- [Foxen] The new Trigger Promare anime movie,
how does it compare to Kill la Kill or Gurren Lagann?
So what's up guys, Foxen here.
Finally managed to catch a late night showing
of Trigger's new theater release movie, Promare.
So, is this latest Trigger anime worth your time?
That's especially considering
the recent Darling in the Franxx and Gridman anime.
Before we get started, just know
this is a non-spoiler review.
Emphasis on non-spoiler.
And really just more extreme on this
since I really can't go into it almost at all
without giving something away.
All of the trailers released for this movie
don't even get passed the first 30 minutes.
As always, if there's anything you do wanna know,
post your question down below, the sooner the better.
Anyways, smash that thumbs up and let's get started.
First off, what is the Promare story even about?
So let's see.
Anything online will tell you this.
This anime follows the journey of newly recruited
firefighter Kamina, I mean Galo.
This new guy's part of this firefighter team
that's tasked with putting out fire using mechs.
Mechs that shoot out ice cream bars.
Oh yes, Trigger is at it again.
But honestly this right here
tells you almost nothing bout the story.
Besides fire, the real danger for Galo and his team
is fighting against this fire terrorist group.
These bad guys are actually the ones starting random blazes
in this futuristic New York City.
You've already seen some of the crazy Trigger
combat from the trailers released.
Practically everything you've seen
has been from the first action scene.
I know, I know, you're wondering
whether they go to space in Promare.
I'll just say this.
Trigger technically really doesn't go into space
for this one and that is a positive.
Next up, briefly looking at the guys behind the scene
for this latest Trigger anime.
First off you have Trigger veteran
Hiroyuki Imaishi returning.
Any hardcore Trigger fan definitely knows this director.
He's directed Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill,
and also one of my personal favorites Space Patrol Luluco.
Then you got the father for Promare.
The script writer and creator Kazuki Nakashima returns here.
This guy also being the creator
from Kill la Kill and Gurren Lagann.
So by their own words they describe Promare
as a mixture of Kill la Kill and Gurren Lagann.
Having just seen Promare, I can definitely confirm
that to be extremely accurate.
Keep in mind I got that feeling before even knowing
that was their own description of this anime.
Next up, getting into the characters starting with Galo.
Honestly this guy's pretty much Kamina
from Gurren Lagann without the glasses.
And I'm serious, Galo is almost the exact same character
so if you loved him back then,
you'll definitely love him here.
This guy's just burning with the fiery passion.
You're gonna get so many ridiculous
over the top moments with him.
This guy brings the funny.
Including something involving a drill and mechs.
And yes, for those of you wondering,
does he do the whole believe in me who believes in you line?
Not exactly.
For that I'm actually glad
that Galo's not a complete Kamina clone.
Next character up, Lio.
Also known as a guy from the burning terrorist group.
And I know I'm a dumbass but I actually thought
this guy was female until I watched the movie.
Can you really blame me though?
So you're gonna get acquainted with this guy
right from the first intro action scene.
Unfortunately I really can't say anything else
without diving into spoilers.
Overall this guy was, I think, good enough.
For the rest of the cast, I really can't talk
about the other characters without going into spoilers.
I'll come back to one of the major reasons
why in a little bit.
As for the actual villains and bad guys overall,
it is hard to say but they're pretty generic
and there's so much predictable evil stuff going on here.
This villain stuff is so on point
that Trigger made it so obvious
by later giving the guy red eyes.
This potentially goes into a negative for me.
Although I'm starting to think back.
Did Trigger ever have a really strong-ass villain?
The question later also becomes, do the other amazing things
make up for the lacking spots here?
Those dipping spots including the predictable villains
and motivations, and by extension the overall story.
Next up, let's talk about something amazing, the animation.
So yes, oh my God, Trigger's back at it again.
This time with the movie budget.
And Trigger definitely takes advantage of it here.
I do have a feeling this won't be for everyone.
In Gurren Lagann, you had a bunch of drills and mechs.
In Kill la Kill you had life fibers and sword action.
