is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Atsushi Ohkubo , is a Japanese manga artist known for his work on the manga series ''Soul Eater (manga), Soul Eater'' and ''Fire Force'', both of which have been adapted into anime television series. Ohkubo worked as an assistant under Rando Ayamine, on the man ...

. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''

Weekly Shōnen Magazine is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male high ...

'' from September 2015 to February 2022, with its chapters collected in thirty-four ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. In North America, the manga has been licensed for English language release by

Kodansha USA Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...

. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation by

David Production is a Japanese animation studio founded in September 2007 and is based in Nishitōkyō, Tokyo. Notable works from the studio include ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', ''Cells at Work!'', and '' Fire Force''. Establishment The company was founded b ...

aired from July to December 2019 on the

MBS MBS may refer for: People * Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia * Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician Places * MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US * Mari ...

's Super Animeism block. A second season aired from July to December 2020. A third season has been announced. The anime television series has been licensed by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

. As of May 2022, the ''Fire Force'' manga had over 20 million copies in circulation.

Synopsis

Setting

The is an event that happened two hundred and fifty years ago, 50 years before the Solar year 0. During it, the world was set on fire, and many nations were wiped out with very few habitable areas left in the aftermath. The survivors took refuge in the Tokyo Empire, which remained mostly stable during the period despite 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 Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the pseudoscientific concept of the combustion of a living (or recently deceased) human body without an apparent external source of ignition. In addition to reported cases, descriptions of the alleged ph ...

where human beings are turned into living infernos called While the Infernals are first generation cases of spontaneous human combustion, with more powerful horned variations known as Demons, later generations possess

pyrokinesis Pyrokinesis is the purported psychic ability allowing a person to create and control fire with the mind. As with other parapsychological phenomena, there is no conclusive evidence in support of the actual existence of pyrokinesis. Many alleged c ...

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 of eight independent

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

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, and was ostracized as a child for the fire that killed his mother and younger brother Sho twelve years ago. 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 the fire that killed his mother was a cover for Sho to be taken by the White Clad, a

doomsday cult A doomsday cult is a cult, that believes in apocalypticism and millenarianism, including both those that predict disaster and those that attempt to destroy the entire universe. Sociologist John Lofland coined the term ''doomsday cult'' in his ...

behind the Infernal attacks with agents within the facets of the Tokyo Empire. Company 8 and their allies oppose the White Clad while learning of their goal to gather eight individuals like Shinra and Sho to repeat the Great Cataclysm for an ancient being who manipulated humanity for that very purpose.

Media

Manga

''Fire Force'', written and illustrated by

, was serialized in

's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''

'' from September 23, 2015, to February 22, 2022. In the final chapter, it is hinted that ''Fire Force'' is connected to Ohkubo's other manga series '' Soul Eater''. Kodansha collected its chapters in thirty-four ''

'' volumes, released from February 17, 2016, to May 17, 2022. The series is licensed for English release in North America by

, which published the first volume on November 8, 2016.

Anime

television series adaptation by studio

was announced on November 14, 2018. The series was directed by

Yuki Yase is a Japanese director and storyboard artist. He joined Satelight in 2005 as a production manager. In 2010, Yase joined Shaft as an episode director, and made his series directorial debut with '' Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb''. Career Yase beg ...

, with Gakuto Haijima handling the series' scripts, Hideyuki Morioka designing the characters and Kenichiro Suehiro composing the music. The series aired from July 6 to December 28, 2019 on

and TBS as part of the Super Animeism block. It ran for 24 episodes. Due to the

Kyoto Animation arson attack The occurred at Kyoto Animation's Studio 1 building in the Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Fushimi ward of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, on the morning of 18 July 2019. The arson killed people, injured an additional 34 (including the suspect), and d ...

on July 18, 2019, Episode 3, which was originally scheduled to air on July 19, 2019, was postponed to July 26, 2019. The first opening theme is by Mrs. Green Apple and the first ending theme is "veil" by Keina Suda. The second opening theme is " MAYDAY" by

Coldrain are a Japanese rock band from Nagoya, Japan, who were formed in 2007. The band combines melodic singing with screams typical of the post-hardcore genre. Although the band is Japanese, all of their songs are written in English. The lineup consi ...

feat. Ryo from

Crystal Lake Crystal Lake or Crystal Lakes may refer to: Lakes Canada * Crystal Lake (Saskatchewan) * Crystal Lake (Ontario), drain into the Lynn River, which drains into Lake Erie United States * Crystal Lake, California, a mountain lake in Nevad ...

