Pacific Rim: The Black

Pacific Rim: The Black
Promotional poster
パシフィック・リム: 暗黒の大陸 (Pashifikku Rimu: Ankoku no Tairiku)
Genre	Mecha
Created by	Guillermo del Toro Travis Beacham
Original net animation
Directed by	Hiroyuki Hayashi[a] Jae-hong Kim[a]
Produced by	Jack Liang Bill E. Miller Ken Duer
Written by	Greg Johnson Craig Kyle Paul Giacoppo Nicole Dubuc
Music by	Brandon Campbell
Studio	Polygon Pictures
Licensed by	Netflix
Released	March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04) – present
Runtime	21–29 minutes
Episodes	7 (List of episodes)
Anime and manga portal

Pacific Rim: The Black^[b] is a Japanese–American^[1] original net animation anime series based on the Pacific Rim franchise.^[2] Developed and co-written by Greg Johnson and Craig Kyle for Netflix, the series was released on March 4, 2021.^[3] A second season is currently in the works.^[4]

Plot[]

Set far into the future, a race of monsters called Kaiju arise from the Pacific Rim and overrun the continent of Australia. Humans build gigantic armed robots, Jaegers, to fight back, but fail and the continent is abandoned leaving only isolated pockets of survivors. Teenage siblings Taylor and Hayley Travis are left behind by their parents who leave to combat the Kaiju but never return. Five years later, Hayley stumbles across a long-abandoned training Jaeger called Atlas Destroyer which she and Taylor activate and set out on a quest to find their parents. They not only have to deal with marauding Kaiju, but other survivors who are also fighting for survival and attempt to seize Atlas Destroyer themselves.

Voice cast[]

Main[]

• Calum Worthy^[5] as Taylor Travis
  • Cole Keriazakos as Taylor Travis (young)
• Gideon Adlon^[5] as Hayley Travis
  • Camryn Jones as Hayley Travis (young)
• Erica Lindbeck^[5] as Loa

Supporting[]

• Ben Diskin as Kaiju Boy
• Victoria Grace as Mei
• Andy McPhee as Shane

Recurring[]

• Jason Spisak as Ford Travis
• Allie MacDonald as Brina Travis
• David Errigo Jr. as Root
• Bryton James as Corey
• Martin Klebba as Spyder
• Leonardo Nam as Rickter
• Nolan North as Marshall Rask
• Vincent Piazza as Joel
• Ryan Robinson as Demarcus
• Ron Yuan as Shiro Ito

Guest[]

• Max Martini as Hercules "Herc" Hansen (archive audio)

Production[]

In November 2018, Netflix announced that an anime series adaptation based on the films was in the works.^[6] It was originally set for a 2020 release.^[7] During their virtual "Anime Festival" livestream event in October 2020, its title Pacific Rim: The Black and a 2021 release window was revealed.^[8] A second season was also greenlit.^[9]

The series is produced by American company Legendary Television,^[2] and animated by Japanese studio Polygon Pictures.^[10][11][12] Greg Johnson and Marvel Comics writer Craig Kyle serve as showrunners,^[10] and Brandon Campbell is composing the series' music.^[13] The series is directed by Jae-hong Kim and Hiroyuki Hayashi, with episodic direction by Takeshi Iwata, Susumu Sugai, and Masayuki Uemoto, and art direction by Yūki Moriyama.

Several creators pitched ideas to Legendary, and it was ultimately the concept by showrunners Greg Johnson and Craig Kyle that ended up moving forward to be pitched to Netflix. Before production on the series itself began, Johnson and Kyle had thought about making the series in either 2D or 3D animation, but hadn't decided which to go with. The more they thought about the cost of the 2D animation, and the limits 2D animation would have on certain aspects of the series, such as how the camera would move in a highly-detailed 2D environment, the more they leaned towards using 3D animation. Ultimately, it was decided that they would produce the series in 3D animation, but they wanted to keep the 2D aesthetics, which lead them to Polygon Pictures, because they were the "masters at this approach." Polygon Pictures representative director Shūzō John Shiota (who served as an executive producer on the series) and producer Jack Liang expressed excitement over the idea of producing a work within the Pacific Rim universe, and decided to take on the job. Polygon Pictures staff handled a majority of the series' design work, with some assistance by the western team's supervising director Jae-hong Kim, and both teams convened in Tokyo to discuss these designs.^[14]

