect from some sound effect programme. Due to this, the Fire sound effect in Fire Force sounds like actual real-life fire. Other sound effects are also good but not as impressive as the Fire sound effect.

The first opening theme Inferno is a kickass upbeat song that perfectly captures the setting and tone of Fire Force both in rhythm and presentation. Easily my second favorite anime opening of 2019 only losing to Vinland Saga's MUKANJYO.
The same cannot be said for the second opening theme MAYDAY by coldran which is hands work the worst opening theme of 2019. Not only the song was uninspired with to its generic rock score but the opening visuals felt like a badly produced AMV video from the last decade.
The first ending theme Veil is a well-composed upbeat song that fits the anime nicely, especially with the visuals.

Unlike the second opening theme, the second ending theme Nounai is decent in terms of the song itself but the ending visuals scream lacklustre.

The English dub done by Funimation is astounding.
Even I don't care about the characters I feel like the voice actors really tried their best to make the characters feel alive. On top of that, the audio quality and the script is good. It's one of the better Funimation dubs I heard in 2019. I just wished the pacing, writing and characters were just as good as production values and English dub.

I desperately wanted to like Fire Force. It has all the ingredients for a fantastic series. It was done by the person who made one of my favorite shounen series Soul Eater and it was being produced by David Production, the same studio that gave us Jojo. It had a lot of amazing ideas and concepts but none of its ingredients wasn't balanced enough where any of it works, which was unfortunate because I felt like the staff were very passionate towards this project. It's such a shame the script, characterization and especially the pacing wasn't on par.

Maybe season 2 will redeem it, but as of right now I recommend skipping it unless you have nothing to watch then again there's Soul Eater which is a much better option than this.

Anime’s had a lot of ups and downs over the course of 2019, but I don’t think this year will ever give us a better reason to say “careful what you wish for” than Fire Force. Another story from the author that brought us Soul Eater, brought to life by the talented folks at David Production? With a healthy glug of Blue Exorcist thrown in for good measure? You could practically hear me salivating at the thought when it was first announced. But then it actually started airing, and within three episodes, I realized I’d just wished upon a monkey’s paw. Fire Force is a ... goddamn catastrophe, one of the worst shows I’ve had the misfortune to suffer through this year. And it’s a catastrophe precisely because of all the reasons it seemed so exciting at first glance. It’s a mangled, twisted effort composing all the worst tendencies of everyone involved in its creation, so much obvious ambition and talent squandered on a hackneyed, juvenile, amateurish, thoroughly unpleasant endeavor. I’d say it feels like it was made by a twelve-year-old, but that would be an insult to twelve-year-olds, because as someone who was writing fiction back when I was twelve years old, I can guarantee that as sloppy an author as I was back then, my stuff was eminently more thoughtful than this.

The story? It’s a few hundred years after a great fire-related catastrophe that shook the world to its core, and now, society has been rebuilt around protecting humanity from the scourge of spontaneous human combustion. Humans have begun exploding in flames for unknown reasons even since that catastrophe, turning into mindless beings of destruction called Infernals that only seek to burn the world around them. To combat this scourge, there exists the titular Fire Force, an elite squad of firefighter-soldiers who, well, literally fight fire with fire, blasting their way through fire demons and their acolytes with pyrokinetic powers that range from simple fireballs to summoning lesser fire elementals to breakdancing an inferno into existence. Shinra Kusakabe, our hero, lost his family to a rampaging Infernal as a child, and he’s just joined up with the Fire Force to help fight back against the flames. But it’s quickly revealed that, of course, everything is not as it seems, there’s a conspiracy at play behind the seemingly random combustion incidents, and the Fire Force itself may be a part of it. So Shinra must work closely with his fellow members of the 8th Company to uncover the secrets behind the fires threatening the world, all while honing his own skills to become the best fire soldier he possibly can. A simple enough premise, but one rife with potential for engaging characters, worldbuilding, and action alike. If I was a producer and you sent me that pitch, I’d be stupid to not at least ask for a first draft.

