May 21st, 2020 
Charles Solomon 
At a time when many American features look so much alike, the brilliant colors and boldly stylized imagery in Hiroyuki Imaishi’s Promare hit the viewer like a bucket of ice water. As Imaishi, screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima and many of the animators worked together on the popular series Gurren Lagann, the flamboyant visual style won’t surprise many otaku.
Thirty years before the story begins, some humans mutated into “Burnish,” who can manipulate devastating flames. Half the world was reduced to ashes in a series of deadly battles. The Burnish were defeated and forced to live as impoverished outcasts.
The enforced and unjust peace is shattered by the appearance of the “Mad Burnish”—a cadre of freedom fighters or rebels, depending on your point of view—led by Lio Fotia (Johnny Yong Bosch). Their campaign to end their persecution bring them face to face with Galo Thymos (Billy Kametz) the hyperactive ace fire-fighter of the Burning Rescue Fire Department.
Galo may remind fans of Kamina in Gurren Lagann: He charges into action with equally boundless energy and enthusiasm but little forethought. Like Kamina, he convinces his friends to follow his lead with his voluble declarations about what a man’s gotta do. Galo’s outspoken devotion to extinguishing fires and capturing whomever starts them pits him against the calculating, calmer Lio, who’s equally dedicated to obtaining justice for his people–by whatever means necessary.
A substantial portion of the film is devoted to a succession of fights between Lio and Gallo and their allies. In the best anime tradition, these foes develop a grudging respect for each other’s fighting spirit. Mid-conflict, the frenemies are forced to ally against an evil master villain. Imaishi pulls out all the stops in a dazzling battle sequence that combines a moving camera, moving CG sets, elaborate special effects, and CG mecha with moving drawn characters. The action is so over the top, it leaves the viewer both exhilarated and exhausted.
Baroque slugfests are a key feature of many shonen (boys’) anime series, from Dragon Ball Z to My Hero Academia. What sets Promare apart is the flamboyant design sense. Galo boasts an outsized coxcomb of lapis lazuli hair and a hard-edged physique that rivals Arnie’s the Conan movies. The slimmer Lio has blond locks that resemble a samurai’s kabuto helmet. Even the Day-Glo© explosions and flames are stylized.
Moving these jagged characters must have been an animator’s nightmare. But Imaishi said, “I hand-picked the staff carefully this time. They knew what they were getting into, so I didn’t receive too many complaints. There are so many new elements in Promare, traditional Japanese animation methods simply didn’t apply. I think it was difficult for our staff to execute almost every scene.”
Promare offers social commentary beneath its fast-paced, eye-popping imagery, which has become common in recent anime properties. Like Kenji Kamiyama’s Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig, the story in Promare involves issues of discrimination against displaced minorities: Asian refugees in the former, Burnish in the latter. The flooded Tokyo in Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering With You served as a metaphor for the effects of the climate crisis. Similarly, the fires in Promare echo the deadly blazes that have charred vast swaths of land from Australia to California. The ultimate battle that pits Galo and Lio against a clique of wealthy oligarchs recalls many recent films, from One Piece: Gold to [C] – Control—The Money & Soul of Possibility.
Although Imaishi cautions against reading too much into this fantasy-adventure, he concedes, “Maybe I represented some of those ideas at a certain level in Promare. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. The majority of the population is gone already, so the gap between the elite and the poor is vastly apparent. But it’s not a political message; I don’t think I gave too much thought to the actual world.”
Promare
Gkids: $18.96 two discs, DVD and Blu-ray
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