Pacific Rim drew inspiration from a wide breadth of mecha anime and “man in suit” tokusatsu films. Fans were quick to think of contemporary hits like Neon Genesis Evangelion, or recent revivals like Godzilla, but this tradition of giant-bots-versus-even-bigger-monster goes way back to classic super robot series like Mazinger Z. Animator Jeremie Carreon figured it was time to make this conceptual link a bit more concrete. If Pacific Rim actually were an anime, airing weekly, in the 70s, its intro would most likely look like this.
The muted colors. The hint of grain. The dynamic orchestral theme with the striking strings and funky baseline. There’s both an art and a science to the anime intro, and Carreon has captured it exactly.
Maybe some time, some day, we’ll get an official anime adaptation. Ideally, it’d be an anthology film in the vein of the Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight, gathering powerhouse studios like Madhouse, Production I.G. and Studio 4°C together to render the continuing war against the kaiju in their distinct styles. To do some fantasy casting, it’d be so rad to see this world refracted through the creative lenses of The Boy and the Beast director Mamoru Hosoda, Madoka Magica mastermind Gen Urobuchi, or Shinichiro Watanabe, the mastermind behind Space Dandy and Cowboy Bebop.
And, of course, a Pacific Rim/Attack on Titan crossover special would just write itself. Pit a squad of wall-jumpers and corpsman Eren Yaeger against pilot Raleigh Becket and a fleet of Jaegers–and pray the Kaiju and Colossi never start rampaging together.
Which talents would you want to see on this fantasy Pacific Rim anime? Does the clip accurately double for a classic anime intro? Attack our talkback like it’s Shatterdome!
Note: Both Geek & Sundry and Pacific Rim are owned by Legendary Entertainment.
Featured Image Credit: Jeremie Carreon