Any fans of Patlabor?

[TransformersFan]

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a358/Quintium/patlabor-gun.jpg

Any fans of Mobile Police Patlabor here? If so, lets talk about it.

My first exposure to Patlabor was when in mid 90's, the Canadian cartoon network used to air anime's on Friday nights after midnight. I was just flipping through the channels when I came upon the opening scene where these combat labor paratroopers were disembarking an airplane into a forest. For a seconds there I thought it was a Transformers show, but it wasnt, it was even better.

I really liked the way the mecha's were used in Patlabor, in a realistic manner in a very near and recognizable future. The two movies were very serious in tone with political intrigue and philosophical discussions, but the humor the movies lacked were made up for in the TV series.

I've recently discovered the original OVA (by Mamoro Oshii of Ghost in the Shell fame) and the 47 episode series. The show is great, peppered with equal amounts of humor, drama and action.

The mecha's themselves are awesome, and the Ingram looks amazing. I like the fact that you'll see the pilots using pedals and levers and switches to control the mecha's both in combat in the other roles. Sure the show is a little outdated now, but the ideas and concept are timeless.

Anyone else a fan of Patlabor?

[Inkthinker]

I liked the first film a lot, not least because I percieved it as a traditional investigative murder mystery, which just happened to include giant robots.

I do have serious qualms with the need to reload the giant revolver by having the human pilot get out of the mech and load these giant artillery shells by hand, one at a time. But I guess it makes a certain sense, if one assumes that such precision handing is beyond the capabilities of the machine.

[TransformersFan]

Yup, I'd agree on the reloading the 37mm revolver. It does see a little silly, especially when you consider Officer Ota who will spen half his time firing at any bezerk labour he finds.

Maybe they could've had a second loaded revolver in the gun compartment in the opposite leg.

Either way, I think having that problem adds to the realism of the concept of the show. These arent all-powerful, gigantic, flying mechas piloted by angst-ridden teens. *cough*NeonGenesis*cough*.

[TransformersFan]

I guess there arent that many fans of this great series. :frown:

[yeoman]

First off, to answer the original question: Yo!

Yup, I'd agree on the reloading the 37mm revolver. It does see a little silly, especially when you consider Officer Ota who will spen half his time firing at any bezerk labour he finds.

Maybe they could've had a second loaded revolver in the gun compartment in the opposite leg.

Either way, I think having that problem adds to the realism of the concept of the show. These arent all-powerful, gigantic, flying mechas piloted by angst-ridden teens. *cough*NeonGenesis*cough*.

Not to mention the series has a number of answers.

First off, remember the culture the machines are built by and which the series was created for. This is actually contrasted in the series as Kanuka sleeps with a gun and this freaks the hell out of the reset of the cast.

Secondly, they mention that the bullets are *extremely* expensive. Even target practice is limited to a rare occurance where only six bullets are available. These things are artillary shells and the Patlabor program is both new and poorly funded (remember, Division Two's headquarters is at the butt end of nowhere).

And third, the only reason Ohta runs out of shells so quick is because he does fire as soon and as often as possible. He's a gun nut that joined the program because it was the one branch of police service that allowed him to fire the largest possible weapon (and, IIRC, his family was career police service, or he'd likely have gone military).

Heck, Ohta is a man so devoted to firing a gun that after his labor was disabled he strapped it to the top of the command car and got Harumi to fire it for him. And then wanted to do it again after doing so flipped the car, nearly killed him and broke Harumi's arm.

[LordEd1976]

I love this series and I have volumes 1 & 2 of the TV series on DVD. I've seen the 1st movie and WXIII. The changes in tone surprised me and I wasn't ready for the WXIII to focus on someone other than the main cast.

I wish someone out there would run the series.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

I´ve only watched the 2 movies and LOVED it (the 2nd one in particular).

I only heard about a tv series much later and wasn´t too impressed about what I heard about XIII.
I want to learn more about the main cast, Ota, Noah Azumi, Goto, etc, not some research scientist following some labor bioweapon gone rogue.

I´d love to get my hands on the tv series but I hear the DVD boxsets cost an arm and a leg, ugh....

I think the key attraction to this series for me are the characters themselve,s the giant robots are just the bait.
The show could be about anything,really: zombie infestations, ninjas, alien marines.... what I like the most about the show are the character moments, not the (meager) big action moments.

[yeoman]

I´ve only watched the 2 movies and LOVED it (the 2nd one in particular).

I only heard about a tv series much later and wasn´t too impressed about what I heard about XIII.
I want to learn more about the main cast, Ota, Noah Azumi, Goto, etc, not some research scientist following some labor bioweapon gone rogue.

I´d love to get my hands on the tv series but I hear the DVD boxsets cost an arm and a leg, ugh....

I think the key attraction to this series for me are the characters themselve,s the giant robots are just the bait.
The show could be about anything,really: zombie infestations, ninjas, alien marines.... what I like the most about the show are the character moments, not the (meager) big action moments.


