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Patlabor, which has spread its name through various media including manga, OVA, movies, and toys ever since its start in 1988, will be made into a live-action movie in 2014. The live-action adaptation was announced out of the blue in March 2013 at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, calling considerate attention. However, from then onward, new information had ceased until Sept. 25 when a production conference for The Next Generation Patlabor was held at Shin-Kashiwa Soko in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture. At this conference, the staff, cast, and large-scale plot development were all announced at once. A 48-minute feature series that consists of 12 episodes spanning seven chapters that will first be successively screened in theaters starting in April 2014 has been planned on top of a theatrical movie that will release in Japan nationwide in 2015. This is a huge project that exceeds expectations, and fans’ expectations are also likely to grow accordingly.
At the conference at Shin-Kashiwa Soko, Mamoru Oshii, the director of the TV series and several of the movies, members of the cast––Erina Mano, Seiji Fukushi, Rina Ooda, Shigeru Chiba, and Toshio Kakei––and a life-size all-purpose humanoid machine, a Labor, were all present. The Labor looked as if it was about to move, and it told more than enough about the completed movie. Mamoru Oshii, who has been closely related to the long-running series, will assume the role of supervising director, bringing the whole project together. He will also write and direct the theatrical movie and act as one of the directors of the mini-series. As he is currently working on his live-action movie The Last Druid: Garm Wars which is planned to release in 2014, it seems he is going to have a tight schedule until 2015.
The stage for this movie will be vastly different from previous installments in the Patlabor series. Although they will take on most of the previous story, it will take place in a different time, and Section 2 will be taking over. Due to a long-term recession, Labors are discarded due to costing too much time and money, Section 2 Division 1 breaks up, and Division 2 is also facing an existential crisis.
Erina Mano will play the pilot of Team 1, a gamer prodigy who is good in everything from fighting to shooting. She doesn’t like being compared to the first generation. Seiji Fukushi will star as Team 1’s commander, Shiohara Yuuma. Although he is in Asuma’s position, he is easily carried away and has a totally different personality. Rina Ooda will play the Russian Kasha and Toshio Kakei will play Gotoda Keiji, the commander of Division 2. The most interesting is Shigeru Chiba in Shiba Shigeo’s role, as he gave his voice for the same character in the TV series. This will be very interesting, as the character is thought to be modeled on Chiba.
The movie is being produced by Tohokushinsha and Omnibus Japan, a company specializing in VFX that is known for the Garo series, and distributed by Shochiku.
The decision to screen the seven-chapter Patlabor mini-series at events is probably related to the success of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn or Space Battleship Yamato 2199 which were screened at theaters despite being a series. It seems this method has also reached live-action movies, and it also receives a lot of attention business-wise.
The music will be written by Kenji Kawai, who has been a partner to Mamoru Oshii for many years. The directors for the episodes of the mini-series have not yet been announced, but we are anxious to know what kind of directors will be chosen.
Source: animeanime
