Pacific Rim The Dark Zone, review of the anime on Netflix

Pacific Rim The Dark Zone

The general interest in the figure of the kaiju, the lethal giant monsters of Japanese design, is currently very high, also thanks to the success of the Monsterverse and the now imminent release of the film Godzilla vs Kong. To all this is also added Netflix, releasing a new series exclusively, going to dust off another brand that has contributed greatly to the success of the kaiju genre, or Pacific Rim. With Pacific Rim The Black, (Pacific Rim The Dark Zone here), Netflix further expands the fascinating narrative universe that pits Pan Pacific Defense Corp and its Jeager, colossal humanoid mecha, against the extradimensional alien race of the Precursors. , ready to unleash death and destruction at the hands of genetically engineered kaiju. What happened in this new title, which arrived on March 4th on the streaming giant? Let's find out together in our review.

Pacific Rim The Dark Zone, the events after the Uprising

Pacific Rim The Dark Zone takes place temporally a few years after the events that occurred during the Uprising, the second film in the series. Some time after the defeat of the Mega Kaiju, the war with the Forerunners still seems a long way from seeing an end. In fact, in the heart of the Australian desert, temporary "mini breaches" mysteriously begin to appear, with the consequent release of kaiju of all kinds. The entire continent is therefore devastated by incessant and unpredictable attacks, which the PPDC can barely contain, without the slightest possibility of doing anything concrete to end the threat.

Given the extreme gravity of the situation, the decision was made to evacuate the entire Australian population as much as possible and seal off the entire continent, thus trying to limit the damage and reorganize in view of a future counterattack . Taylor, a young cadet of the PPDC, and his little sister Hayley are children of the couple under the command of Hunter Vertigo, one of the Jeagers engaged in the colossal containment work, called "Operation Blackout". Just during transport to one of the evacuation areas, the brothers' bus is attacked by a kaiju, then neutralized by the mecha of their own parents who, after having secured them together with other evacuees, in a disused base in the middle of the desert, leave with a battered Hunter Vertigo in search of an increasingly unlikely rescue from the cities of the coast. But never returning ...

Five years later, Hayley discovers in an underground hangar of the Atlas Destroyer base, a Jeager downgraded to a training unit, whose activation attracts the attention of Copperhead, a kaiju from class VI that completely destroys the refugee camp, causing a massacre, before being awkwardly removed by his brothers, driving Atlas Destroyer.

After the accident, Taylor and Hayley decide to leave in search of their parents, crossing with their Jeager a post apocalyptic Australia dominated by kaiju, by bands of survivors and by the mysterious Sisters, an unidentified faction that seems to have a close relationship with the giant monsters. On their wanderings, Taylor and Hayley will meet Shane and Mai, disreputable individuals at the head of a very well-equipped group of survivors, and they will rescue a strange dumb boy, whom they simply rename "Boy", who will prove to be much more than what it looks like…

A smooth first season

This first season of Pacific Rim The Dark Zone runs smooth as oil, with seven episodes of about 25 minutes each unveiling one after the other without problems. It is clear from the start that this series serves as a macro introduction to those to come, given that it puts a lot of meat on the fire, especially in the last two episodes, introducing not only characters and situations, but opening whole new chapters of the Pacific lore. Rim like those concerning the Sisters and the Kaiju Messiah, or the question of the Hybrids. All extremely interesting ideas, which significantly increase the hype for a sequel, given the extremely intelligent way in which they were presented: hinted at, or a little more, only to discover their actual importance later.

Technically very well done, with an excellent characterization of the characters and the various Jeagers, both normal and "particular" (without adding anything to avoid spoilers), the series instead lacks a little on that of the Kaiju, offering only uninspired creatures, such as the class III Acidquil, whose model seems to “return” frequently. In reality, the original was annihilated at the time of Operation Blackout and the same Copperhead, nemesis of Atlas Destroyer, who however does not reach the epic levels of his cinematic predecessors, such as Hotachi or Leatherback.

A separate mention for the small kaiju of canine form. If at first glance they seem like too much of an element outside the classic franchise scheme, they will later show themselves for what they really are: simple parts of a much larger scheme that, hopefully, will be revealed entirely in the next series. >
Really valuable is the fact that, functionally to the plot, in this first season of La Zona Oscura, the various aftermath of drift on the mental holding of pilots, experienced or occasional, and of the consequences on the human psyche of handshakes are explored neural with "ghost pilots", that is the collections of thoughts and experiences of past operators, stored in the Jeager databases, accessing which a mecha can be piloted without too many problems immediately, even by a single person.

In conclusion

Pacific Rim The Dark Zone, as already mentioned, further opens the doors of an extremely fascinating narrative universe, and which refers not a little to many productions on the genus kaiju / mecha. In many episodes of the series we will be able to find, in addition to the obvious references to the other Pacific Rim brand productions, also many elements and situations inspired by, just to give an example, Neo Genesis Evangelion, a series to which the Pacific Rim brand has never done mystery of being inspired. Exciting at the right point, not only for the fans of the brand, Pacific Rim The Dark Zone manages to glue the viewer to the screen by making him more and more curious, and making his real point of discovery, almost more than the fight between mecha and monsters. of strength. So we just have to wait impatiently for the second season!

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