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This Week in Anime - Is Fire Force Worth Watching?


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Grasser1



Joined: 14 Oct 2014
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:05 pm Reply with quote
I will say, as a lover of the manga, Fire Force is a series that gets exponentially better with each passing arc. The other members of Company 8 get their time in the sun, Tamaki (eventually) gets some great character development and stops being so bad before that. The villains range between forgettable and great, but at least the future forgettable villains acknowledge they're forgettable. The next arc is probably the first full arc that's straight up good (not quite great yet, though), and I'm only being mildly influenced by my love affair with spoiler[Benimaru Shinmon]. Also, you'll find out that Fire Force is a series that ends up forgetting very few of its characters as even the most minor characters end up coming back for all-time great moments (i.e.spoiler[ Juggernaut and Tamaki's moments in Nether II]). For anyone who was thinking about dropping the series right now, I recommend to stick with it for a little while longer; the arrival of the White-Clads mean everything is looking up for Fire Force.
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cheshire1501



Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Posts: 51
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:01 pm Reply with quote
This is Madonna-Wh*re complex the series (and I’m caught up with the manga), but possibly the biggest failure is how the action takes a nosedive later in thanks to some of the worst mid-fight info dumps I’ve seen in an anime spoiler[DO WE REALLY NEED A PAGE LONG PHYSICS EXPLANATION ON SUPER SPEED OF ALL THINGS]
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cheshire1501



Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Posts: 51
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:03 pm Reply with quote
*correction
I meant manga when I was talking about the info dumps
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Kuroi Ren



Joined: 09 Dec 2018
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:21 pm Reply with quote
I agree with the fanservice needing to be toned down but the story is good especially with the introduction of a mysterious cult-like faction. It'll be interesting to see where this goes and who the traitors/moles are.

Also, if your MAIN problem is clothes being ripped, you really should stop watching anime. Shounen ones to be specific. It literally happens all the time

My main problem is the comedic scenes in the middle of serious fights but I don't think the show is misogynistic. It just appeals to a certain audience (young teenagers with hormones). Movies do the same with actresses albeit greatly reduced. I don't agree with it but can't really complain since I could just stop watching it.

Also, It's not fast paced. No one ever said the premise was to fight Infernals. They literally said from EP 1 that they wanted to figure out the mystery behind them. Also, this is a long-running show. You can expect more infernal fights later. I agree with Hibana's plot being rushed but she isn't a major character so you can't really expect them to spend more than 3 eps on it. She didn't go crazy because of atheism. She went crazy because her friends BURNED in front of her and that resulted in loss of faith. Don't make it into a religion thing

Overall, as always, I feel that you guys' reviews just don't hit the mark. It doesn't seem like you think things through. I don't mean it in an offensive way
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#894822



Joined: 08 Apr 2019
Posts: 111
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:48 pm Reply with quote
I’m only watching it for Captain Ōbi
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Nodz



Joined: 29 Dec 2013
Posts: 523
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:54 pm Reply with quote
Kuroi Ren wrote:
Also, It's not fast paced. No one ever said the premise was to fight Infernals. They literally said from EP 1 that they wanted to figure out the mystery behind them. Also, this is a long-running show. You can expect more infernal fights later. I agree with Hibana's plot being rushed but she isn't a major character so you can't really expect them to spend more than 3 eps on it. She didn't go crazy because of atheism. She went crazy because her friends BURNED in front of her and that resulted in loss of faith. Don't make it into a religion thing


I totally agree. Maybe there were expecting the typical case of the week format gradually leaning to a bigger plot.
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Morry



Joined: 26 Jun 2016
Posts: 756
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:08 pm Reply with quote
Easy question: Yes. Is it as good/inspired as Soul Eater? No. Tbf, Soul Eater didn't really stick the landing in either the anime or the manga, so at least Fire Force's more generic framework could lead to a stronger overall product.
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kotomikun



Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:10 pm Reply with quote
Kuroi Ren wrote:
Also, if your MAIN problem is clothes being ripped, you really should stop watching anime. Shounen ones to be specific. It literally happens all the time


If you think their main female-character-exploitation complaint about the show was just "clothes being ripped," you should probably reread the article more carefully. This part, for example:

Nick wrote:
I'm used to some dumb cheesecake and fanservice in my shonen action series, but Tamaki's character takes it a step further by having the universe itself conspire to humiliate and violate her for the sake of comedy in her every scene. Forget the Great Flame of Fire, the real God of this world is apparently Mineta.


