Fire Force (manga)

is a weekly manga series, written and illustrated by Atsushi Ōkubo. It is published by Kodansha and serialized in the Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Kodansha Comics USA have official licensing to the manga in English, with the first volume having released on November 8, 2016.

Overview
From the creator of Soul Eater comes a brand new "blazing" manga, set in a world where humans spontaneously ignite and turn into flaming demon-like creatures, a disease most feared and known by the name "Human Body Ignition Phenomenon". Enter Shinra Kusakabe, a boy with the ability to ignite at his own will, who joins the Special Fire Force Company 8 of Tokyo to fight the Flame Humans, achieve his goal of becoming a hero, and to uncover the truth behind his family's death.

Chapters & Volumes
As of February 27th, 2019, Fire Force has 163 chapters. It also has 15 volumes published in Japanese, and 14 in English.

Background
In a conversation with Fairy Tail's author, Hiro Mashima, the author of Fire Force, Atsushi Ōkubo, stated that everybody in the manga having an ability relating to fire could be interesting, jokingly saying it branches from his own monomania. As the manga carries a heavy and dark theme, Ōkubo thought it was fitting to have a main protagonist with a smile that "he can't help but make when he wants to be serious, rather than an open and carefree smile" that is common among other main protagonists.

On the second day of Anime Expo 2016 (2/6/2016), Kodansha Comics USA announced that they had officially licensed En'en no Shōbōtai under the name Fire Force, beginning publication in North America on November 8th, 2016.

Reception
Fire Force was nominated for Best Shōnen Manga under Kodansha's 41st annual Manga Awards along with four other manga, albeit Altair: A Record of Battles won the award.

Sales

 * As of January, 2018, the manga had 1.8 million copies in print.
 * As of the release of Volume 15 in November 2018, the manga had 2.3 million copies in print.
 * In its first week of sales, Fire Walk with Me ranked 14th place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 42,217 copies.
 * In its first week of sales, Hero or Devil ranked 23rd place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 32,215 copies, it's lowest amount thus far.
 * In its first week of sales, The Hero and the Princess ranked 23rd place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 37,077 copies.
 * In its first week of sales, Fire Bugs ranked 21st place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 49,737 copies.
 * In its first week of sales, Sparks of Truth ranked 13th place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 58,645 copies, its highest amount thus far.
 * In its first week of sales, Volume 6 ranked 22nd place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 35,549 copies.
 * In its first week of sales, Volume 7 ranked 12th place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 39,178 copies.
 * In its first week of sales, Volume 8 ranked 15th place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 58,643 copies.
 * In its first week of sales, Volume 9 ranked 13th place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 34,943 copies.
 * In its first week of sales, Volume 10 ranked 18th place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 42,169 copies.

Trivia

 * The series features details that closely resemble or allude to elements from Atsushi Ōkubo's previous series, Soul Eater.
 * “The real heroes closest to us are the firefighters all around us. They’re the closest thing we have to a hero so I really wanted to create a manga that gives them the spotlight. I think even if you’re in the fantasy world you’re still going to have fires, right, so who puts those out? That’s why we need firefighters in this fantasy world and they have to fight fires with fantasy powers.” - Atsushi Okubo