Spoilers (Obviously): For both Promare and Fire Force. The Fire Force content I talk about when comparing the two goes beyond the scope of what has been currently shown in the anime as of November 2019. Skip this article if you don't want to be spoiled for Fire Force or haven't seen Promare yet.
I recently watched Promare, and though I loved it, I couldn't help but draw some uncharitable comparisons with Fire Force by Atsushi Ōkubo. I had known the mangaka Ōkubo had alluded to his work being stolen in an interview. But didn't realise the extent of the similarities until watching the film. Both works feature firefighters, human combustion, aliens from another dimension, and Edo and Meji imagery, specifically Matoi's used weapons. That's too many specific similarities that it's hard to imagine that Promare writer Kazuki Nakashima was not aware of Fire Force when writing Promare. However, despite believing Ōkubo that Trigger has copied the concept of Fire Force, Promare still turned out to be a wonderfully original product.
I subscribed to the philosophy of Nothing is Original. We take in too much information from a variety of sources on a variety of cognitive levels that it is not surprising when that information gets reflected in our works. And the things we love well they resonate with us the most. Also, most artist, whether they be writers or painters, learn by imitating their inspirations. So, it's not surprising to me when artists unintentionally or purposefully copy their predecessors.
There are also times when we are intentionally copying other products to create new and original works. Not only when creating parodies but when works resonate with us so much we feel the need to write them love letters in the form of original works inspired by those properties.
Sometimes like in the case of Promare, these works that take inspiration from others turn into original works capable of standing on their own. Other times they are disappointments because they skew too close to their original inspiration. I am Setsuna by Tokyo RPG Factory was one such work that skewed too close to its inspiration that I grew frustrated with it rather than enjoying the work on its own.
I am Setsuna (Setsuna) copies many elements from its predecessor Final Fantasy X (FFX). Both feature a sacrificial maiden, one of many who went on a cyclical journey to temporarily stop a demonic force. They are selfless, kind, and resigned to their duty. Friends, new and old join them. And they question whether their sacrifice will be worth it.
These elements were copied without adding anything new or making Setsuna standout from FFX besides the slightly different setting and game mechanics. Characters, designs, and themes were reskinned and rehashed into Setsuna's new world, and though the ending was different, the journey felt the same. For me, Setsuna didn't become its own product but an inferior version of FFX.
What made this worse for me is that Tokyo RPG Factory, the production company behind Setsuna is a subsidiary of Square Enix who created FFX. The Final Fantasy series often uses a lot of similar themes and designs and characters throughout its works. But there is not one work amongst them that I can say directly copied specific elements from another. Rather every Final Fantasy game I've played has stood on its own despite having a large amount of creative cross-over between them.
For instance, both Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XV (FFXV) are journey's where one character has to sacrifice their life for the sake of duty. But they don't feel like the same journey rehashed as with Setsuna and FFX. Because Noctis of FFXV is much more reluctant to fulfill his duty than FFX's Yuna. Yuna is burdened by her duty but sees that burden as a necessity, while Noctis sees that burden as a burden. To himself, to his friends, and to his family who has suffered for millennia due to the power of The Crystal, which both protects Insomnia but slowly kills the kings that possess it. Noctis' father, the king Regis, is unable to walk without an aide at the start of the game due to the strain use of The Crystal's power puts on his body. He is also more naive and sheltered than Yuna, and a part of his journey is gaining experience and acceptance of this tragic duty. While Yuna must decide between continuing the cycle of sacrifice or breaking it and which is better for the people of Spira. And while Yuna is able to escape her duty, Noctis does not, but both free their people. While these two games have very similar themes, they have very different executions.
So it baffles me that no one inside of Square Enix or Tokyo RPG Factory looked at Setsuna in production and said maybe this is too close to what we've done before.
Ultimately that is what you have to do with every project. Take a look at it from every angle and make sure that you're not unwittingly repeating specific aspects from other stories, whether they be your own or stories that have inspired you. Or else you're always going to draw uncharitable comparisons between the two.
Want to write a Marvel-inspired superhero comic or film; go ahead, you don't need anyone's permission. Just don't make your protagonist essentially Iron Man, Thor, or Captain America. Putting these characters into a new setting with a minimal coat of fresh paint never works out.
It is not the end of the world if you end up with a setting or character similar to an existing property you just need to ask yourself - How do I make my work stand on its own. What can you change in the plot, characters, or setting that fundamentally sets your work apart from that of its original inspiration? And what is the natural course of things when you change these aspects.
Let’s go back to the Marvel example for a moment. If you've created an Iron Man-inspired character, then what? Well does he need to be a rich playboy, how does the plot change if a Tony Stark-like character didn't come from money or loses his family fortune? What happens when someone without Tony Starks intellect has the Iron Man suit or a person with a different set of morals? What happens when it is the suit's AI in control and not the human pilot - if so, why does it still need a human pilot?
Simple questions like these can turn an imitation from a direct copy to something that can stand on its own because it’s not just one aspect that these questions change, but it has a cascading effect. If Iron Man is no longer a rich playboy, how does he acquire the parts to make the Iron Man suit, what lengths does he go? What are his motivations if they are no longer tied to righting the wrongs of his military-industrial empire? And once you've identified, examined, and changed these elements you end up with something that doesn't look like a direct copy of the original even if it is paying homage to its inspiration in some places.
And to me no one at Tokyo RPG Factory was asking these questions in the creation of I am Setsuna. Because, it was emotional near beat for beat Final Fantasy X. With the exception of the progression of the plot, the origin of demonic force, and the ending, the rest of Setsuna played out emotional exactly the same as FFX. With characters, motivations, and backstories having similar origins. This weakened the final product due to the uncharitable comparison I drew between the two. Final Fantasy X is a game that was a formative part of my childhood, I've replayed it many times and remember it even to this day. I cannot even bring myself to finish I am Setsuna because all I can see is a bland, frustrating, inferior copy of a beloved classic.
