Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2013

For Guillermo del Toro, Pacific Rim is more than an epic summer movie. “It is a love letter to the Japanese culture that I grew up with as a very small Mexican otaku,” the director said during a recent promo trip to Japan. “I was born at the height of the golden era of kaiju,” the 48-year-old director recalls, referring the Japanese monster genre started by Godzilla and Mothra. Del Toro had heard a story of Ishiro Honda gathering together the staff of the first Godzilla film in 1954 to announce that anyone who thought it was a waste of time to make a giant lizard movie should leave the room. Del Toro approached his film with the same seriousness, explaining that it does not contain a drop of irony or post-modern humor. However, he did add a human touch to his story. When the monsters emerge from the sea, humankind responds by making equally huge robots to battle them. But they can only be driven by two humans sharing a neural link, hinting that cross-cultural cooperation is the only way to save the world. Just because he has completed his kaiju homage, doesn’t mean that Del Toro will be leaving his otaku past behind. When asked where he would like to visit in Tokyo, without hesitation he replied, “Nakano Broadway,” referring to the Chuo Line geek mecca. “I have an empty suitcase to fill there.”

Pacific Rim is currently playing nationwide.