Fire Force Season 3 Development Details, Rumors And More
Anime is thriving today, thanks to an abundance of interesting and stunningly animated series spanning pretty much every genre you can imagine. From shows about cruel businessmen being reincarnated as little girls and rising through the ranks of the military in an alternate version of World War I Germany (see: "Saga of Tanya the Evil"), to shows about people who transform into an animal from the Chinese zodiac whenever they are hugged by a member of the opposite sex (see: "Fruits Basket"), there's something for everyone in the world of anime. We'd be remiss if we forgot to mention "Fire Force," a series with a unique spin: It's about a team of firefighters and the concept of spontaneous combustion.
The series, based on the manga from "Soul Eater" creator Atsushi Ohkubo, has to do with Shinra Kusakabe, a third-generation pyrokinetic who is able to ignite his feet with fire. Shinra joins up with a team of pyrokinetics known as Special Fire Force Company 8 to deal with Infernals, who are humans transformed into living blazes through spontaneous combustion. The second season of "Fire Force" came to a close in December 2020 and became one of the top five most-watched anime television shows on Amazon Prime Japan. Fans have been holding out for another season of the hit series since then, so here's all the info we've got so far about Season 3 of "Fire Force."
When will Fire Force Season 3 be released?
"Fire Force" Season 3 was officially confirmed by the show's official Twitter account on May 16, 2022. The tweet contained an image of the sharp-toothed teen Shinra Kusakabe posing after delivering one of his attacks. Unfortunately, that's all the reveal consisted of — no release date for Season 3 was given. For quite some time it wasn't even certain that the anime would be picked up for a third season, so at least fans can hold on to that excitement while they wait for more information to be made public.
The first two seasons of "Fire Force" dropped in the summer: July 2019 and July 2020, respectively. July 2021 came and went without any mention of a third season, and there was no word on it heading into 2022. When Season 3 was finally confirmed in May of that year, it seemed like a July 2023 release was being targeted. However, as summer 2023 drew ever closer, it became clear that this would not be the case. Frustration began to creep in among the fanbase, but their fears were allayed in May 2023 when the show's Japanese Twitter account confirmed that the third season of "Fire Force" was "in production" — though, once again, no release date was given.
What's the plot of Fire Force Season 3?
Minor manga spoilers ahead.
The "Fire Force" Season 2 finale seemed to indicate that an even bigger battle between Company 8 and the Evangelist was brewing. Wanting to become stronger to deal with Company 8's increasingly dangerous enemies, Shinra Kusakabe pushed himself in his training to reach a new point called "The Press Of Death." The season finale also dealt a huge blow to the heroes with the assassination of Company 4's Captain Hague. However, because of his new level in ability, Shinra is able to establish an Adolla Link, allowing him to see Hague's final moments. We don't have any concrete details on what will happen next, though we can make an educated guess at the direction in which the story is heading using the source material.
The anime has mostly followed the manga, so we can work out what Season 3 will entail for Shinra and Company 8 by looking at the volumes that are yet to be adapted. Volume 1 to some of Volume 11 of the manga were covered by Season 1 of the anime, while Season 2 covered the rest of Volume 11 up to some chapters of Volume 20. Fans of the manga will know that Shinra comes up against his most formidable opponent so far in Volume 21, Captain Barns of the 1st Brigade. Barns and Company 1 have allied with The Holy Sol Temple, the dominant religion in the Empire. Because the government is now under the control of the Evangelist, Company 8 is essentially branded a terrorist group and Captain Obi is imprisoned. Of course, Shinra and co. don't take this lying down. They join forces with the antihero known as the Joker and break into the Grand Penitentiary, hoping to rescue their captain.
Who is starring in Fire Force Season 3?
An official list of who's in the cast for "Fire Force" Season 3 has not been revealed yet. But, based on the consistency behind the scenes of the first two seasons of the series, it's likely we will see a mostly returning cast of characters and voice actors, including Gakuto Kajiwara (Japanese) and Derick Snow (English) as our fearless protagonist Shinra Kusakabe. Besides "Fire Force," Kajiwara is best known for voicing Asta in the beloved shonen series "Black Clover" and Hiro in "Shadowverse," the anime based on the card game of the same name. Snow, meanwhile, has worked on some huge shows over the years, like "One Piece," "Dragon Ball Super," "Fairy Tail," and "My Hero Academia," in which he voices the hot-tempered Yakuza character Mimic.
We know (or, at least, we suspect) from reading the manga that Captain Obi will figure prominently in the early episodes of Season 3, which means that Kazuya Nakai will be back in the recording booth. He's a true veteran of the voice acting game with almost 300 credits to his name. Nakai is the voice behind many iconic characters, most notably Roronoa Zoro in "One Piece" and Toshiro Hijikata in "Gintama." In the English dub, Obi is voiced by Jeremy Inman, who isn't far behind Nakai in terms of career credits. He's brought his distinctive tones to everything from "Dragon Ball Z" to "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood."
Other main characters we expect to see in Season 3 are Iris (Mao Ichimichi, Alexis Tipton), Takehisa (Kenichi Suzumura, Christopher Wehkamp), Tamaki (Aoi Yuuki, Jad Saxton), Arthur (Yuusuke Kobayashi, Eric Vale), and Maki (Saeko Kamijou, Sarah Roach). It's almost certain that the self-styled antihero the Joker (Kenjirou Tsuda, Sonny Strait) will also be back in action.
Which studio is making Fire Force Season 3?
The first two seasons of "Fire Force" were animated by David Production, best known as the studio behind "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure." Because "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" is very much the studio's flagship series, fans of "Fire Force" worried that they would have to wait a long time for the third season — when "Fire Force" Season 3 was officially announced in May 2022, David Production was still busy with "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean." When the company announced that it was working on an anime adaptation of Yoshifumi Tozuka's manga "Undead Unlock" a few months later, it seemed like "Fire Force" Season 3 had been pushed even further down the pecking order, much to the dismay of fans.
Some saw the "Undead Unlock" announcement as unofficial confirmation that David Production would no longer be working on "Fire Force" and that a different studio would be taking over for the upcoming third season. On Reddit, fans began to discuss which studio they would like to see take the reins, with the likes of Studio Trigger ("Kill la Kill"), Bones ("My Hero Academia"), Wit Studio ("Attack on Titan"), and Studio Pierrot ("Naruto") all being touted as potential new homes for the series. U/No-Year-4314 suggested that Shaft (the studio behind the "Monogatari" series) could get the nod, and they appear to have been right on the money.
A few weeks after it was confirmed that the third season of "Fire Force" had entered production, the Twitter account @shueishaleaks (which has a good track record when it comes to anime scoops) stated that "Fire Force" Season 3 had been moved to Studio Shaft. The news — while still unconfirmed — split fans. However, a number of Shaft animators actually helped out with the first two seasons of "Fire Force," so the transition shouldn't be all that noticeable if this is indeed true.
Who is directing Fire Force Season 3?
The first season of "Fire Force" was directed by Yuki Yase, a former episode director at Shaft — he worked on the "Monogatari" series while at the studio, and he also helmed "Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb." Tatsumi Minakawa (who directed Episode 12 of "Fire Force" Season 1) replaced Yuki Yase in the hot seat for "Fire Force" Season 2. It looks like there's another change afoot for the upcoming third season. According to the Twitter account @shueishaleaks, Kenjirou Okada will be directing "Fire Force" Season 3.
Like Yuki Yase, Okada has done plenty of work with Shaft in the past. He's been collaborating with the studio for over a decade at this point, and he is best known for helming the hit Shaft show "March Comes in like a Lion." Based on a manga series written and illustrated by Chica Umino, "March Comes in like a Lion" is the story of a teenage shogi prodigy named Rei Kiriyama. After moving into his own Tokyo apartment at the age of 17 he finds himself isolated and lonely, but things start to get better when a trio of sisters from a local wagashi shop take him under their wing.
On the surface, "March Comes in like a Lion" is a very different kind of anime to "Fire Force." However, a major theme in both shows is found family. Akari, the oldest of the three Kawamoto sisters, becomes almost a mother figure for Rei in "March Comes in like a Lion," while in "Fire Force," the hastily-formed Company 8 is very much a found family. Okada certainly won't have any issues with keeping the beating heart of "Fire Force" alive in Season 3.
Where can you watch the first two seasons of Fire Force?
It's been a while since the second season of "Fire Force" came to an explosive close, and — with Season 3 still some way off — there's never been a better time to catch up on the first two seasons of the hit show. But where and how can you watch them?
"Fire Force" is available on multiple streaming platforms, something not very common when it comes to anime and TV shows in general. Hulu currently offers both seasons for those with a basic membership, but it's also available on the ever-popular anime streaming platform Crunchyroll. Season 1 and Season 2 are available to watch with French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and English dubs. You can watch it for free if you don't mind sitting through lengthy ads, or you can buy one of their three premium subscriptions to get right to the action. You can also stream both existing "Fire Force" seasons on Funimation for free with ads. Likewise, you'll need to upgrade to a premium membership if you want to skip the commercials.
If you've already watched the first two seasons multiple times and you're still hungry for more "Fire Force" content, you could always pick up the manga and get ahead of your friends on the story. There are 34 volumes in total, 33 of which have been translated to English at the time of this writing — the final one is due to be released on October 3, 2023. At this point, "Fire Force" fans are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of concrete information on Season 3, and many have been turning to the source material (which is licensed for English release in North America by Kodansha USA) to quench their thirst. "I don't believe 'Fire Force' will be fully adapted in this decade," Redditor u/kierowca_ubera told their fellow fans. "Go read the manga, it's great."