I watched the first OVAs. I have seen all the movies. It’s a different vibe from anything with mecha coming from Japan. Mamoru Oshii –Ghost in the Shell- is/was the director. Production backstory:
In the late 1980s, Oshii was solicited by his friend Kazunori Itō to join Headgear as a director. The group was composed of Kazunori Itō (screenwriter), Masami Yuki (manga artist), Yutaka Izubuchi (mechanical designer), Akemi Takada (character designer) and Mamoru Oshii (director). Together they were responsible for the Patlabor TV series, OVA, and films. Released in the midst of Japan’s economic crisis, the Patlabor series and films projected a dynamic near-future world in which grave social crisis and ecological challenges were overcome by technological ingenuity, and were a big success in the mecha genre.
This show is not about mechas. it’s a dad mecha world. It focuses on responsibilities and consequences of having giant robots working in cities, Operating Systems that can fuck up or hackers who are up to no good.
It feels very real now that we have the first tests of giant robots happening. It feels like it’s here but I remember being a kid in 89 and being annoyed at that “serious” angle. When you’re a kid you want the fantasy mecha, flying at mach 2, 300 missiles shot at the same time etc. None of that in Patlabor (do you have 300 missiles launching money?). The unit that operates those police robots is under scrutiny, they’re broke, they’re trying to save money/keep their jobs. Their missions are mostly about heavy construction robots accidents and making sure they don’t damage the city when they operate. They are an elite crew of mechanics and pilots doing boring cop stuff.
There is just a tension, a melancolia in this universe that I haven’t felt in anything else with robots. It makes it unique, it makes me care more. It’s philosophy-based but not going all nuts like Oshii’s future work. It’s simpler: how can we balance our lives with technology? Is technology really that necessary?
It blows my mind that some guys were actively thinking about and designing that world in 1985 and on. Japanese culture is so absurdly good at the “what if” game.