Promare

Promare has some of the best animation I've ever seen. The colors, spacial definition and overall production design of everything on screen is top notch. Studio Trigger's work here is not only above many of its contemporaries, but also some of best animation of this era. The premise is great, and the personification of fire and water is very exciting. My eyes were glued to the screen for a majority of the first 60 minutes. Unfortunately, the narrative becomes a bit too drawn out during the 3rd act. Although the various twists and turns are well done, it just takes too long to get there. I truly believe that a 90 min cut could be a masterpiece. Overall, really enjoyed the film as a whole, and I think that anyone could find something to appreciate here.

Don't ask me what the story is about. Firefighters using some advance tech to battle fire generating mutants. Some sort of world destruction plot. I missed a lot of that, cause the animation was so on point I could not focus on anything else. That's what I like to see, animation that pushes the limits of the medium and this does that. If only I spoke Japanese so I did not have to read the subtitles and take my eyes off the animation. Soooo Great

This action packed, colorful, exciting movie is anything but boring. It was definitely enjoyable to watch. The animation was absolutely gorgeous-matched with probably Into the Spiderverse. The (Japanese) voice acting is mind blowing, especially since this is one of Taichi Saotome's (Lio Fotia) first voice acting jobs. My only complaint is sometimes there's so much going on if you're not paying attention to every second you might miss something, and that the plot is a little all over the place but it's certainly not a bad one. Overall I definitely recommend it.

Any movie I can't finish, I give an automatic 1/10. It's a failed movie, in my opinion. I got all of three minutes into this one before quitting. Anime cliches without anime class. Nonexistent color organization. Flashy for flashiness sake. Some interesting camera movements though, I'll give it that. All of this could've been potentially excused if the story was any good. It starts off right away with an extremely stupid premise, so it leaves an instant bad taste. Characters are laughable. I'll have to watch Cowboy Bebop just to wash the taste of this out of my mouth. People giving this atrocity 10/10 need to watch a more diverse array of anime and improve their taste, because their reviews lead people to actually believe this film is any good. More power to you if you enjoy it, but try to be a bit more objective. Who am I kidding.

Set 30 years after the emergence of the emergence of pyrokinetic humans called Burnish. The movie follows Galo, a firefighter who as part of Burning Rescue, fights against blazes started by the burnish. After going against orders to take out Burnish separatist leader Lio, Galo finds himself a national hero, but eventually finds that the nature of the Burnish isn't as black and white as he's been lead to believe.

Hiroyuki Imaishi and produced by studio Trigger, the film definitely feels like a natural progression of the approaches, styles, and craft honed by a team whose work originated with studio Gainax on tonally similar material like FLCL and Gurren Lagann. The movie is filled with dynamic visuals and engaging action aplenty, but its plot often takes a back seat to the style and action and the ending becomes so action heavy it borders on exhausting.

Much like Gurren Lagann the movie has an approach that feels self aware and lovingly mocks the tropes found in shonen and mecha anime. Galo is a very familiar Maverick type protagonist who doesn't follow the rules and is more prone to action than thought or planning. Likewise Burnish rebel Lio is a very familiar melancholy stoic but strangely enough his character feels like it's played relatively straight. The movie alternates between over the top humor and apocalyptic action and for the most part it uses its jarring tones to its advantage to create an engaging viewing experience reminiscent of its usage in Gurren Lagann.

The movie unfortunately has some drawbacks to it. At a length of just under two hours the movie feels way too long to justify itself, especially with a third act which consists of nearly a half hour worth of non stop back to back action sequences. The action is well done and beautifully animated, but once it starts it never stops and it does become a bit much. The movie also piles on revelation after revelation over complicating the narrative. In many ways Promare's plot feels better suited to a TV series because if it had more breathing room for its story some of these revelations and heel turns seen in the film might've been able to carry more weight.

Promare is a case of style over substance, but its so stylish and so energized that it makes up for a cluttered, chaotic and confusing narrative. It's a showcase for some of the most dynamic and visually interesting animation one can recall seeing in an anime film and makes a welcome viewing for any anime fan in spite of its flaws.