If you are a fan of anime and manga, you might have heard of **Fire Force** and **Soul Eater**, two popular series by the same creator, Atsushi Ohkubo. But did you know that these two series are actually connected in a surprising way? In this article, we will explore how Fire Force is related to Soul Eater, and what it means for the fans of both franchises.
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What is Fire Force?
Fire Force is a manga series that started in 2015 and ended in 2022, with an anime adaptation that aired from 2019 to 2021. The story follows Shinra Kusakabe, a young firefighter who joins the Special Fire Force Company 8, a team of pyrokinetics who fight against the phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion, which turns people into living infernos called Infernals. Shinra has a special ability called the Devil’s Footprints, which allows him to ignite his feet and fly at high speeds. He also has a mysterious past that links him to the mysterious Evangelist, the leader of a cult that seeks to bring about a second Great Cataclysm that will destroy the world.
What is Soul Eater?
Soul Eater is a manga series that started in 2004 and ended in 2013, with an anime adaptation that aired from 2008 to 2009. The story follows Maka Albarn, a meister who attends the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA), a school run by Death himself. Maka’s partner is Soul Eater Evans, a demon weapon who can transform into a scythe. Together, they hunt down evil souls and witches, while also dealing with their own personal issues and conflicts. The series is known for its quirky characters, dark humor, and stylish action.
How are Fire Force and Soul Eater connected?
Fans had long suspected that Fire Force was connected to Soul Eater in some way, and their instincts were eventually proven correct in the former’s final chapter. Even before this moment, several elements began to forge the path for how one series segued into the other.
One of the most obvious clues was the appearance of the moon in both series. The moon in Soul Eater is iconic for its eerie grin and blood-red eyes, and it also plays an important role in the plot. The moon in Fire Force first appeared in Chapter 191, and it looked exactly like the one in Soul Eater³. This raised many questions among fans about whether the two series shared the same world or timeline.
Another clue was the presence of Excalibur, the legendary sword that is also a character in Soul Eater. Excalibur is known for being extremely annoying and narcissistic, and he often appears as a comic relief character. In Fire Force, Excalibur appeared as a cameo in Chapter 205, where he was seen as one of the weapons used by Arthur Boyle, a knight-themed pyrokinetic who is obsessed with fantasy. This suggested that Excalibur existed in both series, and that he might have some connection to Arthur’s delusions.
The final and most conclusive clue was revealed in Chapter 256 of Fire Force, the last chapter of the series¹. In this chapter, it was revealed that Fire Force was actually a prequel to Soul Eater, and that Shinra Kusakabe was responsible for creating the world of Soul Eater.
How did this happen? Well, it all goes back to Shinra’s fight against the Evangelist, the main antagonist of Fire Force. The Evangelist was a being from another dimension called Adolla, where she served as God’s messenger. She wanted to recreate Adolla on Earth by triggering a second Great Cataclysm, which would turn all living beings into Infernals and merge them with God. Shinra opposed her plan and decided to stop her by using his own power as a Pillar, one of the eight individuals who could connect to Adolla and manipulate its energy.
Shinra realized that he couldn’t defeat the Evangelist by conventional means, so he came up with a radical solution: he decided to change the world itself. He used his power as a Pillar to rewrite reality and create a new world where the Evangelist would be sealed away under Death City, the main setting of Soul Eater. He also changed the values of humanity from life to death, which resulted in the emergence of souls, witches, meisters, weapons, and shinigami (death gods).
Shinra explained his reasoning as follows: “When I rebuilt the world, I lessened the value of life… In this world where life had been so precious… Combustion happened when someone’s soul overlapped with their counterpart from Adolla. So I made the world more absurd. Now, instead of combustion, things like zombies or Soul Resonance will occur.”
Shinra also became Death himself, the founder and headmaster of DWMA. He created the school to train meisters and weapons to protect the world from evil forces, such as the Kishin Asura, who was actually a remnant of the Evangelist’s power. Shinra also watched over his descendants, who inherited his Devil’s Footprints ability and became known as the Star Clan. One of them was Black Star, one of the main characters of Soul Eater.
The final scene of Fire Force showed Shinra overlooking Death City, where he saw the young versions of Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kid, Liz, Patty, and Crona. He smiled and said: “This is the world I created. A world where everyone can smile. A world where everyone can be happy.”
What does this connection mean for the fans?
The connection between Fire Force and Soul Eater was a shocking twist that many fans did not see coming. It was also a satisfying conclusion that tied up the loose ends of both series and gave them a sense of closure. It also opened up new possibilities for fan theories, speculations, and discussions about the similarities and differences between the two series.
Some fans might wonder why Ohkubo decided to connect Fire Force and Soul Eater in such a way. According to an interview with Anime News Network, Ohkubo said that he had planned this connection from the beginning of Fire Force, and that he wanted to create a contrast between the two series. He said: “Fire Force is about life and Soul Eater is about death. I wanted to show how different they are.”
