Anime Review: Fire Force

Fire Force (UK Rating: 12)

The protagonist of the story is Shinra Kusakabe, a young man determined to become a hero who is the new recruit at Special Fire Force Company Eight. Shinra is a Third Generation Pyrokinetic. Infernals are actually considered First Generation Pyrokinetics. Second Generations are those who have adapted to Spontaneous Human Combustion, and can now manipulate fire. Third Generations are a step above Second Generations, in that they are able to generate flames in addition to manipulating it, with each having a unique style of special ability.

Shinra's ability is to be able to generate flames from his feet, this lets him move at unbelievable speeds, to fly, and to deal huge amounts of damage with Capoeira style fighting. Fitting with the Japanese symbol of heroes - Kamen Rider - he delivers huge flying kicks. Becoming a hero has been an obsession for Shinra since he was little, where he would promise his mother he would become a hero to protect her and his baby brother. Instead, he has been thought of as a Devil.

There are two reasons for this negative perception. The first is the moment that shaped his life. Shinra's mother and baby brother are gone. Burned to death in a horrific death that he was blamed for, and he watched it all happen. The second is an involuntary tick that causes the skin of his face to tighten, leaving him with a devilish grin when he becomes nervous. It's a smart character trait that instils the 'Devil' moniker thanks to others' misunderstanding of his grin in difficult situations, and can communicate his true feelings to the audience.

Shinra may be the hero, but much like in Soul Eater, the extended cast play just as big a role, especially when it comes to the other members of First Force Company Eight. Heading up, this company is the Captain, Akitaru Obi, a regular human being with no powers, who was once a highly decorated Fire Fighter, but he has had his accolades ripped from him thanks to his refusal to listen to orders, he always puts the lives of innocents ahead of the demands of his superiors. Next up is Takehisa Hinawa, second in command, and a Second Generation Pyrotechnic. Stern and no-nonsense, he's beyond loyal to his Captain, and happy to play the bad guy and authority in his place. Then there's First Class Fire Soldier Maki Oze, a Second Generation with a penchant of transforming flames in little fire sprites she calls Sputters. She also is absolutely ripped; able to beat down anyone in hand to hand combat. Finally, there is Iris, a Sister of the Holy Soul Temple. A young, powerless girl, who joins the Eighth in order to give last rights to the Infernals.

Shinra isn't the only new recruit to join the Eighth. In the second episode, another joins the ranks, and another Third Generation Pyrokinetic in Arthur Boyle. Shinra and Arthur met at the academy and immediately took a disliking to each other. Developing a decent little anime rivalry. Arthur has quite the chuunibyou syndrome, claiming to be the king of knights of Arthurian legend. He calls the ladies on the team beautiful princesses, and threatens the sparrows and geckos that visit the Eighth headquarters as Griffins and Dragons attacking his castle. Fittingly he uses hit fire creation and manipulation to generate a sword that he dubs Excalibur, superheating it to the point it becomes blue hot plasma. Since Shinra always called himself a Hero, which he said was better than a Knight, Arthur took to calling himself a 'King of Knights.' The two have a classic shonen rivalry/friendship that develops well over the series.

The exam also introduces a major antagonist. A cool villain is always a quick way to increase the… well, coolness of a series and this one is embracing a familiar and favourite moniker of bad guys. He's known as Joker, a tall, sinister-looking individual, with a bandana covering half of his face, and a lopsided stylish hat atop his head. He is evidently a Third Generation too. He generates flames that he uses to light his cigarettes, and more dangerously, to form flaming cards like a shonen take on the X-Men favourite gambit. He also toys with strange vials of ash that ignite with explosive force.

