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'Mobile Police Patlabor Reboot' Short Anime's New Promo Video Streamed

Bandai Visual began streaming a new promotional video on Thursday for the Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition's (Japan Animator Expo) "Mobile Police Patlabor Reboot" anime short. The video commemorates the short's opening in Japanese theaters on Saturday.

The eight-minute short is screening as an extra during Japan Animator Expo's one-week screening event. The screening event takes place at Tokyo's Shinjuku Wald 9 and Osaka's Umeda Burg 7 theaters. The theaters are selling a special "early theater edition" Blu-ray Disc, which includes art by Naoyuki Asano and storyboards by Yasuhiro Yoshiura. This Blu-ray Disc also includes a soundtrack CD and costs 7,000 yen (about US$67). A limited edition Blu-ray Disc with the same extras will ship on December 26 for 5,000 yen (about US$48), and a DVD will ship on the same day for 3,000 yen (about US$29). The limited edition Blu-ray Disc and DVD was previously slated for October 26.

Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Time of Eve, Patema Inverted) is both the director and director of photography, and is also handling storyboards. Kazunori Itō, who worked on the screenplays for various earlier Patlabor anime, is collaborating with Yoshiura on the script. Naoyuki Asano (Mr. Osomatsu) is adapting Masami Yuuki's original character designs, and also serving as animation director. Kenji Kawai (Patlabor the Mobile Police, Ghost in the Shell) is composing the music. Studio Khara is handling the animation.

Other staff members include:

• Mechanical design, editing: Yutaka Izubuchi
• CGI animation director: Yūsuke Matsui
• CGI director: Manabu Kobayashi
• Color setting: Terumi Nakauchi
• Art director: Yūji Kaneko
• Sound director: Yō Yamada
• Executive producer, planning: Hideaki Anno

Like the other Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition shorts, the Patlabor reboot will star Kouichi Yamadera and Megumi Hayashibara.

The Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition shorts streamed on the project's website for three seasons and a total of 35 episodes.

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 Mamoru 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.

The live-action The Next Generation -Patlabor- project, which debuted in 2014, consisted of a seven-part series and a feature length film.

Maiden Japan has licensed the Patlabor OVA series, Patlabor the Mobile Police: The New Files OVA, Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, and Patlabor WXIII.