Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
vanillaine
I've only watched the OVA and the first movie, I guess from what I've read maybe I should've watched the series too before jumping in to this second movie? Nonetheless, excerpt from FAKEANIMEGIRL's review represented my thoughts really well:
"If Japan’s political issues don’t hold much relevance to you, this movie’s implied emotional undercurrent gained by association will barely expose itself."
I think my unfamiliarity with Japan's political issue at the time really made me feel underwhelmed with this one. I *think* I get the message, reading several thoughts & reviews of this validated my understanding of the film. But somehow it just didn't hit me just as much as other people, or maybe it hit me offbeat because I really think the message is quite great, but the execution just went ove…
Read at the sourcefh1478
Peacebuilding Based On Cover Up
Patlabor 2: The Movie is a movie about listening to a cross-eyed man talk about how peace is an illusion, while constantly having to find out, which eye you have to look at.
As a fan of Mamoru Oshii, this movie is so interesting, because it feels much more like his later work, like Ghost in the Shell and Sky crawlers, then any of his previous stuff.
Lots of dialogue about philosophical, society with political intrigue, but patlabor gets lost in the process, and now feels nothing like it did before, it's a political drama where the characters we like, are barely in it.
The cinematography and stylish florises are great. the constant sickening glow of office lighting, with use of security camera footage, to make us grounded and feel like the characters are…
Read at the sourceDanteDemonZ
Patlabor 2 is less like a sequel and more like a complete reframing of what the series is even about. Where the first film still balanced character, investigation, and grounded mecha action, this one strips almost all of that away in favour of something colder, more political, and far more deliberate. The shift is immediate. The mood is heavier, the pacing more measured, and the focus moves away from the day-to-day life of Division 2 toward a more extensive examination of the state itself. It isn't merely a more serious film; it is a fundamentally different kind of story.
At its core, Patlabor 2 is about illusion. Specifically, the illusion of peace. The film presents a Japan that sees itself as stable, moral, and removed from conflict, but quietly undermines that identity at every turn.…
Read at the sourceDanTheMan2150AD
A densely unsettling meditation on peace, war and political complacency, I am genuinely in awe of Patlabor 2, a philosophical escalation of its franchise, pushing far beyond genre expectations and its own immense legacy into the realm of political thriller and art cinema. It's a film that should have alienated me, annoyed me, with a vast amount of ambition in what you don't see playing out onscreen, opting instead for questions that demand reflection. Yet, it's a testament to Mamoru Oshii's storytelling prowess that I remained gripped throughout, favouring long, quiet shots of empty streets, military hardware and gray cityscapes over colourful spectacle. It's restrained and deliberate to a point creating a meticulously crafted atmosphere of creeping unease. Urban environments are framed wi…
Read at the sourceplebrepel
[JP, recommended subtitles Niizk]
Hmm
This movie has one of those sequences that make me cackle like a maniac until the neighbors phone the police.
To savor this fine dish you must view the series and movie in broadcast order. The more you like the characters involved the greater the effect.
Any of my other thoughts on this don't matter. The more empty your expectations the better.
Don't read any further. Don't seek details. Don't look for spoilers. Don't peek at the synopsis. The order is the OVA -> on TV -> OVA 2 -> Movie 1 -> This Movie
All else is padding to make you less of a pleb.
Read at the sourceSloth_Cafe
Patlabor is a really cool idea for an anime, in theory. One of the worst things a movie or show can do is have "tell don't show" story telling for most of what it tries to convey to the audience. Patlabor in general has this problem, but this movie is rampant with dull moments of characters just rambling on instead of actually doing anything interesting. A lot of exposition dumping where the scene is not dynamic in anyway with either people just sitting in a room or shifting between stale backgrounds. This movie's story is more philosophical strain of thought than anything interesting. Which is rambling is definitely something Oshii does occasionally. This movie was around 110 minutes, and it easily could have been 80-90. Just a lot of slow scenes that could have been better organized, or…
Read at the sourceGalletita
The second Patlabor movie is a direct sequel to the first movie, being famous for its mechanical animation and the participation of the legendary Satoshi Kon as a layout artist. And, unlike its prequel, the plot and character development is nearly at the same level than the incredible visual direction and cinematography.
Due to sudden logistical changes brought by the completion of the Babylon Project, the Second Division practically undergoes restructuring and most of the characters start going their own ways. We encounter a slightly somber Izumi Noa, giving surprising hints of maturity stating her loss of enthusiasm for piloting Patlabors again. The current situation of the Second Unit, its members and the state of events in the police force is properly introduced, providing necessary s…
Read at the sourceBruZZo
“Now is the winter of our discontent”
Patlabor 2, in a stark departure from the previous film, is understated, sullen, and cold, both in setting and character. Quiet snowfall drapes Japan in a melancholic blanket of stagnation: precisely where our likable cast of characters of the previous film find themselves – stagnant in their positions, relegated to busywork, disillusioned with the government they serve and searching for their own purpose as the powers that be continue to look weaker and more dysfunctional. Patlabor 2’s subject matter is informed by the real-life post-occupation period of Japan following WWII, and uses its near-future setting to eerily comment on our own relationship with war and peace, and military and government incompetence.
Discontent with the top brass has bee…
Read at the sourceJaredGuP
Patlabor 2 is an odd movie to rate truth be told. Between stunning art direction and sound design to complex political grandstanding and short yet powerful action. Despite all this something just feels off when placing it in the universe of Patlabor.
I enjoy this movie as a standalone, but as a Patlabor movie I think it slightly misses the mark. Its a great political commentary on the nature of the world when it was released and the world as it stands today. But in pursuing that goal it distances itself from the heart and soul of that of the patlabor franchise. One of hopeful optimism, of "guts and bravery" where the good guys win by punching the bad guys really really hard. It feels like this should be a story in Ghost in the Shell rather than Patlabor.
By no means is this tonal shift…
Read at the sourceTawsif_Ankon
When people ask for "realistic/mature" shows, recommend them this.
Mobile Police Patlabor is one of the OG mecha seires. The original OVA has a movie trilogy and its second instalment shines the brightest. It's ambitious, it's well written, it's sublime.
Patlabor Movie 2 is a story driven by dense dialogues and political drama — a neatly crafted tale of betrayal, terrorism, and philosophy, with a pinch of mecha action.
The movie shows how politics, power and manipulation works from the ground level to the upper echelon; How much effect it has on the country and its people.
They put so much care and attention even to the slightest of details. They laid bare the thematics of the army and police forces, the govt agencies— how they operate— the battle field scenarios— the threats of war; e…
Read at the sourceB2Reviews
Once again Oshii brings us Special Vehicle Unit 2 in this sequel adaptation. And boy does it get deep this time.
Patlabor 2 offers more political allegory than the first's extremist environmental story, as we see Japan pulled to the brink of war. The darker tone in the dead of winter means a darker art style that's very bleak and ominous. The humor is still there but now it's a mere taste to keep us from losing our cool.
The films are very much standalones from the series as a whole meaning you can bring in the uninitiated and show them a good movie. Mount up and mobilize!
Read at the sourceIzzyMarrie
So many other reviews said it better than me, but I'll give some of my thoughts on this film. At first, it teetered between an 8 and 9. The animation is beautiful, the somber mood and buildup is excellent. As well as the shift of main characters, and overall art style taking a shift.
However, one thing this movie has that pretty much the old OVAs and first movie had (haven't seen the rest of the series to see whether this is a common there, too) is the pauses that seem to carry on far too long. Not to say that this movie is any worse, because it's not, but not only did that bring my score down some.... but upon further reflection of this movie, it started to feel less like a Patlabor movie and more like something "else". I have mixed feelings about this, because some of the things that ma…
Read at the sourceHereLiesWaste
Really nails the sombre, pessimistic atmosphere, and I don't think anyone can deny that it's central diagnosis of the de-facto continuum between peace and war in the post cold-war global political situation, the fact that the first pole simultaneously denies and profits from the second, stabilising the core at the cost of the periphery, is pretty much simply just correct. This general outlook and mood feels very pre-emptive of the later Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (despite that work not having been directed by Oshii). The comparison does though highlight what is probably this films key weakness. For whatever reason, Patlabor 2 feels the need to wrap things up uncharacteristically neatly, and the simple resolution, concluding on an uneasy optimism, feels a bit out of place. I can imagine some…
Read at the sourceAtlos
"In Patlabor 2, I wanted to describe the Cold War for Japan. It was a war, but a silent war. When the Cold War existed between the U.S. and Russia, the "stance" of Japan was not to be directly involved. Even though Japan was involved, it kept insisting for fifty years that it wasn't. I wanted to describe that fake peace." - Mamoru Oshii
Patlabor 2 opens on UN peacekeeping mission in which a labor unit led by Lieutenant Colonel Yukihito Tsuge is ambushed but has has strict orders not to fire back, leading him to watch as his unit is killed while he can do nothing.
Tsuge, the main villain of this film, aims to awaken the Japanese people to this complicit peace, which is enforced though war. Tsuge attempts to achieve this by breaking the hollow peace Japan has fetishised. Through the use o…
Read at the sourcerooster_
Far from the workplace comedy of the TV series and the mecha action of the first film, Patlabor 2 the Movie is a slow-paced, atmospheric thriller imbued with a pervasive sense of dread. It focuses on the cast's older members, their checkered pasts, and their misgivings. They meet in sickly, green-lit rooms, looking gaunt and tired. The story unfolds in a snow-covered Tokyo with frosty ambient and techno for the soundtrack. The few action scenes carry a real sense of menace, as if warning the audience that not even the main cast might make it out alive this time. It questions whether we should ever put our confidence in bureaucrats, and posits that--in our post-industrial society--"peace" is nothing more than "outsourced war". There is no certainty or closure at the end of this movie, just…
Read at the sourceMotokogummi
This movie is crafted in such a way that it will be forever standing still even after 10 years from now, the way how they put the great philosophy on war, political agenda and world. And how the characters in it truly live on the screen. The cerebral aspect of the movie from the emotions to the way how Japan's history and the way of their living, this movie is full of that.
The art is something extraordinary that one will never forget in their lifetime, first movie plot was more of a sci-fi than this, but every little detail such as a car lights, reflections the expressions and the best of it, Kenji Kawai's score just hits you right in your heart and mind. And Oshii's signature story telling at a grander scale with excellent characters returning from the first masterpiece.
A perfect movi…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Overview:
Patlabor 2 the movie is an anime that nearly half of my MAL friends have watched in the last year. Every person I've talked to has said this film is one of the greatest anime films ever made and an indisputable masterpiece. Obviously I went in to this with VERY high expectations. However, my overall feelings towards the film are a little complicated.
Firstly, I want to say that Patlabor 2 is in fact an excellent film. The animation is jaw dropping. It does a masterful job instilling mood and atmosphere. It has some excellent character moments and I love to watch Goto and Shinobu's relationship whenever they share the screen together. It makes an admirable effort to explore complex and controversial political theories on the nature of war and peace. It directly references Japan'…
Read at the sourceAnimeTopScholar
Mobile Police Patlabor 2 is the second sequel movie to the Patlabor OVA. It was produced by Production I.G, and directed by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell). Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue) was also involved in this project as he worked on storyboards and layouts for the movie.
This movie takes place after the events of movie 1. The year is now 2002, and the destruction of a United Nations Labor team in South East Asia works as the build up to a terrorist attack that sends shockwaves through Japan and it's military. With signs of corruption and an impending military takeover, the scattered memebers of the Special Vehicle Division have to get back together to defend the city from the threat of Tsuge, who was Nagumo's former lover.
The main cast is still the same, though this movie mostly foll…
Read at the sourceTheCompletionist
It is a nice feeling when you watch a film from a very beloved mech series that is mostly known for its action and comedy that decided to tone down those aspects in order to tell a really compelling story that fixates on politics and character development.
This is the case for Patlabor 2: The Movie.
To truly appreciate this movie you need to understand the relationship of the members of Special Vehicle Division Section 2. They've been together for a very long time and they've all moved on to bigger and better things in their lives. One of the things that makes this movie really enjoyable is you get to see a new dynamic of the team where they are put in a difficult position and all of them are faced with difficult decisions because of the environment they are put in.
This movie would…
Read at the sourceFlawfinder
Everyone knows that I’m fully against direct adaptations. More often that not, I want to see the director’s vision of what he sees the source material as and bring us something you can’t get through reading. Of course, that’s only true provided he has a reason for doing so. Because whilst I’m sure that the source material is a load of shit by itself, I fail to see why Shin Oonuma is adding Jojo references to Nourin when there’s no context for why that particular anime is being referenced in a show about farming other than “it looks cool”. Yes, I know there’s farming in the first few episodes of Jojo too, but that connection is so loose that you’d have better luck trying to find similarities between the sport of Nascar and a safari ranger.
Patlabor 2: The Movie is one such adaptation. It w…
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