I only got through the first 2 episodes of this before certain real-life incidents made me set it aside, but it doesn't sound like I missed much. Fancy animation is nice to have, but not worth much to me if most other things about the show are unpleasant.
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Grimvice



Joined: 10 Aug 2017
Posts: 89
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:32 pm Reply with quote
kotomikun wrote:
Kuroi Ren wrote:
Also, if your MAIN problem is clothes being ripped, you really should stop watching anime. Shounen ones to be specific. It literally happens all the time


If you think their main female-character-exploitation complaint about the show was just "clothes being ripped," you should probably reread the article more carefully. This part, for example:

Nick wrote:
I'm used to some dumb cheesecake and fanservice in my shonen action series, but Tamaki's character takes it a step further by having the universe itself conspire to humiliate and violate her for the sake of comedy in her every scene. Forget the Great Flame of Fire, the real God of this world is apparently Mineta.


I only got through the first 2 episodes of this before certain real-life incidents made me set it aside, but it doesn't sound like I missed much. Fancy animation is nice to have, but not worth much to me if most other things about the show are unpleasant.


The thing about Fire Force is that it just barely started as to where we are the in anime right now.

The first couple of arcs are kinda generic and slap-dash, but as it picks up and characters get slowly fleshed out, it gets SUPER good. I usually don't condone series that aren't that good in the beginning then "get better", but this series is a definite exception. Its later plot elements make more sense of the strange pacing in the beginning.

It honestly feels like people aren't giving this show a proper chance when it hasn't gotten into its stride yet...especially when it's already a long series and it's unfair to judge a show in its entirety based on a fraction of it.


Last edited by Grimvice on Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
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cheshire1501



Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Posts: 51
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:47 pm Reply with quote
Just per funsies, I decided to check out japan ratings for animé.
On anikore (Basically Jp MAL) Fire Force doesn’t show up in the season’s 10 in the general group (Vinland Saga is ranked five interestingly enough)
Fire Force is rated 14 on that group
However a MAL style rating wasn’t going to cut it for me. So I went to other platforms
In nico nico: Ranked 21
As for manga I’m going to need more time, because none of the rankings I checked even mentioned it (as much as I believe the show didn’t live up to it commercial expectations, I’m not putting into bomb status yet)
Also trying to shield this Madonna-W**re complex behind “boys will be boys” nonsense might be the most misandrist statement ever uttered against young boys.
“So women are treated like crap? Who cares, these kids ain’t going to change that”
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Kuroi Ren



Joined: 09 Dec 2018
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:48 pm Reply with quote
Grimvice wrote:
kotomikun wrote:
Kuroi Ren wrote:
Also, if your MAIN problem is clothes being ripped, you really should stop watching anime. Shounen ones to be specific. It literally happens all the time


If you think their main female-character-exploitation complaint about the show was just "clothes being ripped," you should probably reread the article more carefully. This part, for example:

Nick wrote:
I'm used to some dumb cheesecake and fanservice in my shonen action series, but Tamaki's character takes it a step further by having the universe itself conspire to humiliate and violate her for the sake of comedy in her every scene. Forget the Great Flame of Fire, the real God of this world is apparently Mineta.


I only got through the first 2 episodes of this before certain real-life incidents made me set it aside, but it doesn't sound like I missed much. Fancy animation is nice to have, but not worth much to me if most other things about the show are unpleasant.


The thing about Fire Force is that it just barely started as to where we are the in anime right now.

The first couple of arcs are kinda generic and slap-dash, but as it picks up and characters get slowly fleshed out, it gets SUPER good. I usually don't condone series that aren't that good in the beginning then "get better", but this series is a definite exception. Its later plot elements make more sense of the strange pacing in the beginning.

It honestly feels like people aren't giving this show a proper chance when it hasn't gotten into its stride yet...


