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Mamoru Oshii Involved in 2014 Live-Action Patlabor Project
posted on by Egan Loo
The production company Tohokushinsha Film Corporation announced at its Japan Expo booth in France that Mamoru Oshii is involved in next year's live-action project of HEADGEAR's Mobile Police Patlabor anime.
Oshii has been a member of HEADGEAR, and he served as a director and writer on the Patlabor projects since the first original video anime series through Mobile Police Patlabor the Movie and Mobile Police Patlabor 2 the Movie. He also made the test pilot version of a live-action Patlabor before the current project.
Omnibus Japan, an audio and computer graphics studio tied to Tohokushinsha, is co-producing the new project. It worked on the graphics in Ghost in the Shell and the Evangelion films.
The series' original concept of police officers piloting robotic mecha was developed by HEADGEAR, a group consisting of director Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Sky Crawlers), script writer Kazunori Itō (.hack, Dirty Pair), mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi (Eureka Seven, Mobile Suit Gundam franchise), character designer Akemi Takada (Kimagure Orange Road, Urusei Yatsura, Fancy Lala), and manga creator Masami Yuuki (Birdy the Mighty). The franchise spawned two original anime videos, a television anime series, and three anime films. The last film, Patlabor WXIII, was released in theaters in Japan in 2002 without Oshii's direct involvement.
Central Park Media released the OAVs and television series in English before filing for bankruptcy in 2009. The three films were released stateside by Manga Entertainment, Bandai Visual USA, and Geneon but are since out of print. The North American licensing company Maiden Japan announced in March that it acquired the Mobile Police Patlabor television anime series. The same company announced the rights for the video anime series in January.
Source: Cinema Today via Yaraon!