So how did it all go so goddamn wrong? Well, like I said above, the creative forces that got me excited for Fire Force ended up being the very forces responsible for its downfall. And to explain why, I need to talk about Atsushi Ookubo, Fire Force’s original Mangaka.

Ookubu is not a talentless writer. I’m a huge fan of Soul Eater, for its creative aesthetics, strong sense of purpose, and everything about Crona. But as much as I love Soul Eater, I also acknowledge that its quality is unevenly dispersed. There are some things it does very well- action, aesthetics, nightmare fuel, emotional character writing, theming- and some thing is does very poorly- exposition, worldbuilding, tonal consistency, obnoxious fanservice, cheap gimmicks. It’s a show that works because it’s got enough unique, worthwhile strengths that they offset its consistent weaknesses, but it’s never able to fully escape having those weaknesses. At its best, Soul Eater is a riveting, exciting, hype-you-up action spectacle with fantastic moments of catharsis and a soaring treatise on the nature of overcoming fear. At its worst, it’s a ten-year-old problem child hopped up on Pixie Stix trying to annoy you into giving it attention. It’s probably been a while since some of you watched Soul Eater, but do you remember how obnoxious the characters were back in the first few episodes? They were all defined by surface-level catchphrases they would repeat ad nauseum in lieu of actual characterization. Soul wanted to be “Cool”, BlackStar called himself “Big”, DK was obsessed with “Symmetry”, and they would repeat those phrases over and over again to the point of annoyance. They didn’t feel like characters so much as gimmicks, reduced to that one obnoxious trait they would pound into the ground until it lost all meaning.

Of course, as the show went on, all these characters did flesh out into more complete characters, and they would use those catchphrases far less often as they developed more interesting nuances to explore. But that tendency to write characters as obnoxious gimmicks was still an obvious struggle to get away from. And unfortunately, whatever effort Ookubo put into restraining himself in Soul Eater obviously didn’t go into Fire Force, because this show is essentially what would’ve happened if Soul Eater never developed beyond those gimmicks. Shinra’s told he must choose between being a “Hero” or “Devil”, but that conflict is conveyed solely other characters repeating the words “Hero or Devil” to him over and over again while he keeps saying “I’m a Hero” over and over again. And that’s the extent of his characterization, unless you count coming up with purposefully-stupid attack names on the fly as characterization. I wish I was exaggerating, but that’s seriously all the character Fire Force’s protagonist is ever given beyond the most generic “I must fight for my family” backstory imaginable.

And I can sum up the entire cast in similar ways. Maki is a musclebound girl who’s self-conscious about not being feminine, and her entire character is attacking people because she mistakenly thinks they’re calling her “Gorilla Cyclops.” Captain Obi is a friendly, loyal jock. His lieutenant Hinawa fights with a gun. Iris the nun is such a ditz that she can’t even tell two similar-looking people apart by their very different voices. Arthur Boyle, Shinra’s would-be rival, is so comically stupid that he forgets to fight with his dominant hand. Also, he thinks he’s a knight and praises loyalty. I know it sounds like I’m punking you with these brief descriptions, but that’s seriously all there is to them. I’m honestly astounded how flat this show’s entire cast is; not a single person feels developed beyond a single dimension, no one has unique motivations or interesting backstories, and in lieu of developing them, Fire Force just pushes their gimmicks so absurdly far that they cease to feel human in any sense of the world. It’s annoying, it’s aggravating, and it just makes you hate every single one of these cheap emojis masquerading as people. Arthur’s stupidity, in particular, is so overplayed that you start to wonder if Ookubo based him off someone in his life he had a grudge on and wanted to get back at. He doesn’t even feel like a rival, despite the show constantly insisting he and Shinra hate each other’s guts; everyone is so flat and lifeless that the only time they feel like rivals is the rare occasion when the story suddenly remembers they’re supposed to be rivals and throws in a random conflict where their rivalry is getting in the way and they need to learn to work together, despite this never being a problem unless the show suddenly decides it is.

