Reviews for Patlabor: Mobile Police (5.33)
eltimsy
Oshii Mamoru
Yoshinaga Naoyuki
General overview Many years ago, one of my friends recommended this series to me. However, I never actually bothered to watch it and forgot about it for a very long time until recentl...
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07.05.2011 16:33 - direct link
(rs7890)
General overview
Many years ago, one of my friends recommended this series to me. However, I never actually bothered to watch it and forgot about it for a very long time until recently. So well, I have to say I am quite disappointed.
Patlabor definitely isn't your typical Mech series, i can go further to say it that the "mechs" they have are over-sized machines. Thus the originality of having mechs in a series and them not actually being that powerful is born. The series relies on dialogue and situations to entertain you rather then flashy battles.
I haven't seen anything else besides this 7 part OVA so I'm not sure what happens in other parts of the series, but from what I've seen its was not pretty. The biggest flaw that really broke the anime for me was the inability for them to have one linear story line. They only have 7 episodes and manage to add in a fair share of sea monsters, ghosts AND a military coup d'etat. The only redeeming factor is most of the time the anime doesn't take itself seriously.
Its hard for me to make a recommendation for this anime, since it doesn't excel in anything it is suppose to. I guess if you are interested in watching an anime that steps beyond normal boundaries of mech give it a try?
Ratings
Animation
This is a relatively old series so you can't really except much out of the animation department. I think even if I consider the time period it is still pretty average in my books. Even though it is suppose to be a mech, you rarely get much action and when you do it comes more to chase scenes then robots throwing punches at each other.
The character designs and backgrounds were also quite simple. They didn't really go out of their way to put detail in anything, it was just enough to not be horrible.
Sound
I heard sound..... but really I nothing actually stuck out at all. I didn't even bother listening to the opening or ending, thats how much I cared. In terms of voice acting they fit the characters fine. The only voice actor I really have much an impression with was Furuwaka Toshio for Shinohara Asamu, in my books hes always the annoying Ataru voice from Urusei Yatsura.
Story
As I mentioned before this is really the part of the anime that made it bad. The main point is they didn't have a direction they wanted to go in. They start off by talking about fighting robot crime, then jump to an organization trying to stop a government project. This is all fine, but they don't ACTUALLY have many incidents relating to this. They spend 4 episodes on completely different topics. I can understand when you have a 50 episode series and have a few fillers, but for a 7 part OVA to have 2 fillers and then a 2 episode side story? I just don't understand the logic. I mean I think even monster of the week is better then this.... I think my big beef is that they introduced an issue I THOUGHT they were going to deal with, but the anime just turned out to be cops running around doing random things. I felt cheated of a real story.
Character
They spend some time trying to build something out of them. I'm not sure what they accomplished at the end though. You don't actually grow very close to any of the characters, you just learn and see random things about them. For instances you find out that captain Gotou is more then meets the eye. You see the family issues that Shinohara has with his father, and you also see Izumi's desire to pilot robots.... All in all it really amounts to nothing. The only saving grace is that the cast was unique enough and provided entertainment because of the actions they did. However they all remain fairly one dimensional.
Value and Enjoyment
You will not gain anything by watching this. In fact it is at best a way to pass time when you are bored. Its not the worst thing I've ever seen, but since I had some expectations for it, the disappointment just made it much worse. I didn't hate it so, its good enough that I could still sit through it, but don't hope for too much.
Many years ago, one of my friends recommended this series to me. However, I never actually bothered to watch it and forgot about it for a very long time until recently. So well, I have to say I am quite disappointed.
Patlabor definitely isn't your typical Mech series, i can go further to say it that the "mechs" they have are over-sized machines. Thus the originality of having mechs in a series and them not actually being that powerful is born. The series relies on dialogue and situations to entertain you rather then flashy battles.
I haven't seen anything else besides this 7 part OVA so I'm not sure what happens in other parts of the series, but from what I've seen its was not pretty. The biggest flaw that really broke the anime for me was the inability for them to have one linear story line. They only have 7 episodes and manage to add in a fair share of sea monsters, ghosts AND a military coup d'etat. The only redeeming factor is most of the time the anime doesn't take itself seriously.
Its hard for me to make a recommendation for this anime, since it doesn't excel in anything it is suppose to. I guess if you are interested in watching an anime that steps beyond normal boundaries of mech give it a try?
Ratings
Animation
This is a relatively old series so you can't really except much out of the animation department. I think even if I consider the time period it is still pretty average in my books. Even though it is suppose to be a mech, you rarely get much action and when you do it comes more to chase scenes then robots throwing punches at each other.
The character designs and backgrounds were also quite simple. They didn't really go out of their way to put detail in anything, it was just enough to not be horrible.
Sound
I heard sound..... but really I nothing actually stuck out at all. I didn't even bother listening to the opening or ending, thats how much I cared. In terms of voice acting they fit the characters fine. The only voice actor I really have much an impression with was Furuwaka Toshio for Shinohara Asamu, in my books hes always the annoying Ataru voice from Urusei Yatsura.
Story
As I mentioned before this is really the part of the anime that made it bad. The main point is they didn't have a direction they wanted to go in. They start off by talking about fighting robot crime, then jump to an organization trying to stop a government project. This is all fine, but they don't ACTUALLY have many incidents relating to this. They spend 4 episodes on completely different topics. I can understand when you have a 50 episode series and have a few fillers, but for a 7 part OVA to have 2 fillers and then a 2 episode side story? I just don't understand the logic. I mean I think even monster of the week is better then this.... I think my big beef is that they introduced an issue I THOUGHT they were going to deal with, but the anime just turned out to be cops running around doing random things. I felt cheated of a real story.
Character
They spend some time trying to build something out of them. I'm not sure what they accomplished at the end though. You don't actually grow very close to any of the characters, you just learn and see random things about them. For instances you find out that captain Gotou is more then meets the eye. You see the family issues that Shinohara has with his father, and you also see Izumi's desire to pilot robots.... All in all it really amounts to nothing. The only saving grace is that the cast was unique enough and provided entertainment because of the actions they did. However they all remain fairly one dimensional.
Value and Enjoyment
You will not gain anything by watching this. In fact it is at best a way to pass time when you are bored. Its not the worst thing I've ever seen, but since I had some expectations for it, the disappointment just made it much worse. I didn't hate it so, its good enough that I could still sit through it, but don't hope for too much.
