Kidō Kēsatsu Patlabor

機動(きどう)警察(けいさつ)パトレイバー(Mobile Police Patlabor)^A) is a Japanese multi-media mecha franchise created by Headgear. Perhaps most notable as the pioneer of the ‘media-mix’ concept^B).
The franchise takes place 10 years into the future (from the 1980s) in Japan. The development of hyper-technology allowed the creation of the labors – mechas used in construction work. Labors quickly expanded into other industries, becoming an important tool in day-to-day life. Unfortunately, as the number of labors increased, the amount of crime committed with labors also increased. This forced the police to adopt their own labors to fight crime - and thus came the Patrol-Labors…Patlabors.
Ever since I read the manga, Patlabor proudly stands as one of my personal favorites.

As per my approach to canon, I’m making a set of assumptions about what is/isn’t canon to each of the continuities of Patlabor. I’m specifically explaining this because Patlabor explicitly defines multiple continuities, making it necessary to explain my approach.
My best explanation is that I’m assuming everything depicted in a continuity is canon within all of the continuities, unless there is a direct contradiction, in which case that specific element isn’t canon.
Using two examples from the series:

• Division 1’s labors are different across the continuities. As a result, we can conclude that the labors they use in the manga cannot be canon to those used in the anime.
  • However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they never had/will have the labors depicted. There would have to be more evidence to suggest that.
• The building the SV2 is located in is claimed to be a former factory. The company that initially used it went bankrupt, and the building was sold to the police for the SV2. This is only mentioned in the manga and no other continuity. However, no other continuity mentions anything about the building. Because no other continuities contradict this information, it can be assumed to be canon in all continuities.

The result of this approach is that what I write about characters/worldbuilding will be different from what fan wikis online write, since they have a (dare I say, inferior?) approach to canon.
For more about this, I recommend reading this article. If it exists.

This explains a number of terms that are unique to the Patlabor series.

• Labor
  • Labor is used to refer to mecha, humanoid or otherwise, in the Patlabor series.
• Patlabor
  • Patlabors are labors used by the police.
• SV2
  • Special Vehicles Section 2. It is the Tokyo Police’s main patlabor unit. Divisions 1 & 2 belong to it.
  • Not to be confused with Division 2, which is a division of the SV2. This is a mistake that I made in the past.

In general, Patlabor stands as a particularly interesting mecha series. Whereas most mecha stories seem to focus on some military conflict, Patlabor focuses on police work. Patlabor is also one of the few series I’m aware of that has mecha used outside of the military and police force by civilians. This key fact makes Patlabor significantly more believable,^C) as the military and police adopted the mecha after they had already become widespread among civilians.
However, there’s another aspect that makes me like Patlabor more - the 10 years into the future concept.^D) When the series was conceptualized, the 10 years into the future referred to the 1990s and it would have ended in the year 2000.^E) Although it’s more retro-futurism than futurism at this point, I think there is still something about the series that feels like the ‘near-future’ rather than ‘some idea of the future’. Obviously, at this point - 30 years after the series started - there’s an angle of nostalgia/retro charm to the series, which I like. Particularly amusing to me is the use optical(?)^F) discs in caddies to start up their labors.
Another aspect of interest is that Patlabor doesn’t take itself super seriously. While it does aim to be realistic and believable, it’s also willing to have some fun. This does, unfortunately, lead to a tonal clash when going from the films to…anything else, as the films choose to be super-serious. The way I’d sum it up though is that Patlabor knows when it should take itself seriously and when it doesn’t have to. Some of the best stories in Patlabor are those that toe the line.
Patlabor differentiates itself from other franchises in one other key way: the different stories are basically disconnected from each-other. There are multiple continuities which are mostly independent of each-other. There are reoccurring elements, but what each series/film chooses to focus on is a bit of a gamble. It often comes off as if a basic outline was created that was then distributed to different people, who then actually created each of the stories.
Patlabor quickly became one of my favorites. However, it differentiates itself from my other favorites in that it took a while to grow on me.^G) I enjoyed the initial OVA and the films but it wasn’t until I read the manga and watched the TV anime that it would truly be numbered among my favorites. The likely reason for this is that most of the franchise is fairly mediocre in quality. Good, but not great. Additionally, I think that the franchise creators had forgotten the appeal at some point.^H) I’ll elaborate more on this in the later sections.
Basically, while Patlabor is overall of an average quality, I still enjoy it and number it among my favorites. Patlabor has a lot of concepts that are ingenious, but the execution of those concepts often falls short. If there is going to be a Patlabor reboot, I’d hope they manage to execute those concepts better. Besides this, there are other things that are a little off, but I go into more detail later.

