Enen no Shouboutai: San no Shou • Fire Force Season 3 - Episode 13 discussion

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We now return to our regularly scheduled Shinra mental breakdown as he returns to a world where there are now FIVE pillars up, he’s suddenly blond and pierced, and he’s missed a grand total of three months while his sense of reality was utterly destroyed in the past. Oh, and did we mention that while he was in the past, in the present he’d turned into Company 8’s rebellious delinquent?

If anyone was going to recognize that Shinra was Shinra but not Shinra…it would be Arthur. I mean, what are best friends/arch-rivals for?

I love Shinra basically going on a rant about how stupid delinquent phases are and how you always look back at them with cringe when you’re older. Poor guy can erase the blonde hair and take out the piercings, but he’ll never be able to remove his new tattoos courtesy of Vulcan. It’s enough to make a guy pray Latom.

Do I want to know how Licht was somehow able to make a crash landing and survive unscathed? I guess he’s capable of inhuman feats when it comes to investigating new insights into the “truth” like what Shinra saw in the past. Though even despite everything else Shinra has heard about what his delinquent self got up to, learning he hurt Iris was probably the worst.

What actually happened to Shinra? He saw a “past” with human beings that he could hardly make sense out of, especially the disconnect to the human beings he knows now, and the Shinra that his team were stuck with was apparently the very Shinra everyone always had rumors or suspicious he was…a parent-killing devil with no remorse or compassion. Was this the Adolla version of Shinra?

There was probably no way Iris could ever hate Shinra, but she also recognized that the Adolla!Shinra wasn’t HER Shinra so that probably helped.

What’s happened while Shinra was in the past? Well, more pillars, but also more Infernals/Doppelgangers being born, and pyrokinetics becoming stronger…like Iris, who has unlocked her power as a third generation. But it’s so inexplicable that even she feels out of sorts as herself, and maybe for good reason. Though her power is probably far more deep than just that tiny flame she sprouted out.

“Why are you here, too?” Why would Adolla!Shinra say that to Iris before hitting her? And what is the connection between Iris and Amaterasu, two people who shine as bright as the sun in their own way?

Silver lining, at least Shinra is back and can feel at home again with Company 8 and Papa Obi again! I want to see how much stronger everyone else is now.

Benimaru having dreams of his and Konro’s old captain…is that a dream or an Adolla Link, potentially? Joker is definitely Adolla Linking with Burns’ Infernal (I think?) and someone else equally as dangerous. And look, more Pillars!

The OP is as action-packed and wild as a Fire Force OP should be. Shinra and Iris holding hands! Sho chasing after the family he lost! Smol!Haumea! Arthur vs Dragon! Company 8/Shinra versus some weird apparatus with a face! Haumea with her mask off with three eyes…and that might not even be her final form!?

Can someone explain why they’re showing real people in the past

Wait WHAT! It's out already. I didn't till I saw this xD. I better check it out.

Shinra finding what he did in those past 3 months 😱😭 That includes hurting Iris😭

Iris being a 3rd Generation Pyrotechnic

Final Opening !!!!

My guy Shinra hurt Iris?! That’s crazy. It would be an insane mind fuck to not remember whole months of what you did.

Episode felt kinda weak and slow paced compared to the manga but I like the new opening

[](/u/Shocketheth)

- [Concerning…](https://i.imgur.com/KX1AgOR.png) [](#sakurathink)

- [Hahaha he *immediately* started freaking out about his hair.](https://i.imgur.com/nkL5NDJ.png) [](#kotohoops)

- [Wait, did the rebellious Shinra get a tattoo too?](https://i.imgur.com/f4iemN6.png)

- [Oh, *multiple* tattoos.](https://i.imgur.com/xCf1b2Y.png) [](#crazedlaugh)

- [Shinra pls.](https://i.imgur.com/smPMZ29.png) [](#tsundereblush)

- [Oh… uh-oh…](https://i.imgur.com/fvB8lE5.png) [](#emiliaohdear)

- [Dang, they busted out the straight-up manga panel-esque art.](https://i.imgur.com/WcOpKpX.png) [](#suddenshock)

- [lol](https://i.imgur.com/BBnl4yA.png) [](#azusalaugh)

- [What the…?](https://i.imgur.com/iWe6D99.png) [](#blankblink)

- [Damn, of course that’s happening…](https://i.imgur.com/bh4fw1k.png) [](#mug1)

- [Iris can make flames now!](https://i.imgur.com/6wGnBH9.png)

