Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor

As the human race evolves, so does its technology. Engineers have successfully created robots dubbed "Labors" for mass distribution, utilized by society for a number of everyday tasks. However, there are criminals who manage to get their hands on these Labors, using them for their own nefarious means.

To combat this new form of delinquency, police around the world begin using "Patrol Labors" or "Patlabors" to put a stop to Labor-related crimes. Rookie police officer Noa Izumi is drafted into a special Patlabor unit, getting her own mechanical suit to fight crime. Naming this machine Alphonse, Izumi works tirelessly alongside her peers to keep civilization safe from those who would use this advanced technology to harm others.

As Izumi becomes further ingrained within her unit, she must also learn how to navigate both her social and professional spheres with grace and wit. She befriends the aloof Asuma Shinohara, fellow pilot Isao Oota, and the other members of her brigade as she helps them to combat conspiratorial plots, workplace revolts, and supernatural beings.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Gotou, Kiichi Main

Oobayashi, Ryuusuke Japanese

Izumi, Noa Main

Tominaga, Miina Japanese

Shinohara, Asuma Main

Furukawa, Toshio Japanese

Oota, Isao Main

Ikemizu, Michihiro Japanese

Sakaki, Seitarou Main

Saka, Osamu Japanese

Shinshi, Mikiyasu Main

Futamata, Issei Japanese

Clancy, Kanuka Supporting

Inoue, You Japanese

Nagumo, Shinobu Supporting

Sakakibara, Yoshiko Japanese

Yamazaki, Hiromi Supporting

Gouri, Daisuke Japanese

Shiba, Shigeo Supporting

Chiba, Shigeru Japanese

Maki, Taro Producer

Oshii, Mamoru Director, Storyboard

Yoshinaga, Naoyuki Director

Itano, Ichirou Episode Director

Reviews

Jun 16, 2024

Fraffron

Recommended

Would give it a 10 if there was more character development and not them being walking stereotypes, even though they were all so likeable. But, for what it's worth and what it is, the original Patlabor is a must watch classic, and a DEFINITE must watch for all the mecha fans. It is a mere 7 episodes and I shouldn't expect something from it what it is just not. With the small amount of episodes at hand, the mini stories and the last arc are all just well written, funny, serious and fun to watch all at the same time. Really has everything you could ... fit in those measly 7 episodes at the time (besides character development of course) but we will get more of that in the movies. How could I not recommend a classic like this no?

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 8, 2023

Galletita

Mixed Feelings

Mecha as a genre is generally not considered to be grounded or realistic, mostly due to most mecha anime being influenced by imaginative sci-fi and the kaiju genre. Patlabor is an exception to this norm, an extremely grounded anime where the robots, named Labors, are not fighting in some epic war but serving in plenty of tasks to the general public.

In this OVA, the spotlight in set onto the formation of the SV2 Unit, a small patrolling unit entrusted with preventing and stopping any malicious or irregular use of the Labor units. The setting is clearly inspired by Japan during the 80s, rampant bureaucracy ... and rapid technological advancements leaving space for inefficiency and corruption. The SV2 team is formed by a mismatch of younger and inexperienced personnel and seasoned yet jaded veterans, facing the challenge of using the unfamiliar Patrol Labors (or Patlabors) to fulfill their rather unpredictable duties. Noa Izumi, a rookie fascinated by Labors, is tasked with most of the piloting of the Patlabor and is arguably the protagonist of this OVA.

The first few episodes are spent introducing Noa and her SV2 coworkers, having them deal with threats of local terrorism and investigation. Humor is always present during these first episodes, cartoony expressions and witty conversations are used to establish the group´s dynamics and sets a slightly lighthearted tone for the majority of the series. Even though these episodes serve their purpose of building character dynamics, the excessive use of humor somehow overshadows the worldbuilding and critique of bureaucratic organizations, feeling more like satire than a series of its own.

After properly introducing the SV2 Unit, the anime takes a much serious tone and deals with stronger threats and themes such as insurrection and internal covers up. The political commentary is very present in these episodes being deeply intertwined with the plot developments. The group finally acts like a serious unit during these arcs, facing an important conspiracy and unveiling the truth behind it.

In the animation department, the OVA has detailed 80s style animation, having varied and expressive character designs. The Labors and other mechanical vehicles are well animated, the titular Patlabor itself having a very distinct and appealing mechanical design with fluid human-like movements. Even though not many action scenes are present in the series, the action animation is very dynamic and visually engaging. Tokyo and other locations are accurately represented with rich backgrounds and detailed street signs, a visual feast for fans of the late Showa era aesthetics.

