The first Pacific Rim film is, by my estimation, a missed opportunity. Giant robots battling giant monsters for the fate of the world? Yes please sign me up! Unfortunately, despite some dope action sequences and an interesting take on "mental strength being the key to heroism," I found it to be a bit of a slog, a deadened and generic traipse through tropes we've seen a bunch of times before. But that never stopped the initial idea from being worth exploring, which is why I loved the sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising, so much more. The exponential level of growth and exploration in this franchise's premise makes me excited for the upcoming anime series take, Pacific Rim: The Black. And if you're excited too, we've got the first images for the Netflix series below.

The series, which comes from co-showrunners Craig Kyle (Thor: Ragnarok) and Greg Johnson (The Rocketeer TV series), centers on Australia. When Kaiju have taken over the continent, two siblings find a creaky old Jaeger robot to pilot together, find their missing parents, and just maybe save the world. This take, produced through the original franchise film's production company Legendary Entertainment and animation company Polygon Pictures (Godzilla: The Planet Eater), sounds like its capitalizing on what I find most interesting about Jaeger mechanics: The bond of humans being our greatest strength. With such a familially grounded, underdog take on the narrative thrust — combined with these dope looking visuals — Pacific Rim: The Black might just be my fave entry in the franchise yet.

Check out the official first images and synopsis for Pacific Rim: The Black below. The anime series comes to Netflix 2021. For more on this franchise, here's our ranking of Guillermo del Toro's films.

There was a time when Kaiju rose from the Pacific Rim only to encounter gigantic robots, Jaegers, built to fight them back. That time has passed. Now, Australia has been overrun by Kaiju, forcing the evacuation of an entire continent. Left behind, teenage siblings Taylor and Hayley embark on a desperate search for their missing parents, teaching themselves to pilot a battered, long-abandoned Jaeger to help in their quest and give them even the slightest hope of surviving.