The first episode of Season 3 of Fire Force is here after almost 4 years have passed since the end of Season 2. The first episode delivered a mixture of recap to help jog the memory of fans who haven’t seen the series in a while and some advancement of the plot. Unlike a lot of recap, especially beginning-of-the-season recap, this was woven pretty naturally into the episode and felt relatively organic and not jarring. Even more, after 4 years of no new episodes, it definitely felt fair to dedicate this amount of time to recapping the highlights of the second season, something this episode did well.

The second half of the episode was dedicated to advancing the plot, including the reintroduction of most of the major characters from Special Fire Force Company 8, a few of the major antagonists, and a variety of others important to the early events of Season 3. Generally speaking, I think this episode did its job.

Anyone watching it will be gently reminded of the events of Season 2 while being introduced to a plot altering series of events to spark interest and really set up the central conflict of the coming arc. All the while, the series shone in some key moments with impressive, high quality, familiar styles of art, impressive as always sound design, and a lot less fan service than I expected.

Solid Visuals

As the recap kicks off, we’re treated to some sparring matches between the members of Company 8, and these looked absolutely fantastic. Fire Force is often praised for things like sound design, but people often forget how much attention to detail goes into making a power system whose principle unit is flames feel unique across a variety of characters. Arthur and Shinra’s sparring match in particular showed off brief but impressive combat and clashes between Shinra’s feet and Arthur’s blade. Maki and Tamaki’s match, while bookended with some classic Fire Force unneeded Tamaki lecher lure mishaps, did show off some nice moments involving her colorful flames wrapping and twisting around with her catlike movements.

A Shocking Twist

The most shocking moment of the episode by far was the moment of “unification” as the Holy Sol Temple and White Clad began collaboration. It also contained my personal favorite section of the episode, that being Haumea’s convincing Burns to cooperate with the white clad and otherwise endorse a move certain to cause a schism within one of Fire Force‘s main powers.

This show is an action heavy one, but also one whose plot is principally built off of the interaction between multiple forces; having two of those forces, that being the White Clad and the Holy Sol Temple, collaborate weakens the Special Fire Brigade and places them in opposition to all of the remaining forces. Like the end of the episode implies, this single set of scenes essentially positions the eighth against not only the White Clad, but anyone with strong ties to the Temple.

Haumea is one of the coolest characters in Fire Force and sports one of the more unique combinations of personality and powers. Her tendency for sadism and misanthropy is constantly juxtaposed with the language of the White Clad that seems to imply salvation for humanity. It’s a rather unique sort of character and one that this season will certainly explore more about. Her decision to recruit Burns through manipulation rather than outright control (which she almost certainly has done to Raffles) demonstrates how ridiculous the power of influence can go and speaks to the ways in which cult-like organizations manipulate things like faith to get what they want.

If I were to criticize this scene, I would mention that this particular “win” came perhaps too easy or too quickly for the White Clad. I would have preferred that the 1st were won over in a more slow and methodical manner, but the way Haumea’s conversation with Burns was executed, visualized, and directed makes me more than okay with how this ended up playing out. This was a spectacular adaptation of the same scenes from the manga.

The end of the episode did a fair job setting up (and explaining) the broader plot while also creating some sense of urgency by revealing a plan to implant Obi with an Insect. I think the conversation amongst the 8th was a bit drawn out and slow, but that’s probably to be expected with a first episode of the season. Season 3 is going to contain some of my favorite battles of Fire Force. I can’t wait to see how they get adapted.

Images via Crunchyroll
©Atsushi Ohkubo, KODANSHA/ “FIRE FORCE Season 3” Production Committee