Patlabor New OVA Series (AKA P-Series)

This 16 part series of OVAs follows on directly from the TV series. The episodes in this series are truly odd (but still extremely enjoyable). The first four resolve the Griffin saga from the TV series. Most of the remaining 12 are quite frankly oddball comedies. The themes of the stories range from toothaches, lost kittens, amnesia, love motels, albino alligators who lay giant pearls and even a parody of the last episode of Ultraman. One of the oddest ones was written by Yutaka Izubuchi. "Snow Rondo", one of the few stories here which isn't a comedy, is quite an odd tale about Asuma meeting an old school friend whom he once had a crush on. It's definitely Twilight Zone material. The last episode, "All Quite at the SV2", goes out on a perfect note. An excellent way to end such a superb series.

This series was originally released in Japan with the TV series on laserdisc and VHS in a "Perfect Edition" and "Standard Edition". The "Perfect Edition" laserdisc and VHS release of the TV series would have three TV episodes and one new OVA (the original release volumes were labelled "P1" to "P16"), while an alternate VHS release mostly for the rental market called the "Standard Edition" only contained the one OVA per tape. In western fandom, the OVA series is often referred to as the "P-Series" because of the labelling on the laserdisc releases. Also in it's original release, the first seven episodes were confusingly released in a different order (episodes 5 to 7 alternated with the four Griffin episodes). When the series was released in an LD box set in December 1995 in Japan (and for subsequent re-releases in Japan, as well as all English language releases), the order of episodes were changed so that the four part Griffin arc was at the beginning of the series. To avoid confusion, I have written the episode synopses in this new order as shown below. In the US, this series was released before the TV series. Since many of the episodes in this series follow on directly from episodes in the TV series, parts of it must of been confusing to new viewers.

U.S. Manga Corps released a bilingual (English dubbed and subtitled) DVD version of the first four episodes of the series (the Griffin episodes, 1 to 4). For unknown reasons (probably financial) the remaining twelve episodes were only available on DVD subtitled, and only in a three disc box set with the first single bilingual volume. Previously the series was released only as a subtitled VHS version. These DVDs were only available in the US, and therefore will only work on NTSC and region 1 compatible DVD players (if you don't live in US or Canada, check your DVD instruction manual to see if it will play them). Unfortunately U.S. Manga Corps as of December 2006 deleted all of their Patlabor single DVDs and box sets, and they are no longer available. You may be able to buy the single DVD volumes and DVD box set at some on-line US stores or second hand stores. 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 Japan from Bandai Visual/Emotion in two different box sets. The DVD Box sets do not come with English subtitles or an English dub. The DVD sets are only available in Japan, and therefore will only work on DVD players that are both NTSC compatible and will play region 2 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 New OVA Series Releases Video List for a complete listing of all releases, formats and product specifications for this series.

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