Reaction Shot: Promare (I LOVE THESE PASTEL-NEON FLAMETHROWING FOOLS)

[spindizzy]

I asked Lex out on a date! (It was in the most advice column way possible, because it was very much "I am doing this thing at this time, do you want to come with me?") Promare was showing at one (1) cinema, for MAYBE two nights total, and I knew nothing about it beyond "Twitter has screamed about this a bit," "it's by the people who made Gurren Lagann so the fight scenes are gonna rock," and "holy shit that pastel-neon aesthetic." I NEEDED TO SEE IT.

HUNDRED PERCENT CORRECT.

As always, spoilers behind the cut!

• (We had to pay real money for a ticket, okay, instead of going to the cinema where we pay £20 a month and can see as many films as we want. The upside is that the cinema we went to is the one where all of the seats are recliners!)


• IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND COLOURFUL. THE WHOLE THING.


• Like, the way that it starts off almost black and white, and then everything just EXPLODES into colour? That entire montage was gorgeous. The transitions, the symmetry, the scenes of the Mad Burnished trying to burn down the world... I loved it?


• I mean, sometimes I don't understand how they're using magic fire to make armour or whatever and you know what, I don't care. And sometimes the backgrounds looked unnatural, in that "we are a 3d static image when everything else is 2d and moving" kinda way, but I think that's deliberate considering it's a story about The Truth Of The World Being Concealed and The Pleasant Society Masks A SECRET HELLSCAPE FOR THE UNDERCLASS!


• I really like how it balanced being predictable with being a thing made by Trigger. Like, I know enough story structure to look at the story set up and go "Okay, this is set-up for something later, that character is obviously going to be a villain and this one's going to be the other protagonist, that character is going to be commiting gross human rights infringement on a massive scale, the whole team is going to show up at this point..." BUT ALSO IT'S A THING BY TRIGGER, SO GOES OFF THE FUCKING RAILS WHENEVER IT WANTS AND IT'S AWESOME.


• By the time Kray starts walking everyone through his plan and going "Oh, yeah, we're going to use the people with fire powers to TELEPORT THROUGH SPACE" I'm just like "Yeah, sure, fine."


• Okay, but Lio's intro is him and his henchdudes rocking up dressed like goth Kamen Rider protagonists, AND his outfit starts off with black leather gloves, AND his intro involves him sprawling over a throne made of fire like he's bored and I don't have a lot of bullet-proof kinks, but HELLO.


• I don't know why each scene involves Lio losing more and more parts of his clothing by the way. Like, it could be a metaphor for him warming up to humanity and letting go of his emotional armour as he gains more literal armour! Or it could just be that the people making it just really wanted to draw him without a shirt!


• Oh yeah, the fan service level is actually quite restrained for a show made by Trigger. Two of the three surviving female characters are in like, bikini tops and hotpants, and one of them pilots her ship in the traditional "lying on your stomach" style, but apart from that it's a lot less male gazey than I thought it was going to be.


• Lio breaking out of his restraints by making them do exactly what they were made to is pretty great.


• I WONDER IF THE PIZZA MAKERS BEING ARRESTED DESPITE JUST LIVING THEIR LIVES IS A METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING.


• AND I WONDER IF THE FACT THAT MOST OF THE WITNESSES ARE JUST LIKE "EW, THEY TOUCHED MY PIZZA, IT'S TAINTED NOW" IS A PROBLEM THAT THE CHARACTERS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO ADDRESS.


• That scene with the ice was so lovely, just in the way it was done and shot. And also: for all that Galo is your standard self-aggrandising impetuous shounen anime protagonist... He does actually channel it properly? He realises that he can't blow up at the civilians, so he leaves to cool down! He realises that neither he nor his mentor are heroes and returns his medal and ask for an explanation, rather than just sneaking into the base! Congrats Shirtless Blue Haired Trigger Protagonist, you have exceeded all of the expectations I had for you.


• That poor woman who dies just to demonstrate that Galo knows first aid and explain what to do when this exact thing happens to Lio. RIP, Ashes Lady.


• The speech that Lio gives as she's blowing away was very pretty and I can't remember all of it. Woe.


• I can't remember the exact wording, but "Medals are meant to be given to and from the worthy, and neither of us qualify," is such a good sentiment.


• ... I mean, I know Galo is supposed to be an idiot, but Kray tells him to stop calling him "Gov" (or whatever he actually says in Japanese, I never caught it), and Galo immediately stops using it. ... Again, at least in the subs. I know it's probably because Kray then starts yelling about how much he wishes Galo was dead already and has passively tried to get him killed, but BLESS GALO'S HEART.


• Pizza dude's fingers drifting away is such a horrible detail. Like, I know someone says that they heal for as long as they're not mortally injured, but... I think we found why all of the prisoners were bandaged and missing body parts.


• "It's darkest under the candlestick" is a homily that I've not heard before, but I like it.


• THAT FIGHT THOUGH. D: D: D: THOSE PEOPLE ALL DESERVED BETTER. AND OF COURSE THEY TOOK OUT THE KIDS FIRST.


• Lio's henchdudes teaming up to get Lio out of there is so good! They have such faith in him being able to solve everything if he just has time!


• (Also I feel like something that feeds on heat vs a living volcano should be even more dramatic than it was.)


• ... There's an assembly line that just builds the syphoning aparatus around them. That's HORRIBLE.


• Just had the fridge horror moment of "They've probably put the kids in the machine as well." D:


• Lio going full BSOD and rampaging around town is so visually awesome, because the art style for him THERE is so different to his art style in any other part of the movie. It's so beautiful and so representative of his mental state! Especially because all of the dragons that have been flying around before


• (Oh no the eyelid thing though. NOPE.)


