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[Raph64]

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First off, I’d like to thank all of you again for the overwhelming positive response to my PT thread, I didn’t expect to be given two times a month of Gold ! Your support helps me want to continue making quality threads that always seeks to share an honest and sane-reasoned analysis on subjects that deserves to be given it’s fair share of spotlight. And for this I will eternally be grateful to you GAF. Thank you so much !

And I would also like to give a special shoutout to the Promare Hell Discord server whom a member from the prominent leaker Sabi’s discord server which I also turn out to be part of has recommended me to join. And I would have perhaps never engaged myself to write such a lengthy thread on Promare if I haven’t witnessed the blooming passion of all its members there, which truly motivated me to write an elaborated thread that really lived up to the interest spawned by Promare and Studio Trigger over the past few years. This thread was written, with the lovely members from this Discord server and the Trigger enthusiasts here on GAF in mind, by a fan not only for the fans, but also for those who are looking for something new in the anime discussion and stumbled across this thread out of curiosity. If you happen to be a fan of Trigger’s work, be sure to pass by the Promare Hell server, you will not regret it believe me ! And if you are a guest user that makes part of the server and happens to read this thread right now, I’d just want to say thank you for the “ heartwarming “ reception and the many enjoyable discussions I have had the honor to be part of. You guys are beasts !

Now on to a thread that I promised to write for quite some time now ( those who regularly pass by the GAF Discord should know what I’m talking about ) and finally managed to pull out another early movie review, but not just any movie : we’re *shocker* going to talk about Promare this time.

​

If you’ve been following the news from the anime industry lately, one of the most highly anticipated animes of this year was Studio Trigger’s first feature film Promare, which marks the return of the famed duo composed of director Hiroyuki Imaishi and screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima, the pair of masterminds who brought us some of the most memorable anime of the past decade with Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill. Obviously, when hearing out those names, you immediately have in mind a top-notch and recognizable animation style, an orgasmic soundtrack, deep storylines coupled with its cast of surprisingly lovable characters, antagonists to love hating on, and above all powerful action sequences that always evolve in the most uncharted direction you’d possibly imagine. It’s with those qualities that those two series have reached a cult following and established the duo’s reputation as we know it today.

12 years after Gurren Lagann and 6 years after Kill la Kill, it was time for the lovely pair alongside Trigger to try something new in a time where movies like Spider Man : Into The Spider Verse offered an artistic breath of fresh air. To do so, an important decision had to be taken : mix 2D and 3D animation. Now when anime purists hears out the word “ 3D CGI “ including the hardcore Trigger fanbase, a feeling of doubt starts to arose even from the most confident fans : how would Trigger succeed right where many anime movies and series failed regarding the combination of CGI with hand-drawn 2D animation ?

Well the answer is simple : by adding a lot of VFX while keeping intact the trademark animation style from Trigger. With the help of Sanzigen, the animation company that handled the CGI in Kill la Kill and the financial support from co-producer XFlag ( Monster Strike ), the core animation team composed of several veteran Gainax animators, was able to greatly extend on the 3D sequences from KLK into a full-fledged play-zone of esthetic experimentations. And they managed to pull it brilliantly well.

We’ll go back on this aspect later on. As Promare is starting to reach over more and more countries’ theaters ( as a limited release only sadly ), there is still one country that holds a major place in Trigger’s worldwide fanbase that has yet to see the movie : America ! Even though Promare is soon going to heat up ( no puns intended ) Uncle Sam’s country thanks to distributor GKIDS ( which even better has an English dub unlike other countries who only have the Japanese dub ), there hasn’t been this much talk about Promare from a critical perspective. Fortunately though, France was the first country aside from Japan that held a theatrical release of the movie before everybody else, so I naturally went to see it with a lot of excitement as a huge Trigger/Imaishi fanatic where I was also joined by a friend from college who’s also into anime but is a total Trigger neophyte unlike me.

And after I went out from the screening, the least I could say is that this something quite unusual we have here, not just artistically but as a Trigger production. At this point, with the feeling of having being left wanting more, I decided to do something that I usually never do at the movies : go watch it a second time.

And this decision was ultimately a wise one in the end. I ended up enjoying it even more than the first time since my initial impressions were now founded. Usually watching once per year KLK or/and GL makes it even better. This time though, seeing it more than once in the same week makes this statement take all its sense.

I widely recommend Trigger fans as much as normal anime enthusiasts to go see it at least two times when it comes out in North America. The first screening is where you’re here to witness the visually experimental approach of Promare more than for the story ( to each their own however ), the second screening is ideal to confirm wherever your first impressions are confirmed or not.

To be honest after coming out from my first screening, I was still a bit undecided on what I just saw even as a major Trigger fanatic. I couldn’t just go on and immediately start writing this thread as my impressions were still provisional. If I did turn out to write the review after only one screening, the review wouldn’t really have been representative of my actual thoughts. For the Detective Pikachu movie review early in the year, it was different because as I wasn’t the biggest fan of Pokémon in the world, my final impressions were already set after one screening ( I enjoyed it despite being a pure Pokémon dummy ). In Promare’s case it was the complete opposite. As a big Trigger fanboy, once just wasn’t enough especially with how Promare differs from past Trigger/Imaishi titles. With all of that said, having seen Promare two times has definitely helped me shape the final form of this review. Because before those who were interested in a long time into Promare ( or just happened to learn about the movie thanks to this thread ) rush out to the theaters as soon as it comes out, there are things that need to be said and clarified regarding the actual deal that is Promare.

But first, before we dive into my critical analysis of Promare, let’s give a bit of historical context on Trigger’s current status. I mean, sure it’s nice talking how much of an insanely talented studio Trigger is, but there certainly must be people here who’ve heard little to nothing about Promare until now, and Studio Trigger in general. And besides, some guest users currently reading this may want to learn more about Promare since the movie releases a couple of weeks from now in North America like previously mentioned.

This is why I felt safe to go back to the events that led to the creation of Promare, starting from the first airing of Gurren Lagann to the original pitch of Promare, passing by the departure from Gainax of Imaishi and other staff members which obviously leads us to the founding of Studio Trigger and all of the studio’s series produced prior to Promare’s release. In the end, we will finish this thread with an analysis on what Promare actually means to the viewers as much as to Trigger themselves ( and more particularly regarding Imaishi ) and how could this possibly apply to the studio’s future.

And our story shall first start all the way back into 2006, a particular ( and not so enthusiastic ) year for one of the most celebrated anime producers of all Japan : Gainax.

