Anime: Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor: Patlabor on Television

ANIME MINOR JEWELS SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

TEASER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v6Gy6_pm3s

Look! Up in the sky! What is it? Is it a mecha? Is it a comedy? No it’s… Patlabor! That’s what I think every time I hear the title. It appears to be a mecha anime at first but trust me when I say the sci-fi elements are just for show in the core series. I mean, they do matter a lot in the movies but in the original series they are just there to make the police look more eye-captivating and that’s it. You might as well see the robots as fancy police cars and nothing more.

It also appears to be cop show but again that is also just some poor excuse to place the characters into context and to have some action here and there. There is no actual storyline in here; it is just the (almost) everyday lives of a team of futuristic police officers, as they try to have a life and a job.

Then it appears to be a slice-of-life show, since there is nothing grand-scaled going on here and it’s mostly character interaction that matters. Which again it is rather off, since it is not a serious show about the daily lives of normal people either. The characters are specially picked to pilot robots and fight crime, a thing they do rather clumsy.

So it’s a comedy, right? Lots of goofing around and silly people doing stuff? Not really, the comedy is hit or miss. Maybe drama? Nothing concrete because there is no overall story and the humour is watering everything down. Ok, action perhaps? Nope, simplistic spars and training silliness. So what is this anime good for anyway?

Well, the tv version is famous for its character interaction as their main focus, while the movies are famous for their heavy sci-fi themes. And that is pretty much all of it. It was all too unorthodox back then, since Ghost in the Shell was not around yet and slices of life were solely about high school or university students and their romantic interests. Patlabor felt special by being about cops who are NOT chasing criminals but just do paperwork and try to live by in their simple lives. Getting enough money for booze is for them harder than fending of aliens in classic mecha shows. The production values are also very good for its time and that helps to like the cast and the setting easier.

To be frank, I never liked the premise much. As unorthodox as it may have been for its time I still found it aimless and boring without some good action or an on-going plot. Even the character immersion falls short because of the episodic nature of the show. As for its scenario themes, I found Ghost in the Shell using them in a much better way. The daily lives of the defenders were also portrayed far better in another mecha anime named Daiguard. So as much historical value as it may have, it still fells uninteresting because of its simplistic take on a genre most are affiliated with for its action and interesting sci-fi themes. It may be a nice time killer if your expectations are not high but I have already watched much better alternatives.

And now for some excused scorings.

Mobile Police Patlabor TV is a somewhat underrated gem, perhaps because the later movies, excellent as they are, moved away from the basic premise of the series which details the development of the force in question. While there is a loose overall story arc, the focus is firmly on the development of the characters themselves. And what excellent characters they are: from the explosive Ota to the family-man Shinsi, these are some of the most recognizable guys ever seen in anime. In fact, Patlabor TV is a must see simply because of Captain Goto. If this guy were an actor, he'd nominated him for an Oscar for his performance, and he is not even the star of the show.


The strength of Patlabor lies not in the labor/mecha action (good as it is) but the amazingly lifelike manner in which the police have been portrayed. While Patlabor is definitely not a gung-ho mindless all-action mecha anime, "lifelike" isn't a concept you'd associate with series involving huge mechas. That the designers can pull total suspension of disbelief and manage to shift the focus from the plentiful mechas onto the characters themselves is to be commended. This is partially due to the use of modern-day (as opposed to mostly futuristic) scenery, but also because of some very good writing.

Mobile Police Patlabor strikes a terrific balance between action and serious drama, somewhat like the excellent Macross Plus. However the drama here is not as heavy handed, rather more subtle in texture. A considerable amount of screen time is spent as the characters go about their daily lives sorting out their relationships, worrying about their jobs and filing police reports (and more police reports). This slows down the pace somewhat , but the colorful characters, the subtle comedic undercurrent that's ever-present, and the plentiful action that's interspersed in between keep things always interesting. The overall result is that you DO believe if a Mobile Police force of labors/mecha were ever established, it would be something like this.

The animation is excellent, for its time. Everything is well drawn, pleasing to the eye, colorful, accurately proportioned and well animated. In general, the artists have done a better work on inanimate objects - elsewhere that late 80's style shows through, but that's really nitpicking.

Do yourself a favor, even if you dislike mecha anime in general but like good, solid drama, check Patlabor TV out. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Patlabor is a series that is quite different from most of the robot related TV series at that time. It is rather unique and doesn't relay much on the mechs, but on character development. It is quite good for its time and even now, it is still entertaining to watch.

Animation: The overall animation was excellent. The AV-98 Ingram design was unique and definitive. There are quite a lot of curvature lines on this mech which is dramatically different from most of the robot design in the 80's, where most of them are blocks. The colours were very sharp and eye catchy, both the mech and the uniform. The designers also pay a lot of time on detailing not just the mechs, but the characters and background as well. Other than the mechs, there were a large amount of vehicles in this anime, the Section 2 patrol car was so well done that I even decide to buy the model kit. Also, the blend of high tech robots with current cities surrounding gives an interesting effects of old meeting the new, which this theme was further developed in the Patlabor Movie 1.

Sound: The 1st Opening theme song wasn't bad, but I wish they stay with it instead of changing to the second one later on. The background music for most of the scenes are quite good and so are the character voices, so I don't have much to comment.

Story: The story is quite interesting. Most of the story was about this rag tag band of policemen tried to cope with everyday lives, such as the matter of food, living, and family problems instead of something more patriotic or glory like in the Gundam and Macross series. But probably this is why it stands out to be different because we can relay these characters back to us (in some way). However, the series lack any orders to it as most of the episodes were stand alone. And there aren't much of an ending to it either. So I guess this is 1 of the main thing this series fail to deliver.

Characters: Most of the characters were very interesting. I hope the relationship between Noa and Asuma can develop further, but if that did happen, I guess it will make this series less funny. The best character of them all is Goto, the cpatain of section 2. To me, he is a quiet, calm but extremely calculated and smart who know how to get the best of his men. There is also some sort of mystery surrounding him as in how he got transfer to here, in an abandon lot? Probably to smart for his own good~!

Value: Definitely worth watching. It is quite comical, but remember that this is done in the late 80's, so the jokes might be a bit old by now.

Enjoyment: It is actually worth buying this series, and movie 1 and 2 as well. But I do enjoy the movie more than I did on the TV Series.