YMMV / Fire Force

aka: Enen No Shoubotai

• Americans Hate Tingle: Tamaki was ranked second in the first popularity poll in Japan. However, she's more divisive overseas due to her "Lucky Lecher Lure" curse, since many Western fans take issue with her entire character being a walking Fanservice machine who loses her clothes and/or gets groped in almost every appearance.
• Anvilicious: Chapter 281 is pretty much Ohkubo getting on his soap box against Tamaki's detractors by having a mother act as a Straw Critic to her getting undressed, and her son goes on a large spiel calling her a hypocrite.
• Awesome Music:
  • The first opening theme, "Inferno" by Mrs. GREEN APPLE, is an exciting yet slightly melancholic rock piece. It's followed up by MAYDAY, from Coldrain featuring Ryo Kinoshita from Crystal Lake, a blood-pumping metalcore piece that shakes you to your core.
  • The second season's first opening, "SPARK-AGAIN" is a joy to listen, just like the first one and the vocals are provided by the wonderful and talented Aimer. The instrumental version also goes to show how killer the guitar solo is, and also happens to be the next episode preview music.
• Badass Decay: Assault got hit with this almost instantly. Even though he was introduced as the member of the White Clad who could take on all of Company 8 at once and win, he gets knocked out cold by Iris of all people, and from that point onwards becomes an outright Joke Character who's infatuated with Tamaki and tries to win her love.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Tamaki. One part of the fandom likes her and enjoys her Tsundere moments, her Ship Tease with Shinra, as well as the Fanservice she provides, while the other considers her to be an one-dimensional character whose only purpose in the story is to be a walking fanservice object. Not helped by the fact that Maki, who also has her fanservice moments, is more badass than her. Others like her character but find the fanservice itself irritating, because it is supposedly often more frequent and ill-timed than necessary.
  • Inca. On the one hand, you have those who enjoy her crazy and psychopathic personality, her callous attitude towards others, her disdain for a normal life, her need for an adrenaline rush and Love to Hate her. On the other hand, you have those who consider her a flat and Out of Focus character who's trying way too hard to be despicable and consider her to be annoying.
• Better on DVD: The Company 5 arc flows faster and smoother when reading at once.
• Broken Base:
  • Tamaki's "Lucky Lecher Lure" curse. Some find it amusing, especially given the improbable situations she can end up in. Others, however, consider it to be unnecessary fanservice that occurs so often, it turns her into an one-dimensional character.
  • The final arc heavily tying this series to Soul Eater, with the final battles basically providing an origin for its universe. While some think the setup and payoff was brilliantly executed, others think that Ohkubo is coasting off of his previous success by doing this.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: The second it was mentioned that Shinra's little brother Sho's body wasn't found in the first episode, viewers immediately figured out that he was still alive and that he was going to be an antagonist. The fact that Sho had white hair made it even more obvious for two reasons: 1. White Hair, Black Heart being a common villain trope in anime. 2. It's such a distinct look for an infant who supposedly died to have.
• Complete Monster:
  • Sister Sumire Sugita poses as a kind, grandmotherly figure to the young nuns of St. Raffles Convent, but in reality, her true allegiance lies with The Evangelist as a member of the White Clad. A businesswoman who lived before the First Great Cataclysm, Sumire's misanthropy led her to follow The Evangelist's desire to cleanse the world. Since the failure, Sumire has experimented on various individuals to rediscover the Eight Pillars, of which she is one, most notably the convent's children. Subjecting them to lifelong agony as Infernals that caused the church to explode, Sumire emotionlessly reveals the truth to her former student, Hibana, before returning to the White Clad's side to finish what she started, even sacrificing her life to empower her god bent on a twisted version of salvation.
  • Giovanni, initially a doctor with the heroes, is a mole for the White-Clad and one of the most depraved of the lot. Inheriting a mission to bring the Cataclysm to earth, Giovanni steals countless bodies with the hosts dying in the process and Giovanni inevitably moving on. Proving a sadist who constantly delights in the pain of his victims, even sacrificing his own to get to the heroes, Giovanni finally steals the body of the young boy Yu and initiates a new Cataclysm so that all living themes may become fuel for a new inferno.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Haijima is revealed to be conducting unethical experiments on the Sixth Pillar, Nataku Son, and Company 8 arrives to rescue him and Shinra from their goons. Then the White-Clad show up. This starts off as a very tense scene, but it somehow ends up with Company 8, the White-Clad, and Kurono essentially playing keep-away with a scared little boy as the ball.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Shinmon Benimaru is a minor character who doesn't have a lot of screen-time. In fact, his company is the only one that didn't show up to help out during the Find the Fifth Pillar arc. He is nonetheless extremely popular for being Mr. Fanservice and World's Strongest Man.
• Estrogen Brigade: Benimaru has plenty of female fans for being good-looking, muscular, on top of being an utterly badass character.
• Fetish Retardant: The way fanservice is handled has been a regular criticism of the series, especially since much of it tends to happen at inappropriate times and causes severe Mood Whiplash as a result. Tamaki and her "Lucky Lecher Lure" curse is the main source of fanservice, and the laws of the universe seem to dictate that, through no one's fault, she will end up losing clothes, getting groped, or being sexualized in some manner. That's bog standard enough for shonen manga, but it's not only a gag that's run into the ground, it's also half-hearted. It feels more like Atsushi Okubo is paying lip service to the fact that boobs and "ecchi"-style slapstick is indivisible from shonen manga these days. The fact that even guys in-universe either ignore it or get annoyed by it lends credence to this idea.