And then there’s Tamaki. Dear sweet fucking lord, Tamaki might be the worst thing to happen to anime all year. Her gimmick is that her fire powers make people involuntarily molest her, because isn’t it funny when female characters are sexually assaulted and degraded for our enjoyment? Isn’t that just fucking hilarious? And it doesn’t even make sense within the context of the show, because every time it happens, Tamaki just acts like any other anime tsundere who gets accidentally groped, screaming “pervert” and slapping the offender around, but, like, wouldn’t she know? If we’re actually supposed to believe this Lucky Lecher bullshit is a part of her life, wouldn’t she know it isn’t the guy’s fault when they pull her panties down by mistake? Wouldn’t she be at least a little sued to dealing with this issue and kinda be over it by now? Wouldn’t her reactions to suffering this bullshit be anything other than the same fucking dogshit overplayed tropes that all anime have? Apparently not, because the only reason Tamaki exists at all is to give the humiliation perverts something to masturbate over, so it doesn’t matter how illogical the actual mechanics of this all are as long as she’s reduced to tears and blushing and has her tits jiggling around, often right in the middle of an otherwise serious action scene. Hell, let’s have all the female characters have moments where they’re stripped and/or sexually degraded as the camera leers at them dropped right into a supposedly dramatic moment. Because who cares about actually treating your story with a degree of respect when you can pander to the lowest common demoninator and sell a million fucking dakimakuras off of the most sexist garbage since Fairy Tail?

But hey, I hear you saying, I don’t care about all that character and plot stuff, I’m just here to see cool action shit blow up real good. Well, if that’s what you’re here for, you’re gonna be disappointed to. Yes, Fire Force has moments of absolutely breathtaking spectacle, where the fire effects and momentum and color design (seriously, this show’s color game is on point) are so pitch-perfect that they kick your ass ten different ways to Sunday, action scenes that stand among the best of the year... some of the time. The rest of the time, this is one of the most incoherently directed shows I think I’ve ever seen. Shots cut in and out without purpose, the camera lingers meaninglessly for shots that drag on far too long, there are so many weird, random, disconnected cuts that completely ruin your orientation in the scene, characters jump between poses in a single cut, and a lot of the action just doesn’t have any sense of flow or momentum thanks to some seriously incomprehensible editing that completely takes you out of it. It’s also a depressingly static-looking show most of the time; there is so little actual motion in the average episode of Fire Force- no character movement, no camera movement, no environmental details shifting- you’d be forgiven for assuming your computer wasn’t stopping and starting throughout. Let’s be honest, David Production has never had the most fluid animation, and their work on Jojo’s has been successful mostly thanks to the strength of its dynamic camera angles and strong blocking of scenes. But Fire Force doesn’t even have half that level of skill, and the whole thing just becomes an impenetrable slog of disconnected shots, inconsistent action, background art so cluttered the unmoving characters are nigh-impossible to spot in it, and laughably botched attempts as Shaft-style artsy directing that only highlight how artless the entire damn affair is.

I realize I’m kinda describing this haphazardly, but that’s how the entire show feels. Everything is so half-baked and underthought that it all ends up wrapping back around to infuriating and you end up hating the whole damn affair. Tone comes and goes without any consideration for time and place, characters’ gimmicks become so stupid and Flanderized that they completely destroy any sense that these people could actually exist as functional human beings, the pacing drags on and on with nothing of interest happening, Ookubo keeps loading the cast down with more and more cardboard cutout gimmicks desperately trying to fool you into thinking they’re characters, motivations shift on a dime, and there’s no fucking consistency to any of it. A villain’s introduced early on monologuing about her superiority, then Shinra punches her and she instantly turns to the good side and falls in love with him. Once again, I cannot stress enough that I am not exaggerating for effect; this is seriously how it plays out in the show. How am I even supposed to react to that? How am I supposed to make sense of writing this utterly broken and thoughtless? I say again, even I, writing at the ripe young age of twelve, put more thought into my characters and plot than this. I know Ookubo’s capable of better, so he has no excuse for how abysmal this turned out.