For sure, the studio behind cult series such as Nadia and the Blue Water, Gunbuster, FLCL, and most importantly Neon Genesis Evangelion is about to go through a difficult period following one of the key studio figures’ decision to leave the company : Hideaki Anno. The man who helped shape Gainax’s unprecedented reputation with his two timeless masterpieces that are Nadia and Evangelion has decided to leave the drawing board of his studio and shortly after establish his own studio in the name of Studio kappa where he would go on and develop his retelling trilogy of the Evangelion series, whom he has gained the rights from Gainax to continue working on the series ( the next movie in the franchise Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 is slated for release next year in Japan as a reminder ).

Neon Genesis Evangelion remains Gainax’s most iconic creation to this day​

Gainax now finds himself amputated from his flagship director and turns out desperate to find its next cult series sufficiently popular enough to live up to the studio’s legacy and help its staff regain its motivation and creativity from the time it was at its peek for the years to come.

Seriously, who wouldn’t want to have Imaishi as their uncle ?​

This is where Hiroyuki Imaishi comes into scene. This veteran animator who started his career at Gainax on the Neon Genesis Evangelion series as a key animator, was certainly at the time not well known among the anime community. Or should I say at least was so until he decided as a separate work from his employer Gainax to work with animation studio Production I.G. ( Ghost in the Shell, Attack on Titan ) on the thought-provoking and visually unique Dead Leaves OVA ( Original Video Animation ) in 2004. Those who have seen it can guarantee you that this anime is definitely not for those who suffers from epilepsy issues due to how flashy, frenetic, fast-paced, colorblind, and undeniably badass Dead Leaves turns out to be. In a 40-minute LSD trip unlike anything in the anime catalogue, Imaishi manages to establish the core gimmicks of his trademark animation style while also setting the tone for his next series to become years later, with Gurren Lagann, Panty & Stocking and Kill la Kill.

Imaishi went totally free-style with the art direction of Dead Leaves​

But for now, we shall stick to the second half of the 2000s as Gainax in the meantime is still trying to find the miraculous anime that will keep the studio on track. As a big fan of robots and mechas, Imaishi knew he had a chance to fulfill his dream of directing a series by staying true to his passions. And it’s in Kazuki Nakashima that he is going to find his salute. Author of the popular Re: Cutie Honey anime, Nakashima-san became over the years a notable anime writer due to his talent of creating a memorable cast of characters where even the most obscure sidekick character has chances to overshine the last character ! He also has a certain expertise at writing deep storylines which keeps exceeding the viewer’s expectations episode after episode. The second half of the series whom he has written with Imaishi to me counts as my favorite moments from the entire series.

Kazuki Nakashima, Imaishi’s favorite screenwriter associate
​

It was while working on Re: Cutie Honey that Imaishi met Nakashima and immediately the pair started going along. For the Gurren Lagann series into development, Imaishi appointed Nakashima as the writer, believing him to be the best choice. Imaishi was surprised with how much material Nakashima could condense into 27 episodes. Imaishi had finished writing the main storyline long before the reaching the end which facilitated the staff in making the episodes.

And at last, Gurren Lagann started airing in April 1st 2007 thanks to the contribution of TV Tokyo, Aniplex and more surprisingly... Konami. Yes, if you’ve seen my previous P.T. thread, you saw me bashing Konami’s horrendous decision to cancel Silent Hills and terminate its legacy by removing permanently from stores the P.T. demo ( since I don’t want to go too off topic, here’s the thread link in case you missed it ). However, as much as Konami has done some REALLY stupid decisions in the past, we can’t really blame them for having co-produced Gurren Lagann. And for the final result we know, I’m glad that they did something wise for once.

Gurren Lagann is so good, that it pierced the heavens of many Top Animes of All Time lists​

And to say that it was worth it is an understatement. The anime immediately gained its community of fanatics and the benediction from the Gainax fanbase. With its dose of appreciated fan-service in the likes of Yoko Littner, its incredibly stylish action sequences that makes Michael Bay’s filmography look like a joke in comparison, its flawless storytelling execution and the evident passion put into the direction ; Gurren Lagann made everyone agree on this one : it’s a damn powerful anime, in every terms possible.

Sure enough, the immediate success of GL has put Hiroyuki Imaishi on the map and is now being followed by thousands of avid fans in his work. After having completed Gurren Lagann, Imaishi replied back in 2009 with the even more thought-provoking ill-fated Panty & Stocking With Galterbelt series. This outrageous adult parody of the Powerpuff Girls ( more like the Powerpuff-puff girls ), imagined as a result of a celebration party held by the Gurren Lagann staff where most of its participants ended up coming up with the main ideas for the series as a result of being drunk, served as an occasion to go back to the... interesting tastes of Imaishi he showcased in Dead Leaves. Even though it ended abruptly with only twelve episodes in total, fans are to this day still clamoring Gainax to let Trigger release a second season of Panty & Stocking. If this worked for Hideaki Anno, why wouldn’t it be the same for Trigger ?

As a result of Panty & Stocking’s cancellation, the thought of leaving Gainax to create his own studio occurred to Imaishi. Only then he would be able to continue making series like this without having to worry regarding his employer’s hierarchy. It would also be the occasion for him to hopefully train a new generation of young artists talented enough to eventually give the helms of his studio to in a distant future.

[ TO BE CONTINUED... ]

 

[Raph64]

[ 2/4 ]

And in 2011, 5 years after Hideaki Anno left the studio, it was Imaishi’s turn alongside some other key staff members from the Gurren Lagann and Panty & Stocking staff such as the awesome artists Sushio ( the Kill la Kill character designer/animation director to become ) and Yoh Yoshinari ( who would play a key role in Trigger’s early years of existence by contributing to the studio’s growing reputation with the original Little Witch Academia short ) to leave Gainax only to shortly after create on this day of August 12th 2011 their next big challenge in their respective careers : Studio Trigger.

For the first months of its existence, Trigger essentially assisted on several media works such as Project X Zone and Yonhyakunijuu Renpai Girl. In rare occasions was the studio able to pull out some original works ( namely the Little Witch Academia short and the bizarre web series Inferno Cop starring a burning skeleton cop who actually seems to ressemble Ghost Rider’s cousin ) released in order to entertain first-hour fans of Team Imaishi before they get to pose their eyes on the long-awaited first anime series of the newly-established Studio Trigger.

