Konnichiwa snitches, I'm B, and this is Brotakuza.
It's not necessarily a "hot" take, but Fire Force might easily be the best new anime of
Summer 2019.
Episode 1 of Dr. Stone was great, but this one is something special.
So, the first episode of Fire Force premiered on July 5, and I gotta say, it's been a while
since I've been this excited for an anime.
And for a few reasons, which I will touch on in a few seconds.
But first here's a quick synopsis of the show if you haven't started on it already.
Fire Force takes place in Tokyo, sometime in the future where humans are bursting into
flames in a phenomenon called spontaneous human combustion.
These humans are referred to as Infernals, and they are the first generation to experience
this phenomenon.
2nd and 3rd generations of humans go on to develop the ability to manipulate fire without
becoming Infernals themselves.
The main character, Shinra, is a 3rd generation who with a crazy ability called Devil's Footprints
whereby he can shoot fire from his feet.
He's wanted to be a hero since he was little, so he takes these abilities and joins a group
of exorcist-like firefighters in the Special Fire Force Company 8 to help stop Infernals
from getting out of control in the city.
Shinra has a bit of a past of his own to be dealt with, which will be uncovered little-by-little
as the series goes on.
So why am I calling this one so early?
For a few reasons actually.
Starting with the obvious, there's the animation.
Judging of the first episode, this season looks like it could be a sakuga porn fest
for those who value super high quality animation.
David Production, the studio producing Fire Force, brought over some key players from
studio SHAFT, and what we've gotten so far from episode 1 was nothing short of amazing.
The fire effects felt really fluid, and there was something that was just very alive about
these amazing effects, particularly when these days, mainly due to tight deadlines, a lot
of animation feels either very rushed, reduced in quality from its previous glory, or just
very copy-and-paste.
Which leads me to my next point:
Isekai Cheat Magician Maou-Sama, Retry
Arifureta Shokugyou Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target
Attacks?
Jesus Christ.
All of these are the latest batch of Iseki anime hitting summer 2019, and it really is
just overkill at this point.
When it gets to the point that the actual word isekai is in the title of the anime,
it just reeks of unoriginality.
So Fire Force feels like a much-needed breath of fresh air, offering something that at least
feels authentic at a time of uninspired over-saturation.
Firefighter anime and manga are far less common, and the angle Fire Force is taking feels even
more special.
And the last reason that Fire Force really left an impression on me is a personal, and
kind of funny reason.
At the very beginning of the anime, an Infernal bursts into flames on a train traveling between
Komagome and Tabata stations, which are real stations on the JR Yamanote, and part of my
work commute, which honestly freaked me out a little.
I considered either finding a new job with a different route, or just riding my bike
26 miles to work every morning.
But I'm over it now.
But back to the anime, I immediately enjoyed the majority of the characters that we've
met so far, although Takehisa may seem a bit cliche, but Kazuya Nakai voicing crew captain
Akitaru Ōbi really stands out to me.
I'm also anxious to learn more about each individual Fire Force member's fire manipulation
abilities, and I'm forcing myself to not peek at the manga to see how things unfold.
But now I want to know what you think.
What did you think about the Fire Force premiere?
How do you think it will ultimately stack up against the other Summer anime heavy-hitters
like Dr. Stone and Vinland Saga?
Give your thoughts in the comments below.
I'll be back soon.
But until then...Sayonara suckas!