See subpages for episode synopses (click this page's title to get list). (One small problem with that synopsis idea, I fear I may have gotten the order horribly confused)
I'll expand that slightly. In the (movie and series) PatLabor?, a labor is a 'large machine designed for construction work' - which later expanded to include military versions etc. Mecha they are. The 'Pat' in Patlabor stands for 'Patrol'.
For me the word “mecha” conjures up only one series – Mobile Police Patlabor, written, drawn and (in part) created by Masami Yuki, and released by Viz Entertainment.
Originally published in Shounen Sunday in 1988 as a manga adaptation of the original OVA anime series, and released in English by Viz ten years later, Patlabor tells of an alternate future, where the Cold War never ended, and where mankind has created “labors” - mechanised machines – to assist in construction and military work. However with labors came labor crime, as criminals and terrorists stole these machines for acts of crime and destruction.
The series follows the lives of the Japanese police force's answer to labor crime, the SVD (Special Vehicle Division) – and in particular division 2’s - exploits both on and off duty.
Division 2’s personnel, though, are hardly what you’d call your regular police officers. There's officers Noa Izumi (a newly commissioned Labor pilot and self confessed Mecha-phile) and Isao Ota (think Sosuke Sagara from FMP and you’ll get the gist of his personality) working as labor pilots. There's Asuma Shinohara (who chose the police force over working for his father, whose company make the labor units) and Mikiyasu Shinshi offering backup.
Finally there’s Captain Goto, the commanding officer of the unit, whose laid-back, anarchic mannerisms and scruffy looking appearance hide both a razor-sharp intelligence and uncanny powers of observation, which always keeps him two steps ahead of every situation, much to the consternation of both his subordinates and Captain Shinobu, head of division 1 and at times the long-suffering Dr Watson to Goto’s Holmes.
However, the real stars of Patlabor are the labors themselves - marvels not only in their combat ability, and their simplicity (no spikes or unnecessary flashy bits), but also in their realism – the writers "Headgear", the creative group behind the original anime series, having long researched the mechanics and designs that lead to the creation of the labors – that makes you believe that these mechs could exist in real life (an aspect that most creators of mecha-based anime/manga seem to ignore.)
Considering that this is a mecha series, the stories of Patlabor seem to dedicate as much focus to events outside the battlefield as well as in, with the goings-on and relationships and interactions between the crews adding an extra depth to the stories – from Noa naming her labor after her pet dog, to Shinobu’s continuous exasperation with Goto's seemingly laid-back approach to police work.
The storylines themselves also show the same attention to detail – the first volume showing us the setting up of division 2, and taking us on their first mission, capturing a stolen labor – with the mix between comedy, drama and action perfectly balanced, with no uncomfortable gaps in between.
Unfortunately only the first four chapters of the series were ever published, no thanks to Viz’s then policy of splitting up individual chapters into smaller parts, so they could be released as western–style comics, an action that, in my opinion, disrupted the manga’s story flow and resulted in the series’ eventual cancellation; which I think was a shame, as this series, if it was done again in the compiled form that most modern manga has been done in recently, would have sold far better.
Ah, the joys of hindsight...
Patlabor vol.1 and vol.2: Basic Training are still available from many specialist manga/anime stores.
ADDITIONAL FACT: “GEARHEAD”, the team that created the original Patlabor anime that spawned this manga series, is comprised of many well known staff, namely:
Artist/writer Masami Yuki (BirdyTheMighty?) Mecha designer Yukata Izubuchi (Gundam: AWarInThePocket?, RecordOfLodossWar?) Writer Kazunori Ito (MaisonIkkoku?, .hack//SIGN) Artist/character designer Akemi Takada (KimagureOrangeRoad?) And finally anime director Mamoru Oshii (GhostInTheShell, GITS:SAC, BloodTheLastVampire?)
Also, compare (with appropriate shudders) DominicanTankPolice?. (has a revelation} As in the DominicanRepublic?!
Since I believe the anime is actually called DominionTankPolice?, I suspect not. Although you never know.
OK, so far Patlabor is available in four forms (OK, five, there is a game for the Playstation), manga (the original), TV series (47 episodes), Original Animation Videos (OAVs, seven of, and the first anime versions) and movies (three of). The TV series is very different from the other animated versions, with comedy and day-to-day happenings of the SV2 (Special Vehicle 2). The OAVs are much more serious, and darker in tone; and the movies are by Hideako Anno, and therefore are only vaguely related to the remainder of the series in that they have some of the main characters, and occasionally even have labors in them (by the time we get to movie three, they are barely even present). I would recommend the OAVs for hard mecha action, and the TV series for comedy and mecha action. --Tsunami
Damn. I did not know that there was so much TV to catch up on, nor the OVAs. The movies (one and two, anyway), unusually for anime, rock. --Vitenka
There is quite a lot of Patlabor - it was very popular in the 90s. I have to admit that I quite liked the first movie; the second one has my vote for the most boring movie of all time, sorry. --Tsunami
Don't apologise for a matter of taste. They are very very different movies that just happen to share some of the same cast. The second one is indeed much much slower. --Vitenka (Not seen the third one yet)
OK, I won't. The third movie is in many ways similar to the second one, in that it is a police detective movie, except that it has a monster in it. Patlabors only come into it when they decide to try and capture the monster. Really they were almost entirely unnecessary to the plot. --Tsunami
Ah. That seems a shame. (Though, really, the labors aren't crucial most of the time - they're just backdrop to the police station.) --Vitenka
Notable for being the single most realistic portrayal of the likely development of GiantFightingRobots ever. See, you take a bulldozer and give it better arms. Then the BlueCollar? gets a bit drunk and ends up fighting with his pal, who is also driving one... --Vitenka
CategoryAnime Nothing at all to do with making you dog or cat do the housework.
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