Now did Promare do enough critical examination to set it apart from Fire Force? In my opinion, yes. Promare's Galo and Fire Force's Shinra may be cut from the same cloth of optimistic-good-boy-saviours prevalent in shōnen manga, and both are motivated by horrific fires in their past to become Fire Fighters. However, Shinra is much more traumatised by his past than Galo even though he is optimistic about overcoming it.
Some optimistic-good-boy-saviours of Shōnen include...
Galo protecting you from the Burnish with style!
Naruto who will protect his village by becoming Hokage, Believe it!
Midoriya just wants to become the greatest hero, no matter how many limbs he has to break to do it.
Tanjiro, killing demons with kindness, and killer sword techniques.
And Shinra who will save you from Infernals because that's what HEROES do.
Shinra's actions both in joining the Fire Force and trying to end Human Combustion are motivated by his traumatic experiences with fire and his fire powers. He wants to be a hero as a way of ensuring no one else suffers the way he did. Whereas Galo though his trauma is the motivator in becoming a firefighter, there is a sense that this is a job he genuinely enjoys, especially with the dramatic flair he brings to his fight sequences. He does want to become like his saviour Kray, but it also a passion for him, rather than a means of working through trauma.
Promare and Fire Force also have very distinct artistic style differences that help to differentiate the two. Fire Force is dripped in steampunk Meji imagery, with the proto-nationalist Company 7 of Asakusa drawing heavily from Edo era Fire Fighters and the standard military uniforms of the Fire Soldiers being a mixture of western catholic robes and Meji military-inspired.
Though Galo's mech is inspired by Edo firefighters, the city and technology are much more modern but slightly futuristic. The architecture and clothing are similar to our own. The design angular and box-ish. The day-to-day technology similar to our own but the military and firefighting technology are beyond our current capabilities and best suited to deal with the constant threat of Burnish attack.
Both fire forces wear modified fantastical versions of firefighter uniforms, designed to match their universes aesthetic. But even if these two works weren't so closely linked by the accusation of stolen ideas. It's not that unbelievable that the image of real firefighters would be recycled into the works to quickly convey to the audience the job of these characters.
And, though the narrative has copied elements what Promare and Fire Force do with those elements that sets them apart. The Infernals of Fire Force - humans who have spontaneously combusted and become fire demons - are portrayed as demons with little will of their own. However, Promare's Burnish are regular humans except for their pyrokinetic powers and their need to burn things to satisfy those powers. While Fire Force uses the Infernals as a mini-bosses on the way to taking down the mysterious Evangelist who is creating them, Promare's burnish are shown as an exploited, underprivileged, and ostracised class of humans. It is only by Galo and the Burnish leader Lio coming together are they able to overcome their differences to rebuild the world. Had Promare been a 24 episode series and not a 2-hour movie the material that is there could have been expanded upon more, drifting the two properties even further apart.
These and many more elements set Promare apart from Fire Force. And it does it so beautiful becoming this fantastic schlocky action spectacle film with dynamic, fun characters where as Fire Force is this sometimes comedic but mostly serious fantasy-action-drama.
However, there is one element, besides the design of the Mad Burnish which has already been heavily compared elsewhere to Fire Force's Infernal's, that dissuades me from giving it a complete pass, and that is the film's namesake, Promare.
In both Fire Force and Promare the cause of human combustion and the pyrokinetic powers is the intersection of an another dimension with our Earth. In the film Promare, the aliens that come from this dimension are called Promare and have bonded with humans giving them pyrokinesis. In Fire Force, the dimension is called Adolla, and its intersection with our world caused a great cataclysmic event destroying most of the earth, and also gave rise to pyrokinetic powers amongst humans.
It's a very specific premise, unlike what surrounds the two properties. Fantastical firefighters and pyrokinetic humans though very niche has been done before. Had Promare just taken that premise, fantastical firefighters against pyrokinetic humans, and made it their own it still would have drawn comparisons, but I wouldn't say that comparison was uncharitable.
Trigger and writer Kazuki Nakashima may, in my opinion, had the right to draw inspiration from Fire Force. But, that inspiration ended up with an act of plagiarism when copied the origin of pyrokinetic powers. Anyone in the world can write a story about fantastical firefighters; sacrificial maidens; or men in suits of technological armour, but those stories can't have the same unique elements as those that came before.
And that's the risk you run into when drawing inspiration from other people's work. Copying unspecific elements reinterpreting and repackaging them is just transformative derivation. And storytellers do that all the time. It's an essential skill, both learning how to identify and avoid, and how to write. You can take a concept like the sacrificial maiden and create many different stories from that one broad idea.
But, when you have something like an intersection of two dimensions causing a fire-based cataclysm and granting pyrokinetic powers to humans. There is no way to repackage or re-explore that concept. It's unique. And if Ōkubo is right that Trigger took elements of Fire Force's concept when creating Promare, this is no longer derivative inspiration but plagarisim.
Promare may be one of the best anime films of 2019, but it also probably plagarised some of it's concepts from Fire Force. And if it is true Trigger needs to own up to that and issue an apology. Because the people involved in Promare's production aren't green newbies but industry veterans that should the difference between taking inspiration from someone else's work and copying it.
Lastly, if you are a writer, you shouldn't be afraid of being inspired by other people's work. It's a natural process. But do be hyper-vigilant teach yourself the skills that will help you identify when your transforming an idea to create an original work or just plagiarising that idea.