Review of Promare (2019) by Clem666 — 13 Nov 2020

The universal acclaim about this movie is to be understood by the atmosphere it creates. Everywhere your look goes you see bright colors and movements and animations you simply can't understand. Because 'Promare' definitively is aggressive, moving and clocked. Characters are attractive, intelligently connected an funny. You can find differents sub-stories that evolve in parallel with the main plot and those add some content to the characters it concerns without dragging us out of the movie. Far from being perfect, visual effects do bring a lot in 'Promare' and there is something charming when you watch it.

However, story is way too conventional and there is no turn of events unless those who are fundamental to japan-animation movies. I enjoyed to discover the universe in which Promare people live but I was less intrigued by the resolution that you can predict from miles and miles away. Animation is colorful yes but jerky and often really hard to follow. Shapes and colors don't stop hitting your retina so fast you wish you could simply zoom out this mess. The particularity of the animation is that it swings between amazing and cartoon-esque. Some vehicules are gorgeous to watch while faces in overall seem to have been drawn by a 8-year-old kid. The main criticism I have to address to 'Promare' is that I felt we don't show us enough of the past stories: there are a lot of flashbacks and complex connections between characters that are not correctly explained by the movie itself. I suppose I don't have to underline the fact the central protagonist is a stereotype of himslelf: an intelligent, sociable and strong boy/man with a dumb motto and unlikely hairstyle.