But I think I’m gonna have to cut my rant short there, because otherwise I’ll be going for another ten paragraphs. Bottom line, Fire Force is a complete disaster, a baffling, obnoxious, often infuriating waste. It’s annoying to watch, it’s exhausting to think about, and it’s tragic to consider just how much obvious talent and effort, from color designers to animators to especially voice actors (god, Aoi Yuuki does not deserve this), is being pissed down the drain on a show that can only squander them. Just watch the best action cuts on SakugaBooru or something, because that’s the only part of this mess worth engaging with.

Fire Force is a disappointment. This show had the potential to achieve greater in Story, Characters, and world-building. Instead, this show went for the lazy route. Due to poor writing in dialogues, confusing plotlines, and blend characters tanked this show.

The story, I honestly don’t know where to start because this show crammed so many storylines in a single shot. I believe the main storyline is about a plague that has caused people to turn into these destructive creatures called Infernals. These infernals are supposed to be a threat to society and bring death and blah blah blah. But, ... we never really get to see how destructive these Infernals can be. The only time that I could remember was an intelligent infernal that attacked a city. Still, the infernal only threw a car at someone, and….screamed it’s lungs out…... and said a few cheezy lines like an average villain would say. Later, it’s revealed that there is an organization (I forgot the name of the organization...and I don’t care to look up) that wants to turn every human being into infernals. But, they are in the early stage of the experiment. The way they turn people into an infernal is to press a small glass jar containing the infernal bug on a person. Hoping that a person adapts to its power and survive. Does that bug eat into the human flesh? I.... don’t know…..because this show never bothered to explain how these things work. This is one of many examples of mechanics that exist in this world that doesn’t make any sense. I think the most prominent example is how characters such as Hibana can summon a tree-structured power from the ground, and that power happens to be super powerful in one scene. But, weak in another scene. The main story then gets pushed aside to introduce some more trash characters, and we have to follow their story.

Story: 2/10


Characters of this show are thinly developed. Supporting characters are just in the show to make idiotic scenes. Nothing more. The main character of this show is better than the supporting characters. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING TO PRAISE ABOUT. Shinra is like your average protagonist that has the motivation of avenging/keeping the promise of protecting his mother. At a young age, Shinra pledged to use his power to protect his mother from infernals and from her turning into an infernal. But, his mother turned into an infernal anyway and killed his little brother. Then, he found out that his little brother is alive. But, just like your average brother conflict that we have seen a thousand times. The little brother is the antagonist of the protagonist and the protagonist is going to save his little brother. Blah blah blah. I want to talk about betrayals. Specifically character betrayals in this show. A good show would take it’s time to develop its characters and provide hints to show their eventual betrayal. A good show does this so everything could make sense at the end. In this show, the betrayal from a fire force member of the first team, and a girl that worked with an inventor came out of nowhere. (I don’t care about their names at this point) These two characters got no hint or foreshadowing, or even a short scene that would have directed to their betrayals. It was revealed for simple shock values. But, I guess it worked.

Characters: 3/10

I was hoping that this show would be something unique. It has the appeal of fantasy and a fascinating world. The fact that people can fly by manipulating firepower was the reason I decided to watch the show in the first place. I loved the universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air had its own unique Asian inspired culture. But, the Fire Nation by far was the most appealing aspect to me. However, the show focused on characters, story, and world-building before providing action scenes. I was hoping that this show would focus more on its world-building, and characters instead of cheezy and generic shonen action anime that we have seen a thousand times. But, as I continue to watch this show, I realized that this is just another super packed action anime with no substance.

