TV Show Review: Pacific Rim: The Black Season 1 Netflix

Pacific Rim: The Black
Mar 4, 2021

Director: Hiroyuki Hayashi and Jae Hong Kim
Exec. Producers: Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson
Cast: Gideon Adlon (Hayley Travis), Andy McPhee (Shane), Calum Worthy (Taylor Travis), Erica Lindbeck (Loa), Victoria Grace (Mei)
Genre: Animation
Network: Netflix

No. of episodes: 7

No. of seasons: 1

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.

Pacific Rim: The Black is a Japanese–American adult animated TV show on Netflix, based on the Pacific Rim franchise. My husband and I are big Pacific Rim fans because ROBOTS VS MONSTERS! Really what more do I need?

This show is definitely for adults. Some pretty dark and violent things happen even though the protags, Tyler and his sister Haley are young teenagers. There are also moments of humor like any action/drama and a great use of music during the visually pleasing action scenes.

The animation is good, with lots of action. The plot is pretty predictable but so were the movies. In the first couple of episodes, it seems like all Tyler and Haley do is yell each other's names in distress, but it does get interesting. The kaiju have "evolved" in an unexpected way.

Each episode is about 25 minutes so you can binge the whole thing quickly. I'm hoping for a second season. If you enjoyed the whole Pacific Rim universe, and love animation, then check this one out.

My husband doesn't really like animation and said he would never rate one higher than a 4, so he gives this 3 1/2.

I give Pacific Rim: The Black 4 "Of course!" Sheep

SharonS

Sheep Movie Review: Promare (2019)

Promare (2019)
Promare: Puromea (original title)
24 May 2019 (Japan)
Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi
Writing Credits: Kazuki Nakashima (original work), Kazuki Nakashima (scriptwriter), Michael Schneider (scriptwriter) (English version)
Stars: John Eric Bentley, Steve Blum, Johnny Yong Bosch |
Studio: Trigger
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 51min
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
Promare uses a bold cel-shaded visual style to tell a blistering action-adventure story, and is the spiritual successor to many of director Imaishi’s former works.

Thirty years has passed since the appearance of Burnish, a race of flame-wielding mutant beings, who destroyed half of the world with fire. When a new group of aggressive mutants calling themselves "Mad Burnish" appears, the epic battle between Galo Thymos, a new member of the anti-Burnish rescue team “Burning Rescue,” and Lio Fotia, the leader of “Mad Burnish" begins.

This exclusive encore event will feature a special prequel short "SIDE: GALO" with a look at Galo's first day with Burning Rescue!

Promare is a full-length Japanese animation from Trigger Studios that had a small limited run about a month ago. It did so well they brought it back for a one day limited run on Dec 8. I had heard a lot of great things about it and had seen some awesome fan art so I checked it out.

The Burning Rescue team!

What a lot of fun! The world has been destroyed by the Burnish--people who mysteriously gained the power to create a living fire. Burnish were hunted down and imprisoned and the city of Promopilos was created to keep citizens safe. Burning Rescue is a fire department that fights "living" fires using robotic suits! Kind of like Jaegers in Pacific Rim.

The over the top shirtless hero (he has the big hair to prove it), Galo! He has a burning firefighter's soul! He likes to yell this at the fire before he goes in to stop it.

What sounded like a simple plot was actually a complex story with unique world-building. I can't get into that because it would spoil the unfolding mystery of the Burnish. The characters in Promare are over the top classic archetypes you find in anime. There is a big dose of silly humor to balance out the dark themes of government genocide and prejudice.

Lio is the leader of the resistance and pain in Galo's ass.

The character designs are imaginative and the animation is eclectic and combined well with the music score. My favorite character designs were the Mad Burnish (the antagonists). The whole idea of "living" fire and how the creators showed it was awesome.

Definitely, a must-see for fans of anime action movies. It is subtitled. Also, stay after the credits because there is a ten minute-ish, informative and funny round-table discussion of the movie by the creators.

Check out the trailer. It gives you a good feel for the movie. If you find it entertaining then you'll want to catch this one!

4.5 "burning sheep soul!"

SharonS

New Movie Releases for November 2019

Holiday movies are coming! 

Terminator is a definite, Sleep Doctor has gotten good early reviews, Charlie's Angels looks good, Frozen 2 has a lot to live up to, Knives Out has my attention and Chadwick Boseman in 21 Bridges...rawr! I'll probably see Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood because I grew up on Mr. Rogers.

Nov 1

 

Limited release

Nov 8

 

Netflix

Limited release

Nov 12

Disney

Nov 15

Netflix

Limited release

Nov 21

Netflix

Nov 22

Limited release

Nov 27

Nov 28

Netflix

Nov 28

Netflix

Sheep Movie Review: The Good Dinosaur

The Good Dinosaur

Directed By: Peter Sohn

Rated PG

Cast: Raymond Ochoa, Jeffery Wright, Sam Elliot, Anna Paquin

Plot:
"The Good Dinosaur" asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.

I honestly didn't have much desire to see this film, for whatever reason it just did not look like one I would fancy. Maybe it was because the powers that be decided NOT to over saturate the market with constant adds. Kinda like the Star Wars film coming soon (Which I am totally going too see cause those trailers look amazing!), my personal reasons aside I was reluctant to sit through this animation.

Oh, how wrong I was! Talk about a heartfelt story, this one has tenderness and triumph in spades. Not only was this a story about dealing with great loss but finding the courage to face your fear. Real tangible fear and the fears of failure we each have inside us at times. I mean, life can just be scary! Kids and adults alike can certainly relate to this theme. The writers do an honest to goodness job of making it realistic and relatable to anyone.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried during the film. A few times, and by that I mean three. Three times I cried! I know it's just me, since any animated movie can bring me to tears. But I did see grown men getting a little choked up at spots. This just shows me that the heart strings of an audience were hit and a message was received.

I recommend this one to those of you who love a heartfelt story, with hidden moments of comedy and a tale for the ages.

Getting 4 'did you just rip that bugs head off?' Sheep

KD