Take a look at our Patlabor OVA review, the DVD and Blu-ray versions will be available Monday. Patlabor is without doubt a classic Anime, in the sense that it comes from an era of emerging Anime. Influences from Gundam are likely, as the popular series has influenced many in the mecha genre. Let’s be honest for a second, who doesn’t love friggin huge robots smashing each other? Unless it’s Michael Bay directing of course. Meow.
Name: Patlabor OVA
Studio: Studio Deen
Licensed by: MVM
Release date: 25/11/2013
“cool, calculated and always seems to be one step ahead”
Refreshingly, the show is one of the very few animes that finds a realistic use of mechs: in this series they’re mostly used for construction, and the police only use the mechs in order to solve conflicts for when mechs go out of control or are being miss used. Also equally fresh is the team that star in the show are not the elite, in fact, its far from it. They are basically the b-team of the police mech division.
Speaking of the team, they are the driving point of interest behind the show. All the members are unique, while carrying some stereotypes. There is always one character that just wants to shoot everything. My favorite character on that note has to be Captain Goto; he is cool, calculated and always seems to be one step ahead.
The format of the show is the traditional ‘problem-of-the-episode’, but the episodes seem to focus more on the characters than the episodes task. The action within the episodes is also note worthy, what you see of it anyway, even though you don’t see any god-mode beams, arms turning into rocket launchers, or whatever; the show is more focused on the strategic elements of mecha battle. Well, when the team aren’t messing it up despite Captain Goto’s best efforts. When it comes down to it though, Patlabor is a storyline about a b-team enjoying life in the police force. This isn’t a storyline about saving the world.
Overall thoughts:
Patlabor’s strong point is it’s characters, ability to have both serious, and funny comedy moments. The show however is a bit aged by today’s standards, but it’s still not a bad Anime.
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