Enjoyment: 2/10

The art is fine.
Art: 6/10

TL;DR: Look, if I'm going to watch crappy catgirl softcore boob fondling I'm going to watch hentai, not this.

Saw a lot of hype behind the show, finally gave it a go. Thought it had a cool colour pallet and music was alright, world is pretty and concept is really unique. After the first few episodes I was initially looking forward to learning more about the team and delve further into the story. Sadly it's all down hill from there, ruined by insertion of fan service catgirl that randomly gets naked, awful fight scenes and more fan service. I don't even hate it, I'm just ... really disappointed.

the story was average at best but the fan service was unbearable and incredibly distracting. just go watch hentai at this point. a promising anime ruined completely by boobs jiggling in your face in every shot possible 😑
the story was predictable nothing new honestly
art style was really pretty but wasted the animators potential on stupid shit all the time
this might as well have been a 5 minute music video or something. the editing community will have a good time doing epic AMVs to imagine dragons but the actual anime is not worth watching just watch the AMVs or a few edits of the ... fights and thats all you need cuz there isn't much else worth watching for

<This review is spoiler-free!>

Fire Force is a shonen anime that exists.

It's not necessarily 'bad', per se, but I'm tempted to say it's wholly unremarkable and does little to distinguish itself from the rest of the shonen anime clique. While the review was written before the entire anime was aired, the anime is based on a manga, which I branched out on after watching episode 18, so the anime is essentially a retelling of the manga's happenings, with a few if not several details being cut out in order to fit the 20-minute limit.

That said, most of the issues stated afterwards are issues the manga ... also has. After reading through most of it, it's only left me even more confused about the story. Ultimately, the anime only suffers from the manga's own mistakes - but even if it's unwise to shoot on the messenger, the faithful adaptation of a poor story remains a poor story anyways.

Story: 2/10

Perhaps one of its weakest points, the story is the very definition of what 'wasted potential' means. Without going into much detail to avoid spoiling, the main premise is suddenly thrown aside as new elements are rapidly introduced, one after the other. It can make the beginning hard to follow, and it reaches the point that the primary intrigue only becomes a plot device for something much grander.

Now, tropes are tools. Hiding a bigger premise under a smaller one is commonplace and isn't necessarily bad. Unfortunately, Fire Force failed to make it interesting due to its absurd issues with pacing. You can find yourself in an extreme action-packed moment, and 3 minutes later the 8th Division is goofing around and having its stereotypical shenanigans. Characters will interfere with a tearful intrigue and insert an unfittingly comedic timeout that does little to advance, lighten or better the plot. Ultimately, you may grow weary of the story and wish they could settle on an actual stable objective already.

Art and Sound: 7/10

Judged together as I feel like this is part of an ensemble. This is probably the part that Fire Force nails the most. If you're someone who watches anime for the art, you'll be happy to hear that the battle scenes and the effects of fire, omnipresent due to the anime's overarching theme, are tastefully done and greatly contribute to the fast-paced, intense battle sessions the anime provides. You find yourself having an adrenaline rush whenever actual combat takes place, and that's when not having the time to process all information works in the anime's favor by constantly keeping the viewer's senses alert.

Unfortunately, that's about all it has going for it in terms of audiovisual performance. Outside of combat, the animation and sounds are good but not that great. You may also find awkward moments of fluid fire motions with immobile far-distance renders if you've got an alert eye; Thankfully, those flaws are rather insignificant, and the animated fight scenes truly do the anime justice.

Character: 2/10

The only reason I didn't put 1 on characterization is because of three people: Obi, Hinawa, and Iris. Those three members of the eighth division are about the only ones who get significant amount of development, and even so, Iris is forgotten for a good chunk of episodes after her own development is wrapped up and completed; What those three do share in common, however, is consistent and sturdy characterization with a decent amount of building around them.

