Pacific Rim movie will give an age of giant robots and giant monsters in the big screen, and for a new level with CGI is present and with part of drama and action. The movie will be showing here nationwide on July 11, 2013 , the Philippines is ready for the big fight! and one of the most interesting part of the movie is that our country is being mentioned here as one of the poop drop zone of giant monsters, aka Kaiju (it means monster in Japanese) while Jaegar is a German term means "hunter".
For super robots and kaiju fans, we know how robots fight with giant monsters, in anime, the world is so colorful with cute theme songs, love story angles,and a lot of destruction, but here in the Pacific Rim movie we are expecting a grim scene of the world that took too much beating from the kaiju monsters. It’s a story of how the world will survive by fighting giant monsters and using those 250 foot high giant robots in the movie known as Jaegar, to fight back and survive the age of kaijus.
The influence of kaiju series and super robot anime
Director Guillermo del Toro is influenced by the super robot anime of his youth years, the Tetsujin 28 robot anime series. In doing this movie, the design of the Jaegar is based only in the world of Pacific Rim and not based from any anime. He approves in every design sketch ideas and then later on re-build it into a giant Jaegar robot. While for Kaijus in the Pacific Rim, they are based on creatures that exists here on Earth - like based on a gorilla, crocodile or a shark, making it more deadly, animalistic, grotesque and monstrous big. Director Guillermo del Torro suggested the design of the kaiju to be two legged, not humanoid but with a silhouette to remind us the classic kaiju, just to honor the spirit of the classic kaiju and remind the old monsters of the past in tv or movies. (source:from video featurette)
size comparison: plane, Jaegar, figher jet, car, dinosaur and Kaiju
In anime or tokusatsu tv series (aka sci fi tv series), kaijus appear from sky, from other planet, other kaijus are just prehistoric animals woke up after a long sleep, there are also kaijus being manufactured by crazy scientist hoping for world domination, but here in Pacific Rim, the kaijus came from another dimension from a portal hole that opened up under the Pacific ocean.
Base of the story and elements used in the movie – it reminds me of super robots, kaiju series, and Stephen King’s “The Mist” – monsters came from a different dimension. Not sure if Pacific Rim’s movie is based on human’s fault for opening up a portal as experiment. But I hope not.
How Jaegar robot operates
Piloting the Jaegar robots are different from super robots that we know, others just pilot it with a wheel, a control knob, or using your own movements to control the robots. In Pacific Rim, they control it by two pilots and their brains are fused together virtually, they call it – The Drift, linking two bodies to act as one, they share memories and fighting style to act as one and operate the Jaegar robot together. Controlling the machine is difficult to one human, that's why it needs to be piloted by two person, its like two pilots sharing the two sides of brain for the Jaegar robot. They are the brains. The deeper the bond of these two pilots, will result a big good combination to fight the monsters and win.
1st wave of movie reviews of Pacific Rim is coming in so quickly, midnight screenings and premieres just finished hours ago so I’m dodging the movie reviews and will read it after I watch the whole movie this Friday.
End credits scene
The most important tip I got from our friends at Warner Bros. Philippines is that --- there’s an added scene at the end of the credits, so make sure you wait for it and don’t leave your seats yet after the end of the movie… I would go crazy if this movie is a prelude to GODZILLA!.
Before watching the Pacific Rim tonight – there’s press screening in IMAX MOA and I won’t able to join them and also at the regular screening on July 11, let me share these elements from the Pacific Rim movie that reminds me of the classic super robots and kaijus.
btw, I learned the word “kaiju” during the year 1998, and after that year..I learned about Sentai and about Super Robots…thanks to our Sentai King of the Philippines – Richmond Chi for sharing his knowledge and collection..damn that was a good year of geekness during my college years.
Jaegar robots with their own special skills
Jaegar Robots have their own special style and skills, there are Jaegar that is a powerhouse or a tank, other is fast and have a great agility, other got extra arms with good weaponry. This Jaegars reminds me of Getter Robot. You can check the specs of the robots here - http://imgur.com/gallery/ebCVA
Getter Robot – tank, poseidon and dragon
Gipysy Danger = Daimos = Evangelion
They say that the USA Jaegar “Gipsy Danger” is one of the special, and one of the best.
When I saw this robot, it reminds me of Daimos, because of that propeller engine on its chest, like Daimos with twin propeller that unleashes double blizzard to blew off its enemies and finish the fight with karate moves. And also if Gipsy Danger is in the right shape for hand to hand robo combat, he is a good equal to Daimos and an Evangelion.
Gipsy Danger and Daimos
Evangelion units
The pilot suit
The suit of the pilot is very familiar..for super robot fans and anime fans, we know what it is.
Here in the Pacific Rim, the pilot wears in full suit with helmet, other countries who operates a Jaegar have different helmets, this is based on the design of the Jaegar robots. And the suit is connected with cables embedded to the Jaegar robot, and it manifest the same moves with the pilot inside. The suit reminds me of the pilot suit of – UFO Grendazier, Daimos, Neon Genesis Evangelion and those sentai members.
Pacific Rim pilot suits
UFO Grendizer and Daimos pilot suit with cables attached to the pilot for the robot to copy the movement of the pilot.
Back of an Evangelion unit and the Pacific Rim pilot suit
The Drift System
The drift system in the Pacific Rim reminds me on how they operated the Eva unit in Neon Genesis Evangelion, I did a wiki search and read that.. psychic linking the Eva pilot and the soul of their mother to operate the Eva unit and there’s this LCL liquid inside their plug suit that makes a better sync with the robot.
I'm not sure what's that liquid thing in the suit of the Jaegar pilot.
Eva pilot Shinji tastes his first sync in the Eva unit
Pilot on!!!!This scene in the Pacific Rim reminds me “pilot on!” in Mazinger Z, where Koji Kabuto pilots a small ship that connects to the head of Mazinger Z robot.
Elbow Rocket Punch!!!
I saw in this clip that the Jaegar have a Elbow Rocket Punch! it reminds me of Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger’s Rocket Punch weapon, but instead of an ejecting rocket punch like in the super robot anime, while in the Pacific Rim they installed a rocket in the elbow of the robot to add more hitting power to the kaiju.
here’s a video of the elbow rocket punch in Pacific Rim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuZPIc8nSk
Here are the Jaegars and its likeness to our favorite super robots
Striker Eureka (Australia)
and Patlabor
Coyote Tango (Japan)
and Gundam Gun Cannon
Gipsy Danger (USA)
and Daimos
Cherno Alpha (Russia)
…..hard to find a likeness pls.. help me out
Crimson Typhoon (China)
and Robocop 2…lol bec. of the extra arm
For Kaijus…there are lots of awesome monsters coming from the Godzilla, Mothra, Ultraman, Magma-man series. But the most modern monster designs came from the year 2000+ Godzilla films, which the monsters are more scarier and thanks to added CGI and awesome effects.
Pacific Rim
Godzilla and monsters
Monsters in Ultraman series
For the kaijus in the Pacific Rim….they are so detailed and very monster in appearance. It’s hard to find the zipper there hahahaha.
photo credits:
http://www.pacificrim-movie.net
http://www.pacificrimmovie.net
