Patlabor: The Movie

Oshii is a gifted artist with a knack for world-building, something that should be apparent to anyone who's seen films like GHOST IN THE SHELL or ANGEL'S EGG. Unsurprisingly, PATLABOR's futurism is detailed and immersive and by far the best thing about it, but the plot and the characters had trouble gaining my attention. It lacks depth of character, personality, and has some severe pacing issues, with an ending that seems all to easily resolved.

It presents some interesting ideas, but everything seems pretty half-baked. It suffers from a lot of superfluous tech dialogue, flat and uninteresting characters who sometimes burst into moments of caricaturization, and some cheesy 80's synth-metal. It's at least animated very well, and Mamoru Oshii really knows how to create a near-future setting.

Absolutely gorgeous animation, amazing scenery, brilliant use of lighting effects; Oshii knows how to use scene setting & interesting perspectives to set the mood and tell a story. But..the complex story is a bit contrived, and starts a bit slow with exposition dumping characters. Not a fan of the development and emotionality of the characters either. All in all, a conditional recommend.

Primarily a detective story with a bit of exciting action to cap things off eventually, and a fair amount of humor throughout. Some of the "science" is a bit chuckle-worthy, but everything contributes well to the overall theme of development for development's sake overrunning the old city (and government priorities).

Big step up from the OVA. You don't really have to have watched the OVA to understand 95% of this plotwise, but there's not a lot of context for the characters in the film so it might be worthwhile to at least read a summary.

Worked for me despite not seeing previous anime adaptions or manga before. Begins slowly, but the plot and the characters grow interesting eventually. Could serve as introduction to mecha (giant robotic vehicle) genre for people who are not usually interested in giant robots.

One of Mamoru Oshii's early films; a crime drama crossed with sci-fi elements; the film deals with a world where giant robots are normal. The gist of the film is that a rash of labor malfunctions have been occurring around "the Ark" a giant superstructure being built in Tokyo bay which is somehow tied to the death of E. Hoba, the man who created the Ho system or HOS. It's a great mystery and the animation is fantastic. really worth checking out if you're into anime or like a good mystery.

Oshii's unmistakable directorial touch is evident, and it elevates an otherwise pretty clichéd, sometimes annoying anime plot.

Why is it that anime offers so many characters of utterly ambiguous gender characteristics? My main gripe is not that the neuter character was annoying and confusing, but that it played out an espionage plot involving robots that occasionally malfunction, and from what it seems, were rarely used. That's like a toaster that has a one in a million chance to light a house on fire, what the hell do I care about that. Stupid friggin' mechs.

Nice detailed art, a rockin' soundtrack, mechs with shotguns and... overt biblical references?

An early work by Oshii. Patlabor offers it's viewers a very gripping espionage plot with some good fights in tradition of the Transformers series. Overall a bit too slow. I prefer the second part which came out in 1993.