Patlabor (1989)

 

Mamoru Oshii might be best known for the absolutely enthralling 'Ghost In the Shell', but 'Mobile Police Patlabor' is also by him, thus this makes for some anime that is fairly heady at times. Well, this one is less so than 'Ghost', but those expecting to see nothing but giant mecha action for the duration of this movie are going to be fairly disappointed. 

That does not make this bad, it is in fact a fairly well thought out detective story with occasional mechs thrown in.

In the near future (which by now truly is the past), a lot of heavy work is done by so-called Labors, mechs that do the job really well. They are piloted by people and company Shinohara has pretty much the monopoly on creating these machines. They are even used in the police force. But when several Labors malfunction and cause destruction and havoc, an investigation is on. 

It turns out the main programmer behind the new updates of the Labors has installed a virus of sorts, that has specific parametres to take over the Labors and makes them go haywire. It transpires that sound is a key factor, or at least certain pitches. And through some digging, members of the police force figure out that the design of the Labor factory is in fact ideal to produce said pitches through a strong wind.

And a hurricane is coming... 

The story truly plays out like an episode of an entertaining police show, complete with detective work, some hijinks and eventually a pretty intense finale in the bowels of the factory/headquarters of Shinohara Industries, complete with some bot-on-bot action. But it is mostly about the human characters and their job, so this might feel a bit mundane and uneventful for some. 

In fact: this anime isn't for everyone and you need to be in the mood for it, as it can feel a bit slow and tedious at times. But the final act makes it all worthwile and you might have learned to appreciate the quirky characters along the way.

Perhaps not anime 'grand cru', but for those loking for something different, it is absolutely worth checking out.