Fire Force Season 3

Episode 25

So, if you didn't already catch on, I've known about the “twist” of this finale for a long time now. Thanks to internet spoilers (and my own insatiable need to understand just what the hell that smiley moon was doing up in the sky back at the end of Season 2), the fact that Fire Force turned out to be a prequel to Soul Eater all along is actually the only thing I knew about the show's finale when this Final Season started airing. That said, even if you somehow had absolutely no idea that this was coming, or had no familiarity with Soul Eater at all, it's been pretty clear that Shinra's ultimate plan to save humanity was going to be pretty, um, transformative. If nothing else, Haumea and the White-Clad were right about one thing: Humans have always been afraid to die, and that fear is what sends us to the darkest pits of our despair.

So, you can see how Shinra's big ol' goofy-idiot brain came up with a rather perfect design for this brand new world of his: Just make death a little more familiar. Friendly, even. If the new world is, say, the kind of wacky cartoon wonderland where a little dismemberment and destruction is no big deal, maybe people will learn to be a little less distracted by their mortality. Maybe they'll be able to embrace the inherent absurdity of life and have a little fun with it. Some souls, like Amaterasu and Sumire, have still seen enough shit across the first two realities that they would rather find some peace in oblivion, but plenty of others get their second chance at life. All of the folks who died in the Cataclysm are alive again. The captain is back, sans a little bit of neck tissue. Benimaru is alive and well. Hell, even Shinra's mom has regained her humanity, even if she's still stuck in that creepy-but-also-kind-of-hot monster form. All of the pillars are here, actually, and a familiar skull-faced god relieves the world of the Adolla Bursts and the curse of Human Combustion.

The best revival, I think, is Iris'. Her sudden and shocking death still could have been presented more effectively, but it helps to know that her ultimate fate is to be reunited with her friends and awarded a life of true agency and potential. The episode really sells her final interaction with Amaterasu, including an impeccably animated final touch of the hands that stands out as one of the best moments of this entire season.

Now, do I feel like this climax of incredibly sweet, literal wish-fulfilment was the natural conclusion that Fire Force was building up to all along? Not really, no, but I do think that it was a fairly smart move for the show to pivot to its focus on the power of creation and expression in the fight against despair, even if the story veered into self-indulgent nonsense every now and then to get us here. Like I've been saying for years, Fire Force isn't a show that makes us think; it makes us feel. I'm not trying to excuse its many instances of genuinely sloppy or half-baked writing, not to mention its obvious tonal inconsistencies. I still think that this was a very well-crafted tale of adventure and derring-do, at the end of the day. I just think that craft is rooted more in spectacle and Big, Loud Feelings, rather than any of the more subtle storytelling arts that we tend to praise the most.

With that, it's time for us to say goodbye to Shinra, Arthur, Iris, Maki, Tamaki, and all of the other dorks who have made us smile and cheer over the last seven years. It's been a wild ride, and I can see myself revisiting the adventures of Fire Force Company 8 whenever I need to remind myself to kick back and have a little fun. In the meantime, I feel a real hankering to crack open an old volume of Soul Eater and catch up with a different band of old friends…

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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.