In 2013 and 6 years after Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill marks the second creation from the Imaishi/Nakashima tandem. And surprise surprise, many elements that made Gurren Lagann so good are demonstrated here once again with a storyline that goes “ too deep “ in its second half, a cast of characters even more memorable than Gurren Lagann ( Kill la Kill can’t be Kill la Kill without Mako Mankanshoko ! ), ridiculously-scaled action sequences, god-like soundtrack... Also can we talk about how self-aware Kill la Kill is ? I love how sometimes KLK breaks the fourth wall like the banners that announces the name of a character or an attack that get occasionally destroyed and often “ appears “ on a random television set giving the illusion that they are actually watching Kill la Kill, even Mako uses an attack banner in an attempt to support Ryuko Matoi while she’s fighting ! In some other moments throughout the series the fourth wall breaking gets even wilder but giving you more examples would imply spoiling major plot details for those who have yet to see KLK ! This little detail has amused so many people that it would later on return in Promare !

This time the story starts off in a classic way : a girl with a half of a giant-sized scissor blade ( ! ) names Ryuko Matoi arrives at the Honnoji Academy, a place ruled with a hand of steel by Kiryuin Satsuki, who Ryuko suspects to have murdered his father inventor of the Scissor blade, who told her before giving in his last breath that she could find who murdered him by finding the owner of the other half of the scissor blade...

Of course, it’s not because a story starts in a classic manner that we can possibly imagine how it all ends... But the turning point of the series occurs when Ryuko discovers another weapon from her father that was hidden in the underground basement of his house : an talking piece of clothing ( !! ) who lost his true identity which Ryuko calls Senketsu.

And this is the reason why KLK isn’t as appreciated as a whole as Gurren Lagann was : the fan-service. If we could find an anime that revolves entirely around the term, say define it as a whole, it would arguably be Kill la Kill. Many of the series’ qualities previously mentioned perhaps felt unnoticed by many people because of how discouraged they were by the ridiculous combat outfit Ryuko has to wear in order to stand a chance against Satsuki’s army ( and of course for those who actually saw it, it doesn’t stop there ). While in Gurren Lagann’s case Yoko’s design didn’t come out with that much of an issue since the series usually doesn’t entirely revolves on her look, the decision to make some of its main characters wear outfits that look like they came straight out from strip-clubs ( which Ryuko doesn’t forget noticing on ! ) and base the anime’s main theme on those suggestive outfits turned off a lot of people who never swears series like KLK that from the look of it, presumably approaches the limits of hentai. But let me tell you, even as someone who despises hentai, you can still appreciate Kill la Kill. In my case, I was somewhere like 12 years old when I first watched KLK. Yeah, quite shocking isn’t it for an anime clearly not aimed for teens !

As preparation prior to my first Promare screening, I’ve decided to do marathons of Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill. And now that I came at an age where I found anime girls more beautiful than those in the real life ( I’m weird I know ) and understand more clearly things that I haven’t bothered this much to care about when I first saw KLK, my second viewing made me love KLK even more ( and the same goes for Gurren Lagann no worries ! ) for how despite what it suggests, it manages to offer such a mature and critical reinterpretation of the notion of fan-service that perhaps the anime industry should takes notes from. This is just a personal opinion, so to each their own regarding their opinions on how KLK depicts fan-service.

However for those who decided to make abstraction of this aspect and focus on the rest of the series instead, they are formal : Kill la Kill is another brilliant series from Imaishi and Nakashima. As good as Gurren Lagann say even better ? The question still deserves to be discussed even among the most diehard Imaishi fans. I’ll just finish talking about KLK by saying that if I had to choose between GL and KLK, I would probably have to go ( by a nail ! ) with KLK simply because the story left a more troublesome impression on me ( especially starting from the second half ) and that its depiction of fan-service, a term which I am not a fan of unless it is justified, has the merit of getting straight to the point. But then again, Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill remain brilliant shows, in their own rights.

All of this proves one thing for certain : Kill la Kill is not for everybody and that’s perfectly understandable, and the cult following surrounding the anime shows how nice of an audience the series is for. But if KLK talked itself more in bad terms than good terms ( or vice-versa, then again it all depends on the viewpoint ), it definitely confirmed the miracle that happened with Gurren Lagann : Hiroyuki Imaishi was now a respected anime director in the industry as much as in the anime community, and after have stayed in the shadow of Gainax for a long time as a simple key animator, it only took him an OVA and three series to reveal himself as one of the most promising directors out there.

It’s starting from KLK that Trigger has officially made a name for itself among the several other anime producers in the industry such as Madhouse, Kyoto Animation, Production I.G, WIT Studio, and so on. Meanwhile, Gainax was once again separated from its most promising element to pave way for the studio’s future and has since then became the shadow of itself...

I mean, how can you not tell that this clearly is an Imaishi creation ?​

Between 2013 and 2019, year where Promare released, there has been a lot going on following the end of the KLK series. Aside from continuing to release web shorts such as the ( as-usual ) thought-provoking web short Sex & Violence with Machspeed ( Yes, this sounds like an Imaishi work ) assist on other external productions such as providing the live 2D illustrations in Fire Emblem Fates for Nintendo ( is it too much hoping for a Splatoon anime by Trigger to happen ? ), the fake Battlesaurs TV series opening as a bonus for the DVD release of Toy Story : That Time Forgot, and more recently produce the animated opening sequences for Indivisible and Shantae 5, the studio also proved itself capable to work on anime series without the involvement of Imaishi or Nakashima. Over the years, Trigger produced animes that more or less reached the level of excellence imposed by KLK such as When Supernatural Powers Became Commonplace ( a decent albeit not special adaptation of an obscure manga ), Kiznaiver ( an entertaining but flawed original series ), and the TV series adaptation of Little Witch Academia, which clearly did justice to the promising world of the original short.

It’s an excellent alternative to Harry Potter ( available to watch on Netflix ) and manages to offer a likable cast of charming heroines with at the lead Akko, who despite being a real dummy in magic unlike Harry Potter a.k.a Mister Perfect, can count on forms of magic that are perhaps more powerful than any spells on Earth : her friends and her determination. Yoh Yoshinari, who’s work on Gurren Lagann as a mechanical designer made him an appreciated figure in the Trigger fanbase, proves himself to be another talented director to keep an eye out. And the good news is that you wan’t have to wait much longer in order to see him back into action : his new anime B.N.A. ( Brand New Animal ), which should we note will be written by none other than Nakashima himself, is due to air next year. In the meantime, he directed the opening sequence for the Indivisible game which we’ll have to wait only a couple more weeks before we get to see what the final result looks like !

