Patlabor: The Mobile Police, Vol. 1 (1989)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Mamoru Oshii
Produced by Central Park Media

Features:

• Meet the Director
  
• Meet the Characters
  
• Art and Sketch Gallery
  
• A History of Patlabor
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• gunplay galore
• naiveté
• android-abuse

Rating: G

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Buy it.

Mamoru Oshii, who gave us Ghost in the Shell, now gives us a police drama with android mecha. In the near future, a second Industrial Revolution gave birth to amazing advances in robotics. The Labor are essentially androids, created to be construction workers and cheap industrial labor. Other people, however, had other uses for these humanoid robots, and to stop the wave of Labor-using crimes, the Special Vehicles-Section 2 police force was established. Thus, the Patlabors (Patrol Labors) were born.

Patlabor is less about the mecha than about the characters, the police themselves. This yields a lot of good drama, as well as some comedy and lots of adventure. Don't think you won't see a lot of interesting mecha, though. The plot is quite interesting in that it focuses on the ways that humans will inevitably find a way to abuse new technology and use it to make others suffer. Lots of police action combines with some drama and just enough comedy to keep things watchable and not too desperate or gritty. Noa Izumi, one of the main characters, is how viewers frame the Patlabor world, and as she changes, so does our focus.

The audio and video aspects are good, if not stellar. Even though this is an older TV series, the audio was clear and crisp. There was less use of stereo, but it's not as necessary for this show. The video has a few more issues, with specks here and there throughout the disc, but certainly not enough to annoy any but the most hard-core techie viewers. The colors and art are nice, and the show looks good overall.

The extras are a nice mix. The introduction to the characters is very useful to anyone new to the show, and I hope this inclusion becomes more standard on series anime discs. The interview with the director is also very nice to see; I'm glad that the creators are getting more play lately on DVDs, since fans want to hear from these people. There are longer versions of both of these items on the DVD-ROM side of the disc; shorter versions are available on the DVD side. The image gallery is standard, but nice, including some concept drawings, as well as screen captures from the disc.

Overall, this is a great anime series that deserves a larger fan following. Unusual without being just plain weird, the show manages to be a human drama that isn't moralistic or preachy. The comedy elements blend nicely with the drama, and the characters are interesting enough to keep you watching. The mecha are also nice, and robotics fans will appreciate the way they're used here. Patlabor can be recommended to anyone who likes mecha anime, police stories, or just good characterization, adventure, and fun.