Fire Force season 3 struggles to stay hot as final episodes are a real letdown

Once a white-hot favorite on the shonen anime scene, Fire Force is now just a fizzling flash in the pan. With prolonged waits, halting tempo, and ruinous reveals of plot points, enthusiasts are turning out to be apathetic speedy—particularly with higher competitors flooding the Spring 2025 anime season.Fire Force was previously celebrated for its high-octane action, dazzling aesthetics, and sizzling combination of pyrotechnic combat and rich world-building.Made by Atsushi Ōkubo, the same genius responsible for Soul Eater, Fire Force injected some much-needed life and innovation back into the shonen genre. Now, with its third and final season on the air, fans are asking: where is the fire?Season 3 was meant to be the third and final act. Instead, it’s floundering under low stakes, anti-climactic pacing, and plot reveals that land with subtlety of an anvil. Indeed, in a market ruled by mega hits like One­Piece, Demon Slay­er and Ju­jutsu Kaisen, Fire Force is not catch­ing fire – it’s burn­ing out.human, and as complete as humanly possible on this wondrous Earth. Among the many grievances, perhaps the most wretched is the choice to ruin Captain Burns’ betrayal in the Season 3 trailer. Exposing it before it aired robbed much of the potential tension and surprise that viewers were looking for. Without a tangible goal or something to look forward to, that initial excitement faded quickly.Episodes 3 to 5 of this season have been agonizing, with the confrontation between Shinra and Captain Burns going almost nowhere. Shots and ambiance that would otherwise feel explosive and frenetic are replaced by extended dialogue and looped footage stretching any legitimate tension thin. Even Arthur’s battles, which used to provide the most energetic moments, now seem plodding.The character Tamaki, pictured above, remains flatly utilized for fan service. Her “Lucky Lecher Lure” gag, which was once kinda cute but now feels overused and a little stupid, particularly in a season that’s supposed to be bringing everything home. With contemporary anime increasingly disregarding extravagant fan service, Fire Force’s insistence to stick with the past is tarnishing its legacy.High quality production outbursts aside, it’s hard to believe it’s been almost five years since Fire Force Season 2. That’s a big ask for fans to remain most faithful, particularly with little to no development in between. By the time Season 3 eventually dropped, much of the general audience had run out of patience and moved on to other shows.Though fans have largely come back with cautious optimism, many have found the pacing to be slow and episodes more recently have boasted poor quality animation, leaving already iffy expectations dashed. Social media excitement is non-existent, and when you measure it against any of the fire-crackery viral moments we’ve seen from One Piece or My Hero Academia, Fire Force is a crude campfire candle.All is not lost. All may be lost for the current cour, but Fire Force still has plenty of time to turn things around before the second cour of Season 3 premieres. To have a chance at winning fans back, the show will need to.The manga itself has an amazing ending that can still provide the anime a triumphant finale but only if the anime showrunners don’t play it too safe and shave off good animated arcs in favor of more cash cows and prioritize quality over quantity.It’s a shame too because Fire Force still has all the elements in place to be an all-time great, a fascinating world with dynamic characters and some truly exciting battles. Without more effective storytelling and even deeper fan engagement, it could be looked back on as a lost opportunity. With just a handful of episodes left to wow us, it’s high time the anime recaptures that initial magic or literally goes up in flames.