Review: Fire Force Season 3 Cour 1

Spoiler-free review:

Fire Force, Fire Force, Fire Force. Oh, how I have missed you in the last few years. Some of you anime-only folks have had to wait quite a while for season 3... Some of you were patient. I commend you. 

This review will be solely based on Season 3 cour 1 for obvious reasons. For those that enjoyed season 1? This is absolutely for you. Season 2, of course, as well, but S2 was quite a bit slower (and for whatever reason I have spoken to a lot of people that dropped it during S2). So, if you watched S2 and felt like it slowed down a little, or just kind of made you pause about the rest of the series... then go get your eyes checked... then do not fret! S3 picks it back up. 

Overall, cour 1 is a solid adaptation with a few BIG key moments. It also splits the source material at a perfect point for cours 1 and 2. Leaves you with a ton of question and some answers. It adapts heavier moments really well. It even kind of dips into horror territory, which is really cool. With what is being covered, it fits perfectly and I think accomplishes what they were trying to do in S2 even better. It properly invokes some of those innate emotions without feeling a bit like a drag. It also starts introducing some of the wackier stuff that you see more and more of soon (plot relevant, I assure you).

There are SOOOO many awesome moments coming up as the series wraps up, however, a good majority of them actually do occur in the second cour. That being said, this cour definitely can stand on its own and it does a ton for the lore moving forward. So definitely do not skip it. 

There seems to be some worry about the amount of source material that needs to be adapted (like ~90 chapters in 13 episodes), however, I think with the quick pace, the sheer number of fights, and the length of the chapters. I think Fire Force is on track to nail the anime ending just as the manga ending did in early 2022. 

So, if you have any doubts, pick it up. It is one of the few shonen with really good endings in my honest opinion. And while it has its.... quirkiness, as do most manga/anime, if you can look beyond that, Fire Force is really such a solid series with great lore, a fun premise, and some truly amazing characters. 

Overall? My rating is a 4/5! And I will definitely be on the lookout and watching cour 2 as it drops. Bonus points for my wife being caught up for this one and us watching together. Love when that happens.