25 April 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of Patlabor. I know I'm a little late in relaying the news, but some family emergencies took precedence (it has been a really difficult year or so for me on that front). It's also the 15th anniversary of this website which seems a bit nuts. I still want to update this site, but life is generally getting in the way of doing that. 30 years on and new Patlabor products are still being released, including Bandai's Robot Spirits Side Labor figure line and of course the upcoming "Patlabor EZY" animated project. I find that extraordinary. Anyway, thanks to everyone over the last 15 years who has taken the time to read this website and occasionally email me, even though I can be quite lazy and not reply or take ages to. Sorry. 


15 March 2018 – Team Strike's 1/64 Scale Type 98 Labor Carrier Garage Kit Available for Mail Order 
Previously sold in limited numbers at figure/garage kit showcase Wonder Festival Winter in Chiba in February, garage kit maker Team Strike have now made their 1/64 scale resin Type 98 Labor Carrier resin garage kits available to the general public on their website. The completed kit will hold either the Ingram or MPL-96 Askua-96 garage kits they have previously released. The cost of the Labor Carrier kit is ¥29,980. As they don't ship to overseas buyers, if you want to purchase the kit you'll have to use a Japanese based proxy who will buy and ship it to you. 


8 March 2018 – Limited 7" Vinyl Single of First Patlabor on Television Themes to Be Issued for Record Store Day 
As part of 2018 Record Store Day, which will be held on Saturday 21 April, Japanese independent label Jet Set Records will be issuing a number of new and old releases including a Patlabor related one. The company will reissue the single "Sono Mama no Kimideite" by Yuuko Nitoh with "Midnight Blue" by Kissme Quick on the B-side on a 7 inch vinyl single. The single was previously only issued as a CD single in December 1989. The songs were used as the first opening and closing themes for the Patlabor TV series. The single will only be available in some Japanese record stores only on 21 April. It will not be available to purchase online and will be released in limited numbers. The cost of the record will be ¥1,620. 


6 March 2018 – Bandai to Release Robot Spirits <Side Labor> Griffin Figure and Team Strike's 1/64 Scale Type 98 Labor Carrier Garage Kit  
The Tamashii Nations website announced yet another figure in the Robot Sprits <Side Labor> series; a Griffin figure as it appears in the TV series with seven optional hand parts, a battle damaged Unit 2 Ingram head and a base. The set is due for release in July 2018 and will cost ¥8,640.

Garage kit maker Team Strike announced and sold a limited number of 1/64 scale Type 98 Labor Carrier resin garage kits at the Winter Wonder Festival in Chiba back in mid February. The completed kits will hold either the Ingram or MPL-96 Askua-96 garage kits they previously released. It is expected they will be selling the Labor Carrier kit on their retail website in the near future for ¥29,980. 


27 January 2018 – Bandai to Release Robot Spirits <Side Labor> Ingram Unit 1 & 2 Parts Set (Patlabor the Movie) Figure
Sorry, I haven't been able to update the site for a while. The only recent news of note has been that the Tamashii Nations website announced another figure in the Robot Sprits <Side Labor> series; a Ingram Unit 1 & 2 Parts Set (Patlabor the Movie) figure set which includes parts for Unit 1 and 2 as they appear in the film, battle damaged parts for both units and interestingly battle damaged parts for the previously released Zero Labor. The full list of parts for the set includes; a main Ingram Unit 1 figure, 2 optional face parts, Unit 2 optional parts set, 3 sets of optional hand parts, right arm frame part, a revolver cannon, 2 large revolver cannons, a riot gun, a stun stick, a stun stick optional part for storing in shield, shield, joint parts set, battle damaged parts for Units 1 and 2, Type Zero battle damage parts set, a Type 98 command car and 2 BEL-1999 Caldia robots. Surprisingly this figure release will be a general one, not a Premium Bandai website release like a few of the others in this series. The set is due for release in April 2018 and will cost ¥7,992.


