![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So I watched Promare...
Feb. 25th, 2020 04:16 pmMy last, and only, exposure to Studio Trigger was Kill la Kill, although I understand they're also responsible for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Being truthful, I just wasn't into Kill la Kill. I was wild about it for the first 12 episodes, and even then I was detecting flaws, but by the time Nui Harime showed up, I just quit. Trigger has this weird thing where they think they can excuse bad writing with as much audacity as they can muster, and...that's not how it works. Not to mention they absolutely did not have what it takes to truly tackle dark subject matter and so came off hideously tone-deaf.
I didn't watch Gurren Lagann, but I understand Promare to be a mix of that and of Kill la Kill. The central character is Kamina, the villain is Gamagori...there are recognizable expies all over the place, and aliens and deus ex machinas return (no, seriously, halfway through the movie they shamelessly create a solution to the problem and call it Deus X Machina).
However, I think I like Promare a lot more than I liked Kill la Kill. The refusal to let up on the audacity belies how much thought was put into the product--for example, the final battle with the two mechas is fought with one using repurposed terraforming tools as weapons. The only sexualization is on the main character, who is an enormous dork and just goes shirtless because he can and he thinks it makes him look cool.
Galo Thymos, that enormous dork, is....well, I like him. He comes very close to being the sort of character I can't stand and which I find highly irritating (the Natsus, the Gokus, you get the idea) but he restricts his over-the-top brazen behavior to situations where he can get away with it and his "idiot" behavior isn't really idiotic at all, it's just a demeanor of his for his friends to poke fun at. He, in particular, tells me that Studio Trigger has had time to study the responses to their work and figured out how to blend their signature style with enough restraint and careful planning to make it actually work. Galo doesn't feel like some over-the-top anime character, at least not after the first five minutes. He feels much more realistic than past characters have, while not divorcing from the medium or the style. And that's a very good thing.
Being truthful, I just wasn't into Kill la Kill. I was wild about it for the first 12 episodes, and even then I was detecting flaws, but by the time Nui Harime showed up, I just quit. Trigger has this weird thing where they think they can excuse bad writing with as much audacity as they can muster, and...that's not how it works. Not to mention they absolutely did not have what it takes to truly tackle dark subject matter and so came off hideously tone-deaf.
I didn't watch Gurren Lagann, but I understand Promare to be a mix of that and of Kill la Kill. The central character is Kamina, the villain is Gamagori...there are recognizable expies all over the place, and aliens and deus ex machinas return (no, seriously, halfway through the movie they shamelessly create a solution to the problem and call it Deus X Machina).
However, I think I like Promare a lot more than I liked Kill la Kill. The refusal to let up on the audacity belies how much thought was put into the product--for example, the final battle with the two mechas is fought with one using repurposed terraforming tools as weapons. The only sexualization is on the main character, who is an enormous dork and just goes shirtless because he can and he thinks it makes him look cool.
Galo Thymos, that enormous dork, is....well, I like him. He comes very close to being the sort of character I can't stand and which I find highly irritating (the Natsus, the Gokus, you get the idea) but he restricts his over-the-top brazen behavior to situations where he can get away with it and his "idiot" behavior isn't really idiotic at all, it's just a demeanor of his for his friends to poke fun at. He, in particular, tells me that Studio Trigger has had time to study the responses to their work and figured out how to blend their signature style with enough restraint and careful planning to make it actually work. Galo doesn't feel like some over-the-top anime character, at least not after the first five minutes. He feels much more realistic than past characters have, while not divorcing from the medium or the style. And that's a very good thing.
