REVIEW: ‘Fire Force’ Season 3 Cour 2 Stumbles In Its Final Stretch

Fire Force Season 3 Cour 2, from David Production (Cells at Work), sees the final battles between the Fire Force and the White Clad play out as the world crashes towards the next Great Cataclysm. But even as hope seems lost, Shinra (Gakuto Kajiwara, Romantic Killer) and his friends have no plans to surrender to despair as they seek a way to save the world from the fires of Adolla. 

How well the final run of this series hits will depend on what you are looking for. The good and bad of these 13 episodes are split along a clear divide. While one side of the split delivers frequent, strong moments and compelling dives into its subject matter, the other is reduced to a train wreck of nonsense and convenient plot developments. Let’s talk about what goes right first. 

Fire Force Season 3 Cour 2’s biggest character triumph is Tamaki.

Fire Force Season 3 Cour 2‘s greatest strength is how it treats many of its characters. Long-running arcs for some of the series’ biggest secondary personalities are given great chances to shine one last time as their personal arcs come to a close. Arthur (Yûsuke Kobayashi, Fire Emblem: Three Houses) gets a rematch with Dragon (Masaki Aizawa, Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX), during which he gets to truly become the Knight King, and wins a triumph that once and for all puts him indisputably as Shinra’s equal as a hero. 

The season’s biggest character triumph comes from Tamaki (Aoi Yûki, One Punch Man). Having carried the curse of her Lucky Lechery Lure her whole life, the narrative gives her a grand moment to overcome what the burden it has placed upon her, while also shining a light on how society frequently looks at beauty, and the double standard with which we treat those we find beautiful. 

As a character frequently played for laughs and fan service, seeing Fire Force Season 3 Cour 2 give her the spotlight to overcome it and rise to the occasion is a tremendous win for the character and the show. How it explores her character and beauty in general firmly establishes that there was always more to her than many were too willing to reduce her to. She had been given great beats in the past, but her moment here is easily one of the best of the entire series. 

The final set of episodes feel incredibly rushed.

But even as it elevates many of its most beloved personalities, the series’ final plots quickly fall apart. Many major moments in these episodes feel haphazardly thrown together. Too many dire situations are saved by plot elements introduced just as needed, leaving a feeling that the story is being made up as it goes. This unfortunate situation only worsens as the series moves into its final stages, with episodes 23 and 24 providing series lows, just as it heads into its big finale. 

Further amplifying the narrative struggles is the final set of episodes’ rushed energy. Events that feel like they should be given importance and focus are sometimes dispatched as quickly as they are introduced, leaving one to wonder why they are ever shown at all. Most egregious of these moments is the resurrection of a dead character for them to literally do nothing after their return but worry and hope Shinra can win the final battle. 

While the larger portion of the core story falls apart in the episodes leading up to the finale, Fire Force Season 3 Cour 2 does a surprisingly good job of tying up its narrative in the final entry. How the world finds itself once the battle is done creates an interesting scenario for the heroes to live in afterward. There’s even some surprise happy endings in store that lift the final episode after the despair that threatens to consume the world in the closing battles.

The action sequences deliver all the fiery fury fans have come to expect.

Bringing both the good and the bad to life is a strong and creative visual presentation. As the Great Cataclysm grows closer, the world begins to warp and twist in some bizarre ways. Just as the first cataclysm took the world from live action to animation, this one’s approach pushes elements of the world to an even more “cartoony” design. 

The action sequences deliver all the fiery fury fans have come to expect. While series staples like Shinra and Arthur get to shine again, some less frequent fighters also get opportunities to burn bright in the thick of fights. Best of these comes early in the cour, when Lisa (Ayaka Asai, Zenless Zone Zero) is forced to face off against Giovanni (Yutaka Aoyama, The Elusive Samurai) within the heart of Amaterasu. The side character steals the scene as she showcases her determination in the face of such a monstrous foe. 

Fire Force Season 3 Cour 2 delivers a final run filled with high highs and low lows. Despite excellent character moments that bring individuals to great conclusions, the core story never to builds much success. That the final episode is able to salvage as much as it does to manage a solid ending feels like a minor miracle, even for an anointed savior like Shinra.

Fire Force Season 3 Cour 2 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.

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