Back in the Day - Patlabor '88 OVA 03/20/2010.

Ah, a girl and her giant robot, is there any finer relationship in anime?

OK, so there is, but trust me, you do NOT want to come between Noa Izumi and her Alphonse. Which, by the way, was THE Alphonse before FMA, and is still THE one in this fan’s eyes. Back in the mid 80s a group of people got together and formed Headgear, which is the collection of people credited for the creation of Patlabor. The reason for the creation of Headgear was so the production team could own the rights to the series. The members of Headgear made for a dream team of anime. Mamoru Oshii, Masami Yuuki, Kazunori Ito, Yutaka Izubuchi and Akemi Takada are just the main unit of Headgear. Oshii was basically the final piece of the puzzle, the director. Before he was on board they were still faced with not having a full production team, which would have made it tough to be taken seriously and sell it as a full package. Other staff involved in the creation of Patlabor were Kenji Kawai, Naoyuki Yoshinaga, Takayama Fumihiko, Kenji Kamiyama and Tori-Miki. Though not all of them worked on the original ‘88 OVA, I feel they still deserve mentioning when talking about Patlabor in depth. If you are curious as to what makes them each so special (though you probably should know some of them and their works already), hit up the ANN database. A quick five minutes there and you’ll see that each of them brought something to the table.

The original OVA ran for 6 episodes in ‘88 with a 7th episode added to help promote the first movie (same timeline as the 1st OVA) in ‘89. This seems like a short jaunt when such a brain trust is involved in the creation. Truth is, Patlabor went on to have a 47 episode TV series (which retells the story differently), a 2nd and 3rd movie, a second 16 episode OVA - which was really more of the TV series, and a small short, Mini-Pato, that was shown with the 3rd movie in theaters. Yet, many people either don’t know about Patlabor or they gloss over it for more flamboyant mecha shows such as Gundam and TTGL. This is somewhat understandable since Patlabor is much more about, and focused, on the characters than the mecha. In Patlabor the mechs, or labors as they are called, are just a means to an end. They aren’t simply used to fight wars; they are used for everything from construction to firefighting and deep sea diving. However, since they have become such an integral part of society, they are not always used as intended. This is were Patrol Labors (Patlabors) come in. Used by the Japanese police force to battle labor crime, they are the first defense against labor abuse. Labors aren’t super powerful weapons that have made other vehicular weapons outdated either. They are no more powerful than construction equipment of today, yet they are the leading edge of technology in the world of Patlabor. Besides labors, there’s nothing out of the ordinary about the world. Labors are the only real bit of sci-fi in the entire series (ignore episode 3, it can‘t be taken seriously). With the pacing, focus on characters and great storytelling, Patlabor fits into the slice of life genre more than it does the mecha genre. That doesn’t mean the mecha side of things is ignored. The development, construction, operation and maintenance of labors is gone into detail significantly. It goes hand in hand with the story most of the time too, so you won’t even notice your head being filled with the geek data.

The lead for Patlabor is Noa Izumi; she’s a new recruit for Section 2 Division 2 (or Special Vehicles Unit 2, SV2) Team 1 of the Patrol Labor segment of the police. She’s a bit ditsy at times but, when she has to, she’s a top notch labor pilot. Having formerly had both a dog and cat with the name of Alphonse she had decided on her labor’s name before ever seeing him. Her backup is Asuma Shinohara, SV2 Team 1, son of the head of Shinohara Heavy Industries. While he acts like he doesn’t like labors, he knows a good deal about them and is smarter than he lets on. The last member of SV2 Team 1 is Hiromi Yamazaki, the carrier driver for Noa’s Patlabor. He’s the gentle giant of SV2 and he doesn’t ever say much, but his green thumb and great strength speak for themselves. So that’s Team 1. And if there’s a Team 1 there must be a Team 2 - and there is. The labor pilot is Isao Ota, a quick to act, slow to think hothead who is a dedicated officer that believes in the honor of the force. His backup is Kanuka Clancy, a Japanese-American who is on loan from New York for a one year study period. She’s a tall, cool kind of woman, the kind men trip over themselves trying to get to, who is an expert in explosives and speaks four languages. The carrier driver for Team 2 is Shinshi Mikiyasu, the only married member of SV2. Overall, he’s a bit shy and easily stressed. However, upset the man, by questioning his marriage for example, and he’s more dangerous than Ota. Of course there’s someone above all of these people, someone that must be absolutely responsible and never act without having the OK from his superiors. Well, that’s not who Captain Kiichi Goto is, but he is the leader of the SV2. Captain Goto is a very laid back man on the surface, but look deeper and you will find he is an amazingly intelligent man who is very politically savvy. He is also very subtle and therefore an expert at manipulating people to do what he needs them to. The head of SV1 is Captain Shinobu Nagumo, a by-the-book leader. Her division is

