Pacific Rim Uprising Is Basically a Neon Genesis Evangelion Movie

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for director Steven S. DeKnight’s Pacific Rim Uprising, in theaters now.

Pacific Rim fans finally had their patience rewarded this week, as the movie's long-awaited sequel is now playing in theaters nationwide. The five-year wait may have proven painful to Jaeger Faithful, but half a decade is nothing compared to the amount of time fans of another beloved mecha franchise, Neon Genesis Evangelion, have endured just to see the series adapted to live-action, period.

Fortunately for fans of both properties, Pacific Rim Uprising proves that the two projects aren't so mutually exclusive. The sequel not only works perfectly as a faithful followup to Guillermo del Toro's original film, but also gives Evangelion fans the live-action adaptation they've so desperately been seeking -- unofficially, of course.

Best of Both Worlds

Fans of Hideaki Anno's Neon Genesis Evangelion have been drawing similarities between the popular anime and Pacific Rim since the original film's debut, with many making note of how each Kaiju series makes use of a special gel that connects pilots to their respective mecha. The callback has since been proven incidental by Guillermo del Toro himself, but the introduction of a brand new monster in DeKnight's sequel definitively hammers home a connection between Jaeger and Evangelion tech: the Kaiju-Jaeger hybrid.

In Uprising, our heroes eventually come into contact with cutting edge Jaeger drones that have been hijacked. While it initially seems that the mecha are being remotely controlled by an unknown individual who plans to use the tech for devious purposes, peeling open the cockpit of one reveals that the monstrosities are in fact being controlled by Kaiju brains. The hybrids are simultaneously machine and organic, an aspect that will definitely ring some bells in the minds of Evangelion fans.

In the anime series, the Evangelions are more cyborg than machine, with each consisting of a mostly biological entity that has been outfitted with a mechanized shell and weaponry. Each hybridized Eva matches up with a pilot directly through a psychological link (very similar to Pacific Rim's drift compatibility), enabling the mecha to become the controller's avatar. The Kaiju-Jaeger hybrids in Pacific Rim Uprising are essentially the same design, albeit with a much more deadly entity at the controls.

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The Next Generation

A good portion of Uprising's cast consists of teenagers who are enrolled in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps' cadet program, and the sequel makes sure to point out why the PPDC would want to start training future Jaeger pilots at such a young age. The film states that drift compatibility can be more easily attained by young adults who are still becoming fully realized individuals, meaning that by the time the teens are adults they will have stronger bonds to both their co-pilots and the Jaegers themselves. Age being a major factor in the cohesiveness between a pilot and mecha is yet another callback to Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Evas require a specific array of emotions and chemical balance to ensure a pilot is able to become fully synchronized with his or her machine. This mental state is typically found only in teens, therefore requiring all the pilots in the series to be young adults. This is echoed in Pacific Rim Uprising, the only difference being that Jaeger pilots need to have strong "neural handshakes" with their co-pilots, and not the mecha themselves.

Forerunners

This article could go on forever detailing technical similarities between each property's mecha and Kaiju counterparts, but the strongest comparison between these two franchises lies within the internal struggle of their respective protagonists.

Although their personalities couldn't be more different, Jake Pentecost and Shinji Ikari ultimately want the same thing: to somehow make a name for themselves from within the shadow of their fathers' legacies. Both characters reluctantly find themselves involved in a battle for the fate of the entire world, yet the most poignant conflict they face can't be found on any battlefield. It's instead an internal struggle against the burden personified by their last names.

Living up to expectation is a fight that many of us encounter in day-to-day life, making Jake and Shinji not only the avatars for the giant robots they pilot, but for the viewer as well. As fans, we all love to see the robotic fisticuffs and the epic destruction. We all love to see the CGI skyscrapers crumble and the monstrous spectacle, but the fight feels so much more vital if we can find a personal connection to those in peril. This aspect is what ultimately makes Uprising a better narrative than its predecessor, and thematically the Evangelion adaptation that many have wanted for more than 20 years.

Both Shinji and Jake come across as real people in an impossible situation. They aren't indestructible. They're not superheroes, they're just doing the best they can to make their fathers proud.

And sometimes legacies loom larger than any Kaiju.

In theaters now, director Steven S. DeKnight’s Pacific Rim Uprising stars John Boyega, Rinko Kikuchi, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona, Karan Brar, Ivanna Sakhno, Zhang Jin, Zhu Zhu, Burn Gorman and Charlie Day.