The initial OVA is my third favorite of the Patlabor franchise, behind the TV anime and the Manga. It has good animation and serves as a good starting point for the entire franchise.
There isn’t much to say here except that it establishes almost everything that would come to define Patlabor - characters, worldbuilding, tone, etc.
Following the release of the films, the OVA was retroactively labelled ‘The Early Days’.
Bizarrely, the OVA serves as the prequel-ish to the films, which have a more serious tone than the OVA. I have yet to understand the reasoning behind this.
Currently re-watching. It’s a bit odd to go back to here since the seiyuu are clearly getting used to their roles: Ota in particular sounded completely off.^I)

There are three^J) theatrical films in the Patlabor franchise, which exist in a separate continuity from the rest of the series - comprising the ‘movie/film’ continuity.
Of interest is that all three films are very different from each-other: animation style, subject matter, tone, main characters. Although the films do treat themselves with more seriousness than the rest of Patlabor, toning the comedy down.
The handling of the film continuity is puzzling in particular, as the other continuities (notably the TV continuity) managed to maintain some level of consistency. With the film continuity, you have no clue what you’re gonna get before you start.
I found the three films a bit underwhelming after my first watch. However, after re-watching the second film, my views have changed somewhat. I wouldn’t say that watching the films was a waste of my time and I do enjoy them, but they are flawed.
All three films are flawed in different ways - although one area where they’re similar is that it’s difficult to figure out what the motivations of the antagonists are.
From the second film onwards, focus is shifted away from the SV2 Division 2 members, which was perhaps the biggest mistake the films made. However, I realized that this may have been an intentional decision…since the films try to be more serious, and the cast of Division 2 would have clashed with that approach^K). If this is the reason behind it, then I still think it was a mistake, but I understand the reasoning behind the decision.

It’s been about a year since I’ve seen the film, so my memory has gotten a bit hazy. The re-watch will come at some point.
This is the most ‘Patlabor’ of the three animated films because it features the Division 2 cast as the main characters and prominently features the titular mecha.
The animation in this film, particularly in the fight scenes, is really good…I’d argue very good for the time. The animation style is a bit unusual…if I were to describe it, I’d call it ‘high-res Patlabor’. It doesn’t match the style of the original OVA, TV anime or manga, but it isn’t especially jarring.
My first watch of the film left me confused, because I had no idea why the antagonist was doing what he was doing. The motivations were a complete mystery to me. To be fair, I was watching it away from home and I tend to have difficulty focusing in those situations, for whatever reason. It’s entirely possible I simply missed something and it’ll be clear on a re-watch. Alternatively, it could be like the second movie, where it is possible to piece it together, but it’s not entirely clear.

So, I’ve re-watched it and, depending on my mood, I’ll either re-write this completely soon…or I won’t.
Basically, I think the antagonist’s motivations are still quite difficult to understand, but I’m guessing he’s like Ted Kaczynski.
This film has more in common with the manga than the later Patlabor 2, which is odd. Tonally, it actually feels strangely in-line with the Early Days, despite it being more serious.
The labor animation and the actions scenes are top-notch and probably the best in the series.
I enjoyed it more than I did the first time, so I now consider it among the ‘acceptable’ portion of the Patlabor franchise for my own re-watching.

