Trigger, I think we need to go on a break.

Now, I love the studio's punk-like, devil-may-care attitude. It was so cool to see an upstart animation studio so flagrantly try to play by its own rules, especially a studio with that Gainax pedigree. But over time I've come to realize it's less that I like what the studio has actually made, and more that I just like the attitude of the studio itself. I loved the original Little Witch Academia shorts and Space Patrol Luloco, but everything else has, at best, left me wanting.

And nowhere is that more the case than Promare, perhaps the Triggerest Trigger production. It's a blend of themes, imagery, plot points, character archetypes, etc.…

Just getting some common complaints out of the way now: yes, there’s too much exposition, the plot is rushed, many characters are introduced and then sidelined the rest of the movie, the plot is a mess or whatever.

HERE IS WHY THAT DOESN’T MATTER:
1. Galo is a big, dumb, pure weirdo who talks about his burning soul constantly and is shirtless 90% of the time, which is objectively awesome.
2. Lio is a small angry boy fighting on the side of justice and can turn into a DRAGON when he is upset. This is objectively awesome.
3. The soundtrack is full of pop songs and there are NUMEROUS scenes that feel like random music videos and it is objectively…

Does for flaming homosexuality what Dead Leaves did for recursive jailbreak fairytales, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann did for coital cave allegories, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt did for striptease angelology, Kill la Kill did for uterine midriff vengeance and Trigger's last decent output, Space Patrol Luluco, did for a maiden's pure heart.

That's not to say Promare is as good, or at least as inspired as any of them. The character designs are a bit bland compared to those featured in Imaishi's prior work and Nakashima's patent post-TTGL refusal to give a single flying fuck about handling stakes, juggling tones or deploying twists is as egregiously and frustratingly inspirational as ever. His sole strength is pacing.

It's pretty okay. Doesn't do…

Fair Warning: This movie has a wild swarm of hornets for brains.

This is a movie from the talent who worked on Kill La Kill and Gurren Lagann and the director of Dead Leaves and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. If you know what all of that means, hold onto your goddamn frontal lobes because Promare is coming to turn your mind into melted cheese.

Promare takes the formula of Shonen anime and manga and distils what would normally be 340 episodes into about 2 hours of character-development, crazy action scenes and gorgeous music.

And somehow it works. I don't know how. Magic? Alchemy? The power of love? They pull it off.

The Shonen formula of One Piece, Dragonball, Naruto, etc…