Pacific Rim - La zona oscura

I almost didn't watch this because I have found most Netflix Anime disappointing. However, I am really glad that I did. This is what the second movie should have been! The anime is good, and obviously anime-ish with many of the standard tropes. Also, I grew up on Robotech in the eighties, watching the anime and reading all of the books. This reminds me of what I remember Robotech being (I went back and tried to re-watch it a few years ago and it disappointed). There is a good balance of mech vs monster, character development, and plot advancement. Well done and I am looking forward to season 2.

Sometime after what has become known as the Uprising War from the last movie, a third Precursor invasion happens in Australia decimating the continent and forcing the Pan Pacific Defense Corps (PPDC) to abandon the continent and retreat. 5 years after the invasion, as Hayley and Taylor Travis (Gideon Adlon and Calum Worthy) await rescue from the PPDC in a hidden sanctuary with diminishing hope of rescue. After Hayley unearths a disused training Jaegar named Atlas Destroyer, the activation of the mechnisms inadvertantly alerts a Kaiju to the sanctuary's location destroying all but Hayley and Taylor. With their home destroyed and no rescue in sight, Hayley and Taylor must now venture through the ruins of Australia with their Jaegar venturing into the harsh wastes know to Survivors as The Black.

Back in 2013 Guillermo del Toro graced multiplexes with Pacific Rim, a fun take on Japanese monster films and super robot anime filtered through the lens of a big budget blockbuster. While the film garnered respectable box office numbers, it's digital footprint didn't translate to the level of success the studio was hoping for and most likely would've been written off as a disappointment had it not been for the film's massive success in Asian markets, particularly China, which eventually opened the door for the sequel, 2018's Pacific Rim: Uprising, with del Toro stepping back into a producing role and handing the reins to Spartacus and Daredevil director Steven S. DeKnight. Uprising is very flawed movie, it has some good elements in it and I like how it's tone is less apocalyptic (to a point) but without the gravitas del Toro added to the first one, Uprising came off in many ways like a big budget fan fiction including creating a previously unmentioned brother for Mako Mori with Jake Pentecost and not even addressing the previous protagonist Raleigh Beckett. Pacific Rim: The Black takes place some indeterminate amount of time after Uprising and while it does build upon elements from Uprising, it's not required viewing to understand or enjoy Pacific Rim: The Black. While the format may have changed for Pacific Rim: The Black, it still manages to deliver on the series' strengths while expanding the universe in new and interesting ways.

From the outset, The Black despite being animated is clearly taking its inspirations from the first film as many times the Jaeger/Kaiju battles are shot from street level views to give a sense of scale and weight to the battles and it's opening sequence where Australia is being invaded is very well done. The show also goes back to the first movie's themes of survivors guilt and carrying shared weight as it focuses on a brother and sister who've grown up in a world without their parents. Taylor is overly serious and no nonsense being a former Jaeger cadet prior to the fall of Australia, and takes a hardline stance when it comes to his sister's well being, while Hayley is more impulsive and brazen in her actions. It's a good dynamic that makes for rich familial drama but doesn't teeter over the edge into melodrama. The sequence where the Hayley inadvertantly activates the Jaeger and alerts a nearby Kaiju to the sanctuary has some absolutely haunting moments of terror as their friends and loved ones are massacred and the survivor's guilt felt by Hayley makes for compelling viewing especially in the friction it causes in their relationship.

While the characters are certainly rich and have some great exchanges, it helps that the world The Black creates feels unique (at least in terms of the Pacific Rim universe). Being set in Australia, it should surprise absolutely no one that there's more than a few passing similarities to the world of Mad Max with roving gangs of scavengers and marauders which surprisingly mesh really well in a world of monsters, giant robots, and other sci-fi gadgets. The show does a good job of creating an ongoing mystery as Hayley and Taylor search for their missing parents and introducing elements such as a mute albino boy, what seems to be a Jaeger/Kaiju hybrid, and many other dangling plot threads that are given just enough intrigue and answer to keep you wanting more.

