PATLABOR 2 - The Movie BLU RAY (Region A) (NTSC) Mamoru Oshii

This is Mamoru Oshii's best film, hands down. This is also one of the best political thrillers and police dramas that I have ever watched. This film has Oshii's now standard philosophical ramblings, but here it's done in a way that isn't quite as overbearing as it will be in later films, like Ghost In The Shell, although the philosophical angle is part of why people hail that film in the first place. The film also has a great music score, again composed by Kenji Kawai. As with the first film and all of the other entries in franchise, Patlabor 2 takes place in a world where mecha (called Labors) are a part of everyday life, from construction sites to police departments, and even the military. Unlike the first film, however, this movie does not focus on what happens when nutcase employees write viruses into the operating systems of the various machines used by everyone in the world. Instead, this movie focuses on the more mature themes of love and war, with love being represented by Gotoh's unrequited love for Nagumo, and Shinobu's apparently still alive love for a man named Tsuge, who disappeared after a peacekeeping tour of duty in southeast asia in 1999. Tsuge, however, has apparently become more than a bit embittered and has become a terrorist, and he manages to take Tokyo hostage without ever once getting his own hands dirty in the process. The war is represented by Tsuge and his actions, which bring about a manner of civil unrest and even a declaration of martial law as corruption within the police force and rising tensions between Japanes Self Defense Force and possible actions from the United States (we still have military bases over there, ever since the end of WWII) begin to escalate.This is storytelling at its finest, and I'd be hard pressed to find a live action film that manages to do what this film does in its runtime. Sadly, I know that many people will probably ignroe this film simply because it's animated. The other year when I tried to show this movie to my dad (I had bought the single disc edition at Suncoast), he was almost intrigued, until he realized that it was an anime and he promptly wanted nothing to do with it. Still, the fact remains that this is a great political thriller, and the more mature themes (not mature in the way that teenagers and AV sites think of) that are explored here are done to great effect. This film has less focus on the entirety of the Special Vehicles Unit Division 2 than the previous film, as it focuses mostly on Gotoh and Nagumo, the leaders of Divisions 1 and 2, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. Sure, there are no loud mouth remakrs from Otah until the third act, and we don't get to see much of Asuma and Noa outside of the opening credits and the third act, and...um, actually, yeah, nearly everyone is absent until the third act except for Detective Matsui, who gets to have some presence sproadically throughout the film, much as he did in the first one. Despite the impact that Tsuge has on the plot, he actually doesn't appear very much outside of maybe three or four scenes total, and that's counting a photograph of him found in a folder during a discussion between Gotoh and Arakawa. Mr. Arakawa, being a smug snake looking fellow, has actually less impact on the events that unfold in the plot, but much more presence than the man with the most impact. Now that is a case of irony. The discussions that Arakawa and Gotoh have throughout the film are not only delightfully philosophical, but also quite political and pragmatic as well. The English dub really works well here, as the new one commissioned for Image Entertainment's DVDs was doen professionally, and all of the voices fit with the characters and their personalities.As with the previous film's Limited Edition DVD, there are two discs in a book-like case, along with two booklets. These are all housed within a gold-colored, uh, housing. The first booklet is basically a "making of" booklet, or archives booklet. It goes over the film, how it was made, comparisons between two episodes of the OVA and the second movie, character designs, interviews with cast and crew (especially Mamoru Oshii himself), technical specifications for the variosu locations, places, and people, and even short character bios alongside their designs. A short version of this booklet, with only the characters, locations, and equipment, can be found with the Single-Disc edition. The second booklet contains storyboards, storyboards, storyboards, more storyboards, and finally, storyboards. As with the other Limited Edition, the first disc has the movie, in widescreen, with Japanese and English adio and subtitles, along with some Japanese trailers for the film. The second disc has a making of feature. Having already owned the single-disc edition, I have to say that this Limited Edition is a vast improvement. Not only in terms of extra features, but also in terms of audio quality, as the single disc version had a problem with the English dub being too low in certain parts of the film, and too loud in others. Here, however, that problem is not present, as the English dub is consistent the whole way.As with the previous film, I would recommend both this movie and DVD to anyone with an interest in anime, robots, robotic engineering, and politics and police drama. The plot is a solid thriller, Early Years of Tom Clancy level (like Red October level, not his later works), and the characters are great to watch. The animation is very nice, and it clearly has a similar look to what Oshii would use for 1995's Ghost In The Shell. Bottom line, this is gold.

