Fire Force (炎炎ノ消防隊, En’en no Shōbōtai) is a 2019 television anime series based on Atsushi Ōkubo’s manga series of the same name. The anime was produced by studio David Productions with director Yuki Yase and publisher Kodansha. The series first broadcast in Japan on July 2019 as part of the Summer season.
Background:
“A crisis plagues the world: Spontaneous Human Combustion. The only ones trained to stop these blazing mortal infernos are the brave members of the Fire Force. Shinra is determined to become the greatest hero among them, but his past leads him down a different road—a path marked with the Devil’s Footprints.”
Plot Synopsis via Funimation UK, May 2020.
With Soul Eater wrapped up, the author Atsushi Ōkubo started a new series called Fire Force which is basically summed up as ‘fight fire with fire’ literally. While it was often compared with studio Trigger’s PROMARE which was released roughly around the same time as the anime adaptation, Fire Force overall is a decent and enjoyable series. That said, there are fanservice elements that don’t always work out.
Funimation licensed Fire Force quite early on and was one of the big anime shows airing during the Summer 2019 season alongside Dr. Stone which was streaming over on Crunchyroll, though both services shared the titles; one offering an English dub, while the other provided the Japanese audio with English subtitles approach. Fire Force had mixed fan reception but it did well enough to be provided with a limited edition box set.
The series was released on Blu-ray quite early on than usual since I believe Funimation also co-produced the show. The UK under Manga Entertainment (now Funimation UK) also released the series on Blu-ray.
Limited Edition Contents:
Similar to my unboxing for Dr. STONE, this post combines the regular edition Part 1 with the limited edition Part 2. However, I have also gone for the same approach that I did with That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 1 for Fire Force with Part 2 being the North American Funimation release, because Manga Entertainment (now Funimation UK) decided not to offer the package for the UK & Ireland due to poor sales of Part 1. In other words, Part 1 is the UK Blu-ray and Part 2 is the US Blu-ray & DVD Limited Edition.
Getting that out of the way, this section will focus mostly on the Part 2’s limited edition package which Funimation have done a pretty good job at considering this is one of their co-produced titles.
The limited edition box set features a rigid box that houses Part 2’s amaray case and a nice glossy slipcase as well as a booklet and a spare cardboard box that includes art cards and mini items. While limited editions from Funimation sometimes have exclusive artwork, this is just the same as the regular edition. The booklet offers character designs, production artwork on the background and visuals.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Funimation limited edition releases. The regular edition will still have the specification and info on the back cover for both the Amaray and slipcase.
The SRP for the limited edition set was $84.98 and the standard edition was £39.99. It’s an expensive release overall, but I think it does a pretty good job for fans of Fire Force. The North American Funimation limited editions don’t have an exact unit count, but it’s still in print if you are after one at the time of this write-up. If you want to own the show but don’t want to spend too much, there is a complete first season collection on its way. Part 1’s slipcover for the regular set only applies to the first print as it won’t be included in later print runs.
Physical Contents (Part 2 Limited Edition):
- Rigid Box with slipcase, amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification
- 80-page Art Book
- 7 Art Cards
- Company 8 Badge
- 2″ Acrylic Charm
- 1″ Acrylic Charm
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Funimation (Part 1: UK, Part 2: US)
Released: 4th May 2020 (Part 1: UK), 29th September 2020 (Part 2: US)
As mentioned before, this unboxing features both parts of Fire Force Season 1. While the UK release is from the UK branch of Funimation, the discs are the same between the UK & US regions regardless. In other words, Funimation authored and encoded the discs and the audio options available for the series include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub.
Starting off with the regular release for Part 1, this contains episodes 1-12 of the show’s first season across two Blu-ray discs. The white subtitles are locked during playback and the discs are regions are locked to B for Blu-ray.
For the limited edition release for Part 2, this contains episodes 13-24 across two Blu-ray discs and two DVD discs. The white subtitles are locked during Blu-ray playback and the discs are regions are playable on A & B for Blu-ray, and 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 for DVD in NTSC format.
Blu-ray Specs (UK Part 1 & US Part 2):
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | UK Part 1: B US Part 2: A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | UK Part 1: Yes US Part 2: Yes |
| Discs | UK Part 1: 2 BD-50s US Part 2: 2 BD-50s |
DVD Specs (US Part 2):
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | 1 2 3 4 5 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 2 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Episode 1 English Audio Commentary
Disc 2:
- Fire Force: Interview with Atsushi Ohkubo at Anime Expo 2019
- Fire Force: Atsushi Ohkubo Speed Drawing at Anime Expo 2019
- Fire Force: Inside the Episode (Episodes 5, 8 & 12)
- Episode 10 English Audio Commentary
- Textless Opening Song “Inferno”
- Textless Closing Song “veil”
Disc 4:
- Fire Force: Inside the Episode (Episodes 16, 20 & 24)
- Textless Closing Song “MAYDAY”
- Textless Closing Song “Nо̄nai”
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras across all discs
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Fire Force Season 1 is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom and United States. For the Part 2 limited edition Blu-ray & DVD release, you are still able to order them on Amazon UK and Amazon US. The complete first season collection is available to order as well.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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