21 October 2017 – Bandai to Release Robot Spirits <Side Labor> AV-98 Ingram Unit 1 and AV-X0 Zero Battle Damage "Patlabor the movie" Versions and Soft Vinyl AV-X0 Garage Kit Delayed  
The Tamashii Nations website has announced they'll be releasing Robot Spirits <Side Labor> AV-98 Ingram Unit 1 and AV-X0 Zero Battle Damage "Patlabor the movie" Versions sometime in the future. No other information has been announced on the figures yet. Kaiyodo has also delayed their forthcoming AV-X0 Type-Zero to November due to manufacturing issues.


2 October 2017 – Bandai to Release Robot Spirits <Side Labor> AV-98 Ingram Unit 1 and 2 "Patlabor the movie" Versions 
A display of the Patlabor Robot Spirits <Side Labor> series in the Tamashii Nations Akiba Showroom at Akihabara station has revealed that Bandai will be releasing AV-98 Ingram Unit 1 and 2 "Patlabor the movie" versions in April 2018. There's no word on when pre-orders will go up, or if these figures will be available in retail shops or exclusive to the Premium Bandai online store. The figures will cost in  ¥7,992 each.


9 August 2017 – New Team Strike Resin Garage Kits & Robot Spirits <Side Labor> AV-98 Ingram Unit 3 
Team Strike have released two new garage kits as part of their ongoing "Patlabor the Life Work" series; the first is a 1/64 scale Type 97 Command Car from the "Early Days" OVA which will cost ¥8,640. Second is 1/64 scale resin AV-98 Ingram based upon the version in the Early Days OVA which was previously released during Wonder Festival Summer 2017 last weekend. The kit will cost ¥21,384. This kit comes with various optional parts including two different sets of hands, two revolver cannons, shield, retracted and unretracted stun sticks and face shield.

The Premium Bandai website have announced a new AV-98 Ingram Unit 3 figure as part of their Robot Spirits <Side Labor> series. The figure will include five sets of replacement hand parts, arm extension replacement parts, Unit 3 variant replacement parts, a shield, two practice shields, stun sticks and revolver cannons. The figure will be 125mm tall and will only be available to purchase on the Premium Bandai website. It will cost ¥7,020 and will ship out in January 2018. Pre-orders commence tomorrow.


29 July 2017 – Patlabor Garage Kits to be Sold at Wonder Festival Summer 2017 
A number of Patlabor garage kits are to be sold by exhibitors at Summer Wonder Festival 2017, which is being held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba tomorrow, 30 July 2017. First up is Robo Samurai's 1/60 scale resin AV-98 Ingram machine 1 which is based off the version that appeared in the first movie. It costs ¥12,000 and will be limited to 15 kits. Second is Team Strike's 1/64 scale resin AV-98 Ingram based upon the version in the Early Days OVA. This kit contains additional parts such as two stun stick (one retracted, the second deployed), two revolver cannons, two sets of hand parts, a shield, two sets of hand parts and a set of optional head parts. Cost is unknown. A third garage kit maker is reissuing a 1/44 scale resin Ingram kit that will cost ¥4,500. Summer Wonder Festival 2017 runs from 10am to 5pm and entry is ¥2,500.


28 July 2017 – Kaiyodo to Release 1/24 Scale AV-X0 Type-Zero Soft Vinyl Garage Kit 
In October, Kaiyodo will release a large 410mm tall (1/24 scale) soft vinyl garage kit of the AV-X0 Type-Zero from the first Patlabor movie. The first in their new Sci-Fi MECHANIC soft vinyl model kit collection line, the kit will contain 32 pieces and will have optional parts to have the head "open faced", or closed. The kit costs a whopping ¥19,440 and is available to pre-order now.


5 July 2017 – Labors to Appear in Forthcoming “City Shrouded in Shadow” Video Game 
Japanese gaming news site Famitsu has announced that the forthcoming PlayStation 4 game “City Shrouded in Shadow” will include three Labors from the Patlabor franchise; AV-98 Ingrams, Type 5Q/2C Grau Bear and CRL-98 Pyro-Buster. The game, to be released by Bandai Namco on 19 October this year, is set in a fictional metropolis called Ichi city which is attacked by giant monsters. Players can choose between two characters; Ken Misaki or Miharu Matsuhara, with the objective being to attempt to escape the city. Other well-known characters to make appearances in the game announced so far include Ultraman, Godzilla, Gamera and one of the Evangelions.


