Yeah, I'm terrible at following through on consistency ...
In future Tokyo, giant robots called Labors are used for construction, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police has its own fleet of Labors -- dubbed Patlabors -- to deal with crime and accidents involving Labors. Division 2 of this police force consists of the Labor-obsessed Noa Izumi, the sarcastic Asuma Shinohara, the gun nut Isao Ota, gentle giant Hiromi Yamazaki, put-upon family man Mikiyasu Shinishi, temporary officer Kanuka Clancy and Capt. Kiichi Goto.
Patlabor is an interesting series in a couple of ways: First off, it's a mix of comedy and drama, which leads into the second interesting bit about Patlabor ... that there are two different continuities within the franchise, and that both balance the comedy and drama in different ways. It's kind of weird at first, but not really too confusing if you watch the series in the proper way.
The first continuity is the original OVA --> first movie (Patlabor: The Movie) --> second movie (Patlabor 2: The Movie). The second movie is the Patlabor TV series --> New Files OVA (which is basically 16 TV episodes that for whatever reason couldn't be squeezed into the original airing). That's basically what you need to know before you watch anything Patlabor; I don't really recommend one continuity over the other as a place to start. Personally, I went with the first, but mostly because that's a shorter route to begin with.
ANYWAY, I'll talk about the first continuity right now. This is the more serious continuity by far. Not that there isn't comedy here (there are a couple of OVA episodes that are quite silly and funny), but the movies in particular are much more like political thrillers than the sitcom feel of the TV series. That doesn't bother me, though, because they are excellent political thrillers. The movies are fantastically animated, intelligently plotted and have intense action. I'd write more about 'em, but I've already talked about them in the past.
The OVA, while sillier than the movies, is also a bit more serious than the TV series. Weirdly enough, though, I think the OVA is at its best when it's silly. There's an episode with a mad scientist that had me engaging in full-on belly laughter. So damn strange, but so damn funny. But the OVA is pretty good, overall -- it's well animated, and the stories are pretty good, although I think the major problem with this continuity is that some characters are underutilized. The major characters (Izumi, Asuma, Kanuka, and Goto) get plenty of moments, but the others don't get quite as much play ... maybe Ota, because he's always hilarious, but the others not so much. However, I will say that this is my favorite continuity, because the serious stories are REALLY good.
The TV series doesn't do quite as well with the serious stories, but mostly because it's pretty damn difficult to top the Patlabor movies. Where it does succeed, however, is in character development and comedy. The TV series fully embraces the sitcom roots of Patlabor, and is often quite funny. And those funny episodes also develop the characters to a surprising amount and make them really human and interesting. Ota, for instance, is someone you laugh at in the first continuity, but here, he's someone you really feel for -- he's a heartbreakingly lonely character, and not in a really pathetic way, either.
But the main characters are still the stars. Personally, I love Izumi. She's a great female lead -- spunky, smart, she's got some bite to her, and she charges in and gets shit done. They really don't make them like her anymore -- you're either a ball buster, or in the kitchen. Goto is also The Man. He's the prototypical lazy genius character, although that's a facade more than anything; he likes to draw you in with that sleepy expression and make you think everything's cool, and then he springs the trap on you. Light and L have nothing on the keikaku dooris Goto pulls.
If there's a weakness with the TV series, it's that its very existence as a TV series means it looks way worse than the movies and OVA. It doesn't look terrible, mind, but there's an undeniable drop in visual quality and fluidity of animation. But it looks better than, say, Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is of course the standard for cheap animation. There's also a noticeable drop in quality of the more serious stories in the TV series. Again, there's no way to top the movies, and the more serious stuff is often the least interesting part of the show. Give me the episodes where the police station devolves into chaos because they have problems getting their Chinese food delivered any day.
Patlabor is one of those institutions of the American anime experience (it was the gateway anime for a lot of older fans) that has faded away over the years ... which I bet would have happened to Evangelion if it weren't for the movies, and it's happening to Cowboy Bebop, too. That's a fate this series does not deserve. Each part of the franchise is smartly written, has strong characters and is funny and endearing when it wants to be. And, also, you may have noticed that the only time I mentioned giant robots was in the summary -- despite having cool 'bots, Patlabor is much more about the pilots than the mecha. It's not really insular like many mecha series can be.
If you like this, then watch ... : There really is nothing like Patlabor in anime that I have seen. It's much more like a good American sitcom than anything, which probably helped it become relatively popular in the old days. It has that Western feel to it.