Episodes[]

Season 1 (2021)[]

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Episode director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Original release date [15]
1	1	"From the Shadows"	Takeshi Iwata Susumu Sugai Masayuki Uemoto	Greg Johnson Craig Kyle	March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04)
The Australian continent is overrun by powerful monsters called Kaiju and siblings Taylor and Hayley Travis are left behind while their parents, two Jaeger pilots, leave to find help in Sydney with their Jaeger. Five years later, the survivors have built a self-sustaining community in the desert. One day, Hayley accidentally finds an old Mk III training Jaeger named Atlas Destroyer, but when she powers it up, it attracts a huge red-veined Kaiju, a Category IV codenamed Copperhead, which destroys the settlement, killing all its occupants. Barely managing to escape, Taylor and Hayley decide to take the Jaeger and try to reach Sydney.
2	2	"Into the Black"	Takeshi Iwata Susumu Sugai	Greg Johnson Craig Kyle	March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04)
Taylor and Hayley gradually learn how to pilot Atlas Destroyer with the aid of its onboard AI Loa, and leave the settlement. They reach Meridian city, but the Jaeger's power cells are depleted. While searching on foot for new power cells, they are attacked by small dog-like Kaiju, some of which are caught and eaten by a towering monster that resembles a cross between a Kaiju and a Jaeger. While there, they encounter a young silver-haired boy encased in a chamber of fluid, and they decide to take him with them. While they do find a power cell, it is damaged in the escape from the city, forcing the two to try and find another.
3	3	"Bogan"	Masayuki Uemoto	Greg Johnson Craig Kyle	March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04)
Taylor, Hayley, and the mute child Boy see four other humans in the distance near a river who appear to be gathering Kaiju eggs. Boy runs towards them but he is detected by an amphibious Kaiju, the mother of the eggs, which leaves the water. It attacks and eats two of the egg snatchers before the others destroy it with a rocket-propelled grenade. The survivors, Rickter and Mei, take Taylor, Hayley and Boy to their mobile camp, called Bogan. The leader, Shane, trades Kaiju eggs with a man named Ferno's team for Jaeger parts, including power cells. Ferno then trades the eggs to a group called the "Sisters" who live in the hills. The trade is interrupted by a scuffle between Rickter and the Travis siblings, resulting in a gunfight. In the end, Shane destroys the eggs but keeps the parts, forcing Ferno to leave. Shane interrogates Taylor using a modified neural bridge to extract his memories, which includes the existence and location of their Jaeger.
4	4	"Up and Running"	Susumu Sugai	Paul Giacoppo	March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04)
Taylor awakens to find the Bogan camp on its way to Meridian to retrieve Atlas Destroyer. They use a power cell to restart Atlas and their technician, Joel Wyrick, tries to partner with other members of Bogan who do not have Drift training, but they all fail, resulting in Joel receiving neural damage. Meanwhile, the Jaeger's energy pattern alerts Copperhead, which heads in their direction. Shane orders Taylor to copilot Atlas with Mei. Their synchronization is incomplete, and when Taylor tries to fight the Kaiju, it removes and eats the right arm of the Jaeger. Taylor and Mei run Atlas into a minefield where Spyder manages to detonate mines which render the Kaiju unconscious. Shane is angry at the damage caused to Atlas, and orders Taylor, Hayley, and Boy to leave without their Jaeger.
5	5	"Escaping Bogan"	Masayuki Uemoto	Nicole Dubuc	March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04)
Mei suspects that Shane plans to kill the Travis group, Taylor, Hayley, and Boy, and warns them to leave before sunrise. Shane orders Joel to get the Jaeger operational, but his brain damage from the failed attempt to drift with other potential Bogan co-pilots hampers him. Shane sends Rickter to kill the Travis group, and during a struggle, he shoots Boy with no apparent effect. Mei arrives and kills Rickter, then smuggles Taylor back into Atlas so that he can pilot it out, however Hayley and Boy are recaptured. Joel suggests that Taylor pilot the Jaegar himself using the risky maneuver of "ghost piloting" with a former pilot's memories. Taylor succeeds by using the memories of Ranger Hercules "Herc" Hansen and uses Atlas to rescue Hayley and Boy. He then collects Mei, but collapses from exhaustion so Hayley and Mei pilot Atlas away together. Shane calls Mei on her walkie-talkie, but Joel answers and Shane detonates the device, killing him.
