Mech Cadets Review: Netflix’s latest animated series is now out, and I have to admit that it is a great watch. Directed by Hiroyuki Hayashi and based on the BOOM! Studios Graphic Novel series Mech Cadet Yu created by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa, the show features the voices of Brandon Soo Hoo, Aparna Brielle, Victoria Grace, Josh Sundquist, Anairis Quinones, Daniel Day Kim, Robbie Daymond and Ming Na Wen. It has a total of 10 episodes, with each episode having a run-time of around 25 minutes.
It is always cool to watch animated robots fighting aliens. So if you are up for this, then you will like the show. There is action, there is emotion, there is a conspiracy, and Earth’s existence is at stake as usual. And all these together make Mech Cadets a nice binge-watch. For those who have seen Pacific Rim, they will be able to find the similarities clearly.
– Mech Cadets Review May Contains Spoilers –
Mech Cadets Review: Plot Summary
Young Stanford Yu, who works as a janitor at the Sky Corps Military Base in Arizona, finds a Robo Mech (the show’s version of a Jaegar) and bonds with it (what we know as “drifting” in Pacific Rim). This finally fulfils his lifelong dream to be accepted as a cadet at the Military academy and fight Shargs, crab-like aliens that pose a threat to Earth.
In fact, it is the Great Sharg War that took place 30 years ago that brought the Robo Mechs to Earth, and they bonded with humans to save the planet from destruction. Stanford has to prove that he is worthy of the job. Meanwhile, the Sky Corps facilities across the world will have to keep the Shargs away from Earth because they reproduce rapidly, and get bigger in size very quickly; these make them a graver threat.
Mech Cadets Review: Discussion
The story does provide its characters with distinct personalities, and this adds to the story effectively. Stretched out over 10 episodes, the series might feel a bit extra for some viewers, but the events make up for it. Each character has a different backstory, and the makers decide not to make it much more complex, which I found to be a good thing. Complicated pasts often pull the viewers away from the main storyline, and they wouldn’t have been effective in this case, especially as the show is targeted mainly towards children.
The action is good and large-scale. It’s big robots against even bigger monsters. This does add to the series’ ratings visually. The fight scenes are clean, and there’s nothing wrong with the way they have been executed. I think that the makers have taken a lot of inspiration from the Pacific Rim movies as they were able to establish the size of the robots as well as the Shargs nicely.
I couldn’t help but notice that the robots were being addressed as they/them. While I have no problem with it, I also wonder how someone can think of giving robots from outer space a gender. I mean, you don’t know where they are from, and you do not even understand their language. There is also an important thing that the show doesn’t address, i.e. why did the Robo Mechs come to Earth? I understand there is a war going on, but how did they find out about it? We know the different possibilities, like beacons or sensors or the Shargs already being enemies of the robots, etc, but there needs to be an explanation, right?
As far as the look is concerned, what the makers of the show could have done is work more on the appearance of the robots. They are too clean for their size and seem to have been made out of rubber rather than metal. They don’t offer that tangible feeling that usually comes with an animated robot like the ones we saw in Love Death + Robots.
Mech Cadets Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, the show is exclusively for children, and they will like it, although I have to say that they might fall out of it because it’s 2 episodes too long. 8 episodes would have been perfect. Mech Cadets is a one-time watch that is a smooth ride if you don’t want to get too deep into criticism. But who wants criticism in a show directed towards kids, right? If you want to enjoy it, it is enjoyable. And that’s exactly what kids want.
The animated show is available on Netflix.
Did you like it? Do let us know in the comments below.
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