is a 2019 Japanese animated science fiction action film co-produced by Studio Trigger and XFLAG. It was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi and written by Kazuki Nakashima. It features character and mecha designs by Shigeto Koyama, 3DCG animation by Sanzigen, and music by Hiroyuki Sawano. The film was released on May 24, 2019, in Japan, by Toho Animation. At the 2019 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the film was selected as one of the ten films. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature — Independent at the 47th Annie Awards, but lost to Jérémy Clapin's I Lost My Body.
Plot
During a calamity known as the Great World Blaze, fires from mass spontaneous human combustions killed half the world's population. Certain humans developed pyrokinetic abilities during and subsequent to the event, and become known as the Burnish.
Thirty years later, Galo Thymos is a member of the firefighting group Burning Rescue living in the city of Promepolis. The team responds to incidents involving Mad Burnish, a group of radical Burnish accused of being terrorists. As Galo successfully defeats the Mad Burnish, including their leader, Lio Fotia, they are sent to prison by Freeze Force, a police force owned by the city governor, Kray Foresight. However, Lio and the other Burnish prisoners break themselves free, and escape to a cave near a frozen lake, where Galo just happens to be nearby. He sees Lio failing to revive a mortally injured Burnish using a mouth-to-mouth flame transfer technique. Before they escape, Lio tells Galo that Kray is capturing Burnish for human experiments, shocking Galo as he worshipped Kray after the latter saved him several years ago.
After Galo confronts Kray, he informs him that the Earth will soon be destroyed by an uncontrollable surge of magma from the Earth's core. He reveals that the abilities of the Burnish can be used to create a warp drive, which he intends to use to flee Earth with a select portion of humanity. Galo objects to this plan, but Kray orders the soldiers to arrest Galo for treason.
Meanwhile, Freeze Force manage to track down and recapture all of the Burnish population but Lio, who is sent into a nearby volcano by his companions. Infuriated by the abuse done toward his people, Lio unleashes all his hatred, turning into a giant flame dragon and burning down the city, with the intention of confronting Kray. Galo escapes from prison, and with the help of Burning Rescue, intervenes in the conflict, restraining and cooling him down enough, as Galo's colleague, Aina Ardebit, sends them off to the frozen lake.
The flames melt the ice and reveal a laboratory run by a holographic projection of Deus Prometh, a scientist killed by Kray. Deus explains that the Burnish can communicate with the Promare, a race of inter-dimensional flame beings residing in Earth's core after a dimension rift opened shortly before the Great World Blaze. The Promare naturally desire to burn, an instinct inherited by the Burnish. The surging magma is a side effect of subjecting the Promare to pain, and Kray's experiments on the Burnish using incomplete, stolen technology are accelerating its growth. He proceeds to reveal the collective agony caused by the Promare-powered warp drive will cause the Earth's immediate destruction.
In a mecha of Deus' design, known as the Deus X Machina, Galo and Lio return to the city to confront Kray. After seemingly destroying the ship and warp drive during the battle, Kray reveals that he is a Burnish, and was also the one who indirectly started the fire he forcefully rescued Galo from, using it as the start of his political uprising, and only recommending Galo to join Burning Rescue in order to let him die. Kray seemingly kills Galo and takes Lio to use him to power the warp drive. However, Lio's flame had managed to save Galo, and using a drill designed by Prometh, Galo makes it to the core of the ship in time. Using Lio's flame, he defeats Kray, and while Lio is nearly killed due to the warp drive, Galo revives him using the mouth-to-mouth technique.
Having fused with the Earth's core, Lio convinces Galo to combine the drive with the mecha to protect life on Earth while allowing the Promare to envelop the surface, causing the Promare to burn completely and harmlessly, satisfying their natural urge and allowing the rift in the core to close. The Burnish become normal humans, and Galo and Lio resolve to rebuild the world together.
Voice cast
Music
The film's theme songs, and , are performed by Superfly. The soundtrack is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, with the album published by Aniplex on May 24, 2019.