6	6	"Boneyard"	Susumu Sugai	Paul Giacoppo	March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04)
After Mei leaves the group once she’s buried Joel, electrified chasms called "Breaches" start occurring, and Atlas begins falling into one. Taylor and Hayley jump on board and manage to extract Atlas. Boy becomes separated, but they find him in a graveyard with skeletal remains of different Kaiju: Leatherbacks, Slatterns and Mutavores. There are also destroyed Jaegers: November Ajax, Valor Omega, Titan Redeemer, and 23 drones from the Uprising War. Upon seeing a downed Jaeger named Horizon Bravo, Loa suffers a glitch and temporarily shuts down while Taylor is revealed to have absorbed some of Herc Hansen's memories from their ghost drift. The Travises find Boy near another breach, but a Category III Acidquill type Kaiju emerges from a chasm. It attacks Atlas but the Kaiju-mech from Meridian appears and kills it. Boy seems to be able to communicate with the Kaiju-mech and it creates a neural bridge through which the Travises see elements from the Uprising War; a time when Kaiju brain cells infected drone Jaegers. The creature, named Apex, is apparently the only drone that survived; it has evolved into a single bio-mech unit that has no allegiances. It established a mental connection with Boy in Meridian and establishes the Travises are friends of Boy. Apex retrieves a Jaeger arm from the scrap and hands it to Atlas. After Taylor and Hayley install the arm, which is from a Mk. IV Jaeger named Chaos Nemesis, they discover that it contains a vanadium steel saber chain weapon. Apex begins feeding on the dead Kaiju while Boy rejoins Taylor and Hayley in Atlas.
7	7	"Showdown"	Masayuki Uemoto	Greg Johnson Craig Kyle	March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04)
Taylor presses Loa for more information about the Uprising War and why she glitched at the sight of Horizon Bravo, but she refuses to elaborate. Loa detects signals from an unknown Jaeger from Clayton city so they take Atlas there. When they arrive, they find Mei and they all take some time out to relax together in a café, however Mei recalls unhappy events there when she first met Shane and her mood changes. While exploring, the Travises find the wreck of Hunter Vertigo, their parents' Jaeger. They enter the hatch and access the last messages left by their parents, Rangers Ford and Brina Travis, as they were being attacked by Kaiju. The youngsters leave, but find that Copperhead has tracked, attacked, and toppled Atlas then it attacks them, injuring Hayley. Taylor and Mei enter Atlas, while Boy stays to protect Hayley. As the Kaiju charges, Boy transforms into a huge blue-veined humanoid Kaiju and attacks Copperhead, but gets buried under tons of rubble. Atlas arrives and uses its saber chain to attack and injure Copperhead. Meanwhile, Hayley has unjammed a nuclear missile in Hunter, and fires it at Copperhead, destroying it completely. She returns to the Kaiju Boy who is still trapped but alive. Taylor realizes that the Precursors, the creators of the Kaiju, can make Kaiju that look like humans. On the rooftops above, a group of Sisters appear and declare that the Kaiju Messiah has come.

Release[]

Pacific Rim: The Black was released on Netflix on March 4, 2021.^[3] A teaser trailer was released on February 1,^[16] followed by a full trailer on February 5.^[17] A final trailer was released on February 26.^[18]

Reception[]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 75% approval rating, based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "While The Black carries over all the grit but little of the humor that distinguishes the Pacific Rim film franchise, its striking visuals and expansion of series lore will likely please Kaiju fans."^[19]

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Pacific Rim: The Black on Netflix
• Pacific Rim: The Black at IMDb
• Pacific Rim: The Black (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia