Sep 29, 2019
Disclaimer: this is my first Studio Trigger work. I don't have anything invested in the studio's success or failure with this work.
Promare is the one of the tightest, most information-dense anime features I've ever seen. When telling people to go see it, I warn them: "Don't buy that soda. Don't be hydrated. Because you cannot afford to miss anything if you have to go take a leak." No opportunity is wasted to jam information into your mind, so the best way to really absorb characters, plot, and story is repeated viewings. I have had three viewings and now feel confident in saying that Promare
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is not just a technical achievement, but a masterful combination of art and music with an incisive message.
It is typical of Western consumers to read any narrative about oppression as anti-racism. Promare is about oppression, but it is not about racism. The film's major artistic theme centers around a pink triangle. The Burnish, people who suddenly and uncontrollably burst into flames, are portrayed as both disgusting and misunderstood. The constant reminders that fire and passion are interchangeable are not an accident. Characters repeatedly state that it's not the fault of the Burnish that they burn the way they do. It's natural; they 'cannot live without burning'.
That the fights are fantastic can't be denied: these are world-shaking cataclysms, which threaten life itself. But it's not a big, jaw-dropping fight that changes the course of history. It's a quiet moment, where choices are made to forsake conflict for connection, to substitute cowardice for courage in the face of self-knowledge. To choose passion over control.
Let me repeat: Promare is NOT about racism. It is about veiled, passionate identities which society views as destructive, and society's attempts to control, subjugate, and finally harness those passionate flames for their own misbegotten ends. Promare speaks of the strength that men have to forge new connections even at the end of the world, if only we can be courageous enough to know ourselves.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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