Pacific Rim by Mexican storyteller Guillermo del Toro is without a doubt the best thing that ever happened to stories of giant monsters and fighting robots and even 8 years later the battle scene in orbit makes me absolutely ecstatic. It is large-scale, bright, pathetic and irrationally beautiful.
The second film, despite its scale and cool special effects, was a little weaker. About the same as the newest Star Wars trilogy relative to George Lucas' classic. Still, it's always nice to return to this universe and the new animated series Pacific Rim: The Black appeared in the Netflix catalog this spring was a great reason to do so.
Funny thing is that the writers of The Black - Greg Johnson (X-Men Evolution) and Craig Kyle (Thor: Ragnarok) decided to take the most difficult route and write an original story in which the emphasis has shifted from battles to reveal the characters and the world around them, ruined by kaiju monsters and suspiciously resembling the post-apocalyptic in the spirit of Mad Max.
So, the plot of the series unfolds in Australia, which the monsters fail to repel and the main characters, brother and sister Taylor and Hayley, are late for departure from the evacuation point, but saved by their parents, the gamekeeper pilots find themselves in a secret settlement. The parents leave their children behind and go for help, but disappear without a trace.
Five years after these sad events, Hayley accidentally finds the entrance to a bunker where the boys find a functioning gamekeeper and decide to set out on it to find their parents.
And this is where the strangest part begins. Movies, for all their plot simplicity, have also attracted huntsmen and monsters, diluting them with dialogue. In this show, it's exactly the opposite. The characters spend most of their time outside of the robot, talking and exploring the ruined world as they encounter adapted new realms inhabitants. Fights with monsters is disastrously little, but the fact that even short battles drawn just fine, and the lack of weapons from the huntsman forces them to be creative and find unusual ways out of situations. They can make it look pretty when they need to.
But it is also very difficult to come to terms with it. It would seem - the fights should bring balance to the show, but after them, the creators of the series seem to throw in completely inappropriate issues on purpose. Even for those who are familiar with the original Pacific Rim series and the comics. For instance, where did the little kaiju come from? Why the hell did the viviparous monsters suddenly start laying eggs? What kind of milk is kaiju when the meat and blood of these monsters is known to be extremely dangerous to humans? And, after all, when does all this happen? Before the events of the first film or after the events of the second?
And the closer the finale comes, the more these questions pile up, and the final cliffhanger leaves a very strong hold on season two, in which I really hope there will be more battles and, since the characters like to talk, as many answers to uncomfortable questions as possible.