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“ | It's not about fun. The flames are a part of us. We have to burn in order to live. | „ |
~ Lio Fotia |
Lio Fotia is the deuteragonist of the 2019 Studio Trigger film Promare. He is the leader of the Mad Burnish, alongside Gueira and Meis.
He is voiced by Taichi Saotome in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Johnny Yong Bosch, who voiced Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach and Lelouch vi Britannia in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, in the English version of the anime.
Appearance[]
Lio has light skin and short light green hair. He has a petite frame and wears a black leather suit covered in buckles and straps, flared sleeves, and a single white belt across his waist. The suit has several white cloth embellishments, specifically at his wrists and neck, the latter of which is reminiscent of a jabot collar.
Personality[]
At first glance, Lio seems to be cold and ruthless. He speaks in a cordial and mostly polite manner. As the movie progresses however, he is revealed to be very emotional, with his emotions at several points overruling his logical thinking, leading him to take drastic actions. He feels deeply responsible for his fellow Burnish and takes his mantle as their leader very seriously. However, he holds himself and his fellows to a high standard, insisting that while they do what they can to fight for the rights of their people, they do so while ensuring that there are few casualties.
After their personal issues are resolved and they find themselves on the same side, Lio is very determined to help Galo in the fight against Kray. He is shown to be resilient and brave, and more methodical in his thinking than Galo, which eventually helps them at the end of the film.
Biography[]
Lio’s childhood and life before Mad Burnish is unknown. He is first introduced in the desert intervening during a Burnish raid led by Vulcan and Freeze Force. He fires several arrows blowing up the group’s vehicles and drives through with his motorcycle. Lio promptly releases Gueira and Meis alongside other Mad Burnish members. When Gueira attempts to kill Vulcan however, Lio stops him, and the group escape. Gueira and Meis later question him on this. At a far away cliff, Lio states that if they were to kill Vulcan, that would result in non-Burnish becoming more violent towards them, resulting in more arrests and torture. He suggests instead that the Burnish create their own hideaway for everyone to safely live. At this, the two men properly introduced themselves to him and make him the leader.
After an unknown period of time, Lio alongside his newfound generals plan to attack a local Foresight Pharmautical to attract Freeze Force. There, they will be captured and sent to jail. However, Burning Rescue instead arrives at the scene. They go along with this by letting Galo beat them in a fight. Unlike his generals though, Lio fights him for far longer and defeats him, only for the rest of Burning Rescue to get involved. Freeze Force then properly arrives and force the trio inside one of their vehicles.
At a Burnish institution, the trio are escorted inside. Each of them wear cuffs that freeze them if their bodies overheat. At their cell though, they all find a devastating sight of multiple experiment victims bandaged up. Said victims contain two children, an elderly man, and a dying woman named Thyma. Later, when the trio is escorted again, Lio manages to break his cuffs and frees Gueira and Meis. The trio then get to work on freeing as many Burnish as possible. After the prison breakout, Lio is seen flying away from the helicopter, likely to get food supplies seen later.
After Galo finds their temporary hideout, Lio knocks him out and restrains him. He then talks to him. Lio calls out Galo for his ignorance. To his surprise, Galo apologizes. Before they can continue, the elderly Burnish informs him about Thyma. Lio proceeds to give her Burnish CPR, a technique consisting of giving Promare flames via the mouth. However, despite his best efforts, Thyma passes away. Lio claims it to have been from the Foresight Foundation experiments and leaves.
Sometime after Galo’s arrest, Lio’s Burnish hideout is found by Freeze Force. The Elderly Burnish reveals himself to be a traitor, placing a bomb on Lio and Vulcan shooting an Absolute Zero Bullet into him. This prevents Lio from fighting back and stopping Freeze Force. As a last resort, Gueira and Meis sacrifice themselves despite Lio’s pleas. Lio is thus launched inside a nearby volcano. After Lio regains his strength, he removes the bullet from his own chest and becomes enraged. He loses himself, becoming a charcoal-colored figure with two white horns controlled a giant pink flame dragon. Said dragon proceeds to head to Promepolis.
There, Lio searches for Kray whilst lighting the city ablaze. He demands his people be released, less he burn everything to the ground. During this, he accidentally frees Galo who notes Lio to be crying. This results in Lio’s confrontation with Kray being interrupted by Galo, and the dragon to be destroyed. Galo and Lio proceed to fight inside Aina’s Sky Ms., and then dropped at the frozen lake to cool off. There, the trio accidentally find Deus Prometh’s lab. Said professor’s AI greets them and invites them inside. He then proceeds to explain the Promare and Earth’s destruction. Deus then asks Galo and Lio to control Deus X Machina to fight Kray and save the world. The duo oblige.
