You could get mecha anime cheaper by the dozen back then, but I found Patlabor did enough to distinguish itself from its contemporaries with a slightly more humorous tone, character focus and interesting storyline that it deserves to be watched more.
This is an early effort by author/director Mamoru Oshii who only a few years later would finally strike gold with the all-time classic Ghost in the Shell. Here he already portrays a lot strengths as a director but also that he still had some growing to do. Patlabor the movie is full of tropes of late 80s early 90s anime, which I view fondly having grown up with them, but even decades later they are used creatively enough that they shouldn't diminish anyone's enjoyment here. In fact the visual style is one of the movie's greatest assets, as the wonderfully hand-painted backgrounds blend in well with the mecha action in the foreground. There are some striking images that remind you why anime was starting to take over the West at that time. Whether it's anime, sci-fi or videogames of this era, the japanese graphic artists were really several years ahead of the pack.
On the story level there's also a lot more detective work and character development being shown than in other japanime of the time. Admittedly this could have used some trimming as the middle drags on quite a bit. At about ten minutes shorter Patlabor would move a lot brisker and more smoothly. It is thus not quite the classic it could have been. Still, it was interesting to see early forays into philosophical and technological elements of Ishii's stories he would later expand and improve upon. Can't wait to watch the second one.
This is an early effort by author/director Mamoru Oshii who only a few years later would finally strike gold with the all-time classic Ghost in the Shell. Here he already portrays a lot strengths as a director but also that he still had some growing to do. Patlabor the movie is full of tropes of late 80s early 90s anime, which I view fondly having grown up with them, but even decades later they are used creatively enough that they shouldn't diminish anyone's enjoyment here. In fact the visual style is one of the movie's greatest assets, as the wonderfully hand-painted backgrounds blend in well with the mecha action in the foreground. There are some striking images that remind you why anime was starting to take over the West at that time. Whether it's anime, sci-fi or videogames of this era, the japanese graphic artists were really several years ahead of the pack.
On the story level there's also a lot more detective work and character development being shown than in other japanime of the time. Admittedly this could have used some trimming as the middle drags on quite a bit. At about ten minutes shorter Patlabor would move a lot brisker and more smoothly. It is thus not quite the classic it could have been. Still, it was interesting to see early forays into philosophical and technological elements of Ishii's stories he would later expand and improve upon. Can't wait to watch the second one.