Monday, December 9, 2019

Sheep Movie Review: Promare (2019)

Promare (2019)
Promare: Puromea (original title)
24 May 2019 (Japan)
Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi
Writing Credits: Kazuki Nakashima (original work), Kazuki Nakashima (scriptwriter), Michael Schneider (scriptwriter) (English version)
Stars: John Eric Bentley, Steve Blum, Johnny Yong Bosch |
Studio: Trigger
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 51min
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
Promare uses a bold cel-shaded visual style to tell a blistering action-adventure story, and is the spiritual successor to many of director Imaishi’s former works.

Thirty years has passed since the appearance of Burnish, a race of flame-wielding mutant beings, who destroyed half of the world with fire. When a new group of aggressive mutants calling themselves "Mad Burnish" appears, the epic battle between Galo Thymos, a new member of the anti-Burnish rescue team “Burning Rescue,” and Lio Fotia, the leader of “Mad Burnish" begins.

This exclusive encore event will feature a special prequel short "SIDE: GALO" with a look at Galo's first day with Burning Rescue!


Promare is a full-length Japanese animation from Trigger Studios that had a small limited run about a month ago. It did so well they brought it back for a one day limited run on Dec 8. I had heard a lot of great things about it and had seen some awesome fan art so I checked it out.


The Burning Rescue team!
What a lot of fun! The world has been destroyed by the Burnish--people who mysteriously gained the power to create a living fire. Burnish were hunted down and imprisoned and the city of Promopilos was created to keep citizens safe. Burning Rescue is a fire department that fights "living" fires using robotic suits! Kind of like Jaegers in Pacific Rim.

The over the top shirtless hero (he has the big hair to prove it), Galo! He has a burning firefighter's soul! He likes to yell this at the fire before he goes in to stop it.
What sounded like a simple plot was actually a complex story with unique world-building. I can't get into that because it would spoil the unfolding mystery of the Burnish. The characters in Promare are over the top classic archetypes you find in anime. There is a big dose of silly humor to balance out the dark themes of government genocide and prejudice.
Lio is the leader of the resistance and pain in Galo's ass.


The character designs are imaginative and the animation is eclectic and combined well with the music score. My favorite character designs were the Mad Burnish (the antagonists). The whole idea of "living" fire and how the creators showed it was awesome.

Definitely, a must-see for fans of anime action movies. It is subtitled. Also, stay after the credits because there is a ten minute-ish, informative and funny round-table discussion of the movie by the creators.

Check out the trailer. It gives you a good feel for the movie. If you find it entertaining then you'll want to catch this one!

4.5 "burning sheep soul!"






SharonS

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