It should be no surprise that anime fans (in general) enjoy the Pacific Rim series, as creators Guillermo Del Toro and Travis Beacham drew from so many Japanese cultural and entertainment influences to create their story of a world where giant robot Jaegers battle giant monster Kaiju. The anime influences on Pacific Rim’s design and aesthetic are pretty clear, and the sequel film, Pacific Rim: Uprising, acknowledges that in a big Easter egg moment.
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Warning – Pacific Rim 2 Spoilers Follow!
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In the third act of Pacific Rim: Uprising, the remaining PPDC Jaeger pilots of America embark on a mission to stop three Kaiju beasts attacking Tokyo to achieve a deadly objective: world destruction. When Jake Pentacost (John Boyega) and Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood) lead their Jaeger takes hard hits in the fierce battle, and suffers some hard losses.
One of those losses sees the three-pilot Jaeger Bracer Phoenix get taken down by a giant three-Kaiju fusion beast, leaving neophyte Jaeger builder/pilot Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny) stranded on the deserted streets of Tokyo, after ejecting from Phoenix in her escape pod. As Namani climbs out of the pod, we see she’s at a massive museum that we saw earlier in the Jaeger/Kaiju melee. As Namani walks in front of the museum, the camera pans up to reveal that the building has a very special statue in front of it – a statue of Mobile Suit Gundam!
The statue (I’m going off memory here, forgive any missed details) looks like a white marble version of the Wing Gundam (correction: Unicorn Gundam) design from Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, which is, of course, one of the most iconic and all-around badass mech models in the series. It’s as close as we’ve come to seeing a live-action version of MSG, and for anime fans, it will surely be a thrill to see. It’s great to see the makers of the film acknowledging the clear inspiration that anime has given them, while providing a kick-ass fan-service moment. Thankfully, Pacific Rim: Uprising is chock-full of anime flavor that will make it fun for fans of the genre.
Pacific Rim: Uprising hits theaters starting on March 23rd.
