(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj.
*Nitsuj gets up and locks his door*
(Nitsuj): Sorry, just taking a pre-caution because I’m about to talk about a certain studio that someone loves. So Studio-
*Shizuku breaks downs the door and comes in*
(Nitsuj): Of course.
(Shizuku): What’s up boss? Talking about Studio Trigger again? You know you can’t do this without me.
(Nitsuj): Well I can, but since I don’t want to get beat up I’ll allow you to join. It’s time to look at Promare. This was Trigger’s third project that was announced alongside Gridman and FRANXX. Unlike the others which were full-length animes this was instead a movie and wouldn’t be out until 2019.
(Shizuku): Naturally, everybody dismissed this project and considered it to be the weakest of the bunch, yet to everyone’s surprise this was the best of the 3 projects.
(Nitsuj): Yep. No joke. The one project that everyone overlooked wound up being the best one. This movie also seemed to have the most focus and star power put into it. It was directed by Trigger’s co-founder Hiroyuki Imaishi and written by Kazuki Nakashima. Both of whom worked together on Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill with mecha designs from Shigeto Koyama (he designed the mechas in Gurren Lagann, FRANXX, and Evangelion movies) and music by Hiroyuki Sawano who composed music for Kill la Kill, Attack on Titan, and The Seven Deadly Sins.
(Shizuku): With this much star power and focus behind it, it’s no wonder why this movie did so well. Let’s get ready to have our minds blown and take a look at Promare.
(Nitsuj): So the movie starts off in modern day where everybody is going about their business and getting annoyed by the world around them (Shizuku: And people wonder why we stay at home). Out of nowhere a number of people begin to spontaneously combust all over the world (and I just got done reviewing Fire Force with Chibi). Before long a riff begins to form between normal humans and those who would gain pyrokinesis known as Burnish and form their own terrorist group against the world. A massive event known as the Great World Blaze occurred which wiped out half the population in the world. Fast forward 30 years later and we arrive in the city of Promepolis where firefighters now known as Burning Rescue fight against fires and acts of terror by Burnish (Shizuku: Using badass mechs that specialize in destroying fires. Best use of tax dollars ever). Burning Rescue responds to a fire at a building where the boastful optimistic rookie named Galo voiced by Kenichi Matsuyama heads to the top of the building to rescue some citizens. Once the citizens are safely evacuated, Galo comes face to face with the terrorist group known as Mad Burnish. The members of the group were captured but the three leaders remained at large and are now facing down Galo. Galo takes them on where he’s able to capture two of the leaders by himself (scene here: https://youtu.be/5uE4PZi3sk4) and has a spectacular fight with the main leader in what I can only describe is an amazing spectacle of animation (the speed, the camerawork, the action, the colors, the animation it’s an amazing spectacle to behold. I’m honestly at a loss for words at what I’m seeing). With the help of others, Galos is able to capture the leader of Mad Burnish, Lio, a young man voiced by Taichi Saotome. Freeze Force (this world’s version of the FBI) comes in once the fighting is over (and they are no Fire Force mind you) to take away Mad Burnish and lock them up in prison where we see that anyone who has pyrokinesis gets discriminated against. Even if they’re not terrorists and just normal citizens trying to live a peaceful life they can be arrested and anyone caught harboring them gets arrested as well (when one creates terror your race as a whole becomes discriminated against).
(Shizuku): Back in prison, Lio manages to break out of his cuffs and stages a riot where he and the other Burnishes escape and flee to the forest where they’re discovered by Galo who was up there to cool off and think. He finds them in a cave only to get captured by Lio who tells him that Burnishes are being experimented it by the governor Kray, a man who saved Galo when he was a kid. Lio doesn’t kill Galo and instead escapes with the other Burnishes and Galo gets rescued by his teammate Aina (Nitsuj: Love interest spotted). The next day, Galo goes to confront Kray about the human experiments (wow, just walked in and everything. (Nitsuj): It pays to have friends in high places). Kray admits that he’s experimenting on the Burnishes because the planet is going to explode from magma levels (first it was a flood and now a fire) but Kray has a plan to save humanity (Nitsuj: Or a small part of humanity as is with these plans). Kray has discovered a planet similar to Earth in every way 4 lightyears away. He’s created a spaceship to carry 10,000 selected people to this new world and in order to get there quickly he’s using the lives of Burnishes as a fuel source so the ship can warp (ha! It does it exist! (Nitsuj): Yeah, but at what cost? Also, that’s teleportation, big difference). Galo can’t believe this plan and is firmly against it so, Kray attacks him and locks him up (never meet your heroes kid). Meanwhile, Lio gets betrayed by a fellow Burnish which allows the Freeze Force to come in and capture all the Burnishes except for Lio who managed to escape thanks to his friends who fired him off into a volcano. A week soon passes and Lio emerges from the volcano pissed as hell (and hot as well). He attacks Promepolis demanding to face Kray or he’ll burn the city to the ground (Nitsuj: Do it! I just got Burnish insurance. Scene here: https://youtu.be/jfa-CVDgsFw). Galo uses Lio’s attack to escape where he meets back up with his team to get his mech and stop Lio from killing innocent people. Galo is able to reach Lio and capture him where the two get picked up by Aina who drops the two off in a frozen lake to cool off where Lio is able to melt the ice and they find a secret lab.
