Fire Force Season 3

Episode 23

So far as atmosphere goes, “Despaire Saintess” is Fire Force in top form. The production values are immaculate, the apocalyptic vibes are on point, and our heroes have been pushed to their absolute limit in the battle against the forces of Despair with a Capital-D. Fittingly, this climactic confrontation with Haumea is essentially the show's big 'Third Impact' moment…Though I think it may work better on paper than in execution.

The biggest drawback to this particular phase of Fire Force's conclusion is ironically what has been the source of some of its greatest successes, which is the series' earnest and uncompromising commitment to every big shonen battle manga cliche there has ever been. When it comes to setting up cool fights and delivering sick payoffs of character powerups and declarations of ultimate friendship, this approach has largely worked in Fire Force's favor. It has been struggling, somewhat, to translate this willfully stupid gung-ho energy to its more serious-minded storytelling ambitions as the world has been sucked further into the depths of apocalyptic darkness.

To put it another way: I'm a huge Danganronpa fan, and there is still only so much monologuing about the opposite forces of Despair and Hope that I can take before my eyes start to glaze over and my brain enters standby mode in wait for something more stimulating to happen onscreen. I really dig what Haumea's arc has been in this final stretch of episodes, but the show has been more than clear enough about the nature of this final Cataclysm, its connection to the fears borne from humanity's collective unconscious, and yada yada. The crux of this fight is actually incredibly simple: Haumea needs Shinra to give in to the Big D (of Despair) so the subconscious death-drive will win out in her nihilistic reshaping of the universe, while Sho is in the opposite corner pleading to his big brother's good nature. If the episode were half as long, the whole sequence would be twice as effective, but I suppose the demands of broadcast television meant that not a single repetitive line about Hope and Despair could be cut for pacing. Alas.

Haumea and the White-Clad's strategies are rather effective bursts of drama, at least. Seeing Inca and Sumire get conflagrated in holy fire is a hell of a way to begin the episode, and you have to at least give Haumea credit for putting on a good show as the titular Saintess of Despair. I'm of two minds about the most shocking visual of the finale, which is that of Iris' style-shifted corpse rotting on a spike. I'd like to hope it is just an illusion meant to fuck with our heroes, but I honestly wouldn't put it past Fire Force to kill the poor girl off-screen just to push Shinra closer to the edge. At least the violent murder of Captain Obi has witnesses in both the other Fire Force crew and in us, the audience.

Despite my reservations over how we end up at…well, the end, I do have to give Fire Force credit for concluding this episode with a showstopping plunge into literal endless darkness. Given how many years we've spent with this gang, it is impossible not to get a little emotional over seeing the heroes lose, or at least get so close to losing that there is not one ray of light left at the end of the tunnel to inspire the Hope that we need to persev—ah, dammit, now I'm doing it!

Okay, fine, I will admit, when the credits cut to Arthur, just a bloody torso and a pair of arms floating through space, I felt that twinge of adolescent hype. When his hand grasped his blade to prepare for one last heroic showdown against the Devil he's been hunting his entire life, I physically had to stand up and pump my fists a couple of times. Yes, it's dumb, but this time it is the best kind of dumb. I take everything back that I might have said about hoping the Knight King stayed dead after slaying his Dragon. Help us, Sir Arthur Boyle, you're our only Hope.

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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.