Review of Fire Force
THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW After just finishing the first season of this show i have very mixed feelings about it. This may be the hardest review for me to write because this show is just so controversial and devisive. When i started it i just looked for some Fighting-Shounen fun and what i got was a show were i am not even sure about the rating. Let´s try to get into it.... Story - 7/10 The main concept in itself is very similar to the movie "Promare". The world the series is set in is very interesting in itself. There are a lot of super interesting ideasput into the show, reaching from religious themes over evolutionary biology to pseudo-scientific bending of space and time.There is also a pretty cool mystery going on which makes you want to see the next episode. All the different ideas the show throws at you could be used to make a whole series about them, but Fire Force is cramming all of these together. The story feels overbloated and i think the author tried to bite of more than he can chew. The structure is another problem. The show follows a very boring pattern of mini-arcs hat always switch between action, training and slice-of-life. You always know when an arc is going to end because the pacing is very repetitive. However, i have to give credit for the last arc, "Netherworld". That arc was good from start to finish and easily has the best fight of the show. The comedy aspect is handled pretty poorly, consisting mainly of the same jokes that are used to the point of not being funny anymore. And this show has another HUGE problem, one that i didn´t think would bother me at all : Fanservice. Usually, i never have a problem with fanservice. The shounen genre always used fanservice and i have absolutely nothing against it if used correctly. However the fanservice in Fire Force has two major problems: 1) It consists solely of girls getting groped, falling over and revealing their private parts or the main character tripping into them which is....just not funny, and 2) It is used in the middle of the fight. That means super serios fight scenes get interrupted by cheap fanservice. Definitely not the way to do it... :D
Art - 8/10
This is the most controversial category. Some scenes in this anime are nothing short but breathtaking. This show came out in the same year as Demon Slayer and sometimes exceeds its quality. The way the fire was animated feels absolutely satisfying to watch. There are also some really cool dynamic shots during the fights which are a pleasure to look at. So, why only 8 points? The answer is directing. I never thought that anime could have bugs and glitches, but this one sure does. The whole timing of shots during some scenes feels just...off. Two characters are talking and after one has finished, the camera lingers on his face way to long before switching over. This also happens in some of the fights. It feels like entire sequences are missing and it can get really hard to follow what is going on. It is really hard to describe it to someone who hasn´t seen it so take this with a grain of salt.
Sound - 9/10
By far the best category. The insane soundquality of this show is noteworthy. First off, i have to give credit for the fantastic first opening and ending. Both are some of the most catchy songs i have ever seen in shounen. The second opening/ending combo was also solid. The BGM is pretty good as well and really sets a great mood during the less action heavy scenes. But the real standout here is the phenomenal sounddesign. I said this before, but i think sounddesign is one of the most underrated aspects of movies and TV-shows. I definitely suggest to watch this on a big TV with a soundbar and subwoofer. The bass is used perfectly, both to build tension as well as impact after a powerful attack. This alone, in combination with the (sometimes) insane animation quality makes the fights in the show entertaining, and a feast to watch.
Characters - 6/10
Honestly, some of the characters were just plain awful. Arthur was genuinely making me angry. He has one of the most obnoxius personalties i have ever witnessed and rivals even Zenitsu from Demon Slayer in stupidity. I have to defend the main character Shinra though. Although he is pretty generic and shounenlike, i rooted for him the entire time. He is voiced by Gakuto Kajiwara who also voices Asta from Black Clover. He had a clear motivation from the start and i really like his powers. The other standout would probably be Benimaru who was a really cool addition. The female characters....were there. Every single one of them was used for fanservice in one way or the other. Especially Tamaki really got on my nerves. This and the fact that none of the villains besides Joker or Giovanni were even remotely interesting makes this the worst category.
Enjoyment - 6/10
The incredibly mixed aspects of the show made it a really hard watch. There were some really amazing scenes and episodes that i enjoyed fully but every great scene comes with downsides as well. I decided that i will watch season two nonetheless because of the potential i see in the story and the possibility of character development. If you are a shounen fan you can definitely get some enjoyment experience out of this show. Everyone else should better skip it.
- Marco_Yooo
FINAL SCORE 6/10