Patlabor 2 the movie

This film is essentially a reworking of episodes 5 and 6 of the original Patlabor OVA series. It is of course much more complex and more political. In an interview Masami Yuuki claims that Mamoru Oshii made this film to showcase his favourite character Shinobu Nagamo. Oshii apparently got the job as director for "Ghost in the Shell" based upon his work on this film. Apart from the bird motif of the film, Oshii's favourite animal, a Basset Hound, makes it's debut in one of his anime films (a cardboard cut out appeared in his 1992 live action film "Talking Head") and would later become one of his trademarks. The dog would later appear in "Ghost in the Shell", "Minipato", "Avalon" and "Innocence".

In 1998, Oshii re-released the film with a Dolby Digital 5.1 channel remix. Additional music was also added by Kenji Kawai. The remastered version of this film, and "Patlabor the movie", were released on the home video in Japan in December 1998.

Movie Synopsis

Bandai Visual currently have the rights for this film in the US and UK. In the US it has been released on their Honneamise video label on DVD, in a standard disc only edition, as well as a limited 10,000 unit special edition which includes; exclusive packaging illustrations by Akemi Takada, remastered 5.1 audio channel, a new English-dubbed audio track, a making of documentary, Japanese trailers and TV commercials, the complete 300-page storyboard book drawn by Mamoru Oshii with an English translation, and a second book that includes past interviews, articles, artwork and drawings. Bandai's European video arm, Beez Entertainment, have also released the movie in the same format on DVD, except the special edition is limited to 1,000 units. A double DVD pack of the single disc versions and a double pack of the limited edition versions (including the bonus discs and books) were also released by the company. In 2007 Bandai Visual alluded that a Blu-ray/DVD combo disc will also be released in the US at some point, but no details or release date have been given. Panorama in Hong Kong have released the movie with English subtitles as well as well as an optional Cantonese dub and Chinese subtitles. Madman Entertainment have the rights to the Manga Video dubbed version in Australia and New Zealand and have released the film as a bilingual double DVD set with "Patlabor the movie".

The Honneamise DVDs are only available in the US, and therefore will only work on NTSC compatible and region 1 compatible DVD players. The Beez Entertainment DVDs are only available in the UK, and therefore will only work on PAL compatible and region 2 compatible DVD players. The Panorama DVD is only available in Hong Kong, and therefore will only work on NTSC compatible and region 3 compatible DVD players. The Madman Entertainment DVDs are only available in Australia and New Zealand, and will therefore will only work on PAL compatible and region 4 compatible players. If you don't live in these countries, check your VCR or 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 of this movie in English.

This movie is available in Japan from Bandai Visual/Emotion on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD as well as the "Mamoru Oshii Introduction-Box" DVD box set. The DVD versions do not come with English subtitles or an English dub, however the double disc DVD/Blu-ray and DVD/HD DVD sets as well as the single disc Blu-ray release come with the new English dub and English subtitles. These discs are only available in Japan, and therefore will only work on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD players that are both NTSC compatible and will play region 2 DVD discs and region A Blu-ray 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.

<< Patlabor the movie | Anime Main Page | WXIII Patlabor the movie 3 >>