【Enen no Shouboutai (Fire Force)】Popular fire-fighting manga begins its final arc!! From the mangaka that created the world of Soul Eater!!

Enen no Shouboutai (Fire Force) is a manga series written and illustrated by Atsushi Okubo. The manga was serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine of Kodansha since September 2015. It has reached a total of 31 volumes and was officially released in English by Kodansha USA in 2016.

As of October 2021, the manga had over 17 million copies in circulation. Awe-inspiring battle scenes and great character development put Fire Force in high rank amongst the list of top favorite manga series. In 2021, Fire Force was nominated for the 45th Kodansha Manga Award in the shonen category.

The first season of Fire Force’s anime adaptation, which was licensed by Funimation, aired from July to December 2019. The second season aired from July to December 2020.

The story of Fire Force started with a horror. Solar calendar – Year 198, in Tokyo, a normal passenger on the train suddenly busted into flame without any warnings. The whole car erupted in panic as the poor man’s head was engulfed in a raging flame.

The protagonist, Shinra Kusakabe, was walking into the train station, hurrying along his way. He accidently bumped into a girl and his face formed a weird, awkward grin. Fearing that Shinra was a pervert, the girl ran away without giving him any chance to explain.

Shinra then went inside the station and while waiting for the train, he heard the unsettling sound of alarm. An announcement was broadcasted shortly, urging all passengers waiting in the station to leave the platform immediately.

The train, where the man suddenly busted into flame earlier, would be making an emergency stop there. In the distance, black smoke rose high into the sky and screams echoed.

The train came to a halt as passengers tried to escaped the burning cars. Then, a shadow emerged from the train car, with blacken fingers and the whole body consumed in flame.

That was the outcome of a phenomenon called “Human Combustion”, in which a perfectly normal human being would just burst into flame and lose all reasons. Shinra cautiously observed the scene and was about to spring into action when the Special Fire Force Company 8 arrived. Three soldiers and a religious sister approached the victim to try to extinguish the flame.

Sister Iris recited prayers to ease the victim’s last moments of suffering, and the soldiers engaged to put the poor man out of his misery. Their action was so swift and astounding that Shinra just stood there and watched in awe.

Then, Shinra noticed the fire had burnt off the cable holding one of the lights and it was about to fall on Sister Iris. With his feet instantaneously ignited, Shinra used the flame to propelled himself forward and carried Sister Iris off to safety. He had the same weird, awkward grin while doing so.

Shinra finally introduced himself as the third generation fire soldier who has been assigned to the Special Fire Force Company 8 as of that day. On the floor, black footprints could be seen where Shinra has stepped. It was the rumored “Devil’s footprints”, nicknamed after Shinra’s pyrokinesis ability.

Back at the Church of Special Fire Force Company 8, where Shinra would be joining his team, he received a brief introduction from the Battalion Captain Akitaru Oubi and the Company 8 Lieutenant Takehisa Hinawa.

They asked Shinra about his weird grin as it was even showed on Shinra’s official profile picture. It turned out that when Shinra was tense or upset, he was prone to involuntarily grinning, thus making him appear menacing.

Twelve years earlier, a fire incident happened that destroyed Shinra’s family and killed his mother and brother. Shinra’s grandmother shunned him because on the day of the funeral, Shinra couldn’t do anything but grinned. His grandmother even called him “the demon”. From that day onwards, Shinra was determined to become a hero and uncover the truth behind his family’s death.

Gradually, Akitaru started to explain about the current world that they live in, with a phenomenon called the “Human Combustion” and fire monsters that was once human being. In recent years, death by fire was the leading cause of death and the origin of this phenomenon remained unknown. The first generation of human combustion victims would lose all reasons and start rampaging until their lives flicker out. They became feared throughout the world as simply “Infernal”.

However, the so-called second and third generation of victims had adapted to the flame and even awakened the ability to manipulate them. Those with pyrokinesis awaken by flame would join special fire brigades and aim to save the victim’s soul, while striving to unravel the mystery behind Human Combustion phenomenon.

The newly established Special Fire Force Company 8 had a total of 5 members, with two second generation fire soldiers, who could control and manipulate flames without themselves combusting; Shinra, as the third-generation soldier, could freely ignite his feet at will and utilize the flame as his own ability; Battalion Commander Akitaru was a non-powered member and a former fire fighter; alongside Sister Iris, who was also a non-powered member that prayed for the repose of Infernal.

Without a moment of rest, the siren rang in the middle of the night, signaling all fire soldiers to move out. “Here’s your chance to become a hero” , Akitaru said. And into the armored vehicle called Matchbox, Special Fire Force Company 8 bravely rushed into battle.

How will Shinra’s first battle turn out? Will he ever uncover the truth about his family’s death?