Movies News Talk
With an animated sequel, Netflix's Pacific Rim: The Black carries on the monster series, but this inclusion in the Pacific Rim chronology begs issues regarding the viewing sequence for the movies. Guillermo del Toro's first Pacific Rim film started the fight between Kaiju and Jaegers with a 2025 narrative. Pacific Rim: Rising advanced a decade, Uprising jumped Thanks to Pacific Rim: The Black, which follows Taylor and Hayley Travis as they search for their parents in Kaiju-infested Australia, three years following Pacific Rim: Uprising the saga was able to continue.
With little movie connection, Season 1 stretched the mythos of the Pacific Rim franchise in some intriguing ways; Kaiju messiah storyline of Pacific Rim: The Black season 2 took even more horrific liberties. Pacific Rim: The Black actually refrains from indicating how it fits into the timeline; Black does well on its own without regard to where it belongs in the Pacific Rim order of films. Context hints, though, that suggest when Pacific Rim: The Black takes place.
The Pacific Rim films' release schedule fits the chronological sequence of their plots. The first Pacific Rim mentions in the opening voice-over that 2013 was the year humans first came across the Kaiju. From there, several kaiju emergences were noted. The second kaiju first surfaced in the Philippines in 2014; after that year Mexico and Australia developed third and fourth kaiju.
2014 was a noteworthy year in the chronology generally since The Jaeger Program was launched and September 2014 is when the first prototype mech was created. Launched the next year, the first Jaegers included the Russian mech Cherno Alpha arriving in 2015 and killing a Kaiju. Among the few MK-1 Jaegers tracked are Coyote Tango, Horizon Brave, and Roeo Blue. Following the introduction of the MK-2 Jaegers and ongoing kaiju emergences, the decade that followed saw events of Pacific Rim in 2025 result from Pacific Rim: Ten years later, in 2035, upheavals start. Dr. "Newt" Geiszler is found to have planned the Kaiju and Precursors' comeback to eradicate life on Earth in this year.
There are hints pointing to Pacific Rim: Black arriving after Pacific Rim: uprising within the Pacific Rim chronology. First of all, it is clear from the movie canon that there were no Kaiju attacks between Pacific Rim and its sequel, hence this immediately knocks out the possibility of it fitting there somehow. Herc Hansen's appearance in a flashback to Operation Blackout also challenges the earliest in the timeline it can allow.
The Uprising Wars are mentioned often in the program; they are the events of the sequel known in-universe. The Travis siblings even come across numerous wrecked Jaegers who battled in that conflict. All of this supports Pacific Rim: The Black even more since it depicts the farthest point in the Pacific Rim Timeline the franchise has gone and reflects the uprising occurring after Pacific Rim. With these references, it is increasingly difficult to pinpoint a precise year for Pacific Rim: The Black's events. Five years after their last sighting shortly before Operation Blackout started, Taylor and Hayley go to locate their parents. The program leaves unclear whether Operation Blackout is connected to the Uprising Wars at all or whether that event occurs long after the strike seen in Pacific Rim. The earliest Pacific Rim: The Black can take place is 2040 given the events of the movie fall in 2035. Operation Blackout, however, could have happened decades later as well. The precise setting of the show could remain a mystery since there won't be any more seasons following the finish of Pacific Rim: The Black season 2.
Given season 2 being Pacific Rim: The Black's last, the program might be as far as the Pacific Rim chronology ever reaches. Pacific Rim 3 seems improbable even though a third movie was scheduled at one point and may have connected the original property to the animated series. The only hope for Pacific Rim continuing at this point would be its alleged crossover event with the Godzilla/Kong MonsterVerse, but given Pacific Rim 3 was meant to build it up, it looks dubious as well.
What Pacific Rim: The Black's ending suggests, then, that the franchise and the Pacific Rim Timeline could be extinct. Perhaps the series has peaked in robot craziness with Kaiju Messiahs on the scene, and now is the proper moment to power down.
Black is an anime series set inside the same universe as the Pacific Rim movie franchise. Two siblings, Taylor and Hayley Travis, pilot an abandoned Jaeger in search of their parents and expose the truths of a cataclysmic Kaiju invasion in a post-apocalyptic Australia. Black explores new and horrific Kaiju and provides a fresh viewpoint on the planet of Jaegers, therefore extending on the Pacific Rim legend. Strong action scenes, engaging characters, and a gripping plot spanning the Pacific Rim franchise's past abound in the series.
Pacific Rim: Fans of the Pacific Rim series really should check The Black. The show presents an intense and immersive experience, vividly bringing the universe of huge robots and terrifying Kaiju to life. Pacific Rim: The Black is a deserving addition to the Pacific Rim universe with its interesting narrative, amazing animation, and compelling people.