This...this is one of the best DVDs ever. The movie is fantastic, with a great plot and excellent animation quality. The music score by Kenji Kawaii (Ghost In The Shell, When They Cry) perfectly captures the mood of each scene and sequence, and the character interactions, not to mention the characters themselves, are very entertaining to watch. I'll be honest, though, I had seen Patlabor the Movie 2 and WXIII before I ever saw this film. I had seen an abridged version of the film on YouTube before watching this, although I was still able to get the general idea of the plot thanks to that. Despite all of the acclaim that Mamoru Oshii, the director, might get for his work on Ghost In The Shell, Patlabor (and P2) are probably some of his best work. The plot is a great detective plot, just with giant robots. The fact that the changes in society caused by the integration of Labors (the name for these mecha in the franchise) are treated as a part of life is what makes Patlabor so different from other mech shows. The labors are part of everyday life, and so new schools for operating them and jobs related to labors seem natural, and that is also what helps the plot so well. I really don't want to spoil it, but if something like a specific frequency caused by wind can make a robot go berserk thanks to a code written in its software, then what happens when the robots found all around you, in construction sites and police departments, also receive a new upgrade with the same software and problem?The DVD has a nice silver colored casing, and there are two discs. The first disc contains the film, with the original Japanese language track and a new English dub. This English dub was apparently made by professionals, since I can recognize some of the voices, and every character has a vocie that fits their personality just right. The Japanese track is, of course, the go to track, but I feel that both tracks are equal in terms of performance quality, and also in terms of audio quality as well. The Japanese track also has optional subtitles. There are also several Japanese theatrical trailers for the film as well. The second disc has a documentary. The DVD also comes with two booklets. The first one is basically the making of the film in text and image form, and it's great to read. It has a lot of information on the film, and it's very well written. The second booklet has dozens and dozens of storyboards, all with translation notes and whatnot. The discs themselves are held in a book-like case, similar to what Classic Media used for their Rodan/War of the Gargantuas DVD set.Overall, this is an excellent DVD for an excellent movie. I Highly recommend it for anyone who's even remotely interested in anime or robots, or perhaps even robotic engineering! It's that good of a movie.

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I seriously love Patlabor. I bought the OVA’s and I needed more. The movie continues the OVA timeline (the OVA and anime series are two separate entities) and it’s just as excellent. The story revolves around the Second Division trying to find out the reasons behind random Labors going nuts. It’s an intriguing plot and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Beautiful visuals and the action is top notch. If you loved the OVA’s you’ll love the movie!

Patlabor 2 is a sequel and like it's predecessor Patlabor; is a very high quality and at times hauntingly beautiful animated movie. Not surprising since it comes from Mamoru Oshii, the creator of Ghost in the Shell (One of the best anime movies every made!) So it's very nice to finally see this out on Blu Ray where it belongs. Quite simply, this is an old school movie at it's very, very finest!Like Ghost in the Shell, both Patlabor movies are visually superb. And like Ghost both have very quiet introspective moments when the movies simply pan along through the city with a richly detailed background. But where the first Patlabor movie concentrated more on the action parts of a Ghost in the Shell; Patlabor 2 tends to concentrate more on the political machinations, infighting and detective work. It does have some very good action scenes especially at the beginning and end; but it's less about the fighting than the previous Patlabor and Ghost movies were. And more about the rising tensions and both the viewers and citizens wondering what in heck is going to happen next? So when somebody says it's boring this is what they really mean. It's not for non-stop action fans, but more for the Sherlock Holmes crowd but with Mech's!Like the previous Bandai Visual DVD release, on disc extras are limited to just a few trailers. And it lacks the BV booklet. But it does have a full 1080P 16x9 video and the previous English and Japanese DD 5.1 audio tracks are boosted to full 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The surround is very impressive and fully matches the beautiful animation. There is no French track.Like Patlabor, I give this movie 5 stars out of 5. It's one of the very best of the early old school anime movies. But it's more for those who love gorgeous visuals and haunting music than continuous action fans who will probably find it too slow.J. A.

Great techno-thriller movie by Mamoru Oshii. Sublime soundtrack by Kenji Kawai. The Blu-Ray disc is about as barebones as it gets. 5 stars for the movie. One minor gripe: in some key moments, large blocks of explanatory text pop up on the screen, and detract from the viewing, in my opinion. They reveal things that a curious viewer can find through a simple web search, and there seems to be no way to turn off these annoying captions. Too bad.

Bought this as a gift for my son, he loves it, so I give it top rating. The graphics are good & I think the plotline is good as my son has watched this several times, he is pleased with it 100%, so I give this a 5 star rating.