Well, thing is, the series does explore a lot of the characters so well that the later movies tend to focus much more on the more minor side characters. Really, the only things never resolved were a couple of the romantic subplots.

IIRC, the DVD sets arn't really more expensive than any other anime DVDs. Which, ya know, is totally expensive.

[Hiromi]

Always a big fan of the tv series. Full Metal Panic took a lot of inpiration from it as far as a realisticish themed mecha show with plenty of humor.

[ouiyahtsiouiyah]

I love these movies. Never saw the show but the movies are so deep I had to watch part 2 like 3 times just to understand everything.

Patlabor 3 is good even if it focuses on that one over the hill cop. I liked him in part 2 so it didn't bother me too much. Ohta is my fav character of the series.

[TransformersFan]

Can anyone confirm if the detective in Patlabor is Matsui from the 1st and 2nd films ? I was under the impression it was some one else...

[The Batman]

Patlabor? I love it. The two movies and whatever of the manga I could get my mitts on anyways. I thought I was the only one.

As to the revolvers, aside from the in-universe explanations, I always figured it was a little bit of design fun to arm the super advanced mecha with traditional service revolvers.

[TransformersFan]

Patlabor? I love it. The two movies and whatever of the manga I could get my mitts on anyways. I thought I was the only one.

As to the revolvers, aside from the in-universe explanations, I always figured it was a little bit of design fun to arm the super advanced mecha with traditional service revolvers.

It's too bad Viz only published the first 2 volumes of the manga as the whole Brocken/Shaft subplot was just starting.

[tetsuo]

Another fan here :)

I was 10 or 12 when I first watch it on tv. I remember liking it a lot, even though I missed a lot of episodes.

Over a decade later I rediscovered Patlabor again through the three films borrowed from my friend. I was so impressed by it so I bought the 47-episodes tv series on DVD. And man, it was awesome. The tv series have a great range, from comedic to action to police/crime drama to political thriller! The characters are very memorable too! This has got to be one of the best written anime series ever (if not the best)!!

While the movies are great, it's pretty much the same tone. Though the third one is is rather surprising since it didn't focus on the SV-2 team.

The first OVA is awesome too.

I've never seen the 2nd OVA nor read the manga series.Too bad it's not in print anymore. I would buy the whole series if Viz decide to publish it again.

Oh yeah, the Mini-Pato is great if you-re a fan.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

The first two Patlabor movies completely blew me away by the nature of the plot.

If you look closely, they both revolve around an invisible threat, a puppet master who doesn´t appear onscreen but whose actions impact on the heroes (and the nation).

My fascination with many of the little details comes from the fact that the writers didn´t spell them out for us but laid the groundwork and the clues for us to find them and figure them out by ourselves.

I´ve gotta hit eBay and get me the tv series.

[TransformersFan]

Another fan here :)

I was 10 or 12 when I first watch it on tv. I remember liking it a lot, even though I missed a lot of episodes.

Over a decade later I rediscovered Patlabor again through the three films borrowed from my friend. I was so impressed by it so I bought the 47-episodes tv series on DVD. And man, it was awesome. The tv series have a great range, from comedic to action to police/crime drama to political thriller! The characters are very memorable too! This has got to be one of the best written anime series ever (if not the best)!!

While the movies are great, it's pretty much the same tone. Though the third one is is rather surprising since it didn't focus on the SV-2 team.

The first OVA is awesome too.

I've never seen the 2nd OVA nor read the manga series.Too bad it's not in print anymore. I would buy the whole series if Viz decide to publish it again.

Oh yeah, the Mini-Pato is great if you-re a fan.

I havent seen Mini-Pato. I'd like to though.

You should get the 2nd OVA (the New Files), it books ends the series and IMO is the best in what Patlabor has to offer. The series comes to an end, in a melancholy way; sad and fun at the same time. Alot of the romantic sublots (Goto and Shinobu) are explored and even better a redefination of Asumas and Noa;s relationship (it's not what you think). Even Ota gets a great episode.

The Shaft/Back Labour plot are resolved, and it has some of the best animation and action in the whole series. One thing is it lacks any resolution for Kanuka. Man, I'd love to see a movie or OVA with her back in New York City, and NYPD Labour Team, that would be awesome.

[tetsuo]

I just started watching the original OVA again, and I noticed that "political thriller" thing I mentioned before is actually from the OVA-- the awesome episode 5&6 which was later used as the basis for Patlabor 2 movie. There's probably some politically-themed episode from the tv series though, it's been a couple of years since the last time I watched it.

Will definitely check out the 2nd OVA series :)

Btw here's a great fan-website of Patlabor: http://patlabor.info/
After browsing through the character bios I found out that one of the main detective from WXIII movie is not Detective Matsui from the first two movie and the series. I always thought it was the same character, although the detective from WXIII is older than Matsui.

The MiniPato explains a lot of things about the "revolver cannon". A must-watch, really.