- [Fuck, is *that* why she looks just like Amaterasu…?](https://i.imgur.com/TEHv5h7.png) [](#ohfuck)

- [Shimmering sky!](https://i.imgur.com/TD9gD1K.png)

- [Ah, Benimaru was dreaming…](https://i.imgur.com/idY3b8z.png)

- [JOKER YAY!](https://i.imgur.com/b2F9DsS.png) [](#rengehype)

- […aw shit they’re up to 7 pillars now.](https://i.imgur.com/GUtKHir.png)

- Oh yeah, the OP for this half of the season is *great*. [](#pigeonbeats)

I'm guessing by the coat on the shoulders and eye burned out, that was Captain Burns's Doppelganger in Benimaru's dream?

I remember in season 3 part 1, Shinra and Joker took him down. I wonder if that means that now his Doppelganger can come over more easily?
I'm still kinda confused on what constitutes someone's Doppelganger being able to cross over from Adolla, and if there's different rules or stipulations for "regular" people and those who have an Adolla link / burst.

"i swear it was the demon taking over my body and making me look like a douchebag while I was tripping balls in an alternate reality that looked like actual reality" is also my excuse when I get in trouble...

also want to point out that next week starts Triple F: Frieren Force Fridays!

Ok so the people in the past are actually us ? As in “live action”. So the cataclysm did not just destroy their world, it literally changed it, as in changed it into an anime ? If that’s true, that’s a huge mindfuck

Also got me thinking if this ever got a live action adaptation, will the past be in anime form then ? Lol

Still, really glad to have this show back. Doppelganger Shinra seems like a dick but oddly I kinda wanna see more. Glad Iris didn’t hold it against our Shinra though. And still funny Arthur was the one who can recognize him.

I don’t consider this show a masterpiece but it’s very very good. In fact, one metric that I rate very highly is my investment in its story. Can’t remember the last time a show gripped my curiosity so hard. And a lot of the twists deliver too. And while I don’t understand or remember most of the details, I’m still really excited to be on this ride.

Although, I know this is the actual final season but I saw manga readers say there’s still a lot of content for the episode count. Is this true ? Is this gonna be rushed or could there be a movie to close it off ?

So they were alluding to Sister Iris being the Doppelganger of Amaterasu?
Anime only.
I guess that makes sense, if Doppelganger's are the "perceptions" of what people think of you. And from the first time Shinra met her, he thought she looked like the sister.

My question, how could a Doppelganger be in the world for basically the whole story at this point? And how can she start manifesting her pyro powers now?
Looking forward to finding out more.
One of my favorites.

If I had a nickel for every badass Makis this season…

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Ok so seeing as it's ending I'd assume there's a lot of content left, so please tell me why they're still making these 5 minute episodes. Way too short!

Ok so iris is probably a doppelganger of the chick inside amaterasu. If shinra's doppelganger was a personification of the rumors about him, which were a polar opposite to his personality then it tracks. Because the sister (seems to be) a polar opposite to the chick inside amaterasu. And yet she personifies the rumors about amaterasu.

Interesting to see where this goes.

Peak has arrived and it’s about to shock everyone for what’s to come this season, I’m so excited!!

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are they skipping stuff or it's normal pacing. if some of these episode cover normal pacing i think it would confirm that cour 3 will happen anime only guy so please lmk without spoiling

fire force is back yay

Not gonna lie, when [we saw Shinra wake up with blonde hair](https://i.imgur.com/iYCEHDS.jpeg) at the end of last season, I genuinely thought he had gone through some sort of physical change after waking up from his Adolla Link. It turns out, [Shinra's been a delinquent these past three months](https://i.imgur.com/UAkZpAy.jpeg), and he has no clue he's done all of this because his Doppelganger was controlling him.

I still can't believe that Shinra seeing real-life people is an actual plot point in this series [and the dude is having an existential crisis about it.](https://i.imgur.com/7RGPSha.jpeg) So it sounds like the world of Fire Force is set in our world and [the Great Cataclysm changed everything](https://i.imgur.com/FtJxglm.jpeg). So the Great Cataclysm turned everything into anime? O_O

[Seeing Iris with the bruise on her lip](https://i.imgur.com/Zh6tmrF.jpeg) genuinely made me upset. [Doppelganger Shinra is an absolute dick](https://i.imgur.com/vI1kOsV.jpeg). I feel like there should be some way for OG Shira to give his Doppelganger version some payback for that.