The only key visual for BNA we have until right now​

If I said that Kill la Kill was the latest anime directed by Imaishi before Promare, would you believe me ? Well since Space Patrol Luluco says hi, think again ! Some people forget that Imaishi directed the mini-series Space Patrol Luluco in order to celebrate the studio’s 5th anniversary in 2016. This enjoyable anime heavily focuses on fan-service as you’d expect from Imaishi, but not in terms of women dressed up half-nuded.

Disney : Avengers Infinity War is the most ambitious crossover in history
Trigger : Hold my beer​

When it comes to fan-service in SPL’s case and given the context of the studio’s birthday, the show plays the other side of the fan-service card with many many Easter eggs, cameos, and references from past Trigger series. Some episodes have Luluco visiting the worlds of Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia and meet there characters like Sucy from LWA and even Guts from KLK ! Luluco, and more particularly her counterpart Trigger-chan became so popular within the fanbase that she became the studio’s official mascot alongside her partners Muzzle and Spring ( Yes they all have their nicknames named after gun parts ! ). Who knows if to celebrate the studio’s 10th anniversary in 2021, they will finally be granted their own series ! ( I hope )

After some rather excellent years of productivity however, it was Trigger’s turn to travel through a bumpy period where creativity isn’t the master word anymore. One such example of what must not be made while making a Trigger anime is Darling in the Franxx, a 2018 anime that was also the first Trigger production to be co-produced by another anime producer, A-1 Pictures, mostly known for its adaptations of popular mangas such as Fairy Tail and Sword Art Online. God, where do I even begin with this anime ?

Although the initial promise had some potential in it such as the designs of the Franxx, the action sequences supervised by Imaishi in person, and an enigmatic lead character named Zero-Two that was already considered as a potential contender for waifu of the year 2018, the “ collaboration “ between Trigger and A-1 Pictures kind of lamentably ruined the series in the end. One recurring argument that always come up when mentioning how Darling in the Franxx lives up to past Trigger series is that DITF never really feels like a “ pure “ Trigger anime. It doesn’t sound like one ( the music feels uninspired ), it doesn’t move like one ( the animation style feels generic and sluggishly-paced and to make it worse, the combat sequences are dull and conventional ) and it just as a whole doesn’t feel like one. Aside from Zero-Two, every other character feels flat, cliched and generic, and you never bother caring about them throughout the whole series. The storyline is ripped right out from Neon Genesis Evangelion ( the civilization living inside domes protected from mysterious alien-like creatures, and mechas controlled by teens are created in order to eradicate them ) and at any point the anime feels like its own thing, it’s just a pot-pourri ( like we say in French ) of ideas taken from other animes in order to sound like a good anime idea by itself. And let’s not forget that the transformation sequence of the Strelizia is literally copy-pasted from the Senketsu transformation sequence in KLK ! Where the hell did the originality during that time go at Trigger ?!

But the biggest problem I have with Darling in the Franxx is with how the fan-service treatment, an aspect that Trigger usually manages to ace, turns out to go horribly wrong. See, KLK managed to justify the choice of making Ryuko wear Senketsu by clearly stating that the more embarrassed she is to wear him, the less she could unleash her true power. And it’s only when Ryuko truly “ wears “ Senketsu that she can stand a chance against her enemies, symbolizing the act of mutual aid towards each other.

But in DITF’s case, it hardly manages to even justifying the particular operating of the Franxx. Normally, there are two persons controlling the Franxxs : one boy and one girl. The boy has to sit on a set while holding the grips installed at the back of the girl’s suit who is installed lying on the ground. In order for the machines to work, they have to “ connect “ each other in order for the Franxx to fight since they are linked to their psychological health ( like in Evangelion ). Not only does this make zero sense and the anime never explains why the Franxx work like that but the combined position of the two persons gives an insulting impression that he is sexually humping her !

Do you two need a room ?​

As you can see by now, Darling in the Franxx feels like the total opposite of Kill la Kill in every aspect possible. Looking back the series could have easily existed even without Trigger’s involvement since it never felt like one but for some strange reason, Trigger had to be there in some way, leaving A-1 Pictures doing the majority of the work. In the end, Darling in the Franxx is more divisive than KLK even among the most hardcore Trigger fans. It’s hard for me to even consider watching it again since I only made it until episode 7 or something. Trigger is a studio that, objectively, does higher quality content than Cloverworks, which mostly does decent animes based on existing media.

Finally, if I had to describe the series, I’d say it’s more something you’d see from A-1 Pictures than Trigger ; something forgettable.

;

This time for SSS Gridman, Trigger handled exclusively the production process, which makes this anime a far more recommendable series to watch than DITF even though it’s not perfect.​

Darling in the Franxx was the studio’s first big failure, and many early fans had high expectations ( or not ! ) regarding their next anime, the SSS Gridman series. Inspired by the Electronic Superhuman Gridman: boys invent great hero web short released by the studio in 2015 and directed by rookie director Akira Amemiya, SSS Gridman returns to the more classic style of giant robotic figures adored by Gurren Lagann fans and other keiju movie enthusiasts. Benefiting from a more distinguishable cast of characters and a closer involvement from Trigger into production, the studio was partially able to save its honor and, despite not being its most memorable creation, not repeat most of the errors made with DITF. However, there has been a bit of a controversy surrounding some sequences in the series that was once again straight up copied from other animes. A strange and questionable late habit from Trigger that fortunately would ( hopefully ) soon be forgotten after Promare.

Now that I realize, what about Promare in all of this ?

[ TO BE CONTINUED... ]

 

[Raph64]

[ 3/4 ]

To say that Promare was anticipated with as much hype as doubt clearly is an understatement. When Promare was first announced at Anime Expo 2017, the hype was immediate : Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima were at work on a new anime ! The other highlight of the reveal was the announcement of XFlag involved as a co-producer. Now obviously, XFlag wasn’t as famous as Trigger, and their most popular creation until now was... the animated series adaptation of a hugely popular mobile game called Monster Strike. What on earth would a neophyte studio do on such an anticipated anime from a respected anime studio ? And let’s keep in mind that out of the three series they announced that year ( Darling in the Franxx, SSS Gridman, Promare ), all of them were respectively co-produced by A-1 Pictures, Tsurubaya Productions, and XFlag ; three obscure studio that doesn’t necessarily live up to Trigger’s seal of quality.

