[DreamSword]

Episode 1: From The Shadows

If Pacific Rim as a franchise has set up any sort of pattern, it's that any and all characters who could prove to be interesting that aren't the main ones will be killed off, and brutally.

But more on that later. The short version of all of this is that I felt this made for a decent premiere.

The premise is that some time after the events of Uprising(or atleast so I assume), a ton of Breaches get opened, resulting in a massive horde of Kaiju stomping throughout Australia. Jaegar pilots from all over do their best to fight against the invasion, but eventually the government declares the entire content to be lost and orders everyone to get outta there.

In the midst of all the chaos are two particular pilots who fight tooth and nail to save a bus full of people which also has their kids on it. After fighting their way to a remote area where a Jaegar base used to be, the parents leave the children there, reasoning that as long as the kids lay low then no Kaiju will be able to find them, and that there'll be enough food and water to last them until the parents can find help.

Neither help nor the parents are seen for five years, and that's where the real story begins.

Our main duo are Taylor and Hayley, the children of the Jaegar pilots from earlier, and their dynamic is simple enough. Taylor is the vigilant if overly-cautious one while Hayley is the wild child. Taylor wants to keep everyone safe by continuing to lay low, especially since they've made a village for themselves over the past five years. Meanwhile Hayley, due to knowing no danger for that amount of time, wants to work towards a way of getting everyone out of Australia themselves. Needless to say they clash pretty often.

Ignoring how they managed to get new clothes that fit them during that time lapse aside, one day, Hayley discovers an abandoned training facility beneath the village, housing the Jaegar known as Atlas Destroyer. And for a mech with such an awesome name, it really is just a training dummy. And it's upon activating the training protocol that the Kaiju are alerted to the existence of the village, and disaster strikes.

This is what I was alluding to earlier. Everyone in the village other than Taylor and Hayley, and while I get it's done as a way of getting the ball rolling on the plot, it's also a shame in that had even just some of these character lived, there could've been some character development and other stories to come out of it. Who were their parents? What were there dreams and aspirations before getting dropped off at the village? Now we'll never know.

That all aside though, I really do dig the premise of the main mecha just being a training dummy. That's something I can't say I've ever seen before in a mecha show, or at the very least isn't something I can immediately remember in something else. Plus, the action was top notch all throughout the episode, making it very entertaining to watch.

I am definitely interested in seeing what future episodes have to offer.