This film takes place a few years after the first one and portrays the Division 2 cast having moved on from the SV2, now working in different jobs. The first major mistake! and one that would negatively affect the rest of the film continuity. Here though, as a standalone, it’s alright.
Shinohara and Izumi are portrayed as working for Shinohara Heavy Industries: Izumi as a test pilot. Ota still works in the police, but now helps train new recruits for Patlabor piloting. Shinshi works in a bureaucratic position in the police. Yamazaki, Goto, Nagumo all still work for the SV2. Kanuka left permanently. Shigeo is now the head mechanic.
The motivations of the antagonist are poorly presented to the audience, making it difficult to figure out what the hell he’s trying to do. It took me a re-watch and a lot of thinking to figure it out. My initial thinking was that he was aiming to place Japan in the same position he ended up in: essentially, behind enemy lines, no permission to retreat and no help coming. I’d guess the audience would naturally gravitate towards this conclusion, considering the opening scene. However, the reality is that his goal was to create a ‘state of illusion’. More specifically the antagonist probably got PTSD or something similar from the situation depicted in the opening scene. The evidence in favor of this is what he says later in the movie: when he came back to Japan, it felt ‘unreal’ to him, which is a symptom of PTSD. He decided then that he wanted Japan to experience the same thing, which is why he does what he does in the movie.
Now, the film isn’t intentionally constructed to make it difficult to figure this out…it’s just constructed poorly. All the needed information is in the film (I mean, I was able to figure it out), but what makes it difficult to figure out is that the audience gets zero hints as to this motivation until it’s revealed. If the film had included a scene of him in Japan, shortly after he returned, that would have been enough. He doesn’t even need to speak, because the film is capable of depicting the state of illusion, considering that they did it perfectly when they showed the JSDF in Tokyo. The audience would then be able to connect this scene of him in Japan with the scene of the soldiers in Tokyo.
I don’t think there are any serious storytelling issues outside of this failure to communicate properly and the film is well-constructed. If it weren’t for that, the film would have a solid story.
It should also be made clear that the characters thinking that his goal was a civil war or coup is not a film flaw: characters are allowed to be wrong. The flaw is specifically that the film makes understanding the antagonist needlessly difficult.
The animation style of the film changes from the first one. Now it looks a bit closer to Ghost in the Shell (1995) (same director).
The movie continues the ‘super serious’ tone from the first movie. Although, the amount of comedy in the movie did surprise me, which I noticed only after my re-watch.
One of my favorite examples of a clear clash between the cast and the new tone is when Matsui talks to Tsuge near the end. Matsui asks him straight what the hell he was aiming to do and Tsuge answers in the vague morally ambiguous anime way, to which Matsui just looks bewildered. Everyone is acting in character, which makes the scene pretty funny to me.
The film reveals an interesting bit of worldbuilding: The Tsuge School.
The Tsuge School is stated to be a group of soldiers who thought that labors could be used in the military. When the Tokyo police started flirting with the idea of using labors in law enforcement, they sent Nagumo Shinobu to train with them. This detail basically confirms the military had no labors before the civilians had them, which is neat.

Of the three Patlabor films, this is easily the worst, but it’s still okay.
This one takes place sometime between the first and second films and, unlike the previous two films, the main characters are not related to the SV2 at all. In the first film, Division 2 were main characters; In the second film, they were side characters, but SV2 staff were still main characters. In this film, they are all side characters or cameos. Instead, we follow two detectives, who start investigating a set of mysterious occurrences, before discovering a bizarre sea monster.
Although it’s in the name, the Patlabors barely feature, which is pretty disappointing. This film is more drama-focused than action-focused. There is still…okay action, but not to the level of the first two films.
The motivations of the antagonist are presented the best out of all three films: it’s pretty clear what they want to do and why they’re doing it.
What is pretty interesting about WXIII is that it’s an adaptation of a story from the Patlabor manga. Upon reading the manga, I’ve come to a conclusion: the manga did it better. I don’t really wanna explain the reasoning why (Division 2 being main characters is a major one) because it’s been a while since I’ve seen the film and read the manga.
Of interest is that this film went through development hell and had to (presumably) be remade from scratch 2 years before release.