28 June 2017 - Groove Garage Release SV2 Tool Boxes 
Groove Garage continue to release more "The Next Generation - Patlabor -" merchandise with the addition of two SV2 toolboxes; one in grey and one in a tan colour. Both are due to ship in August and retail for ¥5,400 each.


25 June 2017 - New TV Series "Patlabor EZY" and Future Updates 
I'll get to the lack of updates in a minute, but first the big news; on 13 June at the International Animation Film Market (MIFA) at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, production company Genco announced they would be producing a new Patlabor anime called "Patlabor EZY". The promotional poster mimics the 1989 movie poster and even uses the exact same background. It is believed this project will be a TV series. Producer Taro Maki released an image of the poster on his Twitter account. Headgear member Kazunori Ito also announced on his Twitter account that he would be involved in the project, saying "I have been working on a thing like this. Though it won't be realized anytime soon, I am working on it anyway. It won't be realized anytime soon...". Of note is the "Headgear Presents" title at the top of the poster and Headgear copyright in the bottom right hand corner. No other information is known about the project at this stage.

I have had a six month break from this site, but not voluntary one. I went overseas back in March and came back to a family crisis where both my parents will have to be placed in permanent care. Luckily one is already in permanent care at the moment, however the other has been hospitalised since April. So at the moment I'm currently trying to organise the finances for my parents and going through the legalities of setting up financial management orders and guardianship orders for the both of them (no, I haven't got power of attorney for either of them), plus trying to run their household while I try to organise my own life and work, some 200 kilometres away from where they live. I'm not going to have this stuff sorted for at least 12 to 18 months. However I still want to update this site and work on it over that time (mostly as a distraction from what's going on). So if this site is neglected over that time, it's not deliberate. I have also updated the upcoming product releases. Several Bandai figures (including two Premium Bandai website only figures) and lot of Cospa merchandise has come out since December. I want to update the merchandise section of the site to include all of the Cospa stuff, but that's a long term project.


4 December 2016 - New Robot Spirits Brocken and Ingram Unit 2 Figures
Some belated news; Bandai will be releasing numerous Patlabor figures as part of it's Robot Spirits <Side Labor> line. First up is Ota's Unit 2 Ingram which was only available to order on the Premium Bandai website. Unfortunately I noticed this too late and pre-orders have already closed last week. It will ship in March 2017. The second figure is the Type 7 Brocken which comes with three kinds interchangeable wrists, a 40mm quick fire machine gun, a 105mm cannon gun and traffic light and guardrail accessories. It retails for ¥7,560 and is available for pre-order now at the usual places. It will also ship in March 2017.


25 November 2016 - New Patlabor Project in the Works
Producer Taro Maki announced on his Facebook page yesterday that work on a new Patlabor project has commenced. In the post he also jokingly wondered how many years it would take to complete. Other than this short Facebook post there are no details as to what this project may be.


23 November 2016 - Patlabor Reboot Streaming Legally with English Subtitles
The Japan Animator Expo (aka Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition website is streaming "Patlabor Reboot" for free in Japanese with optional English subtitles until 28 February 2017. The streaming page also includes character and colour design reference sheets, mechanical design sheets, backgrounds and a full staff credit list.


10 November 2016 - The Blu Collection to Release Patlabor Movies Blu-ray Sets Up for Pre-Order
The three disc set of Patlabor anime films from South Korean video company The Blu Collection is now up for pre-order on KimchiDVD. It comes in two different versions; a lenticular version and a "fullslip" version. Both sets don't seem to have a boxes to hold all three discs, but come with the "Minipato" theatrical shorts and booklets. As I previously mentioned, both sets are limited to 600 copies each, so if you want a copy, order now.


9 November 2016 - The Blu Collection to Release Patlabor Movies on Blu-ray with English Subtitles
South Korean video company The Blu Collection will release all three Patlabor movies in a very limited quantity of 600 each. Each disc will cost ₩33,000 and come with a number of bonus items such as stickers and mini posters. All three discs will have the original Japanese audio, Korean and English subtitles. The discs will be released on 30 November 2016. The only place you can buy the discs seems to be KimchiDVD, however pre-orders won't open until 10 November 2016. I'll post more details as they come to hand.