The positives stop here. The rest of the characterization is simply awful, especially towards the female cast. The main protagonist, Shinra, witnesses the opposite of what the three former characters have; His personality gets severely washed down to only leave behind a typical shonen protagonist that could easily be swapped around with many others. The rest of the clique is simply stereotypical to a t, and barely does anything to change that: Arthur's existence only serves to be a comedic relief; Maki gets her moments, but otherwise she's almost exclusively played down to her cuteness factor and interests; You could replace Tamaki with a sexy lamppost and the story wouldn't change whatsoever; and so on.

Even if other side characters are introduced and their own little personal stories may be better, the anime gets another severe blow in terms of the characters' aptitudes; As the story progresses, you get increasingly stronger characters whose strength gets so over-the-top that it's very likely to leave you apathetic and indifferent at some point, simply because there is only so much you can do with strength levels, and Fire Force builds it too much, too quickly. Because the characters are so special, it's incredibly difficult to relate to any of them, with perhaps the exception of the unpowered Obi, who has a particularly well-written moment at about three-fifths of the anime; that's all I'll be telling, though.

In a nutshell, poor and stereotypical characterization overshadows the few poignant moments and well-developed characters that Fire Force actually has; An extreme and rapid inflation in power levels through the anime leaves a stale aftertaste in one's mouth, and it quickly loses its epic factor as a result.

Enjoyment: 4/10

It was... Something, I guess? A friend convinced me to watch it, and Obi'd been littering my twitter feed, so I guessed I should give it a try, too? I didn't come in with that many expectations, to be frank, and I guess I did good on that part, because if I'd expected more, I'm almost positive the review would've been far harsher than it actually is.


Overall: 4/10

As closing comments, I can state once again that when you look at Fire Force, what you see is what you get: A shonen. It's not as bad as it is samey, and there is nothing of relevance that could be actually pointed out that makes it truly different from every other standard shonen out there. The fights are epic, but where the audiovisual succeeds is where the story and characterization utterly fails. However, if you simply like watching shonen and are accustomed/not bothered by the common tropes within, then perhaps this anime will be a good watch for you.

Obi's hot, by the way.

At first glance Fire Force seemed like really cool show, like you have those fire fighters with different pyrokinetic abillities and techniques, but then well that's only cool aspect of this anime, because story and characters are bad.

Story 2/10
Ok so we use pyrokinesis and we gotta defeat infernals and find secret behind human combustion? Sounds simple, yet interesting, but as the story progresses it gets more dull and clichey. Between story progression we can see great amount of pointless unnecessary fanservice.

Characters 3/10
Well at the beginning characters seem nice, but then..

Shinra Kusakabe - he is only interesting character, he has this weird tendency to smile when ... he gets excited no matter the reason. He is called Devil, but still he tries his best to be a hero.

Arthur Boyle - your clichy mc's rival and guy who annoys him.

Tamaki Kotatsu - worst character in this show so far, she's adding huge amount of unnecessary fanservice and tries to seduce Shinra, except that she is doing nothing else. That's just so annoying, like she could have better role, than just being thot which satisfies perverted people.

Maki Oze - she's cool, she needs fire starter to use pyrokinesis tho.

Iris - at the beginning she seemed fine, like normal nun, but guess what? She was fanserviced too, twice if i remember correctly.

Art 6/10
It's fine, not much to say about it. Animation is smooth and there is not much of the cgi.

Sound 4/10
Okay music is fine, but what the heck is wrong with these bass-boosted sound effects, like I heard same thing in OPM season 2. When there is a fight or something collapses it just sounds weird and I also noticed same sound effects being multiply used for different things.

Enjoyment 3/10
Ok, fights are fine in this anime, but rest is not very enjoyable. Characters relations and direction in which plot is going is really plain and predictable, also pointless fanservice and ecchi scenes that appear without reason, like girls taking shower together scene or clothes of female characters being burned by fire even when male cast stays unscratched, it's terrible and seems sexist.

