Review of Fire Force

Writing this review because I couldn't believe some of the reviews for this show. Impressive sound design, great style, intricate worldbuilding, interesting fights. What's not to like? Sure, it isn't going to be in anyone's top five list, but still a decent one. This show pulls ideas from all kinds of shounen shows, and blends them in one glorious bonfire. Not one episode felt boring, not a single filler episode, and not once did the show drop in quality. Strongly recommended to anyone looking for a solid battle shounen with an interesting setting. Also, the show is literally fire. The Setting: Personally,I loved the setting. Everything in this world revolves around fire. The sun is a literal ball of fire. The earth almost turned into a ball of fire. The story takes place in a fictional tokyo, and it is powered by -you guessed it- fire. People can randomly catch fire and die. People can have superpowers related to fire. Some of them can control fire, some of them can create fire. Some ARE fire.
It gives off strong steampunk vibes, (not really but I don't know if there is a word for it. Maybe machine-punk? Similar to guilty gear, piltover from LoL, made in abyss, you get the idea.) but it's a bit more advanced I guess. The world revolves around fire and there are four(five) main interconnected factions, the church, the miilitary, the haijima corp, some mysterious organisation and the firefighters (split into 8). Different parts of tokyo look very different, building designs are amazing, everything is a little bit different depending on the fire brigade/faction. Even the alarm bells! The faction building thing is a trend nowadays e.g shows like black clover, world trigger also did it, but it's still very good. Some might find the setting similar to that of Attack on Titan, as in it is a post-apocalyptic world with an organization that fights against the things that made the apocalypse happen, but secretly some higher-ups are in on the real reasons things happen, and there is in-fighting between factions. Or maybe Fullmetal Alchemist.
Story:
Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, the main character's background is kind of similar to that of fullmetal. He has a brother, their mother and their house burn, except the mc is seperated with his brother during this traumatic event. He is determined to find out the secret behind humans catching fire, and joins the 8th fire brigade, which is full of quirky characters.
The pacing is just right in my opinion. It's never too slow, never too fast. Things don't happen without a reason, ( reasons might be weird or unbelievable, but nothingis left without an explanation, you don't have to go read other stuff elsewhere just to understand what's happening.)
One small problem I had is that the expositional dialogue is so sometimes obviously expositional and out of place, I actually laugh.
Characters:
While the characters may be very one-dimensional, the show isn't about deep psyhological revelations, so I think that the quirks they have are very much on point with the story being told. Character design is simple yet well thought-out, and reminds me of some fighting games (especially guilty gear). No, the protagonist's smile is NOT annoying, as some of the other reviewers made it out to be.
Battles:
Battle scenes are exhilarating, satisfying, funny at times, and most importantly they make sense. I won't say much about this, it just has great battle scenes with great animation and sound effects.
Animation:
I feel like the director has struck a perfect balance between fun, coolness, and budget constraints. See for yourself, how masterfully crafted this anime is. It never drops in quality, and that is very rare. The art is very stylish in a good way.
Sound:
I have to talk about the sound, specifically the sound effects. There were some other reviews that mentioned it but I don't think it gets enough credit. I don't know how they do it, but it's really something. It really makes you feel the power behind every hit, every shot. There is just something infinitely satisfying about hearing the sound effects in this anime. I highly recommend watching the show with a good pair of headphones.
Music:
This doesn't have anything that made me search the track name. But it also isn't bad, you generally don't even realize that the show has a soundtrack. The openings and endings aren't bad. The first opening might make a good karaoke song, I don't know.
Fanservice:
There is no real fanservice in this. All the alleged fanservice in other reviews are just referring to normal run-of-the-mill comic relief moments that exist in almost every other anime as well.
Final Score:
Animation 9
OST 6
SFX 9
Story 7
Setting 8
Overall 8