6 November 2016 - Site Updates 
I have created a new section, The Next Generation - Patlabor - Merchandise, which as it sounds lists nearly 120 items of various merchandise that were sold as part of "The Next Generation - Patlabor -" franchise. I really don't know if they made a profit on any of that stuff considering the rather lukewarm response to the series. When I compiled the list, I was pretty surprised at the amount stuff they put out for sale. Sometime between now and the end of the year, I hope to compile and complete a new section on the promotional items made for the series.


2 October 2016 - Site Updates 
I have pretty much finished the section on "The Next Generation - Patlabor - Final Battle in the Capital (aka Tokyo War)" (more or less). Other than adding some some additional trivia and some minor edits, all the work on the "Next Generation" project is finished. I don't usually editorialise, but it was an absolute chore to sit through the movie version of that series. It's an utterly frustrating film not helped by the fact it draws immediate comparisons to "Patlabor 2 the movie". It's just a pale imitation of the anime version and a far, far inferior one at that. I despise the film more and more each time I watch it. Anyway I've also managed to update the fix up the rest of the site so it looks a bit nicer. I want to update a number of sections and will be doing so over the next few months.


13 September 2016 - "Patlabor Reboot" Blu-ray and DVD to Include English Subtitles
There is a little bit of conflicting and confusing information, but the Bandai Visual website is stating that the Blu-ray and DVD versions of "Mobile Police Patlabor" will contain English subtitles. The weird bit is that it's listed under special features, not the actual disc specifications. However all of the previous Japan Animator Expo (aka Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition) short films have been streamed with English subtitles, so it would be strange if this short didn't receive the English subtitled treatment as well. The short will now be 8 minutes long and the discs will contain 40 minutes of extras.


11 September 2016 - Figureheads x Patlabor Collaboration, Bandai Visual's "Patlabor Reboot" and Patweb Websites Revamped
A Patlabor mission has been added to Square Enix's online strategy mecha shooter game "Figureheads". From 14 September to 17 November 2016, players will be able to select a mission involving the Ingram and Griffin from "Patlabor". Both Labors are modified "Sports Type" versions. Players will be able to use various weapons while piloting the Ingram including the Revolver Cannon Shotgun and Stun Stick.

Bandai Visual has updated their Patlabor Reboot website to include a new visual for the short as well as very short comments from Yasuhiro Yoshiura, Yutaka Izubuchi and Kazunori Ito. Bandai Visual has also completely revamped their Patweb site which now includes sections on all the Patlabor anime and synopses for every episode.


19 August 2016 - "The Next Generation - Patlabor -" Box Sets to Be Released with Director's Cut of Episode 12
Happinet Pictures will be releasing box sets of "The Next Generation - Patlabor -" on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on 2 December 2016. The sets will feature discs identical versions of the single seven disc releases (same on disc content and features) of the series plus an eighth bonus disc which will contain a 51 minute director's cut of episode 12, "Great Expectations". The DVD set will cost ¥15,500 and the Blu-ray version costs ¥18,500. Like the single disc versions, the box sets will only contain Japanese dialogue.


29 July 2016 - Japan Animator Expo's "Patlabor Reboot" Short Film Announced 
You have probably already heard the big news today; a new 10 minute Patrlabor short called "The Mobile Police Patlabor Reboot" will be released on 15 October 2016 to cinemas as part of a compilation film named "Screening of Go Go Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition". This compilation film contains 12 short films from the Japan Animator Expo (aka Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition) short films series that has been streaming on Niconico since 2014. The series is collaboration between Studio Khara (set up Hideaki Anno to produce the "Rebuild of Evangelion" film tetralogy) and Japanese telecommunications company Dwango. While those films were previously streamed with English subtitles, "The Mobile Police Patlabor Reboot" is going direct to the cinema with a home video release (with no English subtitles announced) straight after. No streaming release has been announced. 