For this anime, you got pieces from both
of those other series thrown into a blender
into this fiery soup mixture.
Oh yes, the animation takes full advantage
of this burning fire theme to get super creative.
Honestly I don't think the trailers do this movie justice.
Especially for the Promare action scenes
that give you this hand-drawn animation with stylized CG.
And ah, yes the dirty word, CG.
This may or may not be a deal breaker
for hardcore Trigger fans.
For this I do suggest going into this
with an open mind though.
For me, a really good comparison for the animation style
seen here was the recent Spiderman
Into the Spiderverse movie.
You often have playful things happening in the background
with various burning explosion and light effects.
Most of the time this works well, except when it doesn't.
This is actually a major reason why I see anime people
being mixed on this latest Trigger adventure.
To give Trigger a lot of credit,
this unique animation style
blends together most of the time.
The one time it didn't really mesh together
was actually on the first action scene.
Perhaps they were trying to do too much.
You got tons of fire, ice, explosions,
jumping through the city rooftops.
This all involving clashes between mechs
and sword-holding individuals.
At least some of this was not very clear,
or straight out hard to follow.
It was filled with a lot of blink
and you'll miss it type of moments.
Next up, let's talk about the music for Promare.
Oh yes, Hiroyuki Sawano is back.
You definitely know some of his wonderful work
from Kill la Kill, Attack on Titan, Kabaneri,
Guilty Crown, Seven Deadly Sins, and recently Re:Creators.
If you loved Attack on Titan and Kill la Kill,
you'll notice a lot of similar beats
here via his soundtrack.
This for me was a nice positive.
I really can't say the soundtrack for this better
than those two colossal hits,
but the music was definitely a highlight.
Especially anything involving vocals.
The premiere soundtrack has already been released
so I've been checking that out.
Next up getting into positives.
The first being, of course, the animation.
So I already went in depth with the animation.
I'll just go ahead and say it here, and do quote me later.
Promare will be one of those anime
that people look back to for so many
of the action animation scenes.
I'm talking about in five years, 10 years, a few decades.
It really is worth watching for the animation alone.
Positive number two, the Trigger references.
Unsurprisingly throughout this movie,
there's so many visual callbacks to past Trigger anime.
Here's some quick notable things
from the stuff already released.
One being Galo.
Obviously this being Kamina from Gurren Lagann.
Then the next being Galo's firefighting mech.
For this one, notice the colors and details
looking very similar to the Strelizia
from Darling in the Franxx.
Lemme not forget about the little mouse.
The firefighting mouse Vini,
definitely a parallel to Buta from Gurren.
Also don't forget about the drills
which you've seen from one of the trailers.
Then the whole firefighting team and henchmen.
For practically all of the characters in this movie,
you're gonna see parallel between them
and past Trigger anime characters.
Hopefully that's a positive for you.
Positive number three, this whole story
actually feels unique for Trigger.
Despite there being so many references
and callback to past Trigger anime,
all of this stuff thankfully never takes over.
Although the story does have its issues.
The story here in Promare doesn't really feel
like anything that Trigger has done before.
For this, I was pretty thankful.
Next up, getting into the negative, nitpicks,
or really hopes that I had coming out of this.
The first being the characters in this movie.
If you looked at any of the trailers, a poster,
the official website, and especially the first 10 minutes
released, you'll notice such a wide range
of wonderful characters, each with their own unique design.
You could tell that Trigger
definitely put so much work into this.
Unfortunately Trigger never really does anything with them.
You pretty much only have three characters
which is Galo, Lio, and some other third character.
Every other character is not really a character type,
but a Trigger character type.
If you've seen a couple of Trigger anime series,
you're gonna spot these immediately.
But actually, being a Trigger character type
would be a good thing.
Anything less is pretty much bare minimum.
Besides the two main characters fighting it out,
you do get a little bit
of this Misty-looking pink haired girl.
Oh, and Johnny Bravo over here.
To be fair to this, I should mention the Prequel.
So what Trigger is doing is that if you've seen
the movie in theaters, you'll be given this code
to unlock this Promare prequel online.
