Fire Force Season 3

Episode 22

“Hero Resurrected" has all the makings of a killer Fire Force episode, as it capitalizes on the potential at the heart of the Doppelgänger concept: Give our heroes the chance to face off against the twisted, Adolla-born counterparts who represent the warped perceptions that the world had built from them. It has all the inherent fun of an Evil Twin Showdown with a bunch of thematic heft tossed in at no extra charge. Unfortunately, while the episode is just fine, it doesn't do nearly enough to capitalize on its opportunities.

For one, out of all the characters we could have picked to showcase a multi-stage Doppelgänger faceoff, why did we end up with Kurono, Benimaru, and Joker? Don't get me wrong, these are all fun dudes to party with in a big anime battle, but I figured the whole point of a Doppelgänger battle was getting to play around with what the audience knows about our beloved cast of Fire Fighters and the contrast presented by their warped doubles. Joker has had his moments, but I don't think it's especially interesting to see a generically evil version of him dick around for a minute before getting killed by the Adolla-fied Captain Burns. Benimaru already had a badass duel with an ominous force from Adolla's depths just recently, so Doppel-maru can only come across as a meager shadow of a threat in comparison. As for Kurono…look, I chuckle at the guy's deadpan shtick, but I have to Google “Fire Force scythe guy” every single time an episode forces me to mention him in a review. He isn't exactly a Fire Force A-lister, and I could honestly not care less about what his kooky psycho Doppelgänger has to say.

Really, the only truly meaningful confrontation that we get this week is between Amaterasu and Iris, and even then, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Iris has been one of the most underserved characters of the entire cast, and this was Fire Force's big chance to give her a showstopping moment all her own. All we get, though, is the two girls standing naked in a boring white void while they hash out their beef. It's stock standard material, which Fire Force has proven it can elevate with the strength of its charm and force of will. Here, it feels like the show is putting in the bare minimum effort to move the plot along to the finale.

As I said, this isn't a bad episode, but we're so close to the endgame that Fire Force cannot afford to turn out anything less than its best work ever. Hell, even the episodes that have been “Messy But Ultimately Satisfying” got the job done. “Hero Resurrected” is Fire Force at its most bland and uninspired, and I can only pray that it's the last stumbling block the show will hit before it has to cross the finish line once and for all.

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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.