Really disappointing coming from the same mangaka as Soul Eater.

Ohkubo was really good with character relationships in his previous work, this is not the case with Fire Force. Nearly no one feels like they have any kind of synergy or development. The way he handles female characters is also much, much worse in this show as nearly all female characters feel as if they were put in purely for fan service.

Shinra is a very unlikable protagonist. We're immediately lore dumped on his past without having even a couple minutes to bond with him. It feels incredibly forced and generic to be introduced to a character in such a way. I can't wrap my brain around why he was introduced in such a way when his backstory doesn't even become relevant again until much later on.

The Japanese voice acting is passable, but the English voice acting is poorly directed. Even in moments of action and conflict the dialogue falls flat and no intensity can be felt from the characters.

Art and animation-wise Fire Force is good and I personally think it to be its strong suit (and only good thing it has going on). It genuinely stands to be an example of David Production's improvements over the years. I've seen a lot from them over the years and Fire Force to me is one of their works that cements them as a great animation studio.
Animation aside, I otherwise think the art is hit or miss, the overall aesthetics and environments are really good and were my main draw to this show. What disappoints me is the character designs, a lot of them especially the main cast fall flat and feel very generic. I personally have nothing against uniforms and think they can be very effective at communicating bonds and kinship between characters while maintaining a level of individuality between them.
In Fire Force, I can't help but feel like a lot of the characters are held back by their uniforms and feel too similar, even if the uniforms are pretty neat.

When it comes to the anime, the pacing is very strange. There are a lot of empty pauses or scenes that feel drawn out. A lot of action scenes feel like they lack any sense of energy and flow, conversations feel awkward.
The story is similarly oddly paced and has very little going on to retain your attention. I'm not against the battle shounen genre and have some favorites myself, but being a battle shounen doesn't excuse having a lackluster story. Let alone to mess up on the action which is usually the main draw of these shows...

I personally can't recommend this show to anyone, even watching it in the background while drawing and doing homework made it too boring for me to sit through in its entirety. I'm curious what people like about this show as I personally can't think of it as any more than frustrating.