The anime landscape for Spring 2025 is seeing significant excitement, particularly surrounding two highly anticipated series: The Beginning After the End and Fire Force season 3. While both adaptations boast robust fanbases and come from immensely popular source materials, the reception in terms of viewership and audience engagement deviates markedly, leading to intriguing discussions among fans.
Data from Crunchyroll suggests a surprising trend; the adaptation by Studio A-Cat of The Beginning After the End has garnered far higher engagement numbers compared to the visually stunning production by David Production for Fire Force. Despite its relatively lower animation quality, this adaptation has sparked a vibrant conversation online, as evidenced by its impressive like-to-dislike ratio.
Disclaimer: The views presented in this article are those of the author.
Crunchyroll Data: The Beginning After the End Dominates Fire Force Season 3
Both The Beginning After the End and Fire Force season 3 are currently streaming on Crunchyroll. The former premiered on April 2, 2025, followed by Fire Force on April 5, 2025. Although David Production is known for its impeccable animation quality and compelling storytelling, early episodes have left some viewers feeling the series may lack the dynamic engagement seen in other Spring 2025 titles.
Conversely, while Studio A-Cat’s animation may not be at the same level, the series has overtaken its competitor in terms of popularity. Notably, the Crunchyroll metrics reveal that the first episode of The Beginning After the End garnered over 80,000 likes, while the premiere of Fire Force managed fewer than 50,000. This pattern persists across subsequent episodes, indicating a significant preference for the former despite criticisms surrounding its quality.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that TBATE anime, one of the WORST anime adaptations in recent memory is constantly outperforming Fire Force S3 on Crunchyroll by a large margin lol by u/Electrical_Chance991 in tbatenovel
Fan Reactions to the Series
Many fans anticipated this outcome, as the growing popularity of the manhwa behind The Beginning After the End has become a hidden asset for the anime adaptation. However, this popularity does not mitigate its criticism, as the series is regarded by some as one of the more disliked adaptations, primarily due to its animation quality.
Conversely, the sentiment surrounding Fire Force reveals a shift. Fans speculate that a prolonged hiatus and the series’ conclusion in its source material may have diminished interest. Some fans even pointed to unneeded adult content as a factor affecting viewership numbers.
“A starving camel is bigger than a horse,”a fan remarked.
“Outperforming in dislikes by a bigger margin too lol,”another user commented.
“They just seriously underestimated TBATE’s popularity. Fire Force is no longer in its prime considering a lot of its fandom has left after the manga ended and the anime was on hiatus for a long time,”another observation indicated.
“Fire Force had the controversy of continuous debates regarding the inclusion of adult scenes, so, kinda expected,”a fan suggested.
Concluding Thoughts
While comparisons between The Beginning After the End and Fire Force season 3 may seem skewed to some, the timing of Fire Force’s return certainly posed challenges. Many fans appear content with the conclusion of the manga, leading to reduced enthusiasm for the anime’s comeback.
Nevertheless, the acclaim surrounding The Beginning After the End can be attributed to the compelling writing of TurtleMe and its engaged fanbase. As we move further into Spring 2025, many viewers remain hopeful for improvements as the seasons progress.