Patlabor: The Movie (Limited Edition)
This stylish science fiction detective story bears the stamp of Mamoru Oshii, who would later directGhost in the Shell. Labors are gigantic robots used for everything from construction work to law enforcement, but a massive land-reclamation project in Tokyo Bay is threatened by robots going on unexplained rampages. Patlabor cops Noah Izumi and Azuma Shinohara are called in to investigate, and soon find themselves trying to decipher the apocalyptic visions of E. Hoba, who wrote the operating system for the Labor robots, then committed suicide. Hoba introduced a virus into the software that could affect robots all over world and cause unparalleled destruction. In abandoned slum apartments and high-tech construction sites, he left clues about what he was doing--and why. But are Noah, Azuma, and their friends clever enough to second-guess a genius? And will their superiors accept their conclusions? The firstPatlaborfeature has a darker tone than the previous OVA series, which Oshii also directed. A powerful tale of the dangers of overreliance on technology,Patlaboris far superior to ordinarymechafeatures.The two books and two discs in the Limited Edition offer a model for this kind of package. The "extras" disc contains an interview with Masami Yuuki, who created the original manga, and various making-of features, including the rerecording of the film with the original cast nine years after its premiere--to take advantage of Dolby Digital technology. Oshii's storyboards have been reprinted and translated, including the dialogue and director's notes on the animation, character expressions, and camera movements. A second book presents interviews with Oshii and other artists, as well as character sketches. Of particular interest are the reference photographs of older sections of Tokyo (already slated for destruction in the late 1980s) that the artists used to make the city a presence in the film. (Rated 10 and older: occasional profanity and robot vs. robot violence.)--Charles  Solomon