Patlabor 2 The Movie Limited Collector's Edition

[Penguin]

It's your Patlabor-lovin' little buddy here again with a quick review of the new DVD release of Patlabor 2 The Movie. Patlabor 2 being one of my all-time favourite anime features, I've been looking forward to this ever since it's announcement. As with the previous re-release of the first movie, this is the first North American release of the 1999 "sound renewal" version of the movie, with remastered video and a new 5.1 soundtrack.

Perhaps because it's not as action-oriented as the first film, Patlabor 2's remixed audio isn't quite as immediately striking. Being heavily dialogue-driven, it doesn't showcase the full use of the 5.1 sound stage until the last third of so of the film. That being said, dialogue and background ambiance are crisp and clear, and I found the scenes with the attack choppers dismantling Tokyo really benefited from the improvements. I was a little put off by some of the changes in overall sound design, though. While Kenji Kawai's score (another one of my all-time favourites) is just as clear and crisp as the dialogue, sound designer Shigeharu Shiba actually removed music from some scenes, and replaced Kawai's music for the opening scenes in southest Asia entirely. The arrangement still generates the requisite moody and tragic atmosphere, but I personally prefer the score.

Video is also nice and clean, especially on my nice new widescreen LCD TV . Overall colour quality is slightly washed as with the first film, but overall image quality is sharp and vibrant, so I think that's an artistic choice on the part of Oshii.

The subtitles provide an almost entirely different set of dialogue than from the Manga Video version, especially during the long conversations between Gotoh and Asakawa. Not speaking Japanese, I can't comment on which is more accurate, but given Manga's track record I'd guess the new translations are more faithful to the dialogue. As with the first movie, they still replace "-san" with "Mr." or "Ms.", and it's still annoying. I did listen to the dub a little and found it serviceable and clean, but no substitute for the original voice actors I've come to love.

As with the first movie, the limited collector's edition comes with a second disc of special features and two booklets - "Patlabor 2 The Movie Archives" and a collection of annotated storyboards. The second disc's features are a little uneven on detail, some items getting a good discussion while others are just lightly touched on, and it was fun seeing Hajime Katoki and Shoji Kawamori, however briefly, in the mechanical design segment. The archives booklet is another little gem, including some interesting articles on the political and social climate in Japan at the time the film was made, and a brief discussion of Patlabor fan dismay at the small role given to the younger members of the SV2 (normally the primary characters of the series) and lack of mecha action. It also includes a generous collection of full-colour and black-and-white background location shots and line art. I haven't had a chance to go through the storyboards yet.

All in all, I'd recommend that any fan of the film at the very least pick up the non-limited edition release, simply for the improvement in sound, video, and story quality. The extra features of the limited edition are probably of most value to really devout fans of the film and of Patlabor in general.

Edited July 14, 2006 by Penguin

[yellowlightman]

I saw Patlabor II at Anime Expo and shortly thereafter tried to cancel my pre-order for the LE. I had forgotten how absolutely BORING Patlabor 2 is. Alas, Overstock.com doesn't allow for cancelations so I was SOL.

Still a nice boxed set, though, and I really dig the archive book.

[Mr March]

Damn, I had no idea the new DVD edition of the second film was coming out so soon. I adored the first re-release, so I'm definitely checking this fella out.

[Penguin]

I had forgotten how absolutely BORING Patlabor 2 is.

416124[/snapback]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, naturally. Yours is entitled "heresy".

Edited July 14, 2006 by Penguin

[eugimon]

I had forgotten how absolutely BORING Patlabor 2 is.

416124[/snapback]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, naturally. Yours is entitled "heresy".

416209[/snapback]

yup.

[Jolly Rogers]

I'll do you a favor and take that 'boring' LE box off your hands for $20.

[yellowlightman]

I had forgotten how absolutely BORING Patlabor 2 is.

416124[/snapback]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, naturally. Yours is entitled "heresy".

416209[/snapback]

Nothing but talking heads for two hours = boring. Telling instead of showing = boring.

I like Oshii films more than the average person, but P2 really pushes it for me.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I found P2 to be a superb movie the first time I saw it... but I have never been able to rewatch it since. First time through you are into the story and it's great, every time after that I can't sit through it and wind up either turning it off or fast forwarding to the action scenes.

[Southcross]

I had forgotten how absolutely BORING Patlabor 2 is.

416124[/snapback]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, naturally. Yours is entitled "heresy".