We move onto the height of the Patlabor franchise (in animation): 機動警察パトレイバー PATLABOR ON TELEVISION^L). Henceforth referred to as the ‘TV anime’.
The TV anime, alongside the manga, is closest to what the original OVA was, in terms of tone. It also doesn’t abandon the main cast like the film continuity does.
The TV anime has a strange relationship with the manga. Both end up going over similar content – such as the Griffon arc – but they aren’t completely the same. I don’t have a way of finding out what happened here, but my guess is that the TV anime partially adapted the manga. This is relevant for the Griffon arc, which is left incomplete in the TV anime, but completed in the manga.
The series is mostly episodic, but does have a major arc in the form of the aforementioned Griffon arc. There is a break in the middle of the arc, where they go back to individual episodes. The arc is left unfinished though, which is annoying…but it is continued in the New OVA, so fear not!
Note that it is in a separate continuity from the film continuity, so Division 2 is assembled differently. Notably: Shinohara, Ota, Shinshi and Yamazaki already work for the SV2. Izumi joins in episode 1 and Kanuka joins in episode 2. About halfway through the series Kanuka is replaced with Kumagami^M). Although Shinshi briefly (a single episode) takes Kanuka’s position as Ota’s backup. The reason for this eludes me, since they (presumably) knew that Kumagami would be appearing, it’s a bit strange to dedicate an entire episode to Shinshi acclimating to his new role…when, just an episode later, he’ll be going back to his original role.
Of (random) things I noticed:

• I took note of, and was impressed by, the amount of movement in Episode 20 for whatever reason.
• I took note of the eyecatch^N) changing a few times, but I preferred the ones they had from Episode 35 onward, being oddly sexy. That is a strange thing to say about pictures of mechanical parts, but anyone who watches it would understand.
• Nagumo’s hair color was changed from black to brown, despite her having black hair in all other continuities.
• Patlabor possibly assumes that content from other continuities is still canon in some form, aligning with my own views on canon. The best example of this has to do with Ota’s labor: Ota’s labor is customized in the anime, although they never explain why. However, they do in the manga – it’s because he damaged his labor so often they ran out of spare parts, so they started giving him prototype parts instead^O).
• Recently, I realized that the TV anime has an advantage the other parts of the franchise don’t: you see Kanuka and Kumagami working in the SV2. So fans of both can be reasonably satisfied with their presence.

On a personal note, I actually started watching it twice. I stopped watching after Episode 2 the first time, since I didn’t expect the TV anime to be in its own continuity (I didn’t know yet). I regretted this decision after actually watching the series.

The New OVA is a sequel to the anime. Those who wanted to watch the end of the Griffon arc, be excited!
Is what I would be saying, except the New OVA does not complete the Griffon arc. The Griffon portion of the New OVA actually ends on a cliffhanger, so the only way to see the end of the Griffon arc is by reading the manga. I’m guessing this is because the Griffon arc was adapted from the manga and since the manga ends with the Griffon arc…the ending just didn’t exist when they were making the New OVA^P).
Besides the Griffon arc, the New OVA includes a number of extra episodes, which are of the same stripe as the TV anime. The episodes are entertaining, but it is frustrating that the Griffon arc is left unfinished. But since it’s currently been over 30 years since it ended, there isn’t anything I can do about it.
Anyway, my notes seem to pay special attention to the hot spring episode where they all drink. I like that one especially since it’s one of the rare instances where we see Kanuka and Kumagami interact directly…something that didn’t really happen in the manga either^Q). It’s amusing that they’re so competitive.
It’s revealed in the final episode of the OVA that Shinohara had an older brother who committed suicide. This is also the only on-screen appearance of Shinohara’s father and the only time he’s shown his face, which is especially notable since the only other time we’ve seen him was in the manga (and no face).
MiniPato’s third episode refers to the ‘half-baked OVA’ and it took me way too long to realize that this is the OVA it was referring to. But I finally get the joke! I’m laughing whilst holding back tears!
I think the New OVA is a decent continuation of the TV Anime. The final episode is a pretty good ending to the series…and I don’t just mean the TV continuity, but the Patlabor franchise as a whole. It’s quite a fitting ending, despite how flawed the New OVA was as a whole.