The reveal poster for Promare back when it was first announced at AX 2017​

And sure enough, after the DITF debacle, fans have begun questioning the real interest over XFlag’s involvement. What if it once again felt more of a XFlag creation than a Trigger creation ? What if it was the occasion for them to turn Promare into a giant product placement for Monster Strike microtransactions ? ( Fun fact, to celebrate the release of the movie in Japan, the Monster Strike developer partnered with XFlag and Trigger to launch a limited special event in the Monster Strike game where you could collect gacha characters from Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, and Promare ! )

The 2018 edition of Anime Expo could have been the opportunity to clarify things up, alas ! At the Trigger panel that year, where the newly announced Kill la Kill : IF videogame was presented more in depth, new details about Promare were finally shared. The skepticism from the Trigger-skeptics only turned out to be even greater now. First things first, the choice of format : unlike what was initially thought out to be, Promare would be a feature film instead of a classic 24-episode TV series like Trigger usually does. Their longest release until now was Little Witch Academia : The Enchanted Parade which lasted around 50 minutes. But how would Nakashima be able to cram up a whole world into an hour and 51 minute long movie when he could have had plenty of time to develop the world of Promare as a series ?

Second reason : the initial story pitch. Promare’s plot is set around a brigade of new-generation firefighters that must fight against mutant criminals that are victims of instantaneous combustion. Sounds familiar to you ? Well what you just saw was the plot of Fire Force. Even though Promare began development early 2014 and Fire Force was first released in late September 2015, both series already began to be subject of more or less flagrant comparisons.

We’ve all been through this impression at first​

And third reason : why does the main character of Promare, Galo Thymos, looks practically identical to Kamina ? Was it meant to be a reference or a hommage ? As the cast of Promare was steadily revealed throughout earlier this year, more and more characters strangely resembling those from past Imaishi works started to appear. Why was it that Promare looked this familiar to previous Trigger titles ? Was the movie eventually going to succeed right where Darling in the Franxx failed : to stay its own thing ?


Before we finally start reviewing Promare, it is essential to share some light into the development process that led to the direction of Promare. For a start, let’s not forget how much Nakashina’s involvement helped shape the final version of Promare as we know it today. Judging by the very first drafts of Promare, the writer is a creative hivemind all by himself and according to a Famitsu interview, he originally pitched Promare as a musical parody of Les Misérables but with zombies. He then imagined a story revolving around a dragon and a human. Although Imaishi rejected three versions of the script, the fire thematic was definitely in mind. As the studio was in a bit of a pickle regarding the direction to choose for Promare, some key staff members settle to gain motivation around... a hamburger ! Much like the idea for Panty & Stocking came from a party that left most of its staff drunk, Promare only started taking shape around a dinner with Hiroyuki Imaishi and character designer Shigeto “ Joey Jones “ Koyama ( who fun fact, was responsible for Baymax’s design in Big Hero 6 ! ) participating, alongside other staff members and Nakashima. Since according to his sayings the studio is best at doing hamburgers, and that coming up with Promare is like trying to make hamburgers with rice, they settle to base Promare on something well known, that is guaranteed to speak to its audience.

That’s why Promare insists so much on aspects with elaborated GL and KLK references ( the name of Matoi, the drill, Hiroyuki Sawano, the Gainax pose, etc... ), it’s because Promare first of all revolves around the reminiscence, like the accomplishment of Imaishi’s career. Speaking of Imaishi, after hearing out Nakashima’s thoughts during the dinner, he enthusiastically start writing down the core ideas of Promare on a restaurant napkin. So if Promare is heavily similar to Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill, it’s all thanks to a hamburger.

Promare should pretty much be considered as more of a continuation of the work done at Gainax/Trigger rather than a simple spiritual successor to GL and KLK, but aside from pleasing its fanbase with Easter eggs that will certainly delight them, what else does Promare have to offer ?

Let’s get all of the movie’s flaws evacuated before we focus on its qualities, and the majority of them are all due to its choice of format : the story isn’t really original and its plot twists are fairly predictable. Of course, it’s hard to focus on some secondary characters when most of the movie focuses on Galo Thymos and his rival Lio Fotia, leaving the majority of the cast feel under-developed and that’s a shame considering the potential of some ( comical ) sidekick characters such as Lucia Fox the quirky engineering girl ( who’s design is clearly based on Spring as if the inspiration for Promare wasn’t obvious enough ) and his pet rat Vinny !

Even though Sushio only works this time as a key animator, his sweet and natural art style is still recognizable like in this shot.​

To make simple, Promare doesn’t have the flawless storytelling execution of Gurren Lagann nor the unpredictable plot nature of Kill la Kill, but does it make its storyline downright bad for the instance ?

If there’s one quality that Trigger hasn’t forgotten from Kill la Kill, it’s his ability in under 3 minutes to immediately set the tone for the scale of the events to become, and Promare certainly is no exception. In its first 3 minutes the first notes of music resonates in in a rather unusual type of music from Hiroyuki Sawano : stressful music. As the music notes along with the kaleidoscope-like images and the staff credits continue to roll in, it’s only after Hiroyuki Imaishi’s name appear that a flashback sequence starts. We are greeted to the origins of a disastrous event that “ consumed “ half of the world population ( ! ) and this is due to this mysteriously sudden turn out of events that a race of mutants called the Burnish ( which are capable of controlling a particular type of fire ) has appeared, causing havoc and civil wars against people that proclaimed themselves as firefighters to extinguish the Burnish.

Is it me or Galo and Lio look heavily reminds me Kamina and Viral ?​

Years later, as humanity wants to avoid at all costs a repeat of this horrifically devastating hellfest, our story takes place in the prosperous city of Promepolis, where a squad of technologically-advanced firefighters united under the “ Burning Rescue “ banner is formed to help defeat the ongoing attacks of the Mad Burnish. But what does their repeated attacks towards Promepolis mean exactly ? A question that Halo Thymos, a freshly recruited member of the Burning Rescue squad, will have to find out by going down the rabbit hole where the potential consequences could perhaps mean big for humanity, and not in a good way.