416209[/snapback]

have to spread the heresy around also.... PL II was a drawn out GITS episode with absolutely no "action"... I own it on DVD, its part of my collection, I NEVER watch it... too boring, rather watch Dynomite 7 wihtout the subtitles

[Ishimaru]

Edit: Quoting is being retarted...

Edited July 15, 2006 by Dean

[Penguin]

I can understand where you guys are coming from... at his worst, Oshii can be preachy and didactic, and P2 often pushes the limits of it. If I think about why I love it so much, I come up with the following (in no particular order):

1) Top notch animation and composition (the images of the army in Tokyo, especially as it begins to snow, always enthrall me);

2) Kenji Kawai's score;

3) The whole mood and tone of the film;

4) The fact that it is such a departure from your typical mecha slam-bang, with a strong focus on the older characters.

I'd have preferred it if we could have seen Gotoh and Shinobu uncover more of the conspiracy themselves rather than be told it all by Asakawa, but I also find the dialogue interesting and engaging.

Edited July 15, 2006 by Penguin

[Mr March]

I'll take Blade Runner over Pitch Black or AVP. I'll take Akira over Doom or War of the Worlds. And I'll take Patlabor 2 over the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion any day. I prefer more substantial stuff at the cost of action.

[Seven]

I'll take Blade Runner over Pitch Black or AVP.  I'll take Akira over Doom or War of the Worlds.  And I'll take Patlabor 2 over the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion any day.  I prefer more substantial stuff at the cost of action.

416485[/snapback]

Bingo. Mr. March always seems to say what I am thinking, but with better vocubulary and less slurring.

[Penguin]

I'll take Blade Runner over Pitch Black or AVP.  I'll take Akira over Doom or War of the Worlds.  And I'll take Patlabor 2 over the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion any day.  I prefer more substantial stuff at the cost of action.

416485[/snapback]

Hallelujah, brutha.

Then again, I'll take root canal work over the "Doom" movie...

[Loner]

I saw Patlabor II at Anime Expo and shortly thereafter tried to cancel my pre-order for the LE. I had forgotten how absolutely BORING Patlabor 2 is. Alas, Overstock.com doesn't allow for cancelations so I was SOL.

Still a nice boxed set, though, and I really dig the archive book.

416124[/snapback]

I'll buy it off of you, if you don't want it.

[drifand]

I'm waiting most impatiently for the LE P2 set to arrive in Singapore. Stupid thing is... the standard remastered edition is already on the shelves!

P2 is probbably my favorite Oshii film, even over GITS and Innocence - that's because it involves characters I care about and shows them in more dramatic and serious light. The subtle revelations of Goto's feelings and Nagumo's past are my favorite moments in the film... the boat ride under the bridges while the snow fell all around is pure cinematic poetry.

[eugimon]

yup, I gotta agree with you guys... on top of being beautifully animated and directed, P2 has a rich story and great characterizations. It truly is a top notch movie... not just an animated movie but as good of a political thriller as any live action work.

[Spatula]

Patlabor 2 is boring.

OH SHI-

Actually, It's ranking basically at the top 5 anime movies on my list, heaps above the first movie. Patlabor 1 was awesome, but P2 just blows my socks off.

I really don't understand the whole mumbo jumbo about the audio, I liked Manga's version MUCH better. I'm just using TV speakers so I can't get 5.1 sound, stuck with 2.0 TV speakers LOL, so I find the voices drowned out A LOT by the SFX and music, especially when the dialogue is extremely important.

Wings of Honneamise, how THAT'S a boring movie. Sorry guys. I really mean it on that one.

[sketchley]

Funny... "Wings of Honneamise" is also a great movie. Sure, it doesn't get much replay (mind you, my collection is on the other side of the Pacific Ocean... )

I think these films are more for the connoisseur, than for anime fans in general. For example, I found the Oshii movie "Innocence" to be like a noire film, punctuated with extreme violence (or was the lack of violence in general, and the suddeness and violence of it, what really made it seem more violent? Hmmm... I think that there is a message in it...)

Anyhow, these films are works of art. To each their own. Let's keep the negativity on them to a minimum. We're all fans of something, right.

Back to the topic - what really gets my clock spinning with Patlabor 2 is how life imitated it: the Aum subway gas attack... scary!

[Penguin]

I really don't understand the whole mumbo jumbo about the audio, I liked Manga's version MUCH better.  I'm just using TV speakers so I can't get 5.1 sound, stuck with 2.0 TV speakers LOL, so I find the voices drowned out A LOT by the SFX and music, especially when the dialogue is extremely important.

