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Final Live-Action Patlabor Part's Trailer Streamed
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
Japanese website animeanime.jp began streaming a trailer for the seventh and final part of Mamoru Oshii's live-action The Next Generation -Patlabor- series on Friday. The trailer reveals that Patlabor 2: The Movie character Yukihito Tsuge will play an important role in the final installment.
The trailer hints that in the twelfth episode titled, "Ooinaru Isan" (A Large Inheritance), Akira Izumino and her friends will be faced with the most dangerous situation they've ever encountered, and that a "storm is coming."
Part seven will open in Japanese theaters on January 10, and will screen for two weeks only. The series' sixth part will open in select theaters in Japan on Saturday and will also run for two weeks. A film to follow during Japan's Golden Week holidays in spring 2015. Oshii commented that 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.
Source: animeanime.jp