The manga is in a separate continuity from the rest of the series and, surprisingly, it’s also the best of the franchise. This is also the longest of the franchise, going for a continuous 5 years.
Tonally-speaking, the manga is closest to the original OVA, but manages to do ‘serious when needed’ better than anything else. The generally light-hearted tone of the manga makes the serious moments feel more serious than the super-serious tone of the films…at least I think so.
Story-wise, there are few, if any, issues that I can remember. The story told is complete and not difficult to understand (Griffon arc is complete!). Unlike the films and like the TV Anime, the manga focuses on Division 2.
Unlike every other continuity, Kanuka isn’t a member of Division 2 in the beginning^R). Instead, Kumagami takes her place from the beginning and Kanuka only appears near the end of the Griffon arc. I don’t have much else to say, except a comparison to Xerox PARC^S), apparently.
Following a recent re-read, I do have one thing to add: the ending is somewhat abrupt. Although I wouldn’t call it unsatisfying, it does just kinda…end. Here I’m referring to the end of the manga and the end of the Griffon arc. The Griffon arc ends with Utsumi getting stabbed and, presumably, dying while the manga’s ending shows that they continue doing their police work. I’d rank this ending as second-best in the series, after the ending of the New OVA.

A set of three absurd animations, each narrated by a different character and each 10 minutes in length. They were released the same time as WXIII, shown just before screenings of that film. Kind of a bizarre choice, considering the tonal difference between this and that.
The tone of MiniPato is similar to the rest of Patlabor. The first two provide explanations: the first explains the weaponry used by the Ingram and the second provides an explanation behind the design of the Patlabors. The third is basically just a big joke and, unsurprisingly, it’s my favorite.
There isn’t anything in here that is really ‘required viewing’, but it’s pretty decent.
I think that the third one is a reference to Kumagami’s (and Kanuka’s!) reports from the TV anime.

MOBILE POLICE PATLABOR REBꝎT is an 8-minute short film which, despite its name, isn’t really a reboot as much as a proof-of-concept? It’s unlikely this will actually be the basis of a Patlabor continuation, EZY kinda proves that.
Reboot features a few 3D animated labors which honestly look pretty good. I was expecting to be disappointed when I learned they 3D animated them, but I was pleasantly surprised. If future Patlabor content features similarly-animated labors…then it’ll be fine.
What impressed me in the reboot is how they managed to portray a sense of realism – the labors felt heavy and the damage they did felt ‘real’. It’s similar to how Pacific Rim managed to portray a sense of scale. I also liked the fight scene.
I do, however, have a few more concerns:

• The characters were clearly just remixed from the original Division 2 cast:
  • The female backup was similar in character to Shinohara.
  • The male forward was basically just Shinshi minus a wife.
  • The captain was just Gotō
• The reboot doesn’t have the retro-futuristic charm of the original.
• For that matter, it doesn’t have the 10 years into the future feel that the original had.
• Although they mention social media and how important it is nowadays, they don’t really do anything with the concept, making it feel kind of confusing.

The character remixing is my biggest concern, since I’d rather the original characters be re-cast than replaced with vaguely similar ones.
I’ll give the reboot this though: if, instead of trailers, we’d have short films to promote movies/shows/whatever, I’d be pretty happy. Not that that’s what’s happening here, but it would be pretty cool.