So it turns out, [Sister Iris is actually a Third Generation pyrokenetic.](https://i.imgur.com/aqVkihZ.jpeg) Her powers are so weak that it's not enough to manifest, but thanks to the pillars, her powers were strengthened enough to finally manifest.

[Well that doesn't look good.](https://i.imgur.com/qmFaaoG.jpeg) Is that supposed to be Burns' Doppelganger? And it looks like [we now have seven pillars up!](https://i.imgur.com/rYDquQR.jpeg) I'm not looking forward to seeing what happens when all pillars are up.

Shinra's doppelganger was inhabiting Shinra's body for the past 3 months and so he did something Shinra would never do, including hurting Iris. But like Arthur pointed out, all of the things that he did were the same as rumours that were spread about him when they are in training school.

So Doppelgangers based on rumours. But there are people like who don't have any bad rumour about her but [her image](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/ced832d3b4d2.png) is connected to Amaterasu in a rather unexpected way.

Iris is not only the Eight Pillar but her Third Generation Power was awakened or rather it was always there and only because of the pillars strengthening the powers of the 2nd and 3rd generation, it's strong enough that Iris can use it.

One thing that caught my attention was that in this [image](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/ed6d5c293bf9.png), the pillars towards the north don't have the black fire on top but the rest have. I'm guessing there's a connection b/w these pillars and the Adolla Burst pillars.

Also, I think we saw Burns' doppelganger in Joker's Adolla Link.

Episode was storyboarded by the director, Tatsuma Minamikawa (南川 達馬) and directed by Takanari Hirayama (平山 孝成)


Opening animation was storyboarded and directed by Wataru Chihara (茅原 渡) at Coppepan (コッペパン)



Comments from Staff. Click links for source:



**Kenichiro Suehiro** (In charge of music):

[Comment:](https://xcancel.com/Kenichiro_S/status/2009461680678601203#m)
"Finally, the last chapter starts broadcasting today! We wrote a lot of new songs for the climax! We look forward to seeing the end of Shinra and company 8's story together with you all."


**Ryo Ohashi** (VFX Supervisor)

[Comment:](https://xcancel.com/1992YAJIRyo/status/2009679515958816933#m)
"I was always left in charge of the cut in the OP that shows the title logo, but this will be the last time."




**Atsushi Ohkubo** (Original Creator). He drew some art to celebrate the start of cour 2's broadcast.

[Comment:](https://xcancel.com/Atsushi_Ohkubo/status/2009635760400715827#m)
"Final chapter of the 'Fire Force' anime starts broadcasting today."




Blu-ray listing on the [site](https://fireforce-anime.jp/blu-ray/normal2/) for cour 2 confirms that it will be 13 episodes long (Episodes 13 - 25).


Extra Production Notes:

- Main staff seems to be the same, except Yumenosuke Tokuda (徳田 夢之介) is no longer one of the Chief Animation Directors, and Kanae Funaki (舟木 香奈枝) replaced Hana Ino (伊野 帆南) for Setting Production (設定制作). Funaki was the Production Assistant on episode 3. Also, Junichiro Hara (原淳 一郎) is the only one on Vehicle Cooperation (車輌協力). Cour 1 had Yurie Kominami (小南 友利恵) working alongside Hara.


- david production recently started their own in house Background Art department. The actual show itself still has Bihou doing the background art, but the OP had the backgrounds done by david production themselves.

EDIT: Corrected name of studio. It was Coppepan instead of "Koppepan" like I thought. Also, I forgot to mention Kazuhiro Miwa (三輪 和宏) is back doing Design Works on this episode.

It would've been hilarious if Arthur dyed his hair to match his. Really curious how all of this will play out.

lowkey I liked the new Shinra look 🙈 .. well it lasted for a few minutes 

Not a lot of movement this episode, but at least the animation and pacing isn't as jank as the last season.

Damn so much new information in this first episode, I was not expecting all this to have happened during Shinra's viewing of the past. I like how Shinra tried to describe how the past looked by comparing it to a drawing in the ground, how even though it clearly looks like a human, it's not the same as who they are.

Shinra being replaced by a doppelganger is the biggest reveal in this episode though. It's really surprising how it ended up being personality of the rumors of him when he was younger and that's been given life in Adolla. It was shocking to hear Adolla Shinra was violent with Iris, but it wasn't Shinra himself so I hope he doesn't continue feeling guilty for it.