What issues I do have with Pacific Rim: The Black are fairly minor, but I'd be remiss if I didn't address them. The animation is really good at the Kaiju/Jaeger battles, but the show struggles with the human moments every so often. For the most part the human models are perfectly serviceable, but being a CG series with anime aesthetics sometimes facial features will seem unnaturally flat or feel somewhat doll like in how they interact. There's also some situations where they attempt to do more dynamic and complex camera movements with the humans such as an instance involving a 360 degree arc shot inside a damaged Jaeger that gave the appearance the character in the fore ground was floating. As many have pointed out the show is only 7 episodes long. To the writers' credit the story never feels rushed or anything, but some of the emotional crescendo and dramatic payoffs may have elicited greater impact had they been allowed more time to develop.

Pacific Rim : The Black is a good addition to the franchise. While the compressed storytelling and somewhat rough animation at certain points can be distracting, the show continues building upon the interesting world built in the first tow films and populating it with interesting characters and compelling narratives.

This show was an unexpected surprise and the trailers and promotional material do it a great disservice. I was expecting something average, maybe a 6 out of 10 but I am glad to say this show is much more nuanced than I know most will give it credit for. And certainly more thought and effort into making it good than the atrocity that was Uprising.

But what was even more unique is that there isn't as much Kaiju fighting as I would've expected which is actually not a con against it as the story it chooses to tell is very much a character one. And I am glad the writers weren't lazy and took the extra mile to actually flesh out these characters properly to the point you really care if something bad happens to them.

Another aspect I really appreciate is that it doesn't ignore the existence of the previous entry Uprising. It demonstrates that Uprising had potential great concepts but this time they'll actually use it. While it doesn't mean Uprising is any better it at the very least justifies it's existence in the lore and expands upon it in many creative ways I did not see coming.

In a way it's kind of like what the Clone Wars show was to the prequels.

This series is an intriguing attempt to find the sublime in the ridiculous. What we have to remember is that Pacific Rim was, by design, frivolous and almost a self-parody. It was a knowing wink at the ludicrousness of kaiju and the fancruft that have grown around them, with "no alloys" and "50 diesel engines per muscle strand" as standout lines signalling that everyone involved was revelling in subverting and almost-but-not-quite mocking the source material.

The Black plays it all far more seriously, trying to show the consequences for squishy humanity of the "kaijufication" of earth - or more specifically, Australia, but best not to dwell on that detail, given that most of the voice talent are resolutely North American. There's loss and tragedy, there are merely elephantine kaiju-hounds to give a human sized threat, there's genetic experimentation, there are Jaegers that aren't quite Jaegers: all sorts of ideas that are well worn tropes in themselves, but fresh to this milieu.

The animation is entirely CGI, there's not a hand-drawn cell to be seen. It's very well done though, at least for the human characters. Surprisingly, it's not so great for the kaiju and Jaegers, which are fairly generic grey-and-blue vs grey-and-red over-shadowed blobs, with little sense of size or mass to them.

What really shines through is that the lead voice acting is outstanding, and for once they're given half decent lines to deliver and they're not phoning it in. Gideon Adlon does a compelling turn as Haley, bringing an appealing warmth, range, depth and emotion to the role. Erica Lindbeck also plays it pitch perfect as a passive-aggressivly sardonic training AI, introducing just the right amount of levity. Calum Worthy is the straight-man, and given a bit less to work with, but he takes a damn good swing at what he's given. This is highlighted by contrast with the cast extras, who turn in fairly generic anime performances.

The pacing is also a strong point, with decent story arcs and few flat spots. You won't find much Japanimation budget-stretching scenes here of composed of 2 minute still frames with trembling eyes and meaningless ejaculations of "Oh! Ah!". It's all dialogue here, lads. The score and foley are also well done, adding to rather than distracting from the animation and voice talent.

I'll be honest, I was ready to dislike this, but it won me over. It's a bold and well realized series with its own strong vision, and it delivers it competently and confidently. Definitely worth a try.

This show could have been a 9 or 10 but nope they had to have a stereotypical girl written into this.

Haileys character annoys me so much that often i forward some of her parts, her whining tantrum voice and her character personality is so annoying.

But onto the good things is that this anime gets to do things that the movies couldnt do in battle scenes or storylines. Wonderful Plot along with amazing visuals makes this a must see anime show.

It would be nice if their were more Jaegars in the show but sadly we dont get to see that. Theirs alot of room for improvement definitely like bringing variety of Jaegars for all to enjoy after all its a Pacific Rim show.