421760[/snapback]

Are you listening to the English dub track or original Japanese? I didn't find the vocals drowned out at all in the Japanese track, but then again I have a 5.1 to separate the channels out and get the full benefit of the redone sound. I have to admit, I prefer the Manga dub to the new dub... but I prefer the original Japanese to any English version.

All that being said, Patlabor 1 shows off the 5.1 surround much more dramatically than P2, being the more action-packed of the two.

[Godzilla]

P2 is one of my favorite anime films even over the GitS films. I like the story as it shows the foundation of what will be a crisis planned from the beginning. It is good to know what happened to the original members of SV2 and how they came back. P1 was good but I think it could have been more of a mini-series part TV show. P3 was interesting to see how the rest of world of the Patlabor universe interacts but laters include SV2.

[Jolly Rogers]

Picked up my box last week. The supplement disc for P2 is definitely much better than the one for the first movie. Extensive interview footage with Mamoru Oshii where he discusses what went through his head while making the film, instead of only superficial, random snippets from the production staff that was on P1's supplement disc.

The movie is much better than I remembered - perhaps due to the fact that I have seen all the OVA and TV episodes that came before P2 this time around - interestingly, soundtrack re-recording for P2 was done before P1... I wonder if it'd have turned out differently had they re-worked the soundtrack chronologically instead.

It's a shame Oshii did not revist his creation and direct the 3rd Patlabor movie.

[yellowlightman]

It's a shame Oshii did not revist his creation and direct the 3rd Patlabor movie.

424099[/snapback]

Patlabor wasn't Oshii's creation.

[rikiryou]

It was Masami Yuki that came up with the concept, wasn't it? It's interesting that he started off in doujinshi. Still, I seem to prefer Oshii's version of the Patlabor universe albeit over the others.

[sketchley]

I think it is the seriousness that Oshii bring's to Patlabour that makes his additions the better ones. Of course, the original is really, really good too. I see it as a light-hearted, semi-un-serious ensamble character show. Watching it just for the characters is, well, the reason why I continue watching and purchasing the manga. (First English, than Korean, and now in Japanese. )

I think that once a viewer understands the characters, the 2nd movie makes a lot more sense, and at the same time, is a lot more disturbing/riviting to the viewer.

The great thing about the 2nd movie is it wraps up a lot of the dangling threads about the characters. The sad thing is, is that it kind of concludes their stories. Thus, the 3rd movie isn't focused on them at all - despite the fact that they are front and center in the manga story arc about the mutant alien monster...

Edited August 11, 2006 by sketchley

[HWR MKII]

I love P2 as well. For anime, the way it was directed and the camera setups actuall make it feel real.

P3 BTW is supposed to be a side story set BEFORE P1 but in the middle of the TV series. You hear mention of the Babylon project and how it is just starting. It isnt much for the fans of the Patlabor series but it is entrenched very neatly in the world of the series.

[Jolly Rogers]

It's a shame Oshii did not revist his creation and direct the 3rd Patlabor movie.

424099[/snapback]

Patlabor wasn't Oshii's creation.

424132[/snapback]

Patlabor is created by Headgear:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patlabor

Patlabor usually refers to the anime franchise known as "Mobile Police Patlabor" (機動警察パトレイãƒãƒ¼; KidÅ Keisatsu Patoreibaa) , which was originally created by Headgear.

Mamoru Oshii is part of Headgear:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headgear_%28artist_group%29

Headgear is a group consisting of 5 writers and artists who work in the Japanese anime/manga field. The group was set up so that all the creators could retain full copyright to their work, achieve greater publicity for their work and sell their manga to anime sponsors for film production. The members are Masami Yuki, Yutaka Izubuchi, Kazunori ItÅ, Akemi Takada and Mamoru Oshii. Together they worked on the anime series Patlabor and the two episode OVA Twilight Q.

So how is it not his creation?

[sketchley]

Easy, if you say only his name, along with the word creator, than he is not*.

If you say his name along with all of the other members of Headgear and the word creator, than yes, he is one of the creators.

*Essentially, saying it this way implies he is the one and only, exclusive creator of Patlabor, which he is not.

[Dendrobius]

Interestingly enough, the WXIII storyline actually was in the manga series for Patlabor, and it was one of the middle story arcs, and stuck in my mind as a great demonstration of the entire cast of Patlabor. Very strong story. WXIII the Movie for me was a good "different angle" take on the story, I liked it a lot.