I really like how everyone is happy to see him back, it's sweet to see. That moment with Obi was sweet but I hate how much it felt like a death flag, I hope I'm wrong considering he has overcome a number of things, but with things becoming more dire, I think I should brace myself for something tragic to happen.

Poor Shinra, he can't erase the perception people had of him during those three months, just like the tattoos and piercings. At least the dyed hair is gone, I really like how much he values his body because his mother gave birth to it, it's adorable.

Also, why would they spoil so much in the OP? The song is so good as well but I'll have to skip it because it's not small spoilers that make you curious about what's going to happen, they literally reveal big moments that aren't forgettable.

the world building in this show is like no other

Shinra's doppelganger must have been quite a sight to watch lol
How dare he laid his hands on sister !! That's unforgivable. Arthur is not dumb at all since he has always been the first person to see what everyone fails to see, haha.

Takanori Nishikawa's openings are always a banger 🔥
And the ed is by Survive said the prophet..so Fire Force is gonna finish this season with the best op and ed.

I wonder how the story is gonna get adapted in just 13 episodes since I heard that too may manga chapters are left. I hope it doesn't end in a bad way by rushing.

Lol, the start of the new OP is begging for a gif.

Welcome back Fire Force, looking forward to seeing how the final chunk gets adapted.

I was rather expecting an episode or two with Shinra in the past since it sure felt like he woke up in a different body in the end of S2, turns out it was hair dye, tattoos, and 3 months of being possessed by his evil twin or some such. I wonder if we'll get flashbacks to wherever he was during those three months instead.

That Shira and Iris handholding in the OP.

Man that's upsetting I didn't think he'd lose three months or that there be a imposter or anything like that!

Poor sister..poor Shinra.

Love the part of the OP with Shinra and Iris holding hands. Hopefully they still fit in most of the good moments this season.

I remember very little and understand even less lol

Is the past the manga?

Like, when he talks about drawings and when he went to the last, there were also drawings

The OP was amazing!

Very dense in terms of information but somehow feel like they're taking way too much time. Get the show going, there's so much left to adapt in so little time ? OP is great tho.

Shinra's got a strong mind to keep his wits after seeing 3D people as a 2d character. I wouldn't know how to explain it to Arthur either.

"*Iris is warm and kind, she's a soothing light for us. Like a sunflower. That's the image the empire knows. It's almost as if Amaterasu was a person*"

Man they aren't fooling around are they.

Nah I'm sorry Shinra but ain't nobody raising their hand against Sister Iris, you're lucky you just got tied down

I love the fact that they skipped over the cliche having to earn trust back ..his friends know him so well they knew that wasn't him and he doesn't need to earn their forgiveness

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This already got another season. Man I must have lost track of time

With the confirmation of this season being the finale that will adapt 88 chapters of the manga, I was worried that the episode would feel rushed, but that was the contrary. I am an anime-only, so I have no idea what was cut from the chapters that were covered in this episode, but I thought that they dedicated sufficient time to inform us of the key occurrences during the 3 month void of Shinra being taken over by his doppelganger.

"The Great Cataclysm wasn't the cataclysm that we know of." This statement is very meta as it hints at the possibility of the world that they are currently in being a two dimensional variant of our reality. The question then is does the original three dimensional variant still exist out there or did it become two dimensional? Are doppelgangers a reference to the original humans before the cataclysm? Iris being a doppelganger of Amaterasu is not a surprising revelation, but I wonder why is she the exception by looking exactly like Amaterasu instead of an Infernal just like the other doppelgangers that have been shown thus far?

Of course, the fights later on may be redacted in order to fit into the episode count, but at this point I will be satisfied as long as they are well animated and make sense narratively. The most important aspect for me is the story, and I want to be able to confidently say that I enjoyed the journey from start to end by the end of this season.

So Shinra saw the modern real world, and perceived it as a 3D version of his own world, even if he couldn't fully understand the implications of that. So it seems like the world of the show is, canonically, a sort of "projection" of reality, like shadows projected onto a wall are a projection of 3D objects onto a 2D plane. In the discussion between the nerds, it seems like the talking animals and such might be projections of human dreams or something? Like they exist because *we* have imagined Loony Tunes and such?

So there's kind of nuclear theme going on with Ameratsu right? I know cooling towers aren't just a nuke thing but they're basically evocative of it now.

What if these pillars are actually control rods? (or fuel rods?!!) And spontaneous combustion is akin to nuclear decay?

It's a pity this show is so inconsistent. When it's on, like this episode, it's very, very good.

