Anime Profile: Patlabor The Movie
Fields | USA Info | Japanese Info | Image |
---|---|---|---|
Title | Patlabor The Movie | Patlabor The Movie | ![]() |
Released | 1 movie | 1 movie | |
Dates | 1995 (original release) | 1989 | |
· · · | April 25, 2006 (Collector's Edition) | ||
Company | Manga Ent (original release) | HEADGEAR/EMOTION/TFC | |
· · · | HONNEAMISE (Collector's Edition) | ||
Creator | |||
Director | Mamoru Oshii | ||
Genre | Sci-Fi, Mecha | Sci-Fi, Mecha | |
Related | -- View Image Gallery -- | -- View Image Gallery -- | |
· · · | Patlabor the Mobile Police | Kido Keisatsu Patlabor | |
· · · | Patlabor 2 The Movie | Patlabor 2 The Movie | |
· · · | WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 | Wasted 13: Patlabor the Movie 3 | |
Characters | Azuma Shinohara β | Azuma Shinohara β | |
· · · | Hiromi Yamazaki β | Hiromi Yamazaki β | |
· · · | -- more listed below -- | -- more listed below -- |
Look for this on Blu-ray or DVD at Amazon.
Characters: Patlabor The Movie
English Name |
Japanese Name |
English Name |
Japanese Name |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Azuma Shinohara β | Azuma Shinohara β | Noa Izumi β | Noa Izumi β | |
Hiromi Yamazaki β | Hiromi Yamazaki β | Seitaro Sakaki β | Seitaro Sakaki β | |
Isao Ohta β | Isao Ohta β | Shiba β | Shiba β | |
Kanuka Clancy β | Kanuka Clancy β | Shigeo "Shige" β | Shigeo "Shige" β | |
Kiichi Goto β | Kiichi Goto β | Shinobu Nagumo β | Shinobu Nagumo β | |
Matsui β | Matsui β | Takeo Kumagami β | Takeo Kumagami β | |
Miyakasu Shinshi β | Miyakasu Shinshi β |
Description: Special Collector's Edition
Patlabor the movie was originally released in Japan in 1989, and was set 10 years into the future... which would make it 1999. Well, that "future" has come and gone. Of course, it in the US it wasn't released until 1995, so... nope, 2005 has come and gone as well, and while numerous advances in technology have appeared, we still don't have giant robot vehicles used for construction predicted in the Patlabor series. So I guess until that happens, we should all just pretend that the this film is set 10 years from the time you end up watching it. Thing is, you're really gonna have to use your imagination on that one because this whole movie focuses on the completion of an artificial island project by the end of the century. Oh, and by the way, those giant robot vehicles are called "Labors".
Okay, so the stage is set! The Labors are working hard to get this thing done in time, and to help them out a new operating system called HOS was just released two months ago which served to increase efficiency by something like 30%. The thing is... in the last two months, there have also been a number of Labors that just went haywire. Completely unresponsive to operator control, these rogue Labors would just up and start rampaging until a Patlabor could be sent to take them down. To Azuma, member of the Labor Police- Special Vehicle Division, this is more than just coincidence!
So Azuma sets out on an investigation to discover whether or not this new HOS operating system has anything to do with the berserk Labors. His investigation leads him to conclude there is almost definitely a connection, and that his immediate superiors suspected as much... but is it an accidental bug, or something much more sinister? Time to pick up the pace, Azuma, 'cause that little fact you learned about what the trigger is that makes those things go haywire... well, there's another one coming real soon, and this one is big... big enough to cause over 8,000 Labors to freak out simultaneously!
This film was made in the late 80's, and visually it sure feels like it. The art and animation is definitly good enough for a movie, but just doesn't stand up to such other films as Akira and Ghost in the Shell. That being said, the backgrounds and the angles that were chosen really does lead one to seriously get a feel for the atmoshpere of their city. And the story, it was much deeper than I expected, and yet at the same time not so deep that it became confusing and we're left wondering what the heck is going on. Although there are giant robots everywhere, this film feels much more like a police investigation flick rather than some kind of robot grudge match.
The Patlabor The Movie - Special Collector's Edition is being released on April 25, 2006, and features an all new English translation and dubbing. It also features a newly remastered anamorphic transfer and new authentic 5.1 channel sound. Wow... kinda wish I knew what that meant. Oh yeah, and it's also a two-disc set, where the second disc contains a load of extra features, such as an interview with the director (Mamoru Oshii), an interview with the screenwriter (Kazunori Ito), an interview with the mecha designer (Yutaka Izubuchi), an interview with the character designer (Akemi Takada), and an interview with the music composer (Kenji Kawai). These are all in Japanese with English subtitles.
And if that wasn't enough, apparently this release, limited to 10,000 numbered sets, also includes not one, but two books filled with all sorts of good stuff. The first book, called "Archives" (184 pages), contains an exposition and criticism of the film (character, story background, artwork, etc.), interviews with all those important guys listed above, key animation drawing samples with explanatory notes, and then some other stuff. The second book, called "Storyboard" (300 pages), is by the director Mamoru Oshii, and I assume by the title is a storyboard of the film, though since I don't actually have the book I can't say for sure. Anyway, sure sounds like quite a release! And for those of us who can't afford that whole super-mega-pack, a more wallet-friendly single disc version will also be made available.