Patlabor The Mobile Police Original Video Animation (OVA) Series [AKA Early Days]

The first anime outing for Patlabor. Originally intended as a six part direct to video series, a seventh episode was created to promote the first Patlabor movie in 1989. For the most part, these episodes are comedies with some robot action. Episode 5 and 6 are a two part political drama, which would later provide the basis for the second Patlabor movie. One of the reasons for the success of this series was the retail price point, ¥4,800, much cheaper than other OVAs at the time which were generally priced from ¥8,000 to ¥10,000. To beef up the budget and possibly because of nervousness of the producers wishing to recoup the costs of the production, an animated commercial which featured Noa and the Ingram for AXIA blank audio cassettes was inserted midway through each episode for the first six episodes. With the release of the 1995 Japanese laserdisc box set, the series was re-christened "Early Days" in every subsequent Japanese release to differentiate it from the 16 part New OVA Series.

Madman Entertainment in Australia announced in August 2011 that they had acquired the series. They hope to release it on DVD in March or April 2012. US company U.S. Manga Corps released this series series as a two disc DVD box set with an English dub, original Japanese dialogue, English subtitles, and commentary for selected episodes from director Mamoru Oshii. The DVD set was only available in the US, and therefore will only work on NTSC compatible region 1 DVD players (if you don't live in US or Canada, check your DVD player's instruction manual to see if it will play the discs). As of December 2006, U.S. Manga Corps deleted the DVD box set. Though the series was never a big seller, the DVD box set has become increasingly rare, and as of early 2010 sells for an absurd US$245 upwards (sometimes as high as US$300 or more) on the second hand market. The only other legit option in English is the 1996 U.S. Manga Corps 3 part VHS release and VHS box set, though this was a subtitled only release. These can be found for US$5 - 10 per tape online. Please see the English Language Releases Video List for a complete listing of all releases, formats and product specifications of this series in English.

This series is available in on two single DVD releases, a single Blu-ray release and a complete Patlabor TV and OVA DVD box set in Japan from Bandai Visual/Emotion. These DVDs and Blu-rays do not come with English subtitles or an English dub. The DVDs are only available in Japan, and therefore will only work on 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 DVD's instruction manual to see if it will play the discs). Please see the Japanese Original OVA (AKA Early Days) Releases Video List for a complete listing of all releases, formats and product specifications for this series.

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