Review of Fire Force

Fire Force is another addition to the shonen library of the modern age that gained popularity during the summer 2019 season. You couldn’t go far without hearing about the animation, the opening theme, and hatred for a character named Tamaki. But where exactly did Fire Force stand compared to other shonen was still a lingering question. Unfortunately, it joins the ranks of being an average shonen. Fire Force overwhelmingly follows the tried and true tiresome formula. Whatever trope is common for the genre is here in full force. You’ve seen cliche story beats such as cheesy heroic speeches, reformed villains from simple conversations, and training toimprove many times before. However, the biggest offender is the fanservice. The fanservice wouldn’t be a problem if the series knew when it was appropriate to have it. There are emotional moments that are interrupted with something like accidental groping gags. This questionable direction is distracting and removes all tension from the scene. Fire Force is not something to watch if you want more than the same old formula.

Buried underneath this formulaic endeavor is a decent dark fantasy mystery plot. Spontaneous human combustion is a phenomenon that has plagued humanity for centuries in their world. Humans randomly combust at any moment and become monsters known as Infernals. The titular group is a firefighting organization of pyrokinetics tasked with taming these beasts. Living in a world where you could spontaneously be burned alive is a terrifying idea. Unfortunately, it doesn’t amount to much because the beginning of the season follows a monster-of-the-week format combined with the aforementioned run-of-the-mill shonen fare. When it transitions to Company 8’s investigation of the Fire Force is when the plot becomes slightly better. The secret behind spontaneous human combustion lies within the very organization they serve is what they believe. Throughout there is some enjoyable comedic relief thrown in to break up the tension. Some of these gags overstayed their welcome, such as Arthur’s need to announce himself as a knight king. Regardless, how spontaneous human combustion began and how to end it will leave you curious enough to stay engaged.

Although, the delivery of the narrative is damaged by the rapid pacing. Fire Force breezes through backstories or entire story arcs before you even process them. Additionally, the undercovering of the mystery is thrown at you all at once. This leads to plenty of exposition about important concepts and the bigger picture coming across as convoluted. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself rewinding sometimes just to comprehend what occurred. Why Fire Force decided to progress at such a speed is its own mystery.

Shinra Kusakabe is the newest rookie at Fire Force Company 8. First impressions lead you to believe he will be a devious, rebellious type of protagonist. Instead, he’s your standard good-natured hero who always does what is right. Which is not surprising considering his literal goal is to become the Hokage, I mean, a hero. It’s also shocking that something as formulaic as Fire Force doesn’t have an idiotic shonen protagonist. Always a pleasant change of pace for them to be intelligent. However, he does remain stagnant since he never grows from any of his experiences. He instead sticks to his ideals and persuades others to agree with him via “talk-no-jutsu”. But Shinra is still a main character you could get behind overall.

Joining Shinra are the other members of Company 8. They had nothing besides a single personality trait to differentiate themselves from each other. And we don’t see them all in action often because Shinra takes all the spotlight. Fire Force also decides to keep introducing new characters later instead of focusing on the ones we have. The only standouts were Maki Oze and Akitaru Obi. Obi shined as the charismatic captain of Company 8 who was motivated to help the world. Additionally, it is awesome how he was able to keep up despite not being a pyrokinetic. With Maki, she went against the stereotype of physically fit women being masculine. She showed that having a muscular physique doesn’t make her masculine because her personality revealed her feminine side. And she was an exceptional pyrokinetic that could hold her own. Altogether, Company 8’s comradery and lighthearted vibe showed they worked best as a group.

The infamous Tamaki Kotatsu deserves a direct mention because she is one of the worst characters of all time. In the beginning, she seemed like a character that had promise. This potential was quickly erased minutes into her introduction. It became clear that Tamaki being a fanservice outlet was her sole purpose. Almost all of her scenes present her naked or dressed up to look cute. The series cannot even commit to treating her like a person because her character-driven moments are squandered by fanservice. Therefore, Tamaki is a distraction that has no reason to be here besides wasting time.

The enemies of the Fire Force are not any better. A religious cult known as the White Clad aims to reach their goal of burning everything to the ground. However, you would not care about them or their motivations. Their sole purpose was to be obstacles in the path of the protagonists. They are a generic villain organization with cliche antagonistic goals and unclear reasons behind their actions.

The only areas where Fire Force can confidently be praised is in animation and sound design. The fights are a spectacle because of the fluidity of the movement. And sounds, such as pyrokinetics using their flames, were satisfying to hear. Additionally, the opening and ending themes were addictive to listen to. David Production brought in their expertise from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and did an excellent job.

However, not everything about the production values can be credited. Unlike the animation and sound, the art quality is inconsistent. Sometimes the art looked beautiful, having colors that contrast well with each other. The dark atmosphere also highlighted the bright colors, such as the color of flames or everyone’s eyes. Other times, the budget seemed to be lacking because scenes would look poor quality. In addition, Fire Force has the strangest cinematography choices. For example, there is one scene where Obi finishes his conversation with a captain. Afterwards, the camera awkwardly remained panned on them despite their conversation being over. There are many other bizarre scenes like this plastered throughout. At least the animation was excellent because the art and cinematography issues bring down the whole presentation package.

Fire Force is an entertaining shonen at best. The weird pacing, ridiculous fanservice, and cliche elements are amongst the many issues you would have to withstand. Your reward is a mostly interesting story with decent characters if you can endure. And the animation represents one of the best displays of 2019. If you can’t, then hopefully you still give the opening and ending theme a listen.

SCORE: 6/10