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Live-Action Patlabor's 12th Episode Footage Streamed
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
Two videos containing footage from the 12th and final episode of Mamoru Oshii's live-action The Next Generation -Patlabor- series began streaming on Friday.
Episode 12 features Patlabor 2: The Movie character Yukihito Tsuge as an important character, and Shinobu Nagumo will appear as well. Akira Izumino and her friends face the most dangerous situation they have ever encountered.
Part seven opened in Japanese theaters on January 10, and will screen for two weeks only. People who watch the film during the first week will receive a frequent-customer loyalty card to the Chinese restaurant that plays a comic role in the story of The Next Generation -Patlabor-. During the second week, theaters will give away Shinobu's UNRAR business card.
The feature film will then follow during Japan's Golden Week holidays in the spring. Oshii commented that most of the seven-part series will have a "slapstick" ambiance, while the feature film will be serious.
The Next Generation -Patlabor- project is not a remake of the earlier Patlabor anime stories, but a completely new work. The story is set in Tokyo in 2013, and it represents the "third generation" of Patlabor. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has disbanded its Section 2 Division 1 of police robots, and Section 2 Division 2 barely survived the budget cuts due to the long recession.
Former Hello! Project singer and actress Erina Mano stars as pilot Akira Izumino (as opposed to the earlier anime's heroine Noa Izumi). The cast also includes Seiji Fukushi as Yūma Shiobara, Rina Oota as Ekaterina Krachevna Kankaeva ("Kasha") from Russia, Shigeru Chiba reprising his anime role as maintenance crew chief Shigeo Shiba, and Toshio Kakei as Captain Keiji Gotōda (the successor to the anime's Captain Kiichi Gotō).
The Patlabor franchise's original concept of police officers piloting robotic mecha (patrol labors or "Patlabors") 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 video anime, a television anime series, and three anime films. The last anime film, Patlabor WXIII, was released in theaters in Japan in 2002.