• Growing the Beard: Most fans will agree that the series really starts to pick up after the Evangelist and White Clad are introduced.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The anime premiered mere weeks before Kyoto Animation's Studio 1 building was burned to the ground by an insane arsonist, killing 36 people in Japan's deadliest mass murder to date. The plot of the third episode, meant to air the following day, involves an arsonist trying to burn down a building and kill the people inside. Naturally, it was postponed until the following week, with the color of the flames also being changed for good measure.
• Ho Yay:
  • Both Iris and Hibana are quick to praise the physical beauty of Maki, with Hibana doing so in the shower, including Maki blushing and rhetorically asking if Hibana means it. Hibana and Iris also have moments of this including Hibana doing a groping moment with Iris in the shower.
  • Benimaru and Konro are intensely protective and loyal to each other. This could be a Sworn Brothers thing since they are both fire soldiers from the same company, but Konro really likes taking pictures of Benimaru for the Fire Force's nude calendar.
  • Shinra and Arthur. Despite their Volleying Insults, the two can still be oddly close to each other. Most notably, when they are trying to sleep (they sleep in the double decker bed), they often open up to each other with little hesitance. It doesn't help that Arthur can and will get away with using Shinra as a vehicle, even if Shinra is occasionally annoyed by it.
  • There is some Accidental Innuendo between Shinra and Obi. The first time they formally meet, Obi gets very close to Shinra and outright calls him adorable. Later on, when Hibana shows to have little trouble getting Shinra and and the rest of Company 8 on her side, she and Obi start a comedic exchange that out of context look like they were competing for Shinra via Through His Stomach.
  • Hinawa had a tragic dynamic with Tōjō, his comrade from his military days. Failing to give Tōjō a satisfactory death (using a baptized gun) after he turned into an Infernal still haunts Hinawa. During his battle with Arrow, just seeing an illusion of Tōjō (made by Mirage in an attempt to demoralize him) fills Hinawa with the needed hope and peace to finish the battle victoriously.
• LGBT Fanbase: The male cast of the story quickly got a gay male following, especially Obi, for his Workout Fanservice nature, and Vulcan, for his Hot Men at Work presentation.
• Lost in Medias Res: The first two arcs move really quickly, giving the sense that major plot moments are simply happening without the proper build-up or establishing of a current status quo. For example, Infernals were introduced as people who are mindless shells of their former selves in the first episode... only for the idea of Infernals capable of conscious thought to be quickly introduced in the second episode. Before the audience can begin to digest that knowledge, they're hit by the appearance of a fully cognizant one in episode four.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Látom" is used frequently in-universe at the ending of a prayer akin to "Amen". In some comedic situations, characters use it to express their condolences. The latter use of the phrase gets seen like "Press F to Pay Respects" and is used in the same manner. Some characters (like Sister Iris!) use it as a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.
  • "Sister, begin the prayer". Often used to express disagreement over something that someone said in the fandom, to show that what this person did will be their last saying.
• Moe: Sister Iris is adorable. A kind-hearted girl with Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold and Innocent Blue Eyes who prays for the souls of Infernals to find peace, it is no wonder that both characters and fans become protective of her.
• Most Wonderful Sound: The bass boosted boom when Benimaru finishes off the Infernal in Episode 14.
• Narm Charm: In any other work, the unsettling smile of a young Shinra after Burns tells him that his mother and little brother apparently died in the fire that burned his house would end being ridiculous due how over the top it looks compared to the other smiles Shinra pulls through the series, but, considering that he just lost his whole family and that the smile is a coping mechanism to hide his pain from a situation he's unable to understand at such young age, it makes it both hilarious, terrifying and heartbreaking at the same time.
• Obvious Judas: Once the possibility of a traitor was brought up, the viewers immediately figured out it was Rekka, due to his overly friendly personality coming off like he's trying way too hard to not look evil.
• Paranoia Fuel: The entire premise: you, a loved one, or a relative could, at any time, suddenly turn into an Infernal, a horrifying monster that constantly feels the pain of burning to death and destroys everything in its path. Once this happens, the only thing that can be done for you is to be put down by the Special Fire Force. Anyone could transform, and there's no telling when it will happen.
• Strawman Has a Point: The mother from chapter 281 is supposed to be seen as an irrational prude for chewing Tamaki out after she got undressed in public, which is indecent exposure, in front of a five-year-old boy.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The animation team is comprised heavily of animators who left Studio Shaft in 2018 due to poor management, a studio well-known for its beautiful, visually distinctive anime. Unsurprisingly then, the visuals are easily the most praised aspect of the anime, both for the animation and excellent direction.
• Woolseyism:
  • The Japanese title, Een Een no Shouboutai, translates to "Fire Brigade of Flames." The official English title, however, is the less redundant Fire Force.
  • During Ogun's battle with Tempe, which sees him unleash a Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs, Zeno Robinson, his English voice actor, has Ogun scream out a volley of ORAORAORAORA before finally finishing off with SMASH.

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