As we’ve mentioned earlier on, the central theme for Promare is very similar to Fire Force, which is half-right. Because although the ideas of enemies turning into human flames causing madness with their new abilities and the creation and the creation of a firefighting task force designed specifically to fight this particular type of threat are identical to Fire Force, the comparisons stop there. One key difference with Promare is that unlike the Fire Force squad where its members fight fire with fire with their inhuman abilities, the Burning Rescue members doesn’t have any superpowers or anything. Some of them remain behind the action while others fight in firefighting mechas. Their respective roles in the team are quite specific : Varys, Remy, and Galo go save normal humans trapped in the fire with their mechas while Aina, Lucia, and Ignis Ex the squad captain assist them from far behind. It’s perfectly balanced ( as all things should be ) and this allows the movie to often chance viewpoints for each character despite how most of them ( sadly ) gets very little time on screen.

The gang of firefighting rednecks​

Another plot aspect on which Promare differs from Fire Force is that the main antagonists that are the Mad Burnish all fight for a common cause, not like in Fire Force where criminals would attack for various reasons. Which cause though ? Since I want to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, you’ll just have to wait and find out !

But Fire Force isn’t the only thing that immediately occurs in mind when looking at Promare. The futuristic setting is actually highly reminiscent of an obscure Sega Saturn videogame called Burning Rangers made by the Sonic Team which let you control... a group of firefighters. Promare acts like the ideal intermediary between Fire Force and Burning Rangers while managing to stay its own thing in the end, not unlike Darling in the Franxx !

Because the Sonic Team can’t be summarized only with Sonic games​

So yes the story isn’t Promare’s biggest achievement, but while it doesn’t live up to the most memorable storylines from Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill, it remains a very well-paced and cheesy good fun story to follow. The first half of Promare takes the time to introduce its key characters, the main issues to expect and also give a first impression on the visual direction for its action sequences. And once again knowing Nakashima’s writing style and Imaishi’s refreshing evolution of the action scale, the second part is really where things get a whole lot wilder with an unprecedented pacing all the until its satisfying conclusion.

There is one ( obvious ) advantage with making Promare a feature film instead of a TV series : everything comes along much faster in a 1h51 movie than in a 24 episode-long series. Therefore, Promare has a much more intense rhythm than GL and KLK, everything goes so fast, too fast eventually. Because when the ending credits starts to roll, you wish that this lasted for 24 episodes because of how much you enjoyed it !

Even though Promare doesn’t have a core theme as powerful as KLK’s depiction of fan-service, the movie still manages to touch on several philosophical notions that are callbacks to the actuality of nowadays in some way such as discrimination, sacrifice ( Insert Wikipedia ). This shows that despite not taking again a “ hot take “ on a recurring spicy subject like KLK did with fan-service, the plot is not devoid of meaning and manages to offer enough different levels of understanding to make Promare a legitimate viewpoint on our modern society.

Before breaking down on the greatest highlight of Promare, let’s briefly mention the soundtrack for a bit. Part of what made Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill special was undeniably their soundtracks, it’s not often that animes like these mix up often English lyrics with Japanese lyrics ( and even lyrical chants for Gurren Lagann ! ). Wherever lines like “ RAW RAW FIGHT THE POWER “ and “ DON’T LOSE YOUR WAAAAYYYY “ pops up as soon as someone mentions GL or KLK, this shows how much of an impact the soundtrack left on those who saw these series.

​

And although it’s not the most memorable soundtrack out of those three anime, Promare’s soundtrack remains an acoustical pleasure this enjoyable to convince you to get your hands on the official soundtrack of Promare ! This once again confirms Hiroyuki Sawano’s insane talent for approaching all sorts of music ( stressful, sentimental, tragic, rock, epic... ) can be found in the highlight song of the soundtrack “ Inferno “, which you can listen to as a sneek peak !

​

So after having gone through all of the aspects of Promare, what else worth-noting deserves to be said about the movie ? It’s technical aspect of course, and this is where the real shit begins.

[ TO BE CONTINUED... ]

 

[Raph64]

[ 4/4 ]

I had my own share of doubts regarding the much greater use of 3D in a Trigger anime compared to their previous titles because I loved how settled the animators where with the good old 2D technique in Kill la Kill ( and Gurren Lagann at Gainax ) only implementing occasionally some 3D shots this and there without being that much of a hustle. But the idea of prioritizing more the CGI in Promare didn’t immediately clicked to me I shall admit, even though I had total trust into Trigger given the staff’s experience.

But once I saw Promare, all my worries were soon evaporated. The animation style so particular from Imaishi is exaggerated even more thanks to the CGI. The 3D sequences in Kill la Kill looks like pre-alpha builds in comparison ! Now the impossible camera angles, frenetic speed, insane choreographic movements, saccades et déformations and other characteristics of the “ Trigger touch “ never looked as good as before. Although purists will consider that nothing will ever surpass the 2D animation from GL and KLK, Promare somehow manages to succeed right where countless of anime failed : finding the right balance of 2D and 3D only to serve the 2D animation, and not the opposite. As a result, the combat scenes and other sweet artistic details, such as the polygonal rendering of the fire, look 1000 times more inspired than any other anime you’ll see this year.

The excessiveness is an aspect that defines Trigger so well, and between the ridiculous amount of new transformations and long-worded attacks, the utterly badass character poses, and the unstoppable dialogue during those transformations ; Promare lives up to Imaishi’s taste for breathtaking spectacle and brings the audience in a thrillingly absurd fever that, no matter what, will make you leave the theater with a smile on your face.

We have almost arrived at the end of this thread and before we give our final verdict on Promare, there’s still an interesting question that deserves to be addressed, and arguably the most reasoned one : what is Promare meant for exactly ? An Imaishi creation for Imaishi fans ? A movie deliberately destabilizing for the mortal viewer ? A Trigger anime for the wider audience ? Probably a bit of everything at the same time. But we should remind ourselves that Imaishi is after all an artist, not a story writer, who never neglects the community that helped him get respected in the anime industry. The same can go for Trigger and its staff as a whole, who are still here because of their unbelievably dedicated fanbase, and never forgets remind it like with Space Patrol Luluco in the past and now with Promare.

So yes to some extent, Promare doesn’t have the depth of a Gurren Lagann, but the studio has found a way to contour the problem partially due to its format : by not creating a character whom we can recognize ourselves into, and making the reminiscence the ( colonne vertébrale ) for Promare. Trigger made a movie for us the fans. Can we honestly blame them for this ?

But even if you’re ( not much ) familiar ( at all ) with Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill and all the other Trigger series, you’re still going to enjoy Promare regardless because of how blessed you are from the gay energy and the passion bursting from Promare. And that’s another aspect the movies manages to succeed : unite two gradually different generations of audience into one room. If you love Gurren Lagann or/and Kill la Kill, you’re going to be in heaven with all the awesome throwbacks to those series, it if you turn out to be a total Trigger neophyte, you’re still going to find your pleasure here since the story is the most accessible from a Imaishi/Trigger anime ( albeit not being the most developed ) and even though chances are you’ll certainly not going to recognize the references to past Imaishi works, this will eventually push you ( I hope ! ) to try out Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill after seeing Promare !

