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Patlabor


ewilen

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Rented the first DVD of the TV series (eps. 1-5) last night. Both my wife and I enjoyed it. Now I see that contrary to expectations, the 7-part OAV seems to have preceded the series in production. Plus there are some movies. So can anyone clarify the order in which the various parts were produced and their relationship to each other? Is the series a retelling of the OAV story, or a sequel/prequel or what? And what is the recommended viewing order?

What are the best web sites for info on Patlabor? The ones I turned up on Google weren't very complete.

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Patlabor is truly superb show, and much under-supported. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series, and watch out for the recap episode in episode 23 of the TV series. Its a killer! :lol:

Anyways, as I understand it, first there was an OAV series. Next came the TV series, and a second OAV series. At some point during the production of the TV series, there came the two movies ( interviews on the collectors edition of WXIII, the latest movie, seem to indicate that the first movie was produced before the TV series, but I don't know that for definite ).

WXIII was a long time in development and was released some time after the second movie. I would personally recommend watching the TV series followed by the movies, and add the OAVs to taste, but you can watch all three movies on their own with little prior knowledge of the TV series - generally, only the characters are connected, not any plot points ( though bear in mind that WXIII features the cast of the TV series only in a supporting role, with the story focusing on two new protaganists. Also, don't watch WXIII in the dark. The soundtrack is really creepy! )

Edit: oh, theres also the manga, the English release of which was cruelly killed off due to poor sales. Some people just have no taste... :rolleyes:

Edited by F-ZeroOne
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There are three Patlabor continities: manga, OVA and TV. Each has the same characters and situation, but introduces them in a slightly different ways. Once you get past the different introductions, though, the individual stories are basically interchangable between continuities.

Also, the so-called second OVA series was actually released along with the TV series in Japan. They put one OVA episode as a bonus on each of the TV LDs. It's actually better this way, IMO, as the Griffin story gets broken up over a period of time.

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