Overall 4/10
If you want good story, then don't watch it, if you want to see some cool fights and you don't care about plot being plain and fanservice appearing from time to time then go watch it.

I thought this anime had potential.
But while the story and world building was quite original, the characters just lacked personality and the fanservice was just excruciatingly bad and sexist.

But I'll be starting with some positive vibes here:
The first intro was great. I loved the song so much, it even ended up in my Spotify playlist. There are much better shows with much worse intros out there. (But I'd rather give the budget to those)

Also the whole concept of fire fighters and spontaneous combustions was a refreshingly new take on action anime.
The aesthetics were great too, with lovely backgrounds and detailed designs of the ... buildings and surroundings.
The puffy firefighter outfits with the light blue stripes that shone in the dark (and contrast the red flames) were genius.
And what really kept me watching was the mystery of the combustion phenomenon. I'm just a sucker for mystery elements.

But all that can't nearly make up for those boring, bland and unoriginal characters.
It was hard to form any attachments or even tell them apart at some point. Maki and Tamaki? Come on, do you name your girls after different types of sushi? And even sushi gets treated with more love and care.

Sexism and fanservice against women (and men) in anime is one of my biggest problems with the genre. And the portrayal of girls in this show was just sexist to the point I felt bad for watching it. Tamakis lucky lure was just annoying and degrading the girl to pure fanservice. There was just everything wrong with it. Then Makis thing was to be shallow about her looks ("who are you calling a gorilla cyclops?") and Iris only job was to blush and waiting to be saved by others. Bohooo.

The main character Shinra just kept repeating himself, saying that he wants to be a hero and save others - and while that seems to be a common shonen main character thing, in this anime it just fell very flat.
And the story with his brother? It failed to have any dimension and couldn't make me feel any emotion except boredom.

That's about it.
I watched the show to the end, cause apparently my taste levels have reached a low point, but I don't really recommend you to do the same.
The sexism was the worst part of it.

Now I'm gonna listen to the intro and dream of strong female anime main characters

I dropped this anime. I DON'T drop anime. I really do my best to watch an anime to its completion, but with Fire Force, I just could not bring myself to finish it. After Episode 15, I realized there were still 10 more weeks I would need to sit through, and that was what convinced me to drop it.

It is unfortunate to write this review, because going into the Summer 2019 season, I was really excited to begin watching this show. It was one of my favorite of summer in the beginning of the season, as I was blown away by the artwork, animation, and ... fascinating world. I assumed what would follow was complex worldbuilding, interesting characters, and a captivating plot. What I got instead was a plethora of fanservice no one asked for, uninteresting characters, an unexplained world, and utter boredom.

I really wanted to enjoy Fire Force. But as the weeks dragged on and the anime continued to disappoint, I began to heavily consider dropping it. I kept up with the discussion boards at this time, where many other people were also deciding to drop. The anime just couldn't sustain my attention any longer, not to mention the multiple delays that only seemed to prolong my suffering. It was beginning to become a chore to watch this anime, There was no enjoyment factor for me anymore. So I dropped it.

Though I have seen spoilers for the rest of the season, I have no interest to pick this series back up, nor watch Season 2. I am not sure what everyone finds so special in this series besides the animation/art. It's the same shounen battle scene every episode, generously sprinkled with fanservice, while ignoring its characters, plot, and world. Fire Force had the makings to be a great anime, but it apparently decided useless fanservice was the best direction for this anime. For these reasons, I dropped it. This is one of TWO anime I have ever dropped in the past five years, so that is really saying a lot.

For those interested in picking Fire Force up, be wary. It does a good job drawing its viewer in, but it fails to sustain the viewer's interest.

So much potential really. Watched one and a half episode(s)(?) and already knew the characters were gonna kill the show. Don't know if it gets better- dont think it will. Here's what i think since im not gonna waste my time finishing it.

