Pacific Rim. The Black. Review

Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim is a movie this critic has a rather large soft spot for. This might be in part because Idris Elba’s line delivery of “tonight we are cancelling the apocalypse” is one of the greatest and most easily imitable in recent memory. This viewer will state that the film holds up beyond that. It’s the kind of action/ monster media aware of how cheesy it is yet also attempting to give some sense of gravitas to the events on screen. The sequel Uprising was entertaining enough but lent much harder on the cheese factor and was less effective as a result. In Legendary Pictures continuing attempt to turn this franchise into a global brand outside of China we now have this Netflix animated series. Marked as an anime but probably more accurately described as an American production that borrows some of the style and visual aesthetic from anime. Avatar: The Last Airbender is probably the most well-known example in this sub-genre. The plot follows a brother and sister. Through a series of events following a Kaiju attack on Australia, they commandeer a Yeager and set out looking for their parents.
The relatively short seven-episode season is something of a departure for the franchise. It tries to offer a much more grounded less cheese infused take on the established lore set up by the two preceding films. This may get some getting used to for existing fans. When taken on its terms this pivot well unexceptional is certainly solid enough in the execution. The other strength of this franchise remains. Effectively selling the sense of the scale of the various robots and monsters. is present and correct. When the series defaults to action over plot it’s straight forward but relatively well executed. The aesthetic choices are visually pleasing but certainly, nothing discerned adult animation viewers won’t have seen before. That said after sitting through Jurassic World: Camp Critracious for review it’s a little refreshing to see a licenced Netflix animated series put some effort into the visuals.
Everything about the season reeds as just a hair above aggressively functional. There’s certainly potential for this show to get better in future. That said there’s the question of just how many people care about Pacific Rim as a series. Only time will tell. until then this is fine. Probably worth a look for existing fans. Also, those really into the sort of Mecca animation the genuine anime industry pumps out every day.
6.5/10