Кидо Кэйсацу Патрэйбор: Многогранная Франшиза Меха

Anime and manga franchise

The popular franchise includes a manga, a TV series, two OVA series, three feature length movies, two light novel series, and a short film compilation, named Minipato (ミニパト) because of its super deformed (chibi) drawing style. The series has been adapted into video games and licensed products from OST to toys. Patlabor is known for using mecha – designed by Yutaka Izubuchi – not just for police or military purposes, but also for industrial and municipal jobs. The series is one of the earlier examples of what is called a "media mix" in Japan, where there is no one source material: Multiple forms of media (in Patlabor's case the anime and manga) are worked on at the same time independently of each other.

The story takes place in what was, at the time of release, the near future of 1998–2002. Robots called "Labors" are employed in heavy construction work. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has its own fleet of Patrol Labors ("Patlabors"; as opposed to patrol cars) to combat crimes/terrorism and deal with accidents involving Labors. The story arcs usually revolve around Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2. Noa Izumi is the main protagonist of the series, but all of Division 2 play roles. Hata and Kusumi are main protagonists of the third Patlabor film. The Next Generation takes place in 2013, with an entirely new cast with the exception of Shige and Buchiyama in maintenance, but the new members of SV2 have similar names and personalities to the old ones. The feature films follow a separate continuity, referred to as the "movie timeline", as opposed to the "TV timeline", with the Early Days OVA following the "movie timeline", and the New Files OVA following the "TV timeline". In addition, the manga follows its own continuity. The Next Generation features episodes that directly reference the TV series, while its final episode and movie are a direct sequel to the second movie.

Released by Shogakukan through Shonen Sunday magazine from 1988 to 1994, the 22 volume series takes place in a separate timeline.

Kidō Keisatsu Patlabor REBOOT is a short animated film released as part of Japan Animator Expo 2016 featuring a modernised version of Patlabor with new characters and utilising CG for the Labors, animated by Studio Khara and Studio Rikka.

On November 24, 2016, it was announced that a new Patlabor project had started. Patlabor EZY was announced at Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2017. A pilot was reported to debut in August 2022. During the "Mobile Police Patlabor Bucchake Talk!" event at Wonder Festival 2022, Yutaka Izubuchi said that EZY is set to debut in 2024. In October 2023, MOVeLOT revealed that they're working on an Ingram type mech in relation to EZY. They invited anyone to follow their social media accounts for updates on the progress.

At the 2013 Tokyo Anime Fair, Tohokushinsha Film Corporation announced a live action Patlabor project to be launched in 2014. On July 4, 2013, Mamoru Oshii announced that he would be involved in the project, in an unspecified capacity. On September 25, 2013, it was announced that Japanese actors Erina Mano would star as pilot Akira Izumino, Seiji Fukushi as Yūma Shiobara, Rina Oota as Ekaterina Krachevna Kankaeva ("Kasha"), Shigeru Chiba reprising his anime role as chief Shigeo Shiba and Toshio Kakei as Captain Keiji Gotōda. Called The Next Generation: Patlabor, the project consisted of a drama series and movie. The drama series is divided into 14 "short story" episodes released to blu ray and DVD and exclusively aired on BS Digital and Star Channel airing from 2014 and 2015, with limited advanced theatrical screenings dividing the series into 7 "chapters", each comprising two episodes. The movie THE NEXT GENERATION Patlabor: Shuto Kessen ("Showdown in the Capital City") (THE NEXT GENERATION パトレイバー 首都決戦 ) released in theaters on May 1, 2015, and a director's cut version of the movie was released on October 10, 2015. The Next Generation takes place in the Patlabor world's version of 2013 Tokyo, and is a sequel to the TV series, the OVA series and the second movie. The completion of the Babylon Project led to disuse of Labors, and Japan is in the midst of a recession. Labors falling into disuse also means there is also no place for the patrol labor squads, which have been shrunk to only one division. However, Madman has since rescheduled the first OVA for DVD and Blu ray release on June 19, 2013. In July 2013, MVM Films has licensed the first OVA & TV series for distribution in the UK and will release them on Blu ray and DVD. In 2013, Maiden Japan (in conjunction with Section23 Films) acquired the licence to the Patlabor OAV series, and released it on Blu ray and DVD on April 30, 2013. They subsequently licensed and released the TV series on July 16, 2013; the second OVA series on February 17, 2015; and all of the films, with the first film released on May 5, 2015.

Headgear (ヘッドギア) is a group consisting of five main writers and artists who work in the Japanese anime/manga field. The group was set up so that all the creators could retain full copyright to their work, achieve greater publicity for their work and sell their manga to anime sponsors for film production. The members are Masami Yuki, Yutaka Izubuchi, Kazunori Itō, Akemi Takada, and Mamoru Oshii. Together they worked on the anime series Patlabor and the two episode OVA Twilight Q. Other staff involved with Headgear include Kenji Kawai, Naoyuki Yoshinaga, Takayama Fumihiko, Kenji Kamiyama, and Miki Tori.

The manga received the 36th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen in 1991. Guillermo del Toro has cited the series as an influence for Pacific Rim. In 2018, the Japan Anniversary Association recognized August 10 as "Patlabor Day".