Patlabor Movies 1 & 2: A Blast from the Past

It was a dreary Sunday afternoon. A torrential rain was downpouring outside my window and a loud thunder was booming in the distance. Going outside was clearly not an option, so I opted to dig into my anime DVD backlog a bit. From having constantly heard nothing but praise for the series, my choice was clear: I was going to watch the Patlabor movies.

Being not too familiar with the Patlabor series, I’ll give as much of a background information as I can. Patlabor is a mixed media franchise that spans across a manga, a TV series, several OVAs, and three movies. The series takes place in an alternate late-’90s era where mecha known as “Labors” are used by the police, military, and in construction. The first two Patlabor movies are directed by the famed Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers).

Patlabor: The Movie

The first Patlabor movie premiered in 1989. Despite being very dated, its age does not show. I never thought I would be using “jaw-dropping visuals” to describe a movie from 1989, but this work is easily deserving of it. The animation is incredibly smooth, and not only rivals– but exceeds that of anime seen today – even some anime movies of today.

The plot centers around a conspiracy involving a new operating system that was recently installed in several Labors. For some reason, Labors that have been subjected to the new software are going berserk, causing much destruction and wreaking havoc in the nearby city.

Patlabor The Movie has a fairly rich story that kept me interested as more and more of the mystery gets unraveled. This is accompanied by some amazing action scenes, which do a great job in enhancing the already excellent story. As the story develops further, the suspense builds, and had me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next.

I should also take a moment to commend the superb audio in this film. The music is spectacular, and consists of some great catchy upbeat tunes, especially during the action sequences. I didn’t listen to the original Japanese audio, but I did enjoy the English dub and had no problems with it.

This movie was a very pleasant surprise for me, and makes for a great addition to any anime fan’s collection. Despite being almost two decades old, this film promises to deliver some excellent entertainment with its production value that rivals that of anime today.

Patlabor 2: The Movie

After finishing the first Patlabor movie, I immediately started up the second one. Having been blown away by its predecessor, I expected nothing less from this movie. Unfortunately, I found the second movie less engaging and interesting than I was expecting. While the first movie focuses on a developing mystery with a sci-fi & fantasy feel, the second movie plays out more along the lines of a political drama. This isn’t a bad thing, but this kind of stuff just isn’t my cup of tea.

Set three years after the events of the first film, Patlabor 2 deals with the conspiracy behind a terrorist attack on a bridge in Tokyo.  Based on video evidence, fingers are immediately pointed at Japan’s very own JGSDF. More and more about this mystery gets revealed as the protagonists scramble to gather information and find the person responsible.

A large bulk of the film consists mostly of dialogue, in which not much really happens. Maybe this was just due to my attention span wearing thin, but for some reason I didn’t find these parts all that interesting. I did, however, enjoy the action scenes (though they were rather sparse) and the incredible production quality, which remains just as great as it was in the first film.

That said, some  parts of the film (namely, the first 30 minutes and the last 30 minutes) did interest me immensely, and more than made up for the less desirable parts. Overall, I did enjoy the film, just not as much as I did its predecessor. If you’ve seen the first Patlabor movie and enjoyed it, I would still recommend watching the second one; just don’t expect it to be the same.