Action Channel Month this year ends with one of my favorite anime movies, Patlabor 2! Mamoru Oshii directed this taut political thriller with just a liiiiitle bit of giant robot action! Watch the best two characters of the franchise tackle a mystery and a madman with Oshii’s usual downbeat flair. I hope you’re expecting a more thematic and character-oriented review, because I think this movie is deserving of it.
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Director(s): Mamoru Oshii Screenplay: Kazunori Ito Music: Kenji Kawai This is Patlabor at its best. Casting aside most of the comedic elements of the OVA or TV series, this movie is more of a political thriller, commenting on society through the lense of these characters and the world they live in, which is much like our own. More than that, it concentrates on my two favorite Patlabor characters, Keniichi Gotoh and Shinobu Nagumo. In a more sophisticated version of "The SV2’s Longest Day" from the original OVA, a terrorist causes mass panic and political strife through a few actions, using the city and its people as a petri dish to grow his scenario in twisted revenge, and Shinobu has to deal with this old figure of her past, deciding what sort of action to take against this man she loved. I believe this was intended to be the finale for the Patlabor saga, showing the development of the characters and showcasing their abilities and personalities one last time, and it works as both that and with the intended themes of the film as a film all on its own.
