I’ve had my eye on Trigger’s ‘Promare’ since it was announced for a US Theatrical Release. It’s the studio’s first feature length film straight from the people behind Kill La Kill and Gurren Lagann, two of my favorite anime of all time. I had high hopes for Promare because of that and I’m so happy to say that it more than delivered. Promare’s everything that Trigger is known for in full force and is a love letter to the studio’s past work.
Promare takes place 30 years after The Great World Blaze, a near cataclysmic event caused by humans that spontaneously combust into flames that ravaged the entire earth. These flame-wielding humans, now known as the Burnish, are discriminated against and branded as criminals with society reconstructing itself to withstand themselves against the Burnish threat. One such defense is the mech piloting firefighting troop Burning Rescue and over the course of the plot, new recruit Galo Thymos fights with his team to combat the Mad Burnish terrorist threat, led by Lio Fotia.
Promare is just as ridiculous as its plot sounds and like Trigger’s past work it fully embraces its high octane energy from beginning to end. Trigger knows what its fans want to see and they don’t waste any time getting to the action. The whole film is a visual spectacle and its art style plays a large part in its dynamic fights. Characters are smoothly drawn and 2D animated while the massive mechs that they pilot are rendered in CG with the film impressively combining the two styles without it being jarring at all. Promare’s vivid and diverse color palette alongside its use of geometry also greatly helps with keeping track of the action. The bright red, orange and yellow mechs of Burning Rescue firing their bluish cube-like ice crystals contrasts greatly with the triangular neon purple & green flames and polygonal black armor of the Mad Burnish. The fights take center stage in Promare with encounters being frequent and each one-upping the adrenaline levels until it explodes in the film’s climax. There were several times where I was absolutely blown away by the artistry on display. Whether it be mechs fighting each other across multiple buildings or mutant pyrokinetics creating swords and dragons made of flames, Promare constantly amazed me with both the creativity and execution of its action.
A central part of Promare’s exhilarating identity has to be Hiroyuki Sawano’s fantastic score for the film. Sawano’s work from Kill La Kill made him one of my favorite composers and this soundtrack delivers on all fronts. From the cheesy feel-good rock of the main theme 'Inferno’ to the emotion-filled symphonic track ‘ΛSHES’, you cannot separate Promare’s music from its most exciting moments. My personal favorite has to be the insert song used for Lio’s theme, 'Kakusei’ by Superfly. The soundtrack is implemented incredibly well too. Sawano doesn’t like to stay quiet if he doesn’t have to and it feels like there’s always music playing, with the film constantly switching between different tracks to fit what’s happening on screen. I’ve had the entire soundtrack on loop for the past few days and am growing even more in love with it the more I listen.
The settings of Promare are surprisingly diverse with each one having a great number of small details. From locales such as a streetside pizza joint in the city or a frozen lake in the forest to underground research facilities or hidden desert refugee camps, Promare never stays in one place for too long and constantly gives the audience something new to see.
Promare isn’t all flash without substance as the story, while predictable is still genuinely entertaining and compelling. Galo and Lio are the stars of the film and serve as great central characters. Galo may seem like Kamina 2.0 in both appearance and personality but he’s far from a carbon copy. He shares Kamina’s gung-ho and headstrong personality but sets himself apart with his youthful admiration of his peers and mentors. Lio’s “cool” exterior contrasts greatly with Galo’s brazen nature leading to great chemistry between the two; Lio’s growth throughout the story has to be one of my favorite aspects of Promare. The other side characters in Promare are fun and help bring an already vibrant world to life even more but they don’t get a great amount of screen time. There’s only one subplot that involves other characters besides Galo and Lio and while it’s a good thing that Promare doesn’t try to juggle too many aspects of its film, it would have been nice to see more of the other members of Burning Rescue.
Promare’s dub cast is incredibly strong and each performance brings out the characters’ personalities. The comedy is also great, especially in the latter half of the film. The pure insanity of the situations at hand always put a smile on my face but there were several gags, banter between characters and extremely well-done jokes that gave the entire audience a great laugh. The film also handles pacing extremely well during its 2 hour run time. It almost always knows the perfect time to give the audience a small break from the action and some standout moments of animation come from the quieter parts of the film. Like most Trigger plots, Promare prioritizes high emotional energy over having the most coherent and sensical plot and that’s perfectly okay. The film does have deeper themes of oppression within its plot that are decently well explored but they aren’t as strongly intertwined with the narrative such as with Kill La Kill which is understandable as it does have to tell its story in a shorter time frame.
Promare feels like a Best Hits album from Trigger. There’s so much love from the studio’s past projects with references that range from subtle to extremely obvious throughout the whole film. It especially pays homage to Kill La Kill and Gurren Lagann by taking and using specific elements in its own unique way. Character introductions and special attacks, for example, are presented with giant text that acts as a part of the world itself like in Kill La Kill while the mech transformation sequences are reminiscent of Gurren Lagann’s. If you’re a fan of any of Trigger’s past work, the movie will have some aspect from it that you’ll be able to appreciate.
I came into Promare extremely excited for it and walked out absolutely loving it. It reminded me of how I felt when I first watched Kill La Kill and Gurren Lagann and why I fell in love with anime in the first place. Promare embodies pure fun and excitement and has to be one of the best, if not THE best, work that Trigger has ever done. I know Promare will end up being a film I come back to frequently and have a special place in my heart for as time goes on.
If you weren’t able to catch Promare during its limited premiere in theaters, you can preorder the digital version of it on iTunes.
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