The abandoned official English manga release mentions that most labors in Tokyo are actually amphibious due to the Babylon Project. I don’t remember if that’s mentioned anywhere else.
It does make sense as an explanation, since the Babylon Project is the reason there are some many labors in Tokyo.

‘Special Vehicles’ is a division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department^T), the Mobile Police (patrol) bit^U), specifically created to deal with Labor crime…by using their own labors to fight them.
Outwardly, Special Vehicles is a point of pride for the police…inwardly, the police basically shun them. Most of the officers working for Special Vehicles are essentially outcasts who were dumped there because nobody else wanted them. If you get assigned there, it’s considered an end to your career. Special Vehicles is allocated a small budget, which they spend entirely on maintenance of the vehicles and paying for damages incurred by those vehicles. There’s nothing left over to cover the costs of food and other such necessities, forcing the members of Special Vehicles to deal with it themselves.
The franchise mostly follows the exploits of Division 2 of Special Vehicles. The Second Division in particular are the ultra-outcasts of the police department and the public has a generally negative view of them – at least in the TV anime and the manga.
In the film timeline, the original crew of the Division 2 moved on and got replaced by others. We don’t know who they were^V), but they were eventually replaced by a new crew - the crew that ‘The Next Generation’ follows.
Although I’m not 100% about this, I’m pretty sure that Shinohara Heavy Industries helps fund the maintenance of Special Vehicles. I vaguely remember something like that getting mentioned in…one part of the franchise. From a practical standpoint this also just makes sense. Special Vehicles is obviously quite expensive.
The Next Generation reveals that Division 1 had been disbanded at some point, leaving only Division 2. This is a weird decision, considering the Second Division is more infamous - at least in every other continuity - but could be justified due to the Ingrams. This left the Second Division in an even worse situation as they now had to cover the shifts of two sections at once. The two teams rotate between a 24-hour and 8-hour shift. The 8-hour shift, however, is still a form of 24-hour standby - so when the need arises, they are called and have to immediately appear for a job.
It’s noted in the manga that the building Special Vehicles use as their headquarters was formerly a factory owned by a company that went bankrupt.

Division 1 has different labors depending on the medium. This is probably because they’re more of a background element in general - they feature most prominently in the TV anime, but are otherwise barely present…if at all.
In the manga, they have AV-95 ‘Gorilla’s. In the TV anime they use MPL-97S ‘Python’s.

Gotō is a perfect representation of the overall tone of Patlabor. He’s generally laid-back, plays the occasional prank, but he gets serious when he knows he has to.
He’s known to be cunning, despite his generally lazy attitude.

Kumagami is at times sarcastic, as is evident from the ‘reports’ she writes in a few of the episodes. This is different from Kanuka’s report, which is more matter-of-fact or angry in tone.
There is some ambiguity regarding her relationship with Utsumi^W). I wouldn’t be able to say anything definitively regarding it but, honestly, she probably wouldn’t be able to either. That said, something was made somewhat clear…although she’s a bit confused about her feelings, she definitely doesn’t like him. One piece of indirect evidence in favor of this is what she said to Izumi: ‘I haven’t found the right man.’^X)
This at least indicates that she doesn’t think of Utsumi as being the right man. I’m probably just pointing out the obvious here.
Another point of interest regarding her: she starts as Unit 2’s backup (in the manga), but eventually replaces Shinohara as Unit 1’s. This is particularly odd as they never switch back…even after the manga ends, it’s implied (partially) that she remains Unit 1’s backup. I find this odd and interesting because I’ve never seen a change like this remain permanent in anime/manga. Even in the Patlabor TV anime, Shinshi is Ota’s backup for a single episode.

I read somewhere - I’ll have to find it again, damn - that one of the creators felt that Kanuka was ‘too perfect’ as a character. At the time, I had only seen the original OVA…but I did agree with this. Now that I’ve gone through a majority of the franchise, I’ve come to agree with this even more.
I’ll note that there isn’t anything really wrong with having a character with few flaws, it’s just hard to make it interesting. Kanuka seems to be an example of such a poorly-handled character.
The manga comes in as the superior version again, presenting her in the best possible way. There she’s presented as a cool character from abroad. Kanuka’s minimal presence in the manga also helps.

