FIRE FORCE 2 FULL ANIME REVIEW 2021

FIRE FORCE 2 FULL ANIME REVIEW

The world we know is no more. A mysterious phenomenon stripped the humanity of the right to have a quiet life, with hopes and dreams. This plague is known as Spontaneous Human Combustion, which turns people randomly into mindless creatures known as Infernals. And that is the fate worse than death that causes one sufferings unimaginable. However, there are people that can control this cursed power and become pyrokinetics. To solve the mystery and cure the humanity, the Fire Defense Agency, Tokyo Army and The Holy Sol Temple form The Special Fire Force, also nicknamed Blue Stripes. Will the Special Fire Force solve the mystery and save the humanity from its new curse?
Story
I used to have high hopes for Fire Force. Especially since Soul Eater, they share the same original creator with Fire Force, had such a bad ending. Anyways, story wise, the anime has a very unique storyline that many anime will surely be jealous of. However, one thing ruins it all and that is the fact that the anime does not know what it wants to be. There are so many things happening, but hardly any solid explanation is given about any of them. This is one of these examples, when an anime is trying to be everything, but fails miserably. There is a religion, which is quite an important part of the world of Fire Force, yet the viewer does not know that much about it and the anime protagonists hardly ever question the religion. The new season introduces new characters, when there is still a bunch of characters that need to get some screen time for the viewer to understand them better. But the main problem of the new season is that it focuses more on action scenes that on anything else. Firefighters fight against the villains, people die and instead of them trying to finish this fight as soon as possible, they continue their fights with some pointless dialogues and after these fights no one even mentions the fact that so many people have died.
Nothing changed. I would even say that there is even less story development in season 2 than in season 1. So many questions are unanswered and they are impossible to guess. A pity, since the first season did have more than enough material to work with to make Fire Force a masterpiece. However, it is just another Soul Eater that received ‘one of the greatest endings ever.’ It is just that there are far too many anime in this genre and with every year it becomes more of a problem for mangaka to come up with something that fans will regard as unique. Regrettably, there is nothing for me to prove that Fire Force is unique story wise, so hands off of it. No, this is not the case. The anime has far too many flaws, story wise.
Art
The graphic component of Enen no Shouboutai is perhaps the main advantage of this series. The art here looks very stylish - from characters design and to their clothes, as well as the movement animation in all kinds of battles; the animation surely is an eye candy. The characters turned out to be truly memorable; attention has even been paid to various small details like teeth and elements of clothing and eyes. But the most important thing here is that action scenes look simply mind-blowing.
Music
The composer for the OST is Kenichiro Suehiro, who previously managed to make a worthy soundtrack for Re: Zero. In my opinion, he made this series even more epic than it is. Can you imagine a shounen with amazing action scenes, but with an average OST? Unthinkable! The soundtrack turned out to be diverse and elaborate - it has many of both lyrical and dynamic pieces. What is more, all opening scenes, as well as the endings are so epic, so you never want to skip them. The openings tend to be more aggressive, building up the adrenaline for the viewer, the endings, however, are more calming and give you a minute to reconsider what is happening and just to breathe, because some scenes are just so cool that you will have no time for that. Voice acting is on the level, as always; the voice actors did one hell of a job, trying to make Fire Force less average.
Characters
Enen no Shouboutai has many characters and they are all very interesting to follow; they are also very different from each other, but at the same time, they complement each other, which makes the characters of this anime very intriguing. I will not try to hide the fact that many of them have cliché personalities of ‘insert a battle shounen here.’ It is not that much of a problem that many of the characters have cliché personalities; a genius can make a masterpiece out of a cliché storyline, as well as characters. The problem is that the viewer hardly gets to find out more about them and to understand the reasoning behind their actions. The whole new season feels as if it is some ‘throw a random character, make him fight Asta than show some nudes of a cat girl that is now a nun and then throw in even more characters, so that no one ever remembers that there are still characters that should tell their story. It just feels so chaotic, incoherent and disappointing.
The main problem of the series remains the same. With a weak story like this, the only way to save the whole series would be interesting characters. However, this is hardly the case. It feels like the only character in the whole anime is Shinra. Even Arthur, who is supposed to be the one to make Shinra follow the path to save people and to make sure that what Shinra does is needed. I do not know, he could have just kept calling him the devil and taunting him that he would slay him, if there was something, he did not like about Shinra’s actions. Anything! But the characters are just beyond boring, they are just a bunch of NPC-like characters that wait for Shinra to do anything. A huge disappointment.
Score
3 nekomata out of 10 nekomata.
Overall
All in all, I regret watching the second season. After seeing the first season I was ready to overhype it and to prove each and every user that Fire Force did have the potential to become a masterpiece. However, the second season failed to live up to its potential and became something that more focused on the battle scenes that lack some deep meaning that would add a grain of mystery and unknown for Fire Force. With that being said, if you are fan of battle-shounen series that do more fighting, but less thinking, Fire Force is what you are looking for. However, if you think that Fire Force, as a battle shounen, has something unique for you to change your opinion on the genre, I am sorry to say that, but there is nothing unique about it.
Fire Force Season 2 is a shonen anime produced by David Production. After surviving their battle in the Nether the members of Fire Station 8 are taking a moment to catch their breath with a well earned day off. Unfortunately, spontaneous human combustion knows no holidays. Time for the Fire Force to get back to work. The first season of Fire Force was possibly my favorite anime experience of last year. The awesome characters, strong plot, and loads of humor drove its first season to anime excellence. With the release of the first two episodes here in America I’m thrilled to get to continue the adventure with Shinra and the rest of the team. So far, it’s off to a great start.
Episode one of Fire Force Season 2 starts off with Shinra, Tamaki, Sister Iris, and Maki enjoying a day off with some shopping. Character dynamics are instantly put into play, as all the corny antics between these characters are fully embraced. This light-hearted sequence wonderfully reestablishes the humor I expect from Fire Force Season 2.
Their shopping excursion is cut short when a huge explosion heralds the arrival of a colossal infernal. The rest of Fire Force Station 8 swiftly arrives and the team leaps into action. What the opening sequence was for the show’s humor, this sequence does equally well for its action. I especially appreciated that in their eagerness to get to the action they didn’t overlook the heroes’ emphasis on protecting lives. As the first order of business is clearing out the civilians from the danger zone.
Once the public is secure we are treated to an awesome battle sequence that takes the time to allow each character a chance to shine. Every member gets their moment. From Arthur wielding his trademark blue bladed Excalibur to Maki channeling her raw power onto the opponent, everybody gets to do their part. With the immediate threat defeated, episode two of Fire Force Season 2 gives our heroes a chance to continue their search to find The Evangelist. This leads Shinra back to the academy he was trained at to speak with the head instructor there.
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