Since most of Promare’s flaws are a consequence of the movie’s format, there is still that question that some people who have had the chance to see Promare early at anime conventions earlier last month keep asking themselves : why not having made Promare into a TV series in the first place ?

As much as I would have loved Promare to last for dozens of episodes ( even though I’m satisfied of what we got instead ), the current status of Trigger simply couldn’t have allowed for this to happen. Why so ? Think of Trigger as the Platinum Games of anime. Not only does both studios’ production philosophy and even studio founders Hiroyuki Imaishi and Hideki Kamiya ( Kamina ? ) share a lot of similarities in common, but it also furthermore shows how niche of an audience Trigger series remains for. Even though they often make high quality anime and their series end up spawning a cult status, they are not major commercial successes aside from being a small-sized studio as another key factor. In a timeline where the majority of those box-office successes consists of soulless nostalgia cash-grab live-action remakes of existing films ( Even the BBC documentaries with Attenborough have more emotion than the live-action Lion Ling and that’s not even an exaggeration ) and in Japan’s context, feature film adaptations of massive popular mangas or series recently ( One Piece and Doraemon are the kings in this discipline ) ; artistically refreshing pieces of art like Spider-Man : Into The Spider Verse and even while we’re at it the mind-blowing 2010 anime film Redline ( which for the tidbit Imaishi worked on as a key animator ), despite their unquestionable qualities, never really got the box-office recognition they deserve ( although this hasn’t stopped Into The Spider Verse to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film at the latest Academy Awards ceremony ). And that is honestly a huge bummer considering movies like Promare and Into The Spider Verse are objectively better than any recent live-action Disney remake. But in the end, who are we to blame them for having such odd tastes ? It’s their choice after all, and we should humbly respect it.


To buckle things up, to those who were a bit skeptical of Promare prior to its release, let me guarantee you that most of your concerns have no more reason to be. What’s bizarre in all this is that as a whole, Promare is the total opposite of Darling in the Franxx which itself turned out to be the total opposite of KLK : a great example of what has been learned from the studio’s previous experience with a co-producer. The true good idea with Promare’s production committee was to let XFlag assist only as a financial support on the movie, making a good use of what they’ve probably earned from all those Monster Strike microtransactions by financially supporting Trigger, who this time had total control over the production process. And therefore, Promare now feels like what Darling in the Franxx should have been : a 100% pure Trigger anime.

CONCLUSION :

While Promare isn’t the most original nor the most deepest anime you’d expect from Trigger, it manages to be much more than just a celebration of a man’s career. With its fairly enjoyable story, stellar soundtrack, visually slick art style, constantly evolving pacing and its share of impactful moments that will dynamise your life at the movies, Promare is not only a fantastic acid trip for the eyes that will likely be a contender for the best ( animated ) movie of the year ( and the Oscars ? ) but also a smashing return to form for Studio Trigger after a series of more ( Darling in the Franxx ) or less ( SSS Gridman ) nefarious tryouts. Even though the studio has yet to fully recover its strengths in terms of originality ( but in Promare’s case it’s clearly understandable ), Promare is first of all here to remind you that Trigger exists, that it’s a legitimately talented studio, and that it would be a crime not considering (re)watching Imaishi and Trigger’s other productions afterwards ! It could have been even better if Trigger was profitable enough to turn Promare into a TV series in order to fully explore all of its world-building potential which as a result takes one point away from the note, but Promare as a movie remains a blast to watch even after having seen it countless of times because of how you keep loving it the more you see it ! I simply can’t wait to see what’s next for Trigger with the really-promising Brand New Animal anime which should we remind ourselves is going to be directed by Yoh Yoshinari based on a screenplay by Kazuki Nakashima ! How is Yoshinari’s involvement this time around is going to impact the writing methods of Nakashima ? The wait is surely killing me already that’s for sure !


I give this movie a :
9/10​

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Came for the review, stayed for the thorough history lesson on the studio and artists who produced it.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Came for the review, stayed for the thorough history lesson on the studio and artists who produced it.

R Raph64 is a man of culture I'm so pissed that I can't read his review until I watch the movie

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

R Raph64 , you NEED to sell this review to an anime reviewing website. It would be a win-win-win for you, GAF, and the website that accepts your review.

 

[John Day]

I ate all that up. Was actually so into the studio’s story.

I admit myself missing out on both Gurren Lagan and Kill la Kill. Will watch while looking forward to Promare.

Awesome job R Raph64 as always!

 

[Musky_Cheese]

Awesome job R Raph64

It may be the finest most put together work any poster has ever done on GAF.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Awesome job R Raph64

It may be the finest most put together work any poster has ever done on GAF.

My First LTTP: Papers, Please ("No Papers, No Pleas.")

Papers, Please is a rather unconventional Puzzle game created by Ex-Naughty Dog developer Lucas Pope back in 2013. I've first heard about it during Sony's Infamous Gamescom conference and was kind of interested to play it, but the game fizzled out of my mind as time passed by. 5 years later, I...

www.neogaf.com

 

[MagnesG]

That was a good read. I admit I was immediately turned off by Kill la Kill after Gurren.

I'll give the movie a shot when the time comes.

 

[Threeshotgamer]

Raph64 as he hits the post button on this thread :


Great stuff and thanks for putting in all the time to research all the history involved.

 

[petran79]

Thanks for the detailed writeup! Masahiko Otsuka is also another leading figure in Trigger and post-Anno Gainax.

Unfortunately ep4 of Gurren Laggan also lead to the dismissal of Osamu Kobayashi due to fan reactions. He returned later in P&S with one of the best episodes.

Also kill la kill took many ideas from the manga Cloth Road regarding a world based around fashion, clothing and battles. I'd even say it ripped few things.

I will watch Promare. Hopefully if it reaches cinemas in the UK during Christmas holidays so I can watch the dub too.

 

[Pejo]

Fascinating read. I really enjoyed the first few Trigger projects, but after KLK it doesn't feel like they have interesting ideas anymore. I hated Franxx, and Gridman had so much potential but was somehow shitty. Still, Promare sounds good, so I'll check it out when I can. The clips I've seen are very visually confusing on a small screen, hope that's just the nature of the edited cuts.