Talk about living behind the times.
No shocker at all to find out
it's already been reposted online.
Anyway this prequel is 10 minutes total
which takes place three days before the movie.
This shows Galo barely entering the firefighter squad.
In this, you actually get a good amount of screen time
with the firefighting team.
If anything in these 10 minutes,
you get as much from the rest of the guys as you do
from the entire Promare movie.
And then negative number three,
if you could even call it that
which really just goes back to the theme of wanting more.
After this movie, I really wish I got to spend
a little bit more time in this world and adventure.
For me, Promare definitely felt like
one of those rare stories that could be
full fleshed out in 12 episodes.
That being said, I do have to mention the counter to this.
All of the amazing animation visuals that Trigger did
most likely would not have been possible on a regular TV
anime budget, resources, and deadlines.
Next up, this weirdish moment worth mentioning.
Again, avoiding spoilers, so I can't go into the details.
Let's just say Trigger did something odd
with one of the main characters, Galo.
Honestly I don't have issue with said action,
it just made me say what the hell,
that felt pretty randomly added.
Perhaps Trigger's hoping that Promare's
gonna blow up with their female audience.
Post down below if you wanna know the juicy details.
Next up, should you even watch this?
That honestly depends on a few things.
Did you like Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann,
or Trigger in general?
If you said yes to any of those,
this is definitely worth your time.
Over the years I have seen some people
mixed on the post-time skip part of Gurren.
If this does sound like you, you may still like Promare
since this has a brighter overall story.
If you didn't love Kill la Kill,
keep in mind that unlike Kill la Kill,
Promare doesn't really have
any outstanding female character.
And if nothing else, if you're an animation fan
Promare's pretty much required viewing
from what 2019 anime has to offer.
This anime was made to be seen in theaters.
Anyway getting into my overall thoughts,
it still is under 24 hours since I watched this
and I'm still thinking over this.
The animation stuff, amazing stuff right there.
Trigger definitely brought their A plus game.
On the other hand, the world, the story, and characters,
if I wanna put it kindly, it left me wanting more.
I do have to admit that it still feels like I'm digesting
this since part of me feels like I wanted to like this more
than I actually did coming out of it.
I'll definitely have a more concrete feeling
after another viewing.
Perhaps I should tell you something
that I wanna see it again.
Although I'm not gonna rush out to see it.
I'll catch an early discount showing, maybe.
Just thinking where I rank this among
other Trigger anime, including Gurren.
And side note, yes I know technically
Trigger Studio did not do Gurren, same team though.
At the very least, I could assure you
this is the best anime project
from the latest three Trigger anime.
Although I may still place Darling higher,
if only it stopped after 15 episodes.
For me personally right now,
I really can't say Promare was better than Kill la Kill.
Which is really the gold standard for me from Trigger.
I'm not sure I could place it above Gurren Lagann,
which I do have mixed feelings about.
Although Promare does have some better parts for me.
Then I freakin' love Space Patrol Luluco.
Right now, Promare might be around the same level.
And I know that sounds a little crazy.
The question for this then becomes
how fair is it to compare a movie
to a 25 episode length fleshed out story?
Keep in mind this is Trigger's first movie.
So perhaps they need more practice
with these shorter length stories.
Yeah, don't look at Space Patrol Luluco.
Right now, I'll just mention that it's floating around
the mid-point for Trigger anime overall
which may go into the upper-mid zone when I rewatch it.
In case you do wanna catch this and you don't live in Japan,
perhaps a fandom event might pick it up
for a limited US release.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if Trigger
holds a screening at Anime Expo which is coming up.
If that does happen, I would definitely go out of my way
to watch it with a hardcore Trigger audience.
That sounds like fun.
So if you have watched it or have seen it,
share your thoughts down below.
Did you love this or have similar issues like I did?
How was the animation?
After this video, do you now want to check it out?
Be sure to smash that thumbs up and subscribe.
More in-depth anime reviews coming.
Definitely check out my past anime reviews
and I'll see you guys later.