Cheap Patlabor - The Mobile Police - The TV Series (Vol. 1) (Video) (Naoyuki Yoshinaga) Price

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Customer Reviews of Patlabor - The Mobile Police - The TV Series (Vol. 1)

One of the best TV shows of the 90's.
If you have had a chance to see the Patlabor theatrical features, you should definitely check out the series in order to better understand what the fuss is all about. Patlabor didn't get the recognition it deserved in North American over other worthy series, because it was not very well promoted and badly represented as a "mecha-action" show. This couldn't be further from the truth of what this program had to offer. The movies, while technically brilliant, were more about the ideas and less about what made the show so popluar overseas, namely storytelling and character development. Shows such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Dominion, even Love Hina can trace many of their thematic and character development roots back to this wonderful show where mecha takes a back seat to the world which Headgear (the creative group responsible for the show) creates. In a sense, it's real success was in part due to the believability which they lent to the whole giant robot genre by popluating it with regular people who happen to use large machines in everyday life. The basic premise is at the end of the 20th century, newer more efficient construction methods needed to be developed, and robots were employed to fulfill this role. As a result, the number of crimes committed using these robots, or "labors", resulted in the need to create a special detatchment of the police force to deal with labor related crime. This is the premise in which we are introduced to Tokyo's newest section of the Special Vehicles Department and their crew: a crazy mix of personalities. Once you watch the show, there is bound to be at least one character you recognize from your own life, or maybe even yourself. From the regular folks who inhabit the Patlabor environment, to the cops, the construction workers, the media and their pets, everything is included and as the show comes to a close, it forms a wonderful symmetry which is rare on television. The show is the perfect set-up for the more political and philosophical approach of the movies which has been criticized for being boring; but try the series, and you won't be dissapointed. As far as I'm concerned, Patlabor was the last show that had anything interesting to offer with giant robots, and was the final word in the genre.

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Patlabor-Lost
This is a series with an extremely good plot fair animations,and good sound. It is the perfect example of a good series that never caught on in the states.
It centers around a police force that uses robots or mobile suits (for you gundam folk)to upholod the law. The plot revolves around the funding of the station relations and of course the fights between villians.

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Patlabor Surprises!
When I originally saw the PATLABOR 1 movie listed on AMAZON,
I picked it up on the basis of good customer reviews. I was
a bit worried that it was just another "SGRA (Stupid Giant
Robots Anime)", but I found out that it well transcended the
limits of the genre.

While the TV series is not of the same standards as the movies,
it is not a bad piece of work, and in fact quite a bit more
intelligent than run-of-the-mill "machine made" anime. The
stories about the Tokyo "Patrol Labor" force are driven by
good, though not great, scripts and artwork, and very much
by well-developed characterization. Spunky little femme cop
Noa Izumi is particularly endearing. The giant cop robots
("Labors") are almost secondary elements in the stories.

If you have to choose between the PATLABOR videos, the PATLABOR
2 movie is the best -- very similar to GHOST IN THE SHELL in
style and artwork -- and the PATLABOR 1 movie is good as well,
though not quite in the same league.

However, if you like them, the PATLABOR TV series makes a
good addition to the set. If not exactly up to the movies,
the TV episodes are conscientious work and entertaining in
themselves -- I would have given this video collection five
stars instead of four if the movies hadn't been exceptional --
and they provide a lot of useful background for the
characters in the movies.

I am certainly planning to pick up the next set of episodes
when they are released on DVD.