Patlabor: The Movie (1989)

The screwball cops of Special Vehicles Section 2 Division 2 must investigate and stop a spree of rampaging construction robots.

Director:

Mamoru Oshii

Writers:

Kazunori Itô, Masami Yûki (comic)

Stars:

Toshio Furukawa, David Jarvis, Doug Erholtz

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Toshio Furukawa	...	Asuma (voice)
David Jarvis	...	Asuma (1995) (voice)
Doug Erholtz	...	Asuma (2006) (voice)
Mîna Tominaga	...	Noa (voice)
Briony Glassco	...	Noa (1995) (voice)
Julie Ann Taylor	...	Noa (2006) (voice)
Ryûnosuke Ôbayashi	...	Gotoh (voice)
Peter Marinker	...	Gotoh (1995) (voice)
Roger Craig Smith	...	Gotoh (2006) (voice) (as Roger C. Smith)
Yoshiko Sakakibara	...	Nagumo (voice)
Sharon Holm	...	Nagumo (1995) (voice)
Megan Hollingshead	...	Nagumo (2006) (voice) (as Karen Thompson)
Yô Inôe	...	Clancy (voice) (as Yô Inoue)
Tamsin Hollo	...	Clancy (1995) (voice)
Lisa Enochs	...	Clancy (2006) (voice)

Storyline

A mysterious suicide and a series of unmanned robot run-aways sparks off a Police investigation into the suspicious software on-board thousands of industrial robots around Tokyo. Step by step, the police find themselves tangled up by the web of a perfect crime which awaits the approaching Typhoon to activate thousands of virus affected robots. As time runs out, Asuma and his team must complete a task that is doomed to be a failure before the Typhoon lands Tokyo.

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Plot Keywords:

police officer | robot | japan | giant robot | suicide | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

BandaiVisual [United States] TechTV

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

15 July 1989 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Patlabor 1

Company Credits

Production Co:

Headgear, I.G Tatsunoko, Studio DEEN

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film takes place in 1999.

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Connections

Referenced in Labyrinth of Flames: Behind the Scenes (2001)

User Reviews

An intelligent manga movie that makes you wish the TV series was shown in Britain

Isaac Asimov meets Akira in this detective-oriented science-fiction Japanese Manga film. Set in the near-future, Tokyo is undergoing a huge re-development program: old suburbs are being demolished and man-made islands are being constructed in Tokyo Bay. Most of the work is being done by giant man-operated robots called Labors. Labors are prone to go out of control and cause chaos, so units of the Police force have been set up to deal with them. These units, divided into squadrons, also use giant robots to tackle the out-of-control Labors. Asuma Shinohara is a sergeant in Second Squadron, who discovers that the crazy behaviour of the Labors is due to a bug in their operating system which was deliberately put in by Eiichi Hoba, the OS programmer. Hoba has since committed suicide confidant that his plan to destroy Tokyo will take effect...

Patlabor is typical Manga with plenty of action and violence, but also a good deal of appeal and characters. These range from Asuma, quick-tempered and insubordinate, but a good detective; Captain Goto, the quietly manipulative commanding officer; and Officer Noa Izumi, Asuma's long-suffering, child-like colleague-cum-girlfriend, who ultimately saves the day.