News
Patlabor EZY Anime to Be 8 Parts Long
posted on by Egan Loo
The staff also confirmed that the new anime is in full-fledged production, although its character designs and production staff are different from those in its earlier pilot film. They noted that Bandai Namco Filmworks president and producer Makoto Asanuma (Short Peace's "Possessions" short, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX) is involved in an unspecified capacity. (Asanuma appeared at Saturday's event.)
The Saturday event's special guest Yutaka Izubuchi added that he did not intend to direct the new anime at first, but found himself enjoying doing so. He reported that the project is similar to the franchise's first original video anime series, and that it continues the plot as side stories.
Yutaka Izubuchi (Patlabor mechanical designer) is directing the anime at J.C. Staff. Kazunori Itō (Patlabor the Mobile Police) is overseeing and writing the series scripts. Masami Yuuki (Patlabor creator) is designing the characters. Takamitsu Satou (Lostorage incited WIXOSS) is the chief animation director and character designer. Kenji Kawai (Patlabor) is composing the music. GENCO representative director Tarō Maki (Patlabor the Mobile Police, Nodame Cantabile, Millennium Actress) is producing. GAZEN is handling CG production. The HEADGEAR group is credited for the original story.
Akemi Takada is collaborating on the costume design (Patlabor character designer). Kanetake Ebikawa (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury) and Toshiaki Ihara (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time) are the mechanical designers. Masanori Kikuchi (Star Blazers 2199) and Yūta Akiyama (Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma) are credited for art. Yoshinori Moriizumi (Pokémon movies) is the CG director.
GENCO revealed the Patlabor EZY anime project with a booth at the MIFA film market at Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2017. The pilot for the project debuted in August 2022, and then played alongside a one-week 35th anniversary revival screening run of Patlabor: The Movie that started on September 20, 2024. Izubuchi directed the video.
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, opened in theaters in Japan in 2002.
The "Mobile Police Patlabor Reboot" anime short debuted in Japan in October 2016 and began streaming on the Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition's (Japan Animator Expo) official website in November 2016.
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.
Source: Comic Natalie
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise) is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
