Patlabor Recommended

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Mamoru Oshii
Production
Bandai, Production IG, Tatsunoko Productions
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Running time
100 mins
Year
1989

Patlabor

By Joseph Wood
21st May 04

Patlabor was the first true anime film I saw, it's the film that got me intrested in anime and manga. It is currently avaliable in a box set with the second film from Manga entertainment for arround twenty pound.

The flim is set in a alternative modern day, where the polar ice caps have melted and this has put many cites, like Tokyo where the film is set, at risk. To prevent the city beign swallowed by the sea, the babylon project was set up to raise land above the increasing sea level. However this task would of been impossible if it hadn't been for the invention of Labors, large robots piloted by humans. However Labour crime became more and more of a problem, and eventualy special police units were set up to tackle this problem, and were given newly designed Patrol-Labors. The story follows the members of the Special Veichals divison two's second unit, a team of dedicated but somewhat unbalanced officers. This is the basic premiss for the seires. The Sub and Dub seem to assume we should be familiar with the charcters, and just carry the story on.

A new Labor operation system the H.O.S (H standing for Hyper) which was created my a man named E.Hoba, who commited sucidice shortly after it's release. Labors with the new system are going out of controll for no aparant reason, is this a flaw in the programe, or has it been programed in on purpose? Can the team of the second section find out what is the cause of the Labour outbursts.

The film is entertaining, the plot slowly unfolds through out...not leaving a dull momment. The mecha action starts with a great introduction, and the action folds out leading up to an great final battle. As for the characters if you have seen the series then they should be well known, and loved. However the main characters Noa, Azuma and Captain Ghoto are given ample screen time some of the charcters involved in the sereis only have breif if any time on screen. With this small factor aside the first Patlabor film is a great member for anyone's growing collection.

9/10

-- Joseph Wood 21st May 04

Patlabor Images