PROMARE is the latest title under studio TRIGGER’s belt and if you have been a fan of their work from Gurren Lagann then this film won’t disappoint you. This film is a love letter to all the fans out there of series ranging from Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill and other TRIGGER titles.
The plot of “PROMARE” like the previous works from first time director Hiroyuki Imaishi [Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill] are completely covered in sci-fi and fantasy but deep down touches upon an issue, for “PROMARE” it touches upon global warming and I would go as far as to say genocide.
This time around the story revolves around some humans who are known as ‘Burnish’ that have a mutation that causes them to spontaneously combust, which leads to random fires. This leads to an incident known as the ‘Great World Blaze’, which nearly erased humanity. The survivors from this incident formed a society that is governed by Kray Foresight. Kray Foresight is not only the ruler of the city Promepolis but is the director of the Foresight Foundation which researches fireproof building materials.
Among the survivors there are people who might have this mutation but either don’t know it or the mutation is still dormant. This means that the risk of spontaneous fires is still present as before. Some of the citizens that have the mutation have learned to wield it and cause havoc and they are seen as terrorist that must be dealt with. For this Kray Foresight created the ‘Freezer Force’ whose task is to look for them and jail them.
While on the ‘Burnish’ side there is a group named ‘Mad Burnish’ led by Lio Fotia that seeks to destroy the system and free all the ‘Burnish’ that are being detained. Then we have the ‘Burning Rescue’ firefighting squad who are the ones that put out the fires cause by the ‘Burnish’. One of it’s many members [which we will not list to keep this short and somewhat spoiler free] is Galo Thymos who is cocky and self obsessed to say the least but is the hero like in other passed TIGGER titles.
As you may have concluded there will be more than a few battles between Lio Frotia the fire element and Galo Thymos the ice element. They confront each other in many epic scenes that are amazing to watch due to the perfect combination of background art and CG hybrid fight scenes.The scenes are fast paced with eye pleasing color palette and great editing that makes you feel like you are moving along side the characters.
The way they draw the fire is like nothing you have seen before it has this element of chaos but yet elegantly done which leaves you in awe. They didn’t just do a great job with the fire but they knock it out of the park with the ice, and it does show that they did give these elements the attention they deserved and wanted them to stand out by themselves.
Later the elements combine in a way that can only be described as an intricate collective dance, which is powerful but still not overpowering. This is just talking about the scenes that showcase these elements but to quote Bruce Dickson we need more cowbell and Trigger listened.
Just like in Gurren Lagann they give us a mecha fight scene that can challenge any fighting scene in any mecha anime. As for the rest of the story there is a storyline that I won’t spoil and there are more characters that you meet especially the rest of the members of the ‘Burning Rescue’ squad and Kray Foresight’s scientist, with a plot twist that focuses on global warming.
Instead of just taking my word for it why not go see it for yourself premiere tickets are on sale now for September 17th & 19th. If you can’t make it then it will be in selected theaters September 20th.
You can purchase tickets at the official website here.
Images: ©TRIGGER・中島かずき／XFLAG
