Fire Force is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Atsushi Ōkubo. It has been serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine since September 2015, and collected into 24 tankōbon volumes as of July 2020. An anime television series adaptation by David Production aired from July to December 2019 on the MBS's Super Animeism block. A second season premiered in July 2020. In North America, the manga has been licensed for an English language release by Kodansha USA, and the anime television series has been licensed by Funimation.
Synopsis
Setting
The Great Disaster is an event that happened two hundred and fifty years before Year 198, with the world mostly consumed in flame, many nations destroyed, and most of the planet rendered uninhabitable. The survivors took refuge in the Tokyo Empire, which remained mostly stable during the period despite Japan losing some of its landmass. The Tokyo Emperor Raffles I establishes the faith of the Holy Sol Temple as it and Haijima Industries developed the perpetual thermal energy plant Amaterasu to power the country. In Year 198 of Tokyo's Solar Era, special fire brigades called the Fire Force fight increasing incidents of spontaneous human combustion where human beings are turned into living infernos called "Infernals". While the Infernals are first generation cases of spontaneous human combustion, with more powerful horned variations known as Demons, later generations possess pyrokinesis while retaining human form. The Fire Force was formed by combining people with these powers from the Holy Sol Temple, The Tokyo Armed Forces and the Fire Defense Agency, and is composed by eight independent companies.
Plot
Shinra Kusakabe is a third generation pyrokinetic youth who gained the nickname "Devil's Footprints" for his ability to ignite his feet at will. He joins Special Fire Force Company 8, which features other pyrokinetics who dedicated themselves to ending the Infernal attacks for good while investigating Companies 1 through 7 for potential corruption in their ranks. Shinra begins to learn that his younger brother's abduction during the fire that killed their mother 12 years ago is caused by a mysterious doomsday cult that is behind the Infernal attacks. Company 8 and their allies oppose the White Cloaks and their Knights of the Ashen Flame, who seek certain individuals like Shinra and his brother to enact a scheme to repeat the Great Disaster.
Media
Manga
Fire Force is written and illustrated by Atsushi Ōkubo. It began its serialization in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine on September 23, 2015. In a July 2019 interview, the creator stated that he expected the manga's ending to be "probably Volume 30. It could change. But no more than 50". In May 2020, Ōkubo announced that the manga is in its final stage, and he also commented that Fire Force would be his final manga. Its individual chapters have been collected into individual tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. The first volume was released on February 17, 2016. As of July 17, 2020, twenty-four volumes have been released. The series is licensed for English-language release in North America by Kodansha USA, which published the first volume on November 8, 2016.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation by studio David Production was announced on November 14, 2018. The series is directed by Yuki Yase, with Yamato Haijima handling the series' scripts, Hideyuki Morioka designing the characters and Kenichiro Suehiro composing the music. The series aired from July 5 to December 27, 2019 on Japan News Network stations MBS and TBS as part of the Super Animeism block. It ran for 24 episodes. Due to the Kyoto Animation arson attack on July 18, 2019, Episode 3, which was originally scheduled to air on July 19, 2019, was postponed to July 26, 2019. The opening theme is "Inferno" by Mrs. Green Apple and the ending theme is "veil" by Keina Suda. The second opening theme is "MAYDAY" by Coldrain feat. Ryo from Crystal Lake from their album The Side Effects and the second ending is "Nо̄nai" by Lenny code fiction. A second season was announced in December 2019, and it premiered on July 3, 2020. The official announcements describe the continuation as the "2nd chapter" of the anime series. In May 2020, a promotional video for the second season was released. The second season is directed by Tatsuma Minamikawa. The second season will run for 24 episodes. The opening theme is "SPARK-AGAIN", performed by Aimer, while the ending theme is "ID", performed by Cider Girl. Funimation has licensed the series for streaming on FunimationNow. The series was simulcast in Southeast Asia on Aniplus Asia. On July 19, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere on Adult Swim'sToonami block on July 27, 2019. The second season will premiere on Toonami on October 24, 2020.
Stage Play
A stage-play adaptation of the series was announced on January 7, 2020, confirming the cast for the play and is scheduled to run on July 31 to August 2 at the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka and on August 7 to August 9 at KT Zepp Yokohama in Kanagawa. The play is directed by Sho Kubota, the scriptwriter is Yusei Naruse, and music composer is Masaki Miyoshi. The protagonist Shinra Kusakabe will be played by Hikaru Makishima.
Reception
As of January 2018, the manga had 1.8 million copies in print. As of June 2020, the manga had 7.3 million copies in print. Gadget Tsūshin listed "Látom" in their 2019 anime buzzwords list.