I realized recently that I did not really elaborate on what I meant by her being poorly-handled. Depending on my mood, I may or may not do that soon.

A newcomer to the labor production field, but one that has managed to dominate a chunk of the marketplace. Particularly notable for exclusively supplying the police with labors^Y). They also supply labors to civilians and the military, although other companies obviously fill-in as well.

The Ingram is considered the peak of labor technology in basically all the continuities. The only two exceptions I’m aware of would be the film timeline - where they’re considered the peak only in the beginning - and the Patlabor reboot where their status is unknown^Z). In ‘The Next Generation’ the Ingram is considered a relic of the past. The manga and TV timeline both introduce a newer Shinohara model - but both timelines quickly show that the Ingram is still superior. Notably, the main antagonist of the manga even explicitly says this, if I remember correctly^AA). However, it’s notable that the series never makes it clear whether the Ingram is the ‘best’ labor or whether it’s Izumi‘s unit that’s the best.
The Ingram is certainly the peak of labor technology (for a time), but other labors like the Griffon and future Shinohara models^AB) outclass it in that department. Yet, despite being ‘inferior’, it continues to outperform those superior models. It’s important to keep in mind though that this is based on Izumi‘s performance. Her unit, Alphonse, is one of only two that we ever see in the entire series^AC). Her unit manages to beat technologically superior labors…but does her unit represent all Ingrams? I think the implication, in the manga, is that it doesn’t.
I initially assumed that the Ingram was simply the best, but now I’m not so sure. To be fair, I may have previously missed the obvious signs, for whatever reason, that it was just Alphonse and not all Ingrams that are great.

Patlabor’s world differs from ours in a few ways which give the series a hard-to-describe feeling. Originally, the series could have been perceived as a fairly modest prediction of the future (with mechs) and the worldbuilding reflects that. Now, however, the world is a strange alternate history.
Among the things that are of interest: the USSR and the Eastern bloc still exist^AD). The USSR, alongside Eastern Germany, produce their own labors which they then supply to terrorists^AE). It can be assumed that whoever’s in charge in the USSR in Patlabor’s world is more hardline, since East Germany still exists and the Cold War is still ongoing.
This is a world where the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Saturn and other consoles of the 90s don’t exist. A world where LCD screens are not used by the general public^AF). A world where the DVD doesn’t exist. In a way, it’s a scary world, but it’s also one that doesn’t have the modern internet: immediately making it a preferable world.

The term ‘labor’ is the primary term used for the machines that would be referred to as ‘mecha’, ‘mechs’ or ‘robo’^AG) in the primary world. I imagine most people don’t question this all that much, but as is usual for me, I thought about it.
At what point did the term ‘labor’ become the standard term for these machines? The word ‘robo’, which I assume had existed since the 70s at least, had apparently been usurped in its entirety by ‘labor’. Additionally, why is it that the term ‘labor’ became the standard?
I previously had the fanciful idea that it could have been a genericized brand name, but that was obviously stupid. It’s explicitly stated in the series that labors were a type of robot created for construction. That explains where the term came from, but when did ‘labor’ replace ‘robo’?
Based on my guestimate, the term must have become ubiquitous sometime in the 80s in the Patlabor timeline, or in the late 80s at the latest. I previously assumed that the term became ubiquitous in the late 70s/early 80s because that lines up with when the first mecha anime was coming out. Thus, ‘labor’ would be competing with ‘robo’/‘mecha’^AH). However, the manga’s extra material shows that labors only appeared in the world in the 80s. So the term ‘robo’ would have already been well-known, meaning it found itself usurped by ‘labor’. I guess labors became so wide-spread in such a short amount of time that the term became a generic term for robots.
One more quick note, but the word ‘robo’ is used in Patlabor, although it’s only used by a few of the characters and not as much as ‘labor’. Those characters are also typically labor enthusiasts.