*** some spoilers ahead***

Story - 8
Interesting. Weak exposition tho. Spontaneous combustion is a real thing that happens to people. The religious/fantasy aspect and reasoning for it was unique- something i could vibe with. too bad it, at times, translated as annoying fanservice for folks with a nun kink or something. Mom's death is pretty cliche, but whatever. Universe was cool. I liked ... it.

Art- 10
Honestly, was not expecting such amazing animation. The fire fights (heh) were cool. Loved the glowing blue stripes on the fire suits.

Sound- 10
Downloaded the OST for this show. Very cinematic- from the sfx to the orchestra. Loved the opening. Its an experience. Sets the tone for the show and fights.

Characters- 2
AAAAAAAAAAA. hot garbage. So many cliches and tropes. Dialogue was dumb and weak. Really discouraged my toleration for this ish...

Enjoyment- 4
*sigh* it had potential

Overall- 4
Look, if you can lower your expectations and tolerate the crappy characters and cliche dialogue and unnecessary distracting fan-service- good for you. Enjoy the plot and fights and stuff.

fire force.... goddamn fire force. how did this get a season 2?
From the creator of soul eater (an amazing show) comes this dumpster fire which is just bad, not domestic girlfriend Dumpster fire but its just a dumpster fire that should have been removed long ago.

story: 4
it has a story and progresses but honestly its so forgettable i hardly care, if you wanna watch something about people having flame powers watch promare.

Art: 8
the only redeeming quality of this show its visually pleasing and the fights are well choreographed so thats about it in terms of praise for this show.

sound: 5
i dont ... listen to ost's that much and i judge by openings and outros and the first intro was good the second was just bad

Character: 1
I. Hate. These. Characters. they are more 2d than most generic vanilla waifu's
yes im talking to you sinon.
Lets just talk about the cat in the room tamaki. i hate her. i hate her so much. she can be summed up with:
viewers: nooo you can just put lazy fan service in an intense fight scene
tamaki: haha boobs go fwoop
most characters in this show have 1 character trait slapped onto them and at most an added quirk.
The show then plays these as jokes so. goddamn. much. like at first maybe it was funny? but when you do it 10 times each episode (exaggeration) it gets boring.

enjoyment: 3
originally i dropped this but finished it off when s2 started and ho boy is it a mess ill get to that in a minute

overall: 3
i hate this show its unfunny and constantly breaks immersion as well as having bland characters and a forgettable story

Spoilers ahead:

Honestly the finale just infuriated me and was what originally made me drop this mess. It goes shinra studies how to get faster for like a couple episodes because why does an increase in power need to feel earned, and then goes so fast he breaks the speed of light and REWINDS GODDAMN TIME. Im all for over the top. but for the love of god dont throw in science stuff if its not at all believable. i dont care how much he focuses his chi or whatever there aint no way this glorified jet engine is breaking the speed of light. oh and why does he have to get faster you ask? well you see he wants to save his brother who can heat up the universe and stop time or some dumb crap like that.

i hate this show
i hate everything about it
it doesnt even have good waifus they just exist as bad attempts to pander to fetish's
and the males are just as forgetable

please tell me why this has a season 2 but not NGNL. This is just bad

I don't even know what to say.
I went into this anime after a long streak of watching Slice of life anime.
I honestly wasn't expecting much from it. I expected good fight scenes with good animation and a good, if not perfect, story. But I didn't get even that.
But I'll be honest. The first two episodes were good. The fire animation was beautiful and the fights seemed alright. Also the sfx was great.
But after the second episodes things started going downhill. Some cringey fanservice started on the show and also forced comedy. The animation went from high to low so quickly that it was hard to ... watch. I couldn't even complete the anime. The pacing is bad. Like it's so fast that I failed to understand what in the f hell was going on. The main character seemed interesting but all the other characters felt generic and boring af. The only bright side was the intro which I have been listening to over and over.
Honestly I wouldn't recommend this show to anyone.