Fire Force (manga)

Fire Force (En En no Shōbōtai, 炎炎ノ消防隊, Fansub: Fire Brigade of Flames) 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 has licensed the manga for English readers, with publication of the first volume beginning November 8th 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 8th Special Fire Brigade of Tokyo to fight the Flame Humans, achieve his goal of becoming a hero, and to uncover the truth behind his family's death.

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

 * In its first week of sales, Volume 1 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, Volume 2 ranked 23rd place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 32,215 copies.
 * In its first week of sales, Volume 3 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, Volume 4 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, Volume 5 ranked 13th place on the official Oricon manga rankings chart, and has sold an estimated amount of 58,645 copies.

Trivia

 * The series features details that closely resemble or allude to elements from Atsushi Ōkubo's previous series, Soul Eater.