Minipato (Mobile Police Patlabor Minimum) Theatrical Shorts

A collection of three "super-deformed" theatrical shorts involving the characters of Patlabor. Over the course of three weeks one episode was released to theatres, playing before "WXIII Patlabor the movie 3". So essentially you had to pay three times to see all three shorts in the cinema. The animation was done using digital video of cardboard cut-out puppets on sticks. This was then transferred to a computer where backgrounds and additional animation and computer colouring was done. The animation and puppetry process was coined "flip-flop" animation by Mamoru Oshii who conceived the idea. Every time a character changes into a different pose, say from sitting down to standing up, the puppet flips over to reveal the next pose in the sequence. Mouth movements are animated in the same style using computer animation. Besides using cardboard cut outs, 2D and 3D computer animation, clay and photographs are used as well.

During the opening animation and through all three episodes, a caricature of Mamoru Oshii called "Oshii-dog" (a Basset Hound that looks like Oshii) appears. The yellow blimp from the second Patlabor film appears quite regularly in all three episodes. Cameos from Detective Matsui, Eiichi Hoba and a crow from the first Patlabor film, and Arakawa Shigeki from the second Patlabor film also appear in the opening credits. Director Kenji Kamiyama also directed the TV series "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex".

Geneon (Pioneer) Entertainment USA released "Minipato" only as a bonus disc as part of the Special Edition of the "WXIII Patlabor the movie 3" DVD set in the US. It was not available separately. As of early 2007 the box set was deleted and the company left the US market in November 2007. Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand have released Minipato in a boxed set with "WXIII Patlabor 3 the movie". As in the US, "Minipato" is not available separately. US DVDs are only available in the US, and therefore will only work on NTSC compatible and region 1 compatible DVD players. Australian and New Zealand DVDs are only available in Australia and New Zealand, and therefore will only work on PAL compatible and region 4 compatible DVD players. If you don't live in these countries, check your DVD instruction manual to see if it will play them. Please see the English Language Releases Video List for a complete listing of all releases, formats and product specifications for this movie in English.

"Minipato" is available in Japan from Bandai Visual on DVD and UMD-Video. Unlike the Japanese version of "WXIII Patlabor the movie 3", these discs do not come with English subtitles, nor an English dub. These discs are only available in Japan, and therefore will only work on DVD and PSP (Playstation Portable) players that are both NTSC compatible and will play region 2 discs (if you don't live in Japan, check your player's instruction manual to see if it will play the discs). Please see the Japanese Movie Releases Video List for a complete listing of all releases, formats and product specifications for this movie.

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