[DreamSword]

Episode 6: Boneyard

The atmosphere was ON POINT with this episode!

The set-up is that Mei, still having so many conflicting feelings going through her head with all that's happened, splits from the group. No time to chase after her though, because Boy also runs off as a Breach ends up erupting in the area. The ensuing search ends up taking Hayley and Taylor into a graveyard full of the remains of both Kaiju and Jaegar alike.

First off, I really liked how this episode directly connected to the events of Uprising, and just like in that film, Newt's' actions resulted in long-lasting consequences for the Pacific Rim universe at large.

I also really love how this episode further established the dangers of reckless Drifting; It was already shown off a bit in the previous episode with Joel, but having Taylor get his memories confused with those of the dad from the first movie(atleast, I think that's who that was? Correct me if I'm wrong), makes for a great hook and brings forth an idea/theme about identity that I really hope the show follows up on in future episodes.

And of course there's the big highlight: The ever growing mystery of Boy and his connection to the Kaiju Jaegar from the second episode. That entire last stretch, from the Kaiju emerging from the Breach, to the Kaiju Jaegar intervening, to Atlas Destroyer getting its new arm, was all really well done in terms of atmosphere and I really gotta give it to whoever did the directing for this episode. I was genuinely hooked!

Something else I wanna praise this show for too is that, atleast so far, while it certainly has used mecha anime tropes that have been done before, it's also been doing its own unique spin on alot of them. Heck, pretty much all of the other "survival mecha" shows that I've seen(Gundam X, L-Gaim, Zoids) usually totally drop the survival element fairly quickly, but The Black seems to be continuing to go all in on it, which is something I really appreciate.

Really interested in seeing what the finale of season 1 has to offer!