Fire Force is a prequel to Soul Eater and they are both connected. Fire Force and Soul Eater are best-selling mangas penned by the renowned writer Atsushi Ohkubo.
Although Soul Eater was published first, the events in Fire Force actually take place numerous years before Soul Eater and lay the foundation for the world that we now see in Soul Eater. Fire Force was never officially announced as a sequel to Soul Eater. The writer, however, sprinkled several clever references throughout before eventually stating it expressly in the final chapter of Fire Force which was published in February 2022.
Synopsis of Fire Force
Fire Force is a popular manga penned by Atsushi Ohkubo, which was originally published from 2015 to 2022. It has sold millions of copies and has been made into a popular anime.
Fire Force is set in Tokyo in an era when human beings can be turned into living infernos. You also have those that can create and control fire with their mind.
While many use their powers or abilities for good, others use them for evil, and it is up to the Fire Force Company 8, which includes a young lad named Shinra, to fight and control these evil forces. The main antagonist turns out to be a religious cult named White Clad, and at the end of the whole battle, Shinra decides to destroy White Clad and the Holy Sol Religion.
Shinra, however, surmises that human society needs something similar to be tethered to, and so creates a god known as Shinigami. It is this god that is one of the major protagonists in Soul Eater.
What is Soul Eater All About?
Soul Eater is a manga/anime series that was equally penned by Atsushi Ohkubo. It was originally published from 2004 to 2013 and was also made into an anime series that aired on various TV channels.
In Soul Eater, a god named Shinigami holds sway over the world and lives in Death City, located in Nevada, U.S.A. He runs a school where he trains human beings that can turn into weapons as well as meisters, i.e., the humans that control these weapons. Amongst his star students, who are the heroes, are Maka Albarn and Soul Eater, Black Star and Tsubaki (multiple ninja weapons), and Death Kid and his pistol partners.
Shinigami and his students work to keep the peace of the world and fight against witches, monsters, and kishin (humans who turn into evil beings by killing innocent people and devouring their souls). While doing this, they collect the souls of evil individuals and witches alike to form the most powerful weapon known as Death Scythe, which only Shinigami can wield.
The major antagonist in Soul Eater turns out to be Asura, Shinigami’s son, who turns into a kishin.
Is Fire Force and Soul Eater Connected?
Fire Force is the sequel to Soul Eater. Although Soul Eater was published several years before Fire Force, the events in Fire Force actually take place, chronologically speaking, before the events in Soul Eater.
Sequels are a common occurrence in both TV productions as well as written works. However, oftentimes, the writer of the book or the creators of the show will make it clear from day one that their subsequent work serves as a sequel to a preceding work. The situation was, however, different when it came to Fire Force and Soul Eater.
The author of both works never announced that Fire Force was going to be a sequel to Soul Eater when it debuted. It was the ardent fans of the show that spotted some commonalities between the two and started theorizing that there was a connection between them beyond the fact that the same author penned them.
Atsushi Ohkubo finally confirmed their theories and suspicions, but this confirmation only came in the epilogue of Fire Force. Shinra is shown overseeing a new world that turns out to be the setting of Soul Eaters, and a reel of some toddlers who eventually become the major protagonists in Soul Eater, Maka Albarn, and Soul Eater is also shown.
Fire Force’s Shinra Created Soul Eater God, Shinigami
Shinra, the protagonist in Fire Force, created one of the major protagonists in Soul Eater, Shinigami, and laid the foundation for the world that we now see in the Soul Eater manga/anime.
As stated before, Fire Force is set in Japan in an era where religion holds sway. A religious cult known as the White Clad often turns human beings into living infernos and kills them in their grand agenda to bring about the great cataclysm and set the whole world on fire. Shinra and his fellow Fire Force members defeat them and religion entirely.
He, however, creates a new benevolent god named Shinigami, who will now maintain order in the world. Shinigami is one of the major protagonists in Soul Eater and focuses on fighting evil forces alongside his students – human beings that can turn into weapons and the human beings that control these weapons.
The Protagonists of Soul Eater are Toddlers in Fire Force
While the characters in Soul Eater and Fire Force do not necessarily cross over, the student meisters in Soul Eater are briefly shown in the epilogue of Fire Force. They have, of course, not grown at this point but are rather toddlers. Amongst those that make an appearance are Maka Albarn and her weapon partner known as Soul Eater Evans.
Maka Albarn eventually turns out to be a courageous young girl while her partner is a demon scythe. They embark on several battles together in Soul Eater and eventually turn Evans into a death scythe, a highly coveted weapon that is the most powerful and can be wielded by Shinigami himself.
Excalibur is a Crucial Weapon in Both Soul Eater and Fire Force
Another thing that Fire Force and Soul Eater have in common is the weapon known as Excalibur. In Soul Eater, it is one of the most powerful weapons but is also described as obnoxious and egotistical. This makes many meisters avoid it, and the one that can handle it is an individual that can handle its idiosyncrasies.
The background story of Excalibur comes from Fire Force. A Fire Force fighter named Arthur Doyle originally wields it until he is involved in an epic battle with a White Clad butcher, Dragon. Arthur kills Dragon but is fatally wounded. His death infuses life into Excalibur.
