Patlabor 2: The Movie

Tokyo, 2002 AD.  Three years after the Babylon Project Disaster, Captains Gotoh and Shinobu are drawn into a mystery which could have devastating reprucutions for Tokyo.  A renowned military strategist returns seemingly from the dead to begin a secret, invisible war across the city with no clear enemy or target the military can prepare against.  As martial law and paranoia grip the city, Gotoh seeks to reunite his scattered former unit to solve the case.  Shinobu, meanwhile, must confront her past and a love that almost cost her career.  The fate of Tokyo is once again in the hands of Special Vehicles Section 2.

Talk about a doing a complete 180.  Patlabor 2 is about as different from Patlabor 1 as you could possibly make it.  The levity is almost totally gone, as is most of the original cast for most of the film; the mecha battles are much fewer in number; animations different; scores different; story is way more edge of your seat…and it’s not such a bad change of pace at all.

I said that Patlabor 1 was a very Un-Oshii film, being more of an action mystery than a philosophical Anime with action set pieces.  Patlabor 2 is again the opposite, it’s text book Oshii.  From the minutes upon minutes long discussions about cases that lead to questions about life and society; to the long, slow music accompanying montages of spots around the city.  This is a much slower film than it’s predecessor no question.  I do think that might turn off potential viewers who don’t know much about Patlabor or Mamoru Oshii films. 

There also the added bit of Noa, Asuma and their team only popping up sparcely before the films finale.  Again, this isn’t a bad thing as they wouldn’t really have much to do until the end.  This is Goto and Shinobu’s story, well more the latter than the former at times but still.  And they are a very solid detective/leadership team.  Goto’s got the knack for piecing things together and being cool in the middle of a crisis and Shinobu’s got some key background connections to the films antagonist.  I don’t think im looking too deep into things when I say that Goto tries to do his best to keep from leaning on Shinobu for connections instead of support.  They have a solid bond and Goto clearly cares a great deal about her as more than a co commander.  Seeing them tackle this case with dry wit and determination was a joy.

The setup for Patlabor 2 feels like something out of  Tom Clancy film with a hint of Christopher Nolan.  The political intrigue is through the roof and it’s a scary scenario to think about.  When the military is manipulated into thinking there’s an invisible enemy and sends troops in to occupy a city with no real lead on who they should be fighting, that’s a worst case scenario right there minus the nukes.  One mans determination to make a nation feel as helpless as he did during a military operation gone FUBAR brings the chaos you’d expect.  I mention Christopher Nolan because many of the snow covered, occupied Japan shots look like a much cleaner version of Gotham in The Dark Knight Rises.  Even the shots of chopper bombing bridges brings thoughts of Bane’s men bombing the bridges out of Gotham…maybe this film was a secret inspiration?

Visually, Patlabor 2 is freaking gorgeous, miles above the first film.  It has a more realistic scifi feel to it, a future that could be very much what awaits us in the next ten years or so.  This upgrade in animation also means the mechs look amazing.  Be it standing up in display or docked or heading into a very brief but well done battle in a waterway, the Patlabors never looked better.  But action aside, the whole film could have been muted with Kenji Kawai’s amazing music playing in the background against all of these images and I would have been satisfied.

If Patlabor 1 is an underrated scifi mecha classic, then Patlabor 2 is an underrated overall classic of Anime in general.  It’s got a great story with high stakes, well above the norm animation that looks good even 20 years later and a rare zen state of being I don’t normally associate with scifi/mecha anime.  What I mean by that is that it’s easily a film you can sit down and enjoy.  But it’s also one that can sing you to sleep like a lullabye.  Easily one of the best Anime films I have ever seen.

9.5/10

Not sure I can say the same comfort comes from the final film of this little trilogy.  Not when something terrible lurks in the waters of Tokyo bay.  But trust me, that’s not a bad thing.  The Patlabor Trilogy wraps up next Monday with WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3.