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 aired from July 4 to December 12, 2020. In May 2020, a promotional video for the second season was released. The second season was directed by Tatsuma Minamikawa (replacing Yuki Yase from the previous season). The second season ran for 24 episodes. The first opening theme is "SPARK-AGAIN", performed by

Aimer is a Japanese pop singer and lyricist signed to SACRA MUSIC and managed by agehasprings. Her name comes from the verb "Aimer" in French, which means "to love". Aimer uses the name aimerrhythm for lyrics credits. Debuted in 2011, she has relea ...

, while the first ending theme is "ID", performed by Cider Girl. The second opening theme is "

Torch of Liberty "Torch of Liberty" is a song by Japanese rock band Kana-Boon. It was released as the band's sixteenth major-label single, released on November 25, 2020, through Ki/oon Music. "Torch of Liberty" was used as the second opening theme song for the s ...

", performed by Kana-Boon, while the second ending theme is "Desire", performed by Pelican Fanclub. A third season was announced in May 2022.

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 Funimation's English dub of the series would premiere on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late night television programming block that primarily broadcasts Japanese animation and occasionally American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by Williams Street, a divis ...

programming block on July 28, 2019. The second season premiered on Toonami on November 8, 2020, two weeks later than its original scheduled date.

Stage plays

In 2020, a stage-play adaptation of the series ran from July 31 to August 2 at the

Umeda Arts Theater is a Japanese theater located at Chayamachi Applause in Chayamachi, Kita-ku, Osaka, operated by Umeda Arts Theater Co., Ltd. It opened in 1992. Umeda Arts Theater Co., Ltd. is a member of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group and a subsidiary of Hankyu Cor ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

and from August 7 to August 9 at KT Zepp Yokohama in

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

. The play was directed by Sho Kubota, script written by Yusei Naruse, and music composed by Masaki Miyoshi; the protagonist Shinra Kusakabe was played by Hikaru Makishima. In 2022, a second stage-play ran from January 18–23 at KT Zepp Yokohama and from January 27–30 at the Sankei Hall Breeze in Osaka; it featured the same staff and Makishima reprised his role as Shinra. Also in 2022, a third stage-play ran from September 17–25 at the Sunshine Theatre in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and from September 29 to October 2 at the in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

; Shinra was played by Ryoga Ishikawa.

Video game

In May 2022, an original video game titled ''Fire Force: Enbu no Shō'' was announced. Mrs. Green Apple will perform the game's theme song "En En".

Reception

As of January 2018, the manga had 1.8 million copies in circulation; 7.3 million copies in circulation as of June 2020; 10 million copies in circulation as of July 2020; 12 million copies in circulation as of October 2020; 15 million copies in circulation as of April 2021; 16 million copies in circulation as of June 2021; 17.5 million copies in circulation as of February 2022; and over 20 million copies in circulation as of May 2022. The series ranked #13 on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2017" poll by Honya Club online bookstore. ''Gadget Tsūshin'' listed the prayer for Infernals, "Látom", on their 2019 most popular anime-related buzzwords list. On

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, ''Fire Force'' ranked #84. The manga was nominated for the 45th

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

in the ''shōnen'' category in 2021.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Authority control 2019 anime television series debuts Adventure anime and manga Anime series based on manga Animeism Dark fantasy anime and manga David Production Firefighting in fiction Funimation Kodansha manga Mainichi Broadcasting System original programming Science fantasy anime and manga Shōnen manga Spontaneous human combustion in fiction Television series about firefighting TBS Television (Japan) original programming Toonami Upcoming anime television series