Review of Fire Force Season 3
After 5 long years Fire Force is finally back in all its glory. As a longtime fan who’s read the manga and waited for this for ages, this season was very satisfying. It had everything that made me fall in love with the series. The unique lore, the great characters, the fights and of course David Production’s iconic sound design and production values. This just made me feel like I was back in summer 2020 watching season 2 all over again. They did a great job of picking up right where they left off with the last season. Yes, it’s a transitionary season as wemake our way into the final third or so of the story, no that doesn’t mean it’s “boring” or nothing happens. If you’re a fan of the series who enjoyed the first two seasons, come into this with an open mind and think about the foundations it’s laying for the rest of the story in order to make all the big moments that come later hit even harder.
For some reason, probably due to short form video content becoming so prevalent and kids generally spending more time on their phones wanting instant gratification, people have come to associate worldbuilding and character development with “boring” or “nothing happening”. That’s something that really saddens me because instalments like Fire Force season 3 are crucial parts of a story. Emotional moments won’t resonate with you if you don’t have connections to the characters, plot twists won’t make sense if you haven’t seen the foreshadowing, etc. While the first half or so of Fire Force season 3 is almost nonstop action, the second half is much more character driven as we learn more about the impending cataclysm, the mystery of spontaneous human combustion and more. Basically all of the big questions and mysteries the show’s been teasing since the first season either get answered, heavily implied to be answered or we get some sort of hint about how they’ll be answered. You know, the critical parts of the story without which the show would be nothing more than aura farming fights.
That’s not to say I don’t love those fights, I do, they’re awesome and this season has some of the best in the franchise, BUT the best part of Fire Force for me has always been the mystery and the unique mix of religious fanaticism and science fiction. I’m glad this season focuses so much on the lore, even as someone who knew a lot of it coming in, it’s been so long since the manga ended, I forgot a lot of it. David production also used some very cool storytelling techniques to make it feel fresh. For example, without spoiling, there’s a mini-arc with Hibana in this season that sheds light on one of the foundational mysteries of the series and it’s something I already knew the answer to, but the studio made the reveal in the anime so utterly terrifying it felt like I was watching a horror film which only enhanced the experience making it feel brand new. There’s a handful of other situations like that in the show as well, so I was sort of able to follow along with this like an anime only which made this even more enjoyable. It’s always nice when you get two different experiences with the source material and anime!
You can’t talk David Production and Fire Force without mentioning the amazing animation, art, sound design and storyboarding this series is known for. Contrary to some of the criticism I’ve seen going around for this season, it looked awesome to me. The season starts off top heavy with the action, some of the best fights in the franchise are in the first half and then it’s a pretty chill 4 episodes or so before the action resumes and it looks great in the last couple episodes. Does every episode look like the best D Pro have ever made? No, but when it’s important that it looks good, it did.
Alright, that was a lot of yapping. As you can see, I love fire force and am very happy to have it back. Was it the best season of the franchise? No, I believe that’s yet to come with how crazy this story will get towards the end, BUT this is a solid welcome back for the franchise and establishes some crucial bits of lore and narrative going into the final third of the story while having some emotional and powerful moments in its own right. I believe if you go in with an open mind bearing in mind everything I’ve just told you, you’ll enjoy it.
Fire Force season 3 gets 8, out of 10.