held in high regard compared to Goto’s, which is why she can’t understand why Goto’s unit got the new AV-98 Ingram labors. Then there’s the “Old Man” of the mechanics crew, Chief Seitaro Sakaki. At the age of 12 his father beat him for taking apart his family’s footwarmer-engine scooter; machines have been his life for the past fifty years since. Finally there’s Shigeo Shiba, second in command to the “Old Man”. He’s a bit over zealous about his job, but he’s also the resident computer genius. Every single character is a believable person who is capable of their duties, even if they are a little outside of the norm.

The OVA is episodic in nature (with exception to the two part political thriller), but as it goes on you learn a little bit more about each character. While the character development may be a little fast it won’t feel like it. Patlabor is a very laid back kind of series that requires a small bit of brain power to keep up with, in episodes 5 and 6 most notably. One of the first differences you will probably notice about Patlabor as compared to other anime with mechs is the all adult cast. There is no over-dramatic teen angst drama, just honest and real stories. Nor is there even a hint of any T & A fan service. Every woman is in the show because of who she is and what she is capable of, not her bouncing bosom or bubbly bottom. There’s also no over-the-top technical data to back up why the mechs are possible. It’s all very believable kind of stuff, well mostly. The price of bullets are even taken into account. Such is the case when Ota asks to have practice with live ammo to be prepared in the field. Captain Goto must explain to him that the Fuji shooting range for such practice is reserved through winter by the SDF and that an application must be filled out in order to get the ammo. Even then it takes a month to get after strict review. Of course it does look a little wonky that the guns the AV-98 Ingrams use look like scaled up versions of guns people use. Somehow though they look right and fit in a way that makes total sense. Another fun fact is that the people piloting the labors required training before they were allowed to operate them. They didn’t just hop in and know how it all worked, having it simply explained away by them being natural geniuses. There’s a great ghost story mystery in episode 4 that takes place at the Fuji Labor Personnel Training Camp, aka “The Labor’s Den.” This is because of Ota’s… exuberance while in the field on assignment during a hostage situation, so the entire division is sent back for re-training. That alone is a great example of how you learn the wokings of the Patlabor world without being bonked over the head with the information. It’s also a great moment of comedy, which the series has plenty of. While the show is on a much more realistic level than other anime with mecha, it keeps the door open for stretched possibility comedy.

The comedy in Patlabor is thoughtful and intelligent at times and other times more basic and simple. All of it is funny and will make you laugh. Being a slice of life anime it really speaks to people on the common experiences level. It’s the little things sometimes that catch your attention, like Hiromi making his own lunches that are a bit too cute for a man of his size (especially the bowl). Other times it’s the love affair between Noa and Alphonse. Well, a lot of the time it’s that. Normally a dream sequence is annoying, but here it’s comical. Both in it’s poking fun at the absurdity of mecha anime at the time (even today’s) and it’s complete failure as Noa is woken up from it. It’s in the comedy that Patlabor shows us it’s heart. Oh, what a great and big heart it is. While it may not be seen in other areas since the show isn’t overly emotional, the comedy is where the series takes a sigh of relief from the hijinks division 2 manage to get caught up in. It’s also where the show gets a bit unrealistic and takes the path of over-the-top. This is seen at it’s worst (or best, depending on your tastes) in episode 3 where a sea monster is attacking people that get too close to Tokyo Bay. There’s a comical attempt at explaining how the monster came about and it’s stretched as far as sci-fi can be stretched. The end of the episode is very weird, eerie and isn’t really explained at all. It’s just one of those things where the production crew was having fun with the show doing a Godzilla spoof. Taking that episode serious at any point would be folly. On the other end of the spectrum is the two part episode story that is almost completely serious by the 2nd half. These are the episodes that define Patlabor, the episodes that allow all the characters to shine their brightest and best. They are the two episodes where you have to make sure that you have brought your brain along, it’s turned on and working properly. Otherwise you may get lost in the heavy political dialogue that explains why things are happening. It’s quite an interesting take on a terrorist overthrow of the government by the military following the orders of a former military genius.

