Patlabor on Television

The 47 part TV series is a completely different universe to the movies and Original OVA (AKA Early Days). For the most part there's a lot of comedy in these episodes mixed in with plenty of Labor battles, but usually only one per episode. Episodes range from drama, suspense, battles with monsters, science fiction parodies and even stories about the SV2's general day to day duties.

Quite a number of characters are introduced including several that had only previously appeared in the manga. Also several stories are borrowed from the manga including the Griffin saga (though considerably shortened).

The series was originally broadcast on Nippon Television Network (NTV) on Wednesday evenings from 5pm. I think this has to be one of the few robot anime TV series where them main robot of the show, Alphonse, gets his own credit during the opening animation. Disappointingly for fans of the series, the sound effect for the Labors sounded more like the stock standard "Gundam" robot effects rather than the familiar Labor sounds from the Early Days OVA and first film. In the Japanese home video release the soundtrack was given a new stereo remix, dubbed the "Super Sound Remix" or "SS-Remix". The sound effects of the Labors were changed to match those heard in the Original OVA Series (AKA Early Days) and "Patlabor the movie". The background music was also tweaked. All video releases of the series contain the remixed audio, including all English language releases.

This version of the anime was very popular in anime clubs across the US, UK and Australia during the mid to late 1990's. A lot of anime fans including me, cite this series as one of the reasons they got into anime. Despite the massive popularity of the series in Japan and in anime clubs in the US, the success failed to follow on when it was released commercially in the US in 1998 on VHS. Most likely the causes were that there was no English dub, and that the animation was almost 10 years old at the time. Over three years after the initial VHS release, an English dub was slowly released on DVD in US by U.S. Manga Corps (Central Park Media). However sales were again poor, with around 3,000 units shipping per volume, while most other releases from the company would ship at least three times that figure. The fact that it took nearly five years release the entire series on DVD probably didn't help either.

On the final VHS tape and laserdisc of the original Japanese video release of the TV series, there is a "48th episode". This is not an animated TV episode, but a special named "Koyasai Sanbonjime" (a sanbonjime is a Japanese clapping ritual done to honour the close of an event), which was a bonus collection of staff and cast interviews that was done after the final recording session for the series and was never aired on TV.

The series doesn't really conclude here. The 16 part New OVA Series completes the series, and resolves some of the issues not dealt with in the Griffin arc.

Hidive and VRV are currently streaming the entire series in Japanese with English subtitles and an English dubbed version. It must be noted that various English dubbed episodes up to episode 12 were sourced from edited version broadcast on ImaginAsian (iaTV) around 2006. These edits amount to less than 30 seconds per episode. The Japanese version is uncut. Currently the uncut English dub for the first 12 episodes is only available on the out of print U.S. Manga Corps DVD releases (see Physical Home Video Releases below for details). Hidive and VRV's current streaming rights only include the United States of America.

Maiden Japan are currently the only company in the world with English language physical home video rights to the TV series. Currently the TV series is only available on the "Patlabor The Mobile Police: Complete Collection Special Edition" blu-ray box set, which also includes both OVA series as well as all three anime films. It must be noted that the first 12 English dubbed episodes on in the Blu-ray set was sourced from edited versions broadcast on ImaginAsian (iaTV) around 2006. These edits amount to less than 30 seconds per episode. The Japanese version on the discs are uncut. US company U.S. Manga Corps previously released this series series on ten single DVDs and later as three DVD box sets with the full uncut English dub, original Japanese dialogue and English subtitles. In December 2006, U.S. Manga Corps deleted the series, but copies of the DVDs can still be found at second hand stores. The Maiden Japan Blu-ray set and U.S. Manga Corps DVDs are only available in the United States of America, and therefore will only work on region A blu-ray players and NTSC video format compatible region 1 DVD players. If you don't live in United States of America, check your DVD or blu-ray player's instruction manual to see if it will play them. Please see the English Language TV Series Releases Video List for a complete listing of all releases, formats and product specifications of this series in English.

Bandai Channel, Amazon Prime Japan and Hulu Japan are currently streaming the entire series in Japanese. Bandai Channel, Amazon Prime Japan and Hulu Japan's current streaming rights only include Japan.

This series is available as a two part DVD box set release and also as a two part blu-ray box set release in Japan from Bandai Visual. These DVDs and blu-rays do not come with English subtitles or an English dub. These DVD sets are only available in Japan, and therefore will only work on DVD players that are both NTSC compatible and will play region 2 discs (if you don't live in Japan, check your DVD or blu-ray player's instruction manual to see if it will play the discs). All Bandai Visual blu-ray discs are region free. Please see the Japanese TV Series Releases Video List for a complete listing of all releases, formats and product specifications for this series.

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