Patlabor On Television

The 47 part TV series is a completely different universe to the movies and Original OVA Series (AKA Early Days). For the most part there's a lot of comedy in these episodes mixed in with plenty of Labor battles, but usually only one per episode. Episodes range from drama, suspense, battles with monsters, science fiction parodies and even stories about the SV2's general day to day duties.

Quite a number of characters are introduced including several that had only previously appeared in the manga. Also several stories are borrowed from the manga including the Griffin saga (though considerably shortened).

The series was originally broadcast on Nippon Television Network (NTV) on Wednesday evenings from 5pm. I think this has to be one of the few robot anime TV series where them main robot of the show, Alphonse, gets his own credit during the opening credits. Disappointingly for fans of the series, the sound effect for the Labors sounded more like the stock standard "Gundam" robot effects rather than the familiar Labor sounds. In the Japanese home video release, the soundtrack was given a new stereo remix, dubbed the "Super Sound Remix" or "SS-Remix". The sound effects of the Labors were changed to match those heard in the Original OVA Series (AKA Early Days) and "Patlabor the movie". The background music was also tweaked. All video releases of the series contain the remixed audio, including all English language releases.

This version of the anime was very popular in anime clubs across the US, UK and Australia during the mid to late 1990's. A lot of anime fans including me, cite this series as one of the reasons they got into anime. Despite the massive popularity of the series in Japan and in anime clubs in the US, the success failed to follow on when it was released commercially in the US in 1998 on VHS. Most likely the causes were that there was no English dub, and that the animation was almost 10 years old at the time. Over three years after the initial VHS release, an English dub was slowly released on DVD in US, but the company releasing it missed the boat completely on this one unfortunately. The fact that it took nearly five years to dub and release the entire series on DVD probably didn't help either.

On the final VHS tape and Laserdisc of the original Japanese video release of the TV series, there is a "48th episode". This is not an animated TV episode, but a special named "Koyasai Sanbonjime" (a sanbonjime is a Japanese clapping ritual done to honour the close of an event), which was a bonus collection of staff and cast interviews that was done after the final recording session for the series and was never aired on TV.

The series doesn't really conclude here. The 16 part New OVA Series completes the series, and resolves some of the issues not dealt with in the Griffin arc.

US company U.S. Manga Corps released this series series on ten single DVDs and later as three DVD box sets with an English dub, original Japanese dialogue, English subtitles, and various extras including text interviews with director Naoyuki Yoshinaga and screenplay writer Michiko Yokote, as well as art galleries and other various additional extras. Please note this DVD version omits the new opening animation for episodes 35 to 47 (the opening song being "Condition Green"). In it's place is the previous opening song and animation. Oddly enough this opening animation and song appears in its correct place in U.S. Manga Corps' DVD and VHS version of New Series OVA and on the previous VHS version of the TV series release also released by U.S. Manga Corps. Also note that on the DVD version, episodes 43 to 47 (volume 11) are only available in the third box set. There was no single disc release for Volume 11. These DVDs were 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 series, but copies of the DVDs and  box sets can still be found at some on-line US shops and 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 a separate two part DVD box release and as part of a Patlabor DVD box set which also includes both OVA series in Japan from Bandai Visual/Emotion. These DVDs 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 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 TV Series Releases Video List for a complete listing of all releases, formats and product specifications for this series.

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