The duo immediately head for Promepolis where a large spaceship called the Parnassus is being launched. There, Galo begins to struggle with using the mech Dr. Prometh gave them. Lio thus redesigns it to please Galo. They then proceed to try attacking Kray’s tower and digging into the surface for the imprisoned Burnish. This eventually results in Kray coming out with his own mech. They then fight inside the Parnassus up until Heris destroys the Promatech Engine. The fight thus continues on top up until both mechs are frozen in place.
Here, Kray baits Lio into attacking him. Despite Galo pleading to him, Lio attempts to burn Kray alive… only for nothing to happen. Kray himself is also Burnish, specifically one who hates his own kind. He was also the one to have caused Galo’s house to burn down and would attempt to kill him multiple times throughout the years. Lio attempts to protect Galo, but Kray flings him off the mechs and take Lio away to use as fuel. Said process leaves Lio screaming in pain as his limbs begin to fade to ashes. However, Galo soon arrives.
After destroying the Promatech Engine, Galo knocks out Kray and gives Lio Burnish CPR. Lio then reveals whilst inside the engine, the Promare told him a means of freeing them. He asks for Galo to help him light the world ablaze. The duo then go inside the nearby core and request the Burnish help. There, a planet-sized mech called Galo de Lion is formed. It proceeds to punch the planet and launch all the Promare stuck on Earth out. Back on Earth, Lio is briefly seen with Kray who calls his actions “uncalled for.” He then approaches Galo. The duo lightly converse with each other and proceed to fist bump.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Pyrokinesis: Just like the rest of the Burnish, Lio is able to manipulate fire in any shape or form.
- Pyrokinetic Constructs: Lio is able to use his pyrokinesis to form solid objects made out of fire, such as a motorcycle, a throne, and several weapons.
- Weapons: Lio is skilled in a variety of weapons he creates. However, he has a preference towards his bow and arrow as well as his katana, Both are made of flames. The arrows can cause explosions that topple military vehicles. He is sufficient enough in using his sword to destroy ice bullets mid-fire,
- Expert Tactician: Being the leader of the Mad Burnish, Lio is capable of executing various strategies; an example is when he formulates an escape plan to break out of jail.
Burnish Armor and Motorcycle[]
- Obsidian armor: Lio can create a sleek armor that can withstand any blunt attacks. Only ice attacks can destroy it such as freeze guns, ice bombs, or the absolute zero bullet.
- Motorcycle: Lio rides a motorcycle which is large enough to be used as a weapon. He is shown hitting Galo with it a few times and also uses it to break an ice wall in Lio-hen.
Lio de Galon[]
After learning the truth on the Promare, Galo and Lio are tasked with saving the world with a mech called Deus X Machina. However, Galo finds it to be lame and asks Lio to make a cooler mech. This results in Lio de Galon.
- Building-sized strength: In thanks to the Burnish armor added, Lio de Galon is strong enough to dent and outright destroy buildings.
- Burnish Pyromancy: Because Lio is co-piloting, he can use his own abilities alongside the mech such as summoning snakes or dragons. This also means he can repair the armor and use other flame attacks.
- Matoi Decked Out: After being unable to focus, Galo asks Lio to make him a matoi. Said matoi is enough to slice statue-sized ice blocks, destroy Krazor-X’s weapons, and can even act as spear.
Galo de Lion[]
Later on, after Galo saves Lio, the duo go inside the mech’s pod and ask for the Burnish people’s help in creating a world-sized mecha to release the Promare. It bears a white, blue, and pink color scheme.
- Massive size: In thanks to the Promare and Burnish, this mech is about one-fourth the size of Earth. It outright covers the entirety of the Terrestrial North Pole.
- World-shaking punches: Every single punch Galo de Lion does is enough to shake the entire planet. Because teal flames (which don’t hurt people) were used though, no one died in the aftermath.
- Burnish Pyromancy: Just as before, Galo de Lion can use Burnish abilities. However, their strength is far greater now. As the mech is only depicted using teal flames, what would happen if pink flames were used is unknown.
- Matoi Decked Out: Like Lio de Galon, this mech has an even larger version of the Matoi before. It was used to guide the Promare away and is spun rapidly.
Trivia[]
- According to Shigeto Koyama, Lio's appearance was inspired by Moto Hagio’s works. He appears to specifically be based on Thomas and Eric from Heart of Thomas.