(Nitsuj): Galo, Lio, and Aina go inside the lab where they meet the hologram of Deus, a scientist who studied the Burnishes. You see Kray’s Burnish power engine wasn’t his idea, it was Deus’s idea, but he didn’t want to go through with it because of how inhumane it was. Kray was Deus’s assistant (Shizuku: Oh bullshit! You’re telling me this Adonis among men choose to be a scientist rather than pursue a career in modeling?) who killed him and stole his research deciding to go through with the plan. Speaking of Kray, he’s getting ready to launch his ship which Deus says will destroy the Earth. Deus explains that the flames used by Burnishes aren’t your regular flames (Shizuku: Get ready folks. Here comes that insane Studio Trigger twist) but instead an inter-dimensional flame species known as Promare (there’s the title drop) that came to our world through a distortion in space. The Promare reside in the Earth’s core and the whole reason for the surge in magma is because they’re in pain, and Kray’s experiments are accelerating the magma levels. Deus wants Galo and Lio to stop Kray before it’s too late and he unveils his ultimate weapon and mech called the Deus X Machina (I can’t help but applaud and laugh at the same time). This machine is powered by the Burnish flame but doesn’t endanger their lives. Also, in case you were wondering if Galo and Lio were selected because of some prophecy or deep-seeded friendship, no, it was all luck. If Aina hadn’t dropped them into that lake they would have never discovered the lab and everyone would have died (Shizuku: Hell, they even tell us this in the movie).
(Shizuku): Lio and Galo fly back to Promepolis to face Kray where after a redesign and name change, they are ready to fight. They attack the ship which gets the attention of Kray who goes out to face them in his bigger mech and we get another great mech battle where both mechs seize to function, the ship’s engine gets overloaded and closes the warp gate, and it looks like it’ll come down to a fist fight between Lio and Kray. Kray reveals that he’s also a Burnish and captures Lio to use him to power up his engine (Nitsuj: Oh~ my. (Shizuku): The ship’s engine you perv). He also puts Galo on fire but Lio’s flames protect him and uses that protection to reach Lio and Kray in the ships engine room where he knocks out Kray and does CPR on Lio to revive him after he was used as the engine’s core (there’s your yaoi moment girls). The Promare start going crazy and set the world ablaze but Galo and Lio spring into action where they use the ships engine and their mech to let the Promares go wild and burn all while using Lio’s flame to protect all life on Earth. The Promare burn out, leave our universe, and the world is still alive and safe. The Burnish become normal humans, Galo and Lio are friends, and they vow to restore the world together.
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): Guys, I’m not gonna lie, this was the best project of the three. While the story is pretty generic, similar to the stories of Trigger’s other works and I would have liked to see more of Burning Rescue in the movie, this movie manages to do everything else right.
(Shizuku): The animation is amazing. It is a visual explosion of color, speed, and creativity. The camerawork is phenomenal throughout the movie, the mecha designs look badass, and the music matches up well with the animation. I love it when the music syncs up with the animation to express the emotions and weight of what the characters are feeling and what they’re going through.
(Nitsuj): Speaking of characters. They’re alright overall. We don’t get to explore them all that much, but they do a good job at establishing their personalities and relationships with each other. I did enjoy the respect and friendship that developed between Galo and Lio throughout the movie. Galo is like Kamina, an idiot with a good heart who wants to help others and tries to see things from everyone’s perspective. Lio, despite his young age is quite mature. He doesn’t enjoy killing or hurting people and will usually try to take the path with the least amount of violence to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Just like Galo he wants to help others because he has the power to do it. If Galo is Kamina then Lio is Simon. A guy who prefers to think things through all the way rather than jump in headfirst like Galo. What one lacks the other makes up for it and when the two come together they create a great team.
Final Score
(Shizuku): My final score for Promare is a 9/10.
(Nitsuj): And I give the movie an 8/10 giving the final score for this movie an 8.5/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. While the story may not be all that interesting the visuals and the way it’s shot is worth the price of admission. It’s a shame this was just a movie as I would have liked to see a full anime based off this concept, but I don’t think the quality would have been on par with this movie. Well Shizuku, thanks for watching this with me.
(Shizuku): Yeah, I had a lot of fun. Let’s do this again sometime and if you try to review a Trigger anime without me again, I’m going to break your back with the camel clutch.
(Nitsuj): Fair enough. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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