In general, this Patlabor OVA is a decent introduction to the Patlabor franchise. The early introduction episodes can feel like a drag even for a short series but later episodes are good enough to make up for it, especially for fans of political intrigue. I can only recommend this series to fans looking for something grounded and realistic with political commentary, this anime is more akin to a police drama than to a regular war setting mecha.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 27, 2018

gabrielrroiz

Not Recommended

Patlabor is a classic. The term comes with a lot of responsibility, and believe me, I truly do not like to take or give it lightly, but throughout the years Patlabor has cemented its name as one of the more well recognized and critically praised mecha franchises of the 80s. Managing to stand not that far away in terms of importance and influence, to the likes of Gundam or Macross. Sadly, my experience with it has been nothing short of underwhelming, basically making for a highly frustrating disappointment overall. On this analysis I will attempt to shed some light to what I consider to be ... the pivotal structure problem with the series, the characters, which are my main reason for never managing to connect with some of its entries. As references for this I will be using mostly the ova series Mobile Police Patlabor, with some additional commentaries on its continuations, Patlabor Movie 1 and 2.

My issue at heart here is actually philosophical one, on the writing of this OVA. The main ideal of characterization this series seems to be going for is something I fundamentally disagree. On the OVA’s first episode, there is a line by Gotou that describes perfectly, said ideal of character writing. On said commentary he points out how his subordinates, the main guys we follow through most of the episodes, are not the autistic pilots of Gundams, dangaios, Mazingers. This commentary lands a pretty decent joke and reference (you would have to kill me, to make me remember an instance where the jokes in this Ova actually made me laugh) but is also indicative of a bigger view on how these characters were purposefully created. It references a logic of taking out eccentricities, extreme aspects of personality, in order to portray their personalities as more mundane, normal, you could say as “realistic people”. Even in this case where the personas are a bit more expressive and show a wider range of emotions than in pretentious crap like Kara no Kyoukai. The problem being, this attempt at streamlining does not lead necessary to what I would call better characters. In fact, I think it plays the contrary effect on this franchise, the personalities are streamlined, to the point they really lack basic aspects of really basic character writing like engaging conflicts, arcs, motivations, depth, psychological introspection, making they really way less interesting as people to the emotionally unstable autistic pilots, who were portrayed in really exaggerated ways, that were kind of a genre cliché (blame Zeta Gundam for this). This for me is a clear example of confusing subtlety, in having the character aspect being more nuanced, having it to be implied through details and small actions rather than literally explained, for dullness in having barely anything in terms of content to these personas. Patlabor is an obvious attempt of going for the latter, but forgets to give the meaning on the small, in having a good grasp on ideas they were trying to imply, to give us a good enough of a sense as to whom these people really are.