[TransformersFan]

I just started watching the original OVA again, and I noticed that "political thriller" thing I mentioned before is actually from the OVA-- the awesome episode 5&6 which was later used as the basis for Patlabor 2 movie. There's probably some politically-themed episode from the tv series though, it's been a couple of years since the last time I watched it.

Will definitely check out the 2nd OVA series :)

Btw here's a great fan-website of Patlabor: http://patlabor.info/
After browsing through the character bios I found out that one of the main detective from WXIII movie is not Detective Matsui from the first two movie and the series. I always thought it was the same character, although the detective from WXIII is older than Matsui.

The MiniPato explains a lot of things about the "revolver cannon". A must-watch, really.

Who is the detective in WXIII?
and where tdo i watch MiniPato?

[The Adventurer]

Being rather a fan of Mecha anime (Macross and Votoms are two of my most favorite series franchises) its odd that I keep passing this franchise by. Though it doesn't help that the movies are f-ing expensive, because of the Bandai Visual lable they were released under. So its hard to justify the cost. And the TV series sets, when I've actually seen them around, having the opposet problem with the CMP box sets look really REALLY low budget. So there its hard to justify springing for a potential dud series.

One of these days I'll check it out, because from what I've heard and seen it does look right up my alley

[yeoman]

Being rather a fan of Mecha anime (Macross and Votoms are two of my most favorite series franchises) its odd that I keep passing this franchise by. Though it doesn't help that the movies are f-ing expensive, because of the Bandai Visual lable they were released under. So its hard to justify the cost. And the TV series sets, when I've actually seen them around, having the opposet problem with the CMP box sets look really REALLY low budget. So there its hard to justify springing for a potential dud series.

One of these days I'll check it out, because from what I've heard and seen it does look right up my alley


The problem with the DVD releases are:

1) They never finished it. There's a god six or seven episodes that were never released to DVD in the States to my knowledge.

2) The dub is just bad. At least the early part was. I could only sit through an episode of it, so I don't know if it got better.

But the sub is still fine to my knowledge. I imagine it's the same as the old subs from when it was released on VHS.

[yeoman]

The Shaft/Back Labour plot are resolved, and it has some of the best animation and action in the whole series.


Both of the Griffen arcs are some of the best the series has. Just fantastic stuff in there.

[The Adventurer]

The problem with the DVD releases are:

1) They never finished it. There's a god six or seven episodes that were never released to DVD in the States to my knowledge.

2) The dub is just bad. At least the early part was. I could only sit through an episode of it, so I don't know if it got better.

But the sub is still fine to my knowledge. I imagine it's the same as the old subs from when it was released on VHS.

That's cool, I'm a sub-only kind of guy these days anyway. The fact that there are missing episodes is a little more obnoxious however.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a358/Quintium/patlabor-gun.jpg

Any fans of Mobile Police Patlabor here? If so, lets talk about it.

My first exposure to Patlabor was when in mid 90's, the Canadian cartoon network used to air anime's on Friday nights after midnight. I was just flipping through the channels when I came upon the opening scene where these combat labor paratroopers were disembarking an airplane into a forest. For a seconds there I thought it was a Transformers show, but it wasnt, it was even better.

I really liked the way the mecha's were used in Patlabor, in a realistic manner in a very near and recognizable future. The two movies were very serious in tone with political intrigue and philosophical discussions, but the humor the movies lacked were made up for in the TV series.

I've recently discovered the original OVA (by Mamoro Oshii of Ghost in the Shell fame) and the 47 episode series. The show is great, peppered with equal amounts of humor, drama and action.

The mecha's themselves are awesome, and the Ingram looks amazing. I like the fact that you'll see the pilots using pedals and levers and switches to control the mecha's both in combat in the other roles. Sure the show is a little outdated now, but the ideas and concept are timeless.

Anyone else a fan of Patlabor?

I liked Patlabor very much. Well, at least the eps and the OVA I managed to watch back in the day. I'd like to get the series on DVD. Has it been released for American markets?

[yeoman]

I liked Patlabor very much. Well, at least the eps and the OVA I managed to watch back in the day. I'd like to get the series on DVD. Has it been released for American markets?

IIRC< The original OAV, the second OAV (At a really cheap price too. Something like 30-40 bucks for the whole 13 or so episodes), the movies and about 80-90% of the TV series.

Last I looked there are about 6-7 episodes that were never released in the states outside of VHS.

[yeoman]

Actually, after checking aorund, looks like the final volume was released on DVD.So, hey.

[TransformersFan]

Well I just started to watch the beginning of the Griffin story arc in the regular TV series, and I dont know why but I just cant get into it. I think for me, it's starting to lose it's realism and veering towards generic giant robot fare, Tell me it gets better?

[666MasterOfPuppets]

IIRC< The original OAV, the second OAV (At a really cheap price too. Something like 30-40 bucks for the whole 13 or so episodes), the movies and about 80-90% of the TV series.

Last I looked there are about 6-7 episodes that were never released in the states outside of VHS.

I see, thanx a lot for the info. Hopefully I'll be able to find it somewhere out there.