Series Review: "Pacific Rim: The Black" (2021-22).

From Netflix comes Pacific Rim: The Black. This science fiction-action animated series developed and co-written by Greg Johnson and Craig Kyle and based on the Pacific Rim franchise created by Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham. There was a time when Kaiju rose from the Pacific Rim only to encounter gigantic robots, Jaegers, built to fight them back. That time has passed. Now, Australia has been overrun by Kaiju, forcing the evacuation of an entire continent. Left behind, teenage siblings Taylor and Hayley embark on a desperate search for their missing parents, teaching themselves to pilot a battered, long-abandoned Jaeger to help in their quest and give them even the slightest hope of surviving.

In November 2018, Netflix announced that an anime series adaptation based on the films was in the works, originally set for a 2020 release date. Several creators pitched ideas to Legendary, and it was ultimately the concept by showrunners Johnson and 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 led them to Polygon Pictures, because they were the "masters at this approach." Polygon Pictures representative director Shūzō John Shiota 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. In October 2020, during their virtual "Anime Festival" livestream event, its title Pacific Rim: The Black and a 2021 release date was revealed.

The series stars the voice talents of Gideon Adlon, Calum Worthy, Erica Lindbeck, Ben Diskin, Leonardo Nam, Vincent Piazza, Ron Yuan, Max Martini and Rhys Darby. The characters are deeply drawn and their place in the post-apocalyptic Australian outback is well defined, and in terms of story lines no character is left behind.

Johnson and Kyle's new Pacific Rim series proved that the franchise can soar when in the hands of a creative team that truly gets it -- and loves it. The best thing about the series, so far, is that it expands on the already vast Pacific Rim universe and introduces fans to people, places and things that they haven't seen before. These installments amount to a tense, absorbing four hundred and twenty-minute science fiction-action-adventure, one that uses the animated medium to liberate the possibilities of the Pacific Rim franchise by recognizing all of its strengths at once.

Simon says Pacific Rim: The Black receives:

Also, see my review for Pacific Rim: Uprising.