When it comes to the animation and audio, Patlabor delivers an above average standard. It’s not the worst and it’s not the best in animation. It has moments where it looks great with the typical detail of things and even more so when the details of the AV-98 Ingrams are on screen. The animation is also clean and smooth with consistent character designs. Overall it looks like it was done in he early 90s rather than the late 80s. There’s even small things you might not notice or think about when you see them, such as the moving clouds in the background. While a simple slide animation, it’s not something you see in every anime. For an OVA it had some of the best animation of it’s time. It would be hard to have a better soundtrack to the series since Kenji Kawai wrote the music. Look at the man’s work and it’s obvious his music leaves a lasting impression and is connected to many emotionally heavy series. The opening song however was “Miraiha Lovers” by Hiroko Kasahara and it’s more or less a love letter for Noa and Alphose’s relationship. It’s a decently upbeat and catchy tune that you won’t quickly forget. The animation that accompanies it shows Noa lovingly polishing and working on Alphonse until the call comes in to head out into the field and it works with the song perfectly. There is no ending animation, just a rolling of the credits with a simple repeating song behind them. As for the dub, well, it’s a bit lacking. They didn’t try to localize it one bit so the dub is almost word for word the same dialogue as the sub. You might think it’s a case of English subs of the dub for the Japanese audio track it‘s so spot on, but it’s not. While it is nice that the dub follows the original dialogue so closely, it causes problems here and there. Most of the time the lip synch is a bit off, and unfortunately the performances aren’t as well played as those of the original Japanese cast. There’s also the small quibble of the mispronunciation of names. It’s not unwatchable awful, but the sub elite will most definitely complain. So if you pass up the dub track altogether you aren’t really missing much.

If I have somehow managed to get you interested in Patlabor, and I really hope I have, there’s a bit of bad news as usual with anime that’s gone out of print. Central Park Media, as I said in the Project A-Ko article, has gone out of business and they had the licenses for the ‘88 OVA and TV series. There are still copies of both out there (the ‘88 OVA being the most difficult to find now), but as usual they are going for collector prices. Over at Robert’s Anime Corner Store though they have the 3 box sets of the TV series going for $30 a piece and RightStuf has the New Files (2nd OVA continuation of the TV series) going for $23. Those are great prices for the TV series considering it‘s not likely to get picked up by other US distributors any time soon, if ever. It’s possible to find them at conventions at somewhat reasonable prices too, I did so while at MegaCon this past weekend. While I haven’t spoke much of the movies, which Manga Entertainment owns the rights to, they are still easily obtainable from many online retailers. I highly suggest you check them out; they are some of the best animated movies out there, even outside of anime. If you miss out on the deals at the retailers mentioned above, there are fansubs of Patlabor on the internet as well. Though I would hope you wouldn’t immediately turn to the internet to get your hands on the series. At the very least I hope you can watch the OVA I’ve focused on this time around. Finally, before I forget, if you would like even more information on Patlabor I will point you towards Schaft Enterprises, possibly the best Patlabor fansite on the internet. There you’ll find plenty of info on the series, from specific labor data, to character synopsizes, to backgrounds of the creators and much more. So, prepare your eyes and ears for a marvelous treat of mecha anime like you’ve never seen before or, sit back down with this old favorite, you know you want to.