Promare First Scene:
Fuschia/pink triangles are shown in contrast with black and white footage across various countries. Upright triangles are the geometry of fire (see protest signs in intro).
I'm sure it's super coincidental and totally not intended but pink triangles happen to be a very prominent gay symbol (the only difference being that they're upside-down instead of upright).
Allegedly they were used to identify homosexuals at concentration camps. I must be reading too much into it of course and this is all just a big (((coincidence))) .
Oh wait it seems fire is shown as pink/fuschia and light blue THROUGHOUT THE FILM. Super coincidental. Oh hey pink and light blue are the predominant colors in the palette of any major action scene through the whole film. Still just a coincidence.
Main themes of the opening are segregation, oppression and genocide. This is evident not just from protest and arrests footage but from the news voiceover.
A massive, pink/fuschia triangle flashes on screen before establishing the title.
Do you get it yet? The burnish are homos. FLAMING homos as it were. Actually nevermind I probably just didn't take my meds. Let's talk about the next scene(s)
White squares and rectangles turn pink/fuschia as the town is established. Windows are rectangular, buildings are rectangular and specular reflections and bokeh are rectangular (instead of round, as they normally are).
There are triangles in the corners of the building but they are upside-down and blue (likely alluding to the dead queers that power the city, but this is a very minor point).
The pharma company's logo is a blue square.
The vulcan cannon used to fire ice cubes is squared-off instead of round, and obviously the ice cubes are square (and blue).
The film is setting up opposition between squares and triangles, and it seems like there are no round shapes for some reason. To quote Prometheus (2012): "God doesn't build in straight lines", and this lack of circular shapes suggests an inbalance.
I'll let you guess which of the two shapes represents government/corporate drones.
On a different note, the rescue team the protagonist belongs to uses a raised fist as its symbol (see prome polis insignia, 13:22). It's another super big coincidence but that kind of symbol is often used in class-based struggles by communist/socialist/feminist/queer to represent "the good guys fighting the patriarchy/bourgeoisie".
Now, let's completely ignore the fact the twink dragon dresses like Prince and has a clearly female hairdo. I'm sure his androgyny has nothing to do with the themes in the film: after all the japanese have no problem showcasing pretty boys because they have different standards when it comes to masculinity and beauty. I'm willing to concede that much.
But now let's look at the literal first line of dialogue from the twink: "It's not our choice" (in response to why burnish burn buildings). Translation: "being gay is not a choice". No I'm still reading too much into it I'm sure. That's followed up with "we must burn in order to live"--translation: "wherever I go I must also pack fudge"
Twink uses literally all the trans flag colors in his battle outfit and his regular outfit. The highlights on his face/clothes are PINK AND LIGHT BLUE THROUGHOUT THE FILM, REGARDLESS OF AMBIENT LIGHT.
Dialogue closing first scene between twink and protagonist: twink: you are naked. protag: I didn't get naked for fun. twink: It didn't cross my mind.
If that kind of dialogue isn't establishing sexual tension then you might as well suck my dick and say no homo.
Now the "freeze force" team shows up. They use strictly black cars and use predominantly a grey/black monochrome palette.
This is harking back to the opening scene and serves two purposes: it establishes the other firefighter team as the real antagonists (in opposition to color) while at the same time showing that the "rescue" team is actually allied with the burnish (because they too, are colorful and many of them wear triangles--Aisha has two on her shirt, for example).
Suddenly the closed fist in the "prome polis" insignia starts to make sense. This closed fist is in opposition to the police, which is being portrayed as oppressors.
Just so there is no confusion "prome polis" means first city. "Polis" has nothing to do with the term police.
First time we see a round shape in the film is the pizza. Pizza made by a burnish that collaborated with regular people. Scene is used to establish protag's support for the burnish. Protag gets a square medal.
For the rest of the scene "they can't help themselves, they're just born that way and aren't necessarily evil it's just a question of how they handle their identity".
In the "almost" kiss scene between the protagonist and Aisha/Aina, he drops her on her ass as he sees a pink and blue flame across the sky. "Sorry honey, I'm fabulous."
I know what you're thinking "NO THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL YOU'RE MAKING IT ALL UP AGAIN LALALALALA THIS IS A COOL FILM FOR COOL GUYS". Please consider the following:
He will never kiss Aisha during the film, and as a matter of fact she never plays much of a role after that scene.
The protag will share his first kiss with the twink, though, and emphasize how "for the first time in my life I lit a fire, because of you!". Oh but it was just CPR I'm looking to much into it as per usual. It was a really long CPR shot (almost half the fucking scene) but yeah okay CPR takes time man, you gotta put your tongue in there and give the fellow a reach-around or it doesn't work.
Closing statement from the protag: "If the haters give you heat I'll put them out, I've got your back always!" yeah I bet he's got his back, alright the twink and the protag stand at the top of the ruins right next to each other after the explosion of the patriarchy--I mean the burnish genocide spaceship while the rest of the cast stand far away from them further down.
What do you think that distance is there for? The heroine of the film gets thrown into the same pile as all the other support characters. The real heroine is the twink.
The protag gets together with the twink and saves the day through homolust. That is how the film ends.
Ah, there I go again grasping straws and jumping into conclusions--I really have to lay off the propaganda. Sadly laying off the propaganda and watching this film are mutually exclusive goals.
Why is this film subversive? Because unlike other Trigger productions, camaradery (all the shounen "nakama" stuff) is supplanted with pure homoeroticism. So you get all the bang bang pew pew big robots action, but instead of the "nice guts bro never give up" you get "hey buddy I think you got the wrong address, the leather club is two blocks down". And because the audience is only in this for the pew pew, all that homo shit slips in subliminally. Well, almost subliminally because the film isn't subtle about it in the least. It isn't homoerotic undertones when it's gayer than a Mapplethorpe penis portrait.
I want to talk a little bit about the geometry theme as well. The protagonist rejects his square medal when he finds out how much the poor burnish are oppressed and genocided. The square-triangle dichotomy used through the film showcases an imbalance/struggle that is resolved whenever round shapes appear. There are circles as he punches the antagonist for the last time. In the final scene, specular reflections and bokeh are round, as they normally are. "A return to normal, where homos and heteros live side by side with no hate". Or you can see it as "there are no more homos and heteros, we're all on the queer spectrum now".
I can find more examples to back the geometrical part of the analysis up, but I can't be bothered to rewatch the whole fucking thing again.[Expand Post]
to be continued in next post.