Fire Force Season 1 and 2 Key Point Review
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The openings and endings at the end of the post may reveal characters that appear later. If you don’t want to see anything from season 2, don’t watch the openings.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
If you’re watching Fire Force because you’re hoping for something as good as Soul Eater, you will be disappointed. That said, Fire Force is fun to watch. The character antics are, usually, one of its strong points, along with some amazing action scenes. The time was flying by while I was enjoying the fight visuals. However, the story is a bit lacking overall.
SETTING:
Tokyo, for the most part. The vast majority of the story takes place in or around Tokyo’s Asakusa district.
The story makes it seem like the world is uninhabitable except for Tokyo, but, later, the story tries to make some of the area outside Tokyo more accessible, with little explanation as to why it’s traversable or inhabitable.
STORY:
Powers revolving around people gifted with versatile fire-based abilities. (Some physics explanations are involved, but it always boils down to abilities being used like magic regardless).
Gifted male main character who constantly strives to be a hero.
Citizens in Tokyo spontaneously combust and become zombie-like fire beings.
Many gifted supporting characters who use and improve their talents to work as a team.
Some bonding events between characters.
A few key plot points are laid out and layered well, but many just happen or are hasty additions to the story.
Tons of awesome fight scenes and visuals.
The story has a fair amount of ecchi moments that detract heavily from the plot and weaken the anime overall.
Religious themes.
Corruption, mystery, and betrayal plot points.
Some fire station desk job and office disciplinary moments.
The story has an extremely distorted sense of human durability and recovery, which helps make fight scenes more dramatic.
Strong comedy moments.
Tons of flashy explosions.
The story can be deep at times, but not like soul eater was.
Much of the anime seems to be for younger people who have a hard time flowing a plot (a lot of repetition of established concepts, for example), but randomly has some disturbing / hardcore moments mixed into season 2. Just be aware it’s not all light-hearted fun and combat as the anime seems to be at first.
The story gets more nonsensical in season 2, some events just happen for the sake of happening and logic is just thrown out the window.
There are some very loose Soul Eater references.
CHARACTERS:
Most of the characters have interesting or funny personalities.
Even characters in the story who do not have fire powers are interesting and add a lot of good moments to the anime.
There is one character in particular that is just perpetually useless and weakens the story.
Much of the gear the characters wear, both the clothes and standard weaponry, are unimaginative firefighter gear. That said, the anime does have some cool and creative weapons later on.
Enemy designs, and their clothes, are an unusual blend of interesting and simple/bland designs, with the majority of them being a bit bland. Also, the are some enemies with very annoying or stupid themes, and not in a funny way.
DIALOGUE AND VOICE ACTING:
The voice acting is good overall. There are only a few weak performances, and they’re usually from enemies or tertiary characters. I felt the choice for the main character, Shinra, was a bit odd, but it does fit the character’s personality and works well.
Much of the dialogue exists to placate the ego of the protagonist, and it’s pretty average.
The dialogue gets worse in season 2.
There are some parts that don’t translate well from Japanese to English.
Also, there are discussions/ conversations that are meant to be serious, but come off as laughably lame.
Some of the comedy in season 1 is well-written though, even in its awkwardness. Season 2 comedy dialogue isn’t as good as season 1.
ANIMATION:
Good overall, with some amazing fight scene animation.
MUSIC, OPENINGS, AND ENDINGS:
Season 1, first opening song (opening 1): “Inferno” by Mrs. GREEN APPLE. Very good and catchy song that grew on me over time. The vocals have an unusual, bending high-pitch flair that make the song interesting.
Season 1, first opening animation (opening 1): Interesting and flashy, it gives you a good feel for what the high points of the anime will be.
Season 1, first ending song (ending 1): “Veil” by Keina Suda. The song is very good and has both a light and heavy feel all at once.
Season 1, first ending animation (ending 1): The animation is a little weak, but it helps add some depth to the back story of an important character.
Season 1, second opening song (opening 2): “MAYDAY” by Coldrain featuring Ryo from CRYSTAL LAKE. A nice and heavy hard rock/ metal song with some normal and growling vocals. It’s worth a listen, but you probably won’t be hooked on it.
Season 1, second opening animation (opening 2): This opening animation is much lazier than the first opening, but still contains some fighting and displays some of the new characters. It’s decent.
Season 1, second ending song (ending 2): “Nounai” by Lenny code fiction. Song is boring and lackluster. Best to just skip this ending and not waste time.
Season 1, second ending animation (ending 2): The withered flower human anatomy is a nice thought-provoking visual, but the animation is bad and boring.
Season 2, opening 1 song (opening 3): “SPARK-AGAIN” by Aimer. Aimer has done other great songs for anime and this one is no exception. The song builds up a bit and is dramatic and interesting. Definitely worth listening to.
Season 2, opening 1 animation (opening 3): This opening introduces some new characters and may have some spoilers. It is a combination of interesting animations, fight scenes, and some low budget still images. Overall, it’s a good opening if you don’t mind seeing characters that haven’t been introduced yet.
Season 2, ending 1 song (ending 3): “ID” by Cidergirl. Light, laid back, bouncing melody with male vocals. It’s not bad, but nothing special either.
Season 2, ending 1 animation (ending 3): It looks like a low budget, 2D sidescroller. It’s a little interesting to watch once, but, after that, you’ll probably want to just skip it.
Season 2, opening song 2 (opening 4): “Torch of Liberty” by KANA-BOON. This song is awesome, exciting, soaring, and dramatic all at once. I would love it even if I hadn’t seen the anime.
Season 2, opening animation 2 (ending 4): This opening animation is very good. I think it’s far more exciting than the anime itself. I enjoy it every time I see it.
Season 2, ending song 2 (ending 4): “Desire” by PELICAN FANCLUB. This song is good, especially when it hits the refrain.
Season 2, ending animation 2 (ending 4): This ending is video game themed, but it’s not very good. No need to watch it more than once.
Photo credit: David Productions
Video credits: Funimation
Author username: Marro Danatalle