Director: Naoyuki Yoshinaga,
Starring: Miina Tominaga, Elisa Wain, Michihiro Ikemizu, James Wolfe, Osamu Saka,
Running Time: 210 minutes
Certificate: PG
Taking us back to the late 1980s is PATLABOR: THE MOBILE POLICE, an OVA series that focuses on the early days of the Mech-armed police squad. Despite its age the series looks phenomenal on this latest release and at a guess most would probably place it mid 90s at the earliest. Starting with an upbeat theme, this is a show that seems to aim for a younger crowd than the movie versions, but still holds enough content to interest older viewers too.
Although never particularly family friendly, the show has obviously designed its human characters in a cute way. Big eyes and soft features make them approachable and unlike a lot of harsher, police based anime. The age does show within its dub, where voices are more exaggerated than they are in most animes of today. It’s not to an off-putting degree, and it works very well for some of the more comedic characters as their expressions and body movement are also quite overstated at times. The excellent transfer is most notable in the colour schemes, which make the show look vibrant.
The plot sees a police force in the future, the year 1999. Well, it was the future at the time. The police have recently been assigned mech combat suits which allow them to maintain the peace, as well as looking awesome in action sequences. After some excellent training sessions, where we see the characters develop and become accustomed to one another, most episodes then take on a different case. The cases actually cover a wide range of genres and styles, with my absolute favourite being the GODZILLA themed episode where it is believed there is a monster on the loose. Godzilla sound effects even come into play at times.
Although the animation’s fluidity doesn’t match up to today, due to the fact we’ve been constantly spoiled, it does prove to be a rather brave show at times. One exceptional sequence takes on a first person perspective at a time when 1st person shooters (or computer games in general) weren’t that massive. Dated in some respects, such as animation, and synthesizer score (which secretly I love), PATLABOR: THE MOBILE POLICE is one for more seasoned anime fans that like to see how the medium has developed over the years. But even for the more casual viewers, the strong characterisations will be enough to satisfy.
PATLABOR: THE MOBILE POLICE: Series 1: The Early Days is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 18th November via MVM.
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