Fire Force Season 3

Episode 18

Hell yeah. Now that's what I'm talking about, Fire Force.

As befitting an episode with a title as badass as “Incantation of Destruction,” this week gives the final season of Fire Force yhe chance to ramp things up to an appropriately climactic, apocalyptic level. Last week's faceoff between Ogun and Charon was great, of course, but it was clearly just an appetizer. With the stellar animation and gloriously cheesy “final dungeon of a 100-hour long JRPG” vibes cranked up to eleven, this episode sees Fire Force blazing at its best and brightest.

Really, the only shame is that Arthur has to be his usual dumbass self and go wandering off on his own to pursue his quasi-delusional path of glory. Don't get me wrong, I love that Arthur gets to be a deranged weirdo up until the very end. It's just that we've had so much fun teaming him up with Vulcan's crew, and I would have loved to see him cut loose and help the gang take on Giovanni. Then again, the guy is so powerful that maybe Ohkubo's intent was to give the old workshop trio an opportunity to kick some ass in their own right.

And let me tell you, friends, that this episode does indeed kick an unholy amount of ass. It takes a minute for things to really get going, but it's hard for me to complain when we get to revel in the lovely ridiculousness of Giovanni ranting about the newly finite nature of pi being the titular “Incantation of Destruction” that will finally transform the planet into a second sun now that the Joseph clans meddling with Amaterasu has been undone. It"s all nonsense, of course, but it's delicious nonsense that sets the perfect mood for an epic boss battle that has been centuries in the making. We even get a darkly funny crashout from Yu that reminds us of his terrible trauma only to set up the episode's most tragic turn of events.

Before that, though, we get to revel in the best and most atmospheric fight scene that Fire Force has delivered in ages. Giovanni becoming a twisted legion of disgusting body-horror Insects? Hell yes. Vulcan and Lisa teaming up to unleash sick-nasty flame tentacles and EMP bomb attacks against the mad doctor? Hell yes? Cutting away at the perfect time to showcase Hinawa absolutely wrecking Charon's shit with a machine-gun blast of explosions? That's a ten-four affirmative on another “Hell yes!”, boss. Even Yu's sad Infernalization at the hands of Giovanni's bugs has to be awarded its rightful (but bittersweet) “Hell yes.” I'm sorry, pal. It's just that the threat of your imminent and nightmarish death gives this whole battle so much more impact! I'm sure Yu understand.

Overall, this is exactly what I wanted from Fire Force's final run. We've got spectacle, horror, melodrama, and the propulsive thrills of climactic frenzy all in equal measures. I can only hope the show keeps this momentum up in the weeks to come.

Rating:

Fire Force is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Fridays.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.