Credit where it is due, at the very least the cast here contains a variety of personalities. Each character has its own unique reaction and characteristic be it Oda’s aggressiveness, Nagumo’s rationality, Noah’s childishness. Such characteristic may never portray or give comprehension to a deeper true character, but the very least they serve to create scenes; each persona adds a unique facet and reaction to situations, which in turn makes for dynamic scenes. The developments in history are made on the basis of their unique personality, not on convenient character writing. But when we look to the foundational aspects of good writing, the characterization quite literally falls apart. How many of the main characters in Patlabor have well stablished and portrayed motivations and goals? The answer is two, them being the guys who have pretty much already accomplished their goals at episode 1(firing guns for Oda, being with Alphonse for Noah). So yeah the joy of seeing someone attempt for a goal, an objective, a thing of desire, and work his way through complications to get to that is completely gone here. This issue is only elevated by the complete disconnect between the conflict and the cast, the conflicts being presented through the OVA (with the exception of episode 5) have completely none personal stakes, they have absolutely no relation with whom they are, what they want, being that their repercussions only matter on a social scale (which also does not matter since the OVA has really bad world building, but this is a topic for later). It is a weird case where characters are not moved from desire, worldviews, personal issues, traumas, but because it is their job, they are paid for that and they just sort of have to do it. I usually prefer characters where the reasoning for their actions are explained and have more to them than simple duty, but hey that is just me. It also creates a weird instance where the lack of stakes or interest for the conflict in the characters themselves, also leaves me really disengaged on what is being presented, since it is through their eyes and perspective that we as audience members experience said events. You would think that in Ova where everyone lacks urgency completely, they would try to get us interested on them as people instead, develop those guys to be really compelling, well written. Which is completely not the case, throughout this entire fucking Ova most main characters never grow much from the way they were initially introduced. Take Shinshi for example, he is a main in this Ova and in the first movie. Throughout the course of both the only things we get to know about him is that he is a really passive scarred guy, and the fact he is married (which manages to be his most notable “trait”). At the end of the day we learn absolutely nothing new about the guy, he is still the same person he was in episode 1 (I would argue he is a worst character at this point, because now we know his existence is limited to that). I am not saying Patlabor needs to give ample characterization, depth, or psychological introspection to everyone, the kinds of basic layout which were being used here can work for simple secondary character. Take Sakaki for example he does not need much more than his gloomy obstinate and oozing in authority personality to work for his function, for the screen presence he occupies, and his relevance in the story, that is good enough. Giving this treatment to a main one or I would argue even less to some, is completely unacceptable though. The instances of character development that do happen are also so bizarrely handled. On its first movie Patlabor sets up what should be Noah’s most important flaw, an aspect that was a clear build up for a future arc in my vision (which I think the OVA was also trying to set up, but they were so incompetent at that I am not sure). Said flaw being her dependency on external objects, she named several things throughout her life as Alphonse, and implies her happiness can only happen in terms of being together with said objects. Of course the narrative has absolutely nothing to do with this flaw (it never does in Patlabor, because who needs conventional storytelling of tying conflict with characters flaws, and making arcs about overcoming those flaws, right). But then what happens in movie 2 really gets the cake as most awkward character moment ever. Said continuation literally starts with a scene of Noah saying she does not need her freaking Alphonse anymore and she is over it. Her infatuation with Alphonse the most important aspect of her personality, being built up and reiterated for an entire OVA series and a movie, and the resolution to all of that is part of a time skip, where what is shown is only the aftermath of said change. This movie in general also has this issue of presenting character change from previous entries with time skips, with barely any context, but it as least gives them new situations to react to and aspects of personality, which was more than I can say for most of the OVA, so well done, I guess.

The bigger issue here is not really the personas sucking (which they do). But in how Patlabor needs way stronger character writing for the narrative it is attempting to work (the films 1 and 2 are exceptions for being a detective mystery and political thriller respectively, more focused on plot). There is a great focus on detailing the day to day of these people, the way they interact and play with each other (was this supposed to be comedy), those moments were really more important than the conflict and surrounding narratives at hand in some episodes. There is a focus on character here, which is really not paying off, and comes mostly as a waste of time. I also do not think Patlabor understands what makes said slice of life like scenes functional. Scenes without conflict are great to show the personality of the individuals, showing how they truly act in the absence of an external force, these are the moments where we truly see characters’ act, instead of react to things like threats to their lives. Those can also be great to show people in a great variety of circumstances, or how mundane habits and values can shape or show the true personality besides facades. It can also be a way of stablishing relatability with characters, showing them as normal humans, which engage in the same kind of regular activities as you do. Patlabor barely uses those to any of those functions, instead opting for repeating the same traits (how many times did we need to see OTA wanting to shoot in his spare time?) repeating the same facts about the characters, repeating the same kind of interaction between them ad nauseam and also the most repetitive and obnoxious attempts at banter and humor I have ever seen. During the entire OVA, the only moments where I felt it put those scenes to great effect was in the start of episode 5. In 13 minutes this episode manages to do more for the characters, than the show had done so far in its entire run. By having they start the episode going home, meeting their family connections, or other relations they are inserted into, giving then an entire new situation, portraying a completely new aspect of their lives, even when one of them choose to do not go and stay at the district, that choice also tells a lot about them, especially in Gotou’s case. We even see hints at motivation and desire being drawn for Shinohara in this episode. It is this entire new, really mundane environment the characters go through this episode, that allows we to know way more about them, than any of their repetitive gibberish banter and constant reaffirmation of traits (because of course when we know something about a character we have to see it repeated eternally to understand he is really like that). Despite this instance of effective character writing being no life saver for the OVA (nothing could at this point) and never translating to some bigger exploration in further episodes, it still leads along with the more personal objective(finally) of a long lasting rivalry, to episodes 5 and 6 having the more engaging moments in the show. Those were the key difference of those episodes, not the change in tone (Ok not having those jokes happening so often surely helped).

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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