Promare
Studio Trigger's first full-length feature film, Promare, is an interesting work of animation that is equal parts stupid and equal parts fascinating in nature, making it a popcorn-worthy watch.
There is a certain spark of charm that connects each frame of animation to one another. This acts as an amalgamation of all the creative landmarks that have represented the team at one point or another. This spark first originates from the hyperactive zaniness that serves the same adrenaline rush provided by Kill LA Kill and director Hiroyuki Imaishi's magnum opus Gurren Lagaan. This hyperactive zaniness is then beautifully propagated with a colorful presentation, one which showcases an evolution of bright sugary colour gradings that were an important stylistic part in Panty and Stocking and Space Patrol Luluco. However, unlike the previous two, Promare uses such a colourful presentation to energize the action part of its zaniness rather than the comedy.
In addition to these nostalgic qualities, Promare introduces new pathways of presentation style that, if implemented correctly, could serve as an important step in trigger animation evolution. This is the implementation of 2.5D animation style. By shifting the animation from 2D to 3D and back to 2D again, Trigger is able to provide Promare with a certain flavour of adrenaline rush that enhances and marries two different and already existing action styles into something new. In the past ten years, anime studios have been confusing itself over the implementation of 3D in its animation. The implementations have varied in result, with shows like Kimetsu No Yaiba – which uses 3D to give dimensions to its 2D aesthetics – and Beastars which uses it as an animation style itself, serving as an example of its fruitful potential. Shows like Tamayomi and Listeners along with the film Ni No Kuni serve as a reminder of their uncanny nature in an industry utilizing 2D animation for well over sixty years. With Promare, however, there is a greater positive of 3D implementation that, unlike Kimetsu no Yaiba, isn’t used for background aesthetics and, unlike Beastars, doesn't make 3D its core aesthetic. Instead, moments of transitions from 2D to 3D become its own style entirely. To elaborate further, during an action scene where there are constant transitions from 2D to 3D, Promare's animation shows a certain understandability. The animation carries a scenario from one plane into another, uncovering the hidden dimensions behind one of its planes.
This is where 2.5D comes into play. A style of animation that has previously only been used in relations with indie games such as Fez and Klonoa, and animes like Ajin, has tried their hand in replicating such effects. However, whenever 2.5D is implemented in Promare, it appears as something unique that makes the 2.5D overview of the entire scene its own aesthetic, that is the aesthetic of a synthwave music video. Its 2D serves as a representation of Trigger's signature animation style while the 3D acts as a representation of the leveling madness of the scenario. The components act as two individual parts combining to form something new instead of two isolated styles with no correlation between them.
With all of Promare's positives existing in extremities, it is certain that its negatives would also exist in such. To be fair to the film, these negatives, while extreme, can be easily avoided to experience the feature with its intent. However, as one doesn't have to work too hard to avoid, they subsequently don't need to work hard to notice them. The dialogue writing and the storytelling, as a whole, feels like an afterthought to its action and animation. New plot points, themes and scenarios keep appearing and reappearing constantly, a problem that has been following the studio around since the failure of Darling in the Franxx. Yes, it is understandable that unlike the best forgotten Evangelion clone, this feature is supposed to be a sillier affair, but that doesn't excuse its writing failures that serve more as a jarring distraction to its technical elements than a complementary evolution. The characters themselves are a recycling of already existing trigger characters that were done better in their previous ventures, with the main protagonist, Galo Thymos and main antagonist, Kray, being obvious reuses of Kamina from Gurren Lagaan and Ira Gamagōri from Kill LA Kill. To say that Promare recovers Trigger's legacy to the same platinum days of Kill LA Kill and evolves it further would be a party celebrated way too soon, however, it does serve as a step in the right direction.