 

[Raph64]

Now that I finally finished writing this thread, it’s time to give an epilogue post !

First off, as a French native, English is obviously not my first language. So despite having tried varying my wording with all sorts of word I learned while lurking through discussion forums, there is stil some words in the thread that comes up a bit too often ( like the word “ memorable “ as an example ), so please forgive my limited English ;-;

Secondly, I added in some extras that where not there in the original thread such as image word lines and a couple more images while also modifying some misrepresenting statements like when I said that Trigger was created on October 15th 2011 ( this date came up randomly for some reason ) when it was actually founded on August 22nd 2011 and that XFlag created the Monster Strike game when they actually only produced the animated series, not the actual game itself. This is just some changes among other additional stuff.

Thirdly, this thread is without a doubt the longest thread I’ve ever written in my life, but also the longest thread ever made in GAF’s existence, period. I’m not gonna lie, since I cared a lot more about Promare than Silent Hills with the PT thread, I really outdid myself on this one even though I know for sure that this thread isn’t going to gain as much traction as the P.T. thread since Promare which is fairly recent isn’t much well known compared to Silent Hills, who’s legacy lasted for years since its cancellation !

However I’m confident enough that once the movie will release in North America next month, Promare will soon enough reach over many people and hopefully you will come here share your impressions with me !

In the meantime, thank you very much for the continuous support given towards me. I will now have to slow down with the thread-making since I’m going to have start again college next week, so don’t be surprised if I’m not going to be as active in the following weeks either on GAF or on Discord...

It was nevertheless a thrilling pleasure to write threads for you during this summer period with the P.T thread and the Promare review that will remain forever the highlights of my writing career on GAF ! Let’s hope that this will eventually continue in the months to come !
If you’ve enjoyed reading this thread and now consider giving Promare a shot, please make sure to leave a like as this will really convince me if it is worth continuing writing lengthy pieces of article like this !

 

[Raph64]

It's been a while since this thread has been replied to, but here's a friendly reminder that the 17th ( today ! ) and 19th of September are the Premiere Events for Promare's release in North America. Before the movie hits selected theaters on a more nation-wide scale on September 20th, the movie will be shown early today with the English dub and two days later with the Japanese sub.





Also, as a tidbit, the opening sequence for Shantae 5 ( also produced by Trigger ) will be shown before the Promare screenings for those interested :



So please if you're looking for something fresh and thrilling to watch, go rush to your theaters to support Promare ! You won't regret it !

 

[Raph64]

Shifty , MiyazakiHatesKojima , Threeshotgamer , John Day , Starlight Lotice , this might interest you guys

 

[Shifty]

Notable high-quality anime game developer Arc System Works tweeting about Promare?

I smell a tie-in!

 

[Raph64]

Also Mista I infinitys_7th God Enel and @SLoWMoTIoN, let’s not forget about you guys ! Come and join the hype train

 

[infinitys_7th]

Also Mista I infinitys_7th God Enel and @SLoWMoTIoN, let’s not forget about you guys ! Come and join the hype train

Are my tastes that well known lol

Thanks for the heads up. IDK if I can go to the dubbed tonight, but I think I'll try for the subbed.

 

[NahaNago]

I really wish they would play these anime movies all day instead of just one showing.

 

[Naibel]

Ok, alright, ok... Sooooooo...
You know you've done some reeaall good work when a longtime lurker like me has to register his account JUST to congratulate you ! Like really, your expose is genuinely one the greatest threads I've seen in this forum since I'm here !

"Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations...", so on and so forth !

As for Promare, I've seen it in Japan Expo last summer (glad to see some "membres français" in this board btw) and while I found it to very enjoyable, it's was a tad too "over the top" to my taste. By the end of the movie, my brain just noped the fuck out, and I simply went along, watching all the pretty pictures and not caring about the (kinda) nonsensical plot anymore. It was still quite a fun ride, with a very unique art style, so I would rate it a solid 7 to light 8, advising everyone here to watch it.

But once again, YOU FREAKIN RULE, duuuude !! I'm really looking forward to your next piece of work !

 

[Raph64]

Well, here we are America...

PROMARE IS OUT NOW ! ( In selected theaters )

The hype is undeniably here, just look at Promare trending in the USA on Twitter. And I hope people here will have a chance to be apart of it because damn this movie doesn't deserve being missed on ! Feel free to come and share your impressions after your screening to make part of your exhausting viewing of Promare !

Hope you all enjoy your screenings !

 

[Raph64]

Has anyone seen Promare yet ?

 

[Naibel]

Yeah dude, like WTF are you all doin' !



Maybe it's not shown in that many theaters, I dunno. I was lucky I've seen it in a convention near my town, that's for sure.

 

[kunonabi]

Has anyone seen Promare yet ?

I saw it on Thrusday. It's silly and a lot of fun. The animation style wasnt totally my bag although it certainly worked better than Spider-verse. It does feel like a whole season condensed into a singular film. They just threw in everything and the kitchen sink. It was more BL baity than I expected but nothing that detracts from the movie.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

 

[Pejo]

Well I finally got around to watching Promare tonight, and I wanted to bump this thread again for the sheer amount of passion and effort that went into it. It was a really fun ride, visually stunning, and the soundtrack was pretty good (not as good as GL or KLK though). I enjoyed the characters but the format being a ~2 hour film instead of a 24 episode season really didn't allow for a lot of characterization or development.

Spoiler: Ending spoiler

Also, no offense to anybody but that ending had to be one of the gayest endings of an anime I've ever seen, from the kissing men to the buttrock and the green healing flame with pink sparkles etc. I really wish Trigger would resolve a story without resorting to an asspull theoretical concept to win the day. I'd really like to see one of their stories end with a purposeful direct and clear conclusion.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

R.I.P. @Raph64

 

[Dacon]

Is Promare as gay as social media would have me believe?

 

[NahaNago]

Is Promare as gay as social media would have me believe?

Finally got through watching it and I would have to say no. I can see how folks could easily have fun shipping the two main characters.

My biggest issues with the movie is the colors of the movie. It just makes it look so stale in my opinion. You'd have great scenes that look vibrant and wonderful but then all of a sudden just this purplish pink and blue covering the screen. Still it was a good and fun movie to watch with all of the gurren lagann like fights.

 

[kunonabi]

Is Promare as gay as social media would have me believe?

The movie isnt that much although the undertones are clearly there. The merchandise and everything else lean into it pretty hard though.