• HOW DOES GALO EVEN KEEP UP WITH THE TRUCK AND WHY WAS I SURPRISED FOR EVEN A SECOND THAT HE NOT ONLY COULD BUT DID BREAK OUT OF JAIL TO PUT OUT FIRES, RIDE IN HIS MAD SCIENTIST'S LATEST MECH, AND PUNCH LIO UNTIL HE STOPPED HAVING A MELTDOWN.


• THERE IS A SECRET BASE HIDDEN UNDER ICE WHERE A DEAD GUY HAS UPLOADED HIMSELF TO A COMPUTER. OKAY.


• AND HE JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE A MECH THAT REQUIRED A PROTAGONIST TO PILOT IT AND A BURNISHED TO POWER IT.


• "Why did you choose us?"
  "I didn't, you were just there."


• (I was somewhat peeved at that scene excluding Aina. Like, motherfucker she's here too?!)


• Me, three weeks late with Starbucks: ... Wait, is it Promare like Prometheus?!


• Also, Lio's face is about right for someone who discovers that he is the person who most resonates with *checks notes* lava-based aliens from an alternate dimension.


• The fact that Galo can't get in the right protagonist mood if his mech is boring and Lio's immediate response is to cover it in a larger version of his own armour is adorable.


• Kray and his second in command being perfectly still while the building pitches around and everyone behind them flies through the air is GREAT.


• I love that Kray explains his motives and the protagonists specifically and repeatedly asked "But why don't you just... Solve the problem?" Every time he busts out a new piece of tech: "Why don't you use this to stop the earth being destroyed?" Is it a reaction to Infinity War? WHO CARES, THESE PEOPLE HAVE MY AXE.


• Mate, 10,000 people is NOTHING. That's not even the population of the university I work at, let alone any of the towns nearby.


• BUT SERIOUSLY YOU COULD BUILD A MORE HENCH MECH THAT COULD DEPLOY AT THAT DEPTH AND ALSO YOU HAVE ABSOLUTE ZERO BULLETS, I'M SURE THOSE WOULD DO SOMETHING YOU ABSOLUTE WHEEL OF CHEESE


• Kray is basically that guy from Spiderman who doesn't want to cure cancer, he wants to turn people into dinosaurs. I will not be taking any questions on this matter.


• That moment when the video of the doctor being murdered starts playing and everyone's like "Oh my god, the Governor murdered someone," like they haven't been working in his secret lab building a machine that specifically runs on the dying screams of thousands of human beings. What.


• The scene of all of the Burnished spinning up and thousands of wheels lighting up was horrible. Brilliantly done, but horrible.


• Called it, Kray was a Burnished all along, because he HAD TO BE.


• Heris, I applaud you using Kray's impatience to your advantage and blowing up the engine by overloading it, but THINK OF THE BURNISHED.


• Did he just... Steal Lio...? Because he'll make a good engine? Is that what happened there?


• Heris jumping off the building and landing on her sister's ship is EXCELLENT.


• Galo: *gives Lio mouth-to-mouth*
  Lio: ... Did you...?
  Galo: *starts freaking out*
  Me: *braces for the inevitable homophobic "my lips touched those of another man!" freak-out*
  Galo: *FREAKS OUT ABOUT HAVING STARTED A FIRE INSTEAD OF PUTTING IT OUT*
  Like, it's the smallest fucking thing, but I was BRACED. I was SO SURE that was where it was going to take it, and I was going to be mad on multiple levels (mouth-to-mouth is not kissing, oh my fucking god) and it DIDN'T and that is the lowest possible bar and it did it!


• Lio and Galo looking at Kray like "Pffft, we can fix this," is SO MY JAM. As is the way that the Burnished have a CHOICE about joining the screaming maelstrom that ISN'T going to kill them this time. As is the fact that the literal reason why they're compatible on this front is "He wants to burn the world and he doesn't want anyone to get hurt."


• OF COURSE THEY BUILT A MECH THE SIZE OF A PLANET AND PUNCHED THE EARTH SO HARD IT RESET THE LANDSCAPE AND BIOMES, IT'S A TRIGGER SHOW, THAT'S THEIR WHOLE THING.


• SO MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING TO JAIL AFTER THIS. SO MANY. LIKE. KRAY ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE TWICE AT THE SAME TIME. HERIS AND HER STAFF CARRIED OUT UNETHICAL HUMAN EXPERIMENTS THAT LITERALLY KILLED PEOPLE. VULCAN IS A POLICE BRUTALITY LAW SUIT LOOKING FOR A LAWYER. LIO SAVED THE WORLD BUT WAS ALSO LEGALLY A TERRORIST WHO WANTED TO NON-LETHALLY BURN THE WORLD FOR A WHILE. GALO IS PRESUMABLY STILL WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER, ESCAPING FROM PRISON, AND AIDING AND ABETTING A TERRORIST. THE CITY IS FULL OF PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THAT TOUCHING THE SAME THING AS A BURNISHED MEANS THEY'RE TAINTED. EVERYONE IS GOING TO JAIL.

... But yes, I loved it, it was SO GOOD and made me SO HAPPY! It was pretty much what I wanted! I do kinda want to look it up to see if it's one of those "Well we DID have a twenty-four episode series, but if we just disregard pacing we can fit it into a two-hour OVA" things, because there is SO MUCH GOING ON. But also... It works? Like, it's a two hour movie and it doesn't feel like it at all.

... *shakes streaming sites until the film falls out*