Exactly. If you judge any of the major shonens by the first 9 episodes, none of them would be at the top. Especially since this isn't bad. It's just still coming along
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1380
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:58 pm Reply with quote
Kuroi Ren wrote:


Exactly. If you judge any of the major shonens by the first 9 episodes, none of them would be at the top. Especially since this isn't bad. It's just still coming along


Eh, I can think of plenty of long-running titles that were plenty entertaining and engaging even in just their first few episodes/chapters. Just because a series is revving its engine doesn't mean its early arcs are inherently underwhelming. I'm all for giving series time to find their footing, but when we're nearly at the end of its first cour and people are saying "just hold on, it gets good I swear" I think it's fair to say the issue lies with the show, not the viewers' patience level.
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cheshire1501



Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Posts: 51
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:58 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The thing about Fire Force is that it just barely started as to where we are the in anime right now.

The first couple of arcs are kinda generic and slap-dash, but as it picks up and characters get slowly fleshed out, it gets SUPER good. I usually don't condone series that aren't that good in the beginning then "get better", but this series is a definite exception. Its later plot elements make more sense of the strange pacing in the beginning.

It honestly feels like people aren't giving this show a proper chance when it hasn't gotten into its stride yet...especially when it's already a long series and it's unfair to judge a show in its entirety based on a fraction of it.


The “watch the whole thing” defense only works if anything of this were building up to something to push forward. Instead it doubles down on the Madona-W*ore complex spoiler[ I’m going to do non consensual BDSM on a woman and (dubcon?) roleplay on a minor. Any reason for it? I’m EEEVIILL

Then there’s the temptress inside Amaterasu that is a literal demonic trauma made me evil demonic possession BS. Maki’s “Arc” instead being a discussion between her superior and her brother in regards to her future, which ends in a decision she had already taken before and while bein OUT OF SCREEN THE ENTIRE TIME SO WERE STUCK WITH TWO DUDES DISCUSSING WHATS BEST FOR HER]
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Banjo Main



Joined: 12 Sep 2019
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:12 pm Reply with quote
I mean all of their grievances were just nitpicking honestly. Saying the show is misogynistic is honestly just ignorant as well. Sure the fan service with literally only ONE character is a bit ham-fisted, but it could easily be taken as a satire on literally every other shonen anime that does stuff like this. Having a couple of women have a troubled backstory SO FAR (only 9 episodes in) does not automatically make the the show misogynistic or create the endpoint that the female characters have no dignity in the slightest. I mean Shinra has the most troubled backstory by far out of the characters that have been shown so far in my eyes.


Just because a character is used for gags, doesn't mean they cant have serious character development, IE Tamki, or Arthur. Sure those characters are there for mostly gags when I think the show is witty enough as is, but that doesn't discount a serious plotline or meaningful character development from said characters.

The plot was never about fighting infernals(as a user previously stated). Even though this is a large part of the entertainment of the show, there is an underlying plot that has been established during the first 30 seconds of the anime being: There are people being turned into infernals, I need to find out why. Literally every single sub plot for the show has supported this wether it be Shinra, Tamaki or even Hibana's sub plot.
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ThrowMeOut



Joined: 10 Oct 2018
Posts: 256
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:45 pm Reply with quote
Banjo Main wrote:
I mean all of their grievances were just nitpicking honestly. Saying the show is misogynistic is honestly just ignorant as well.


Oh honey no, take it from a woman, Fire Force is misogynistic. But it's also not terribly malicious. I never get a feeling that the creator has a burning hatred for women or anything, just that he's not really good at or interested in developing them beyond being some cute cheesecake you can slap on a body pillow.

I'm caught up on the anime, because besides the cringe fanservice there's a lot about the show I like. The animation obviously, but also the music, the worldbuilding, the character designs, the experimental cinematography. It's so dang close to being a masterpiece but it just can't quite reach it. It's honestly more frustrating than if the show had been a complete flop.

I've heard mixed things about what comes next in the manga. Some people keep insisting that it "gets way better!" while others shake their heads and say "no it doesn't!" Guess I'll keep watching until either it improves or I can't stand watching one more scene of accidental oral.
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