After facing off against Shinra, Joker hints there's something corrupt within the Companies. This is what ignites the main story thread that runs throughout the whole season. Shinra asks Akitaro the truth of this, and finds himself embroiled in a grand conspiracy. It turns out the Fire Force is not one monolithic organisation, instead, it was originally created by members of three different factions. The Holy Soul Temple, the Tokyo Armed Force, and the Fire Defence Agency. With an organisation where loyalties are split from the start, unsurprisingly, cohesion is rare today. Each company works alone with the same mission. To protect the people, to extinguish the Infernals, and to establish the cause of spontaneous combustion. However, they do not share knowledge, operating completely independently and often competitively against each other, each having their own goals and values. For instance, the First Company is closely linked to the Holy Soul Temple, while the Fifth is pretty much owned by Hijima Industries, an independent company that provides the companies with their equipment. Obviously, the risk of corruption is high. To combat this Company, Eight was strong-armed into existence, to Investigate Company One through Seven, and establish the truth.

With that in mind, the first major arc sees the Eighth face off against Fifth company and their Sadomasochistic Captain after both companies fight to capture an Infernal that seems to have regained its lucidity and its personality after it transformed. This leads to the Eighth growing closer to the cause of the spontaneous combustions, finding traitors in their midst, and a shadowy enemy planning to destroy the whole world. It seems the Infernals are being created by someone, and the Eighth are going to have to unite the companies to combat this foe.

Much like Soul Eater, Fire Force also manages to superbly balance the serious with the comedic. There's plenty of slapstick, and also the comedy wordplay Japanese is so famous for, for example, there are the mascots for the Fire Force. They're Called "1 1 9," three characters together, an old man (who looks like a dog), a dog, and a cat. Japanese onomatopoeia for the sounds a dog makes is 'Wan,' and for a cat 'Nyan:' Wan Wan Nyan.

One of the best aspects of the series is the cast. Shows like this need a diverse and likeable roster of characters, with memorable personalities and abilities. That's definitely the case here. The Third Generation soldiers here all have very signature abilities and fighting styles that make them memorable. Shinra's fighting style is explosive, fluid and dynamic, built for sakuga scenes. Arthur's Plasma Sword gives a unique blue glow to his battles and the swordsmanship a very different choreography when he throws down. As the series develops, more powerful characters are introduced with inventive destructive means of deploying their pyromancy - especially when it comes to the Captains of each squad. For example, the Captain of Squad Five can create a Sakura Tree of flames, where the falling petals incinerate anything they touch.

It's not just the Third Generation soldiers who showcase their unique combat abilities. Second Generations aren't able to create fire but they still are able to come up with original attacks. Hinawa is an ex-military weapons expert, utilising plenty of firearms with his fighting style. He weakens the explosive reaction within the chamber to make his bullets non-lethal when shooting at other people, or controlling the sparks generated from ricochets to be able to bounce bullets wherever he needs.

While Soul Eater was made by Studio Bones - and thus was filled with stylish and dynamic moments - it was announced this would not be. Fans were understandably disappointed. Studio Bones does good work. Instead, this adaptation comes from David Productions. To be fair, however, David Productions has some impressive productions under its belt too, though far fewer. One, in particular, should be sufficient to give hope to Fire Force manga fans for this adaptation. David Productions produced each of the anime adaptations of the five parts of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. They know their Sakuga. The team have done a wonderful job in realising the signature art style of Ohkubo-sensei. Across the 12 episodes that make up this season there are many explosive, impactful, and just wonderfully stylish moments, as the use of flame and the blue glow of the stripes of the uniform glowing with luminous beauty.

On the bonus feature front for this collection, there are the usual clean opening and closing, along with two commentary tracks from the English cast. Then there are three 'Inside the Episode' features, which give a 10-minute glimpse into the production of the episodes. Finally, there is a nine-minute interview with series creator Atsushi Ohkubo at Anime Expo 2019, and a very brief video of Atsushi Ohkubo Speed Drawing Shinra at Anime Expo 2019.

8/10

Great - Silver Award

It's great to see Ohkubo hasn't lost a step. The Burton-esque style of Soul Eater was integral to the series that his next work was thought to be in a similar vein. Instead, he delivered something dramatically different. He delivered. So many people tend to look at the series that come from Shonen Jump for the "best" manga out there. Yet, many of the very best have come from magazines like Weekly Shonen Magazine, Shonen Sunday, and Jump Square. As evidenced by series like Soul Eater, Attack on Titan, and Claymore. Fire Force too belongs alongside those. A fantastic example of world building, and solid characters that make for a blazing hot tale.