Customer Reviews

Patlabor the Mobile Police: The New Files DVD Collection

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Patlabor is not your typical giant robot anime. Whole episodes go by where the characters do not use their mecha.

The "New Files" is the post-TV series follow-up, and takes Patlabor's characteristic comedy to a whole new level. Yet at the same time it contains one of the show's best set of action episodes and easily the three most touching and poignant moments of drama for the cast. Not bad for just 16 episodes.

The four episodes on Disc 1 are the only ones to have an audio track dubbed in English; Manga opted not to finish the dub process for the remaining twelve episodes, but instead to just get the thing released. Considering that the release of Patlabor DVDs began in 2001 and only just finished with the release of this set, I'm just happy they decided to release it at all. We had to wait long enough.

The first Disc can be thought of as the "Action" disc; its four episodes contain a single story arc where the Griffin -- the infamous "Black Labor" which starred in the TV series' longest connected story arc, spanning roughly five episodes -- returns for a rematch with Special Vehicles. But before it can fight the Ingrams of Division 2, it must get rid of Division 1 and it's new "Peacemaker" labors, based upon the Type Zero from Patlabor Movie 1 and the final episodes of the TV series.

The second Disc can be thought of as the "Comedy" disc; there is not a lot of action, but there are a lot of laughs. These six episodes are all one-shot stories, and frequently focus on cast members who did not get much screen time in the TV series. Whether it is "The Seven Days of Fire" which is focused on Shige and the Mechanics of SV2, or "Versus" which details battle of wits, philosophy, and drinking between officers Kumagami and Kanuka, or "The Black Trinary" which has the cast searching for a terrorist within the confines of a public bath house, all of these episodes are played for laughs, and they do a very good job of it.

The third disc could be thought of as the Drama disc. While it has its share of comedy as Division 2 takes another foray into the sewers under their base (which they previously did late in the TV series) and Asuma has a dream eerily reminiscent of Shige's fanficful CLAT episode from the TV series, the other four episodes exist for the characters, not the laughs. "Two in Karisawa" focuses exclusively on the never-before-explored relationship between Division 2's Captain Goto and Division 1's Captain Nagumo as they are stranded on the road by a typhoon, and stop for the night at the only place they can find -- a love motel. "Snow Rondo" focuses on Asuma and his romantic relationships, while "All Quiet at SV2" is a general 'feel-good' ending to the series; perhaps not with as much closure as fans would like, but with as much as is actually needed. It's also a rare episode where Asuma talkes about his family and Ota struts his stuff in a Labor -- without shooting anyone.

All in all, this collection has many of my favorite moments in Patlabor, and is a very welcome addition to my DVD library.

If you have already purchased Vol1 of the New Files and are a Dub fan you should be warned. Even though this volume contains all of the episodes for New Files only the first Volume (Same as the one that came out before this set) is dubed. The rest are only subed.

The Patlabor canon is the main reason I have high regard for Japanese animation.
All DVD's in the series are a must own, including this one.

If your not aware of what Patlabor is, & your open to Japanese animation, I highly
recommend you vist this site [...]it's brilliant and
a perfect way to start your new adventure.

This OVA includes 16 episodes that for some reason didn't make it into Patlabor the TV series. This OVA brings closure to some of the loose ends from the series and provides some of the funniest moments I've seen in any anime.

The Patlabor team returns in this new adventure. It's the near end of 1999; however, Utsumi and Kurosaki has their evil plans to stop the Patlabors. Their team rebuilds the Griffin and has Bud as the pilot. All Bud cares about is finishing his unfinished battle with Noa and Alphonse. After the Griffin defeats division one, Goto knows that it's up to Noa to stop the Griffin. With the help from Goto's friend Matsui and Momoka the reporter, the team finds who's involved and plan to stop them. The other two dvds is all in Japanese with english subtitles. My favorite is the opening credits. Plus at the end of dvd 3, Asuma finally makes up with his dad from how it looks.