T.M revolution for the final OP. Soul Eater remake confirmed?

New opening kinda Eurobeat-ish? Banger

So, real anime is back. The last week had me stressed with all the nonsense. 

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Caught up just in time for the first episode of the 2nd cour today, and that has got to be the wildest acid trip I've ever been on for an anime lmfao

I love that Shinra is always so nice and respectful towards everyone around him that everybody just casually welcomes him back like it's nothing after being an insufferable douchebag to them for the last 3 months. I know they're aware the doppelganger Shinra wasn't really him, but I just find it really wholesome tbh.

But onto the elephant: Wayyy before I started getting into this series, I've seen people posting panels of the actual, real-life photos from the manga. And now that I've really gotten to this point (I haven't seen anything else past the anime aside from real-world photos yet), I legit cannot come up with any coherent theories as to what the hell all this is supposed to represent.

When Shinra traveled back in time and saw the old world, he was replaced by an alternate version of himself which reflects the perception other people had of him when he was still at the academy. We learnt that Adolla has doppelgangers of **everyone** in the real world, and when the doppelgangers merge with people, they become Infernals. But what about 2nd and 3rd-generations? The only time we've seen a doppelganger of a 2nd/3rd-generation other than this is during the time Konro went into overheat, and he was fighting it as a separate entity. What in the world could all this mean??? Shinra only managed to see the old world because he was in Adolla, I can't think of any implication that would make sense from this but that seems very important imo.

Assuming that the Cataclysm transformed OUR world into anime/manga form, how would the world even change in response to a SECOND Cataclysm??? For a long time we know the Fire Force world is supposed to simply be just Earth (or a post-apocalyptic one **based off of** our world to be specific), but the fact that the author chose to depict the past as "live-action" is still so unfathomably strange to me. It's like the Cataclysm completely changed the way reality itself looked, a total recreation of the universe. The author is truly using these drawn mediums to their fullest potential, only the Evangelist would know how something like this can even be pulled off in a live-action adaptation of this series.

Iris being a normal 3rd-generation is sorta unsurprising though I was expecting her to be the 8th Pillar or something crazy. But the fact that she has also been feeling like an imitation of herself is pretty damn unnerving no less.

And was that fucking Captain Hague???

Legit after episodes 12 and 13 of this season I can't imagine how anyone could be watching this while having their brains turned off. We are deadass banging on the door of metafiction here.

Good episode. I’m glad this show is back!

So just like Arthur knew which twin was the impostor he figured out Shinra wasn't himself?

I feel like Shinra missed something. A drawing of a human and a photo of a human can both be recognized as a human. But his drawing is closer to himself than to his visions of the past.

Well this blows a hole in my theory I had Season 1. Asakura doesn't just use the Japanese surname first, but they live very much like Edo Japan. Just put in an Emperor, some Shinto priests and shrine maidens and the would be like Edo Japanese with pyrokinetics. So my theory is that their traditions are remnants of the old Japan before the cataclysm. Well that theory is out the window.

If Iris is only waking up her powers now, what did she do when they freed captain Obi earlier in the 3rd season? I thought she used some power in episode 54 Inori no Hate. Everyone thought Maki saved them from Dargon's attack but Maki was surprised and Iris looked like she was hiding something when she congratulated Maki.

Shinra says Iris is like a Sunflower. Then says that's the image the Tokyo Empire has of Amaterasu. So um, either the subs are bad or people think of Amaterasu looking like a sunflower? I feel that translation is off, but I don't think it's completely literal since it doesn't have the bad grammar literal translations have. Shinra knows Amaterasu looks like Iris and not like a steam power planet.

Iris is worried she's a fake. Hibana speculates there are Adolla doppelgängers. So the implication is that Iris is Amaterasu's doppelganger and Shinra was taken over by his counterpart. But that can't be right. Amaterasu (the first pillar girl) is an ageless attractive but insane girl inside a building also called Amaterasu (the power plant). Also Shinra's doppganger would kill 1% of the population in Adolla every ten years and a good chunk of people won't have doppelgangers at that rate unless you can't die in Adolla. So I don't see how Iris can be the counterpart of Amaterasu given what we know. I guess if Iris and Amaterasu looked like the middle school student in modern times you could say "well Iris was around for those 200 years, she just forgot all but the last 10" but Iris clearly grew up.

The ending looks funny. We have a scene where Sho remembers the past. But even if he could remember it, the ending implies he is remembering it in 3rd person since he can see himself in his mother's arms.