In a futuristic Japan, the implementation of mechanized
working robots called Labors has led to an uptick in a new kind of criminal
activity. When the villains of the
streets are using Giant Robots, the only solution is to fight back with them. That’s where they come in. They are the Special Vehicles Second Section
Unit Two. Theyre just out of the academy
and ready to get in on the action in their brand new state of the art Patlabor
units. The department has Zero faith in
their abilities and their captain might seem like a slacker. But when the alert goes out, Unit Two is on
the case.
Patlabor feels like a title lost to the lulls of Anime
history and that’s kind of a shame.
Til
now, most of my exposure has been through the Movie Trilogy (two of which were
directed by Mamoru Oshii) and they’ve always been some of my favorites,
especially the second and third film.
The concept of police using mecha to fight mecha, making things a bit
less grand scale than an intergalactic conflict, is a novel idea and it looks
like the OVA that started it all seems to really settle there.
But is the original Patlabor a scifi mecha
action series?
Futursitic police
procedural?
Or is it goofball slice of
life comedy?
Let’s look at the first two
episodes and see if its one of those or all at once.
Welcome to Patlabor: The Mobile Police (or
Mobile Police Patlabor…or Patlabor: The Early Days whichever you prefer).
So yeah if you’re coming into this expecting a lot of
mecha on mecha action, police duking it out with criminals rock em’ sock em’
robots style, you might be in for a disappointment.
Patlabor seems less interested in straight up
action in favor of a more life behind the scenes approach.
It’s not that the Second Unit doesn’t see any
excitement, they do, it’s just not the shows priority.
Most of the first two episodes runtime is
dedicated to the gang hanging around, going stir crazy while waiting for orders
and seeing all of their varying personalities clash.
It’s pretty clear early on that despite the
need for a Labor Police Force, it’s not the citys top priority (though it
really should be).
Hence setting the
units HQ in an abandoned lot outside of the city with a group of fresh recruits
no one probably has faith in.
You could
argue it’s a meta joke for the lack of mecha battles but its really not because
the show still works despite their absence.
Our poster girl for Patlabor is Noa Izumi, a bright and
easy excitable Mecha maniac who just wants to pilot a giant robot (and call it
Alphonse for some reason, not sure if its gonna be explained in the show but it
is in The Movie).
She’s getting to live
every scifi nerds dream getting to take the reigns of a giant robots and
probably the funniest scene in these episodes is her dreaming of attempting to
fly a souped up Patlabor that comes crashing down as she tumbles out of bed and
thus her dream (that Labor looked sick though, more on that later).
The second standout character is Captain
Goto.
The dude might seem like a
slacker, content with just sitting around and doing nothing while his
subordinates complain.
Truth is, he’s
really good at his job and he will get in your face if need be.
For the most part though, he’s just chill, a
stark contrast to his super beautiful fellow Captain Shinobu, who’s jealous
Goto’s unit got the brand spanking new Labors.
Other characters I like right out the gate are Sekaki, the gruff old
leader of the Labor Mechanics and Kanuka Clancy, a transfer from New York after
helping the team stop a terrorist attack.
Not only is she easy on the eyes but yes, she is named after THAT
Clancy.
Despite not having a lot of action, Patlabor isnt devoid
of it.
The Labor designs themselves are
pretty sleek and pristine, fitting since these new police models were rolled
right off the assembly line.
We don’t
get to see anything on par with them ripping enemies to pieces like in the shows
intro.
But we do get to see Noa tangle
with a tripod Labor and get so mad her Mecha lost her arm that she charges at
the enemy with said arm in a crazed state (do not ruin her Alphonse).
And like I said, Noa’s super Patlabor dream
mecha is awesome, looking like something more akin to Gunbuster.
Like I said, the Movie Trilogy that I have
seen is a direct continuation of this OVA and they have plenty of action,
especially the first one.
Not saying the
OVA might be saving all of that for those but still, seeing Noa and company get
into some more crazy situations protecting the innocent in Giant Robots would
still be fun to see.
Light on action but making up for it with an abundance of
fun personalities and crazy scenarios, Patlabors premiere might not have all
the knock out, drag out Mecha carnage you might want but it’s still a nice take
on the genre where invasions and civil wars aren’t the main plot point.
That said, having Noa and her team see some
actual robot on robot violence is kind of a must but that’s just me.
We’ll see if the OVA provides when we
continue Patlabor: The Mobile Police Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime
Corner.
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