I previously speculated that military labors only became a thing after civilian labors had become widespread. However, after re-watching the second film, I realized this was dumb…because it’s basically confirmed military labors came second.
My previous speculation was regarding why the military called them labors, but it doesn’t matter now.

Since the Patlabor portion of the Metropolitan Police is officially called ‘Special Vehicles Section 2’, it can be inferred that, legally, labors are referred to as ‘Special Vehicles’.

• Official Website (JP)
• I’ll note that Patlabor has a status that’s hard for me to gauge. As far as influence goes, Patlabor is probably among the most influential mecha shows^AI) - but it’s also been largely forgotten. Maybe it’s similar to how Alone in the Dark is largely forgotten, but still a massive influence on the survival horror genre?
  • I’m noting this because I had encountered it completely by chance^AJ) and I had never heard it talked about anywhere online. This is different from Evangelion and Gundam.
  • There are other things that I forgot to mention. Wikipedia, my arch-enemy, mentions that Patlabor was one of the pioneers of the multi-media franchise (which they call ‘media mix’). This is also mentioned on the about page of the Patlabor website. This could potentially be what made Patlabor so popular in the first place and be the biggest influence it left behind. Considering that multi-media franchises are generally genius, this is a pretty good legacy all things considered.
• The franchise appears to still be going strong - evidence is the so-called Reboot, the live-action film (which came out about a decade ago) and the upcoming Patlabor EZY. That last one I know very little about. However, additional evidence is the fact Patlabor content is still getting re-stocked on Amazon, meaning there are still people buying it.
• There are some other minor notes:
  • The timeline, according to the official website¹⁾ differs from the relation graph on aniDB and differs from the general assumption. Note, however, that I’m interpreting a graph on the website and I can’t read Japanese well enough (yet) to tell if I’m right or not. However, here is what I found:
    • The following are separate from any timeline:
      • The manga
      • The Patlabor novel^AK)
      • MiniPato
      • The Patlabor Reboot
    • The Movie timeline:
      • Early Days OVA
      • Patlabor the Movie
      • Patlabor the Movie 2
      • THE NEXT GENERATION^AL)
    • The TV timeline:
      • The TV anime
      • The New OVA
      • Patlabor EZY
    • Of particular interest is the fact WXIII is treated as separate from any of the continuities, but with question-marks denoting possible relationships. Basically, according to the graph, WXIII isn’t part of the film timeline or the TV timeline, but potentially part of both. This raises a number of questions, that I don’t think will be answered until I learn Japanese and attempt to interview the creator of the graph.
• The manga has a truly trivial point of interest: brand names. Early in the manga, brand names are rendered 100% accurately: Sony TVs and Monitors; Pocari Sweat; etc. However, later in the manga, they start being rendered as they are nowadays: intentionally misspelled. It took me off-guard when I first saw this. My guess as to why it changed is that something in the law changed regarding the depiction of brands with/without permission. Aiding this is the fact the manga is the longest running in the franchise, going a whole six years from 1988-1994.
  • 3×3 Eyes also shows brand names correctly. This is further evidence that something had changed.
• I may have made a mistake somewhere. The first piece of Patlabor content to be released was the manga in March 1988, the original OVA came out in April 1988. Although, I’d imagine the first OVA was already in production when the manga came out. This is potentially interesting, but I currently don’t know how.
  • My speculation was going rampant for a bit, but the abandoned English release makes something a bit more clear: The manga’s storyline was created entirely by Masami Yūki (one of the members of Headgear). The OVA was created by Headgear collectively.
  • This is potentially interesting due to the strange relationship between the manga and the rest of the franchise, particularly the TV continuity. At times it’s hard to tell if the manga adapts the TV anime or if the TV anime adapts the manga.
• Patlabor | Your Next Favorite – maybe I should watch it? I’ll think about it and report later.