The short film's story is currently unknown, however the footage from the trailer shows a heavily influence from the first two Patlabor films. Yasuhiro Yoshiura ("Time of Eve", "Patema Inverted") will be directing and storyboarding. He will also be writing the screenplay with Kazunori Ito. Naoyuki Asano ("Mr. Osomatsu") will be doing the character designs based off Masami Yuuki's original designs. Kenji Kawai will of course be providing the music and Yutaka Izubuchi is credited with mechanical designs. Megumi Hayashibara (Rei in "Evangelion", Lina Inverse in "Slayers") and Koichi Yamadera (Spike Spiegel in "Cowboy Bebop") are credited as voice actors in the short. "Screening of Go Go Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition" will screen from 1 October 2016 to 21 October 2016 only at the Shinjuku Wald 9 cinemas in Tokyo and Umeda Burg 7 cinemas in Osaka. Tickets will cost ¥2,000. Cinema patrons will be able to buy a special theatre only edition of "The Mobile Police Patlabor Reboot" on Blu-ray in cinemas for ¥6,482. The following week Bandai Visual will release retail versions of the short on Blu-ray (¥5,000) and DVD (¥3,000). This will mark the first time one of the Japan Animator Expo short films has been released to physical home video. I have written up a bit more detail on the film in the short's section here. I plan to update the section and the info on the BD and DVD releases over the weekend. I really like Yasuhiro Yoshiura's work and based on the trailer this short looks fun.


5 June 2016 - Site Updates 
I have finally finished the section on "The Next Generation - Patlabor -" movies series. It's taken a little while to complete it. I don't think I'll be making many corrections to the section other than some minor editing for grammar and spelling and some other minor edits regarding guest actors and trivia. Next up will be the section on "The Next Generation - Patlabor - Final Battle in the Capital (aka Tokyo War)", but that one is going to take a white complete. I'll also be updating other sections as I go and attempting to clean up a lot of stuff. I also want to do a separate section on "The Next Generation - Patlabor -" merchandise sometime in the future.


1 June 2016 - “The Next Generation: Patlabor - Tokyo War” Director’s Cut Edition Available on Blu-ray in English + Tamashii Nations Ingram Figure to Ship in October 
A couple of recent news items; first on 27th May, Panorama in Hong Kong have released the Director’s Cut Edition of “The Next Generation: Patlabor - Tokyo War” on Blu-ray format only. This is the longer 119 minute version released five months after the original 94 minute theatrical feature. Like their previous “The Next Generation - Patlabor -“ releases, this disc will be coded region A and will have the original Japanese dialogue, a Cantonese dub and English and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) subtitles. It’s selling for HK$239. Like the other discs in the series, for some unknown reason Yesasia isn’t selling the disc (the usual place I buy my Hong Kong DVDs and BDs from), so I only found out about this release by accident yesterday. However you can buy the disc from Play Asia and DDDHouse.

Secondly Tamashii Nations (Bandai) have announced a Patlabor figures as part of their Robot Spirits series. The series will be released under the <Side Labor> name with the Unit 1 AV-98 Ingram to be released in October 2016. Features include fully possible arm and leg joints, Revolver Cannon, leg cover opening for the Revolver Cannon, arm manipulator, face amour and hand replacement parts, Stun Stick and Type 98 Command Car. The figure stands 125mm and retails for ¥7,200. Tamashii Nations have also announced a special campaign where you can buy additional parts to convert the figure into Unit 2.


21 May 2016 - Apologies and Site Updates 
Due to a number of reasons, I just haven't been able to update this site for over two years now. In the last month or so I've finally pulled my finger out and tried to make a start on updating everything. I've started with "The Next Generation - Patlabor - " with updates to the movie series as well as the concluding full length theatrical feature. I've also made a few updates here and there. It's going to take a long time to fix up stuff, there's going to be a few broken links and whatnot, so bare with me. As of last month, the entire franchise, including "The Next Generation - Patlabor - " series and film is available on Blu-ray in English. Maiden Japan has released the New OVA Series and the three films as well as "Minipato" on Blu-ray in the US. In Hong Kong, Panorama released "The Next Generation - Patlabor - " with English subtitles. You can get copies from DDDHouse and Play Asia. For some reason YesAsia is only stocking the DVD versions. At any rate the subtitles can be a bit spotty on the discs, but are reasonable (like the series). To be honest the series was OK in spots and had flashes of brilliance, the movie version I didn't like much at all. I don't understand why Oshii decided to remake a substandard live action version of "Patlabor 2 the the movie". In the end neither was a patch on the anime versions. But go out and watch it yourself and make your own conclusions.