The Anime Is Promising Something HUGE! Fire Force Season 3 Episode 1 Review!

We have an Uprising Arc in 2025 and it is not from Attack on Titan.

Fire Force Season 3 Episode 1 is titled, “Indomitable Resolve.”

This episode sets up the Obi Rescue Arc and adapts Chapter 175: “At the Center of Faith” (pages 11-19), Chapter 176: “Trial of Faith”, pages 8 to 19 of Chapter 177: “Unwavering Conviction”, where the episode title is from, and pages 12 to 16 of Chapter 179: “Dark Communion”,  being one of the few episodes to have a low amount of pages to adapt.

The Soul Eater Moon? Well, this moon has already been established for quite a while but being the very first shot of the episode signals its part in the conclusion of Fire Force.

The cold open of the episode is anime-only and shows us the realm of Adolla and the emergence of the Evangelist, smiling madly at the Infernals and Bugs crawling around this dead domain.

The Infernals also release some cartoon SFX, which is a lovely and subtle hint at the nature of Fire Force’s world

In the real world, Haumea continues to receive all of humanity’s rage and emotions, which continued from the last scene in Season 2 and another example of some expert foreshadowing of the true nature of Haumea’s connection to the Evangelist.

When she composes, she takes charge and joins the other White Clad as they prepare to infiltrate the Holy Sol Temple.

We continue the anime-original content with an extended version of the meeting between Company 8 Captain Akitaru Obi and his direct superior, the Fire Defense Chief.

The Fire Defense Agency is one of the three military powers of the Tokyo Empire alongside the Holy Sol Temple (the church and government as one) and Imperial Tokyo Army (the military) that form the Fire Force, the set of eight companies that fight against Infernals, the product of spontaneous human combustion.

The scene is essentially a recap of Season 2’s events with only minimal flashbacks as for the rest of the first half of this episode, we see Company 8’s training, primarily with Victor and Vulcan’s tinkering and the pairs, Maki and Tamaki, and Shinra and Arthur, sparring.

This also features some gags, from Tamaki’s Lecher Lure (and the mention of Assault’s defeat) to Sister Iris’ obsession with shiny red buttons, with the one she is holding used to stop Shinra and Arthur if they went overboard again.

Essentially, anime fans are reminded that the first two seasons of Fire Force were an investigation into the other seven Fire Force Companies and the mysteries of the world.

Highlighted by Obi, using lines from the manga, were the Chinese Peninsula Arc (Season 2 Episodes 7 to 10), Haijima Industries arc (Season 2 Episodes 13 to 17) and the Joint Investigation Arc (Season 2 Episode 19 to 22).

Now that the first two seasons are done and alliances have been made with Company 7 of Asakusa (who hold no allegiance to the Empire), the audience gets the feeling things will be much better and Company 8 can finally launch an all-out attack to wipeout the White Clad.

As this happens, Raffles III, the emperor and pontiff in one person, declares that it is time for the Empire to be one.

Except, this happens after Obi is suddenly arrested by the Army.

All of it coincides with the White Clad monitoring the Cathedral, where Leonard Burns is summoned by His Holiness.

Except the monarch is accompanied by the supposed heretics, who insist that they are the true believers.

Everything follows the flow of the manga, with Haumea using Talking Head to understand the keywords in Burns’ head, eventually capitulating the Company 1 Captain and devout priest to the side of the Evangelist.

This is our first clear instance of Haumea’s closeness to the Evangelist as Leonard burns is kneeling before the two, as the Evangelist just appears next to the Second Pillar.

Keep in mind that Burns is able to see the Evangelist because of his damaged right eye from seeing Adolla.

The sight of the same divine being from that vision being validated by what he saw as his enemy overwhelmed Burns so much that he resigned to the Evangelist’s influence, kneeling in awe.

The anime does a splendid job of capturing the detailed manga artwork but the choice to make the Evangelist look like the burning sun felt more appropriate than the blinding light take of the manga as the Evangelist’s true nature is more fire than divine light, yet that same fire is still overwhelming even for the strongest Pyrokinetic Human.

On top of how it seems that his faith as a Sol follower is tied to the White Clad and their destructive activities, this felt like a mix of despair and reverence, just like how the White Clad want it.

Hainawa tells Company 8 of Obi’s sudden arrest and is greeted by the enthusiasm of his team to rescue their Captain, even as they know that they are about to become enemies of the Tokyo Empire.

We get the opening at the latest possible moment and one more scene as Burns reports Obi’s arrest to Haumea.

This reinforces Haumea’s role as the direct superior within the White Clad or perhaps this is due to Burns knowing who is most connected to the Evangelist.

Opening 5: High Flame 

Sung by Queen Bee, who did Oshi no Ko Opening 2: “Mephisto” and Chainsaw Man Ending 11: “Violence”, “High Flame” is a cooler, calmer song that somehow aligns well with the incredible action animation on display.

As per opening standards, we see some hints towards the content of Cour 1 of Season 3, as well as some foreshadowing.

Most of the events are from the ongoing Obi’s Rescue Arc, ending on Shinra’s fight against Leonard Burns.

At the start, we see Shinra and Inca’s Adolla Link and one nice detail is we see the map of Japan, with Tokyo in white as opposed to the rest in red, showing that Tokyo was spared from the original Great Cataclysm.

There are neat touches, such as Iris in calm blue to the left and Amaterasu in mad red to the right standing side-by-side.

Amaterasu is noted by Shinra to resemble Iris, which foreshadows the reveal that Iris is actually Amaterasu’s Adolla doppleganger.

This also does a nice job of creating contrast, of a human (Amaterasu) driven by the madness of Adolla that she is inhuman, on top of being perceived as an object used for the majority’s benefit, while Iris becomes more human as a sister who is loved by others.

We also see Shinra and Sho reach for each other but fail and two sets of Pillars and Guardians, Sho and his Guardian Arrow, and Haumea and her Guardian Charon, who show more loyalty in each other than to the White Clad.

Notably, the Evangelist features on Haumea’s crown, a clear hint of how tightly connected she is to the divine being.

Among the fights shown are Tamaki and Maki vs Stream, Gold vs Lisa and Vulcan, Kuronu and Ogun vs the Titan Infernal later in the cour, Benimaru vs Charon,  and Shinra and Joker vs Dragon, which does not happen in the manga but its inclusion suggests we might see it in the anime.

Of course, we also get Arthur’s fight with the Infernal mode of Dragon and Shinra vs Leonard Burns, the main fight of the Obi Rescue arc.

The opening ends on quite a poetic choice as the despair-filled Company 8 that starts the opening is now facing the bright sun as Shinra walks, his devil footprints of fire turning into fields, which foreshadows becoming Shinrabashoman, the creator god of the New World.

Staff List:

Storyboard and Unit Director: Satoshi Kimura

Animation Director:  Yumenosuke Tokuda

Key Animators: Masato Onoda, Haruki Ebisu, Hajime Nihira, Fuuko Abe, Haruka Tanaka, Kento Fukuda, Kouhei Hirota, Rin Ogawa, Shho, Miyu Nakano, Ken Yamamoto, Eita Toyoshima, Takafumi Hino

Concluding Thoughts

Overall, the episode is a lovely sample of things to come, from Shinra vs Arthur having splendid animation and the presence of impact frames here and Leonard Burns’ activation, to the surprising amount of anime-only content.

The opening scene feels like it is directed to the audience as this sight of Adolla was not seen in the manga.

It might be a way for David Production to hint towards the big twist of this entire final season but maybe, just maybe it could also give hope towards the long-awaited reboot of Soul Eater.

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