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Pilotable Patlabor Robot Mecha Teased for Next Summer

Robotics company MOVeLOT announced a new project on Saturday, where it will bring to life a pilotable Ingram labor robot mecha from Mobile Police Patlabor.

The project celebrates the new Patlabor EZY anime, and will reveal the robot to the public in the summer of 2024. The company will share updates on Twitter and Instagram with photo and videos highlighting the process.

GENCO revealed the Patlabor EZY anime project in 2017, with a booth at the MIFA film market