Search - Patlabor - The Mobile Police, The TV Series Boxed Set (Vols. 5-8) on DVD

The Meat of the Patlabor TV series

Daniel Cowden | USA | 04/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the continuation of the Patlabor TV series. The show left off with our heroes in Division 2 participating in a series of stand-alone episodes, and these volumes continue that at first, with a plot against Captain Goto's life, a pop singer joining Division 2 for a few days, and the team having to descend into subterranian passageways to defuse a terrorist bomb.

Then the Phantom from Episodes 10 & 11 returns at just the moment in time that Asuma and Noa's working relationship begins to go south. This short two-part story provides more depth to the understated relationship between Asuma and Noa, and also intensifies the mystery surounding the Phantom and Schaft.

After another short interlude with a wonderful character story involving yakuza who take an interest in labors (and Noa), Kanuka's tenure with Division 2 ends. But before she can depart, her hapless teammates attempt to throw her a surprise good-bye party and end up reading her private journal detailing her opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of the other members in Division 2. Even at the airport, Kanuka's departure cannot go smoothly, as a pitiful excuse for a terrorist attempts to hijack the airplane before it has even left the tarmac.

Once Kanuka has left the country, Goto must deal with the matter of replacing her; who could possibly keep Ota in check? Mild-mannered Shinshi is thrown to the wolves -- I mean, given the job, with which he struggles. And these trials could not come at a more difficult time for him, as civilian businesses are attempting to lure him away from public service.

Eventually, however, a new member is added to Division 2, Takeo Kumagami. Though just as calm and level-headed as Shinshi, she has all of Kanuka's competence without the hair-trigger temper or competitive edge, and she manages to keep firmer control of Ota's wild rages than Kanuka could. This leads to a few episodes which help establish her character, but then the action picks up again.

The last third of these episodes deals with a new threat to Division 2: Schaft's new Griffin Labor. The new data-gathering machine of Schaft, it was designed solely to confront the Ingrams and defeat them, hopefully bringing away the Ingram's computer programs (looted from wrecked Ingrams) so that Schaft will not have to bother doing its own research and development to compete with Shinohara Heavy Industry's increasing dominance of the Labor market. As Noa struggles against this radical new threat, Kumagamai ends up in the hospital after discovering the identity of Schaft's new man-on-the-scene, Utsumi. Kanuka, meanwhile, resurfaces on the trail of Schaft's private army, known as Triple-S, who were themselves brought to Japan in an effort to deal with Utsumi's rogue behavior within Schaft's own organization.

These action episodes between the Ingrams and Griffin are among the best of the series, and made all the more impressive by the turmoil Noa suffers as she wonders if she's good enough to defeat the "black labor" -- this self-doubt will later resurface in the last volumes of the TV series and the "New Files" OAV.

The disappointment is that the final conclusion of the multi-episode battle between Noa and the Griffin is not in this set; it's the first episode of the next volume.

Overall, this set has the real meat of the Patlabor TV series; it is here that the major themes (other than comedy) are dealt with, and where the majority of the action takes place. The humor will get better in the final three volumes, but the action reaches its peak here with the Griffin vs Ingram battles, and the characterization remains just as good throughout these as ever."