Honestly, Japan could make an anime out of anything these days. I have seen an anime about Tennis, as well as one about parkour, and the most bizarre was one based around a skeleton that works at a bookstore. So when I heard about a show premiering last summer about fire fighting, I couldn’t help but chuckle. I wasn’t going to take it seriously, and it was not until recently that my interest was sparked. Seeing it pop up on the Recently Updated section of VRV(a streaming service) my boyfriend and I decided to give it a shot and boy, was that a great decision on our part. Because we were both surprised by a fantastically written and shot animation that we simply could not draw our eyes away from.

Fire Force is set in a world where spontaneous human combustion is a serious problem on the planet. People may randomly catch fire and transform into beasts called Inferals who wreak havoc. The Special Fire Force is an organization created solely to deal with Infernals and put them to rest. The story follows Fire Force 8, which was created to investigate the other units of the organization for misconduct.

Now, the show has only currently aired 13 episodes but I have strong feelings about the story. I am very much a person that watches something through fully before giving my final judgments, so when I was looking at the reviews on My Anime List I was appalled by how many people gave such a poor rating after only watching five or six episodes since it is immediately after those episodes that the story really picks up. The distinct story telling style of the creator of the series, Atsushi Ōkubo, is something that long time that is familiar to long time anime fans. He is also the creator of Soul Eater, a very popular show that aired in 2008. Many people draw comparisons between the main characters of the two shows. This video talks about the similarities between them and the potential of Fire Force’s future.

So far I can confidently say that Fire Force is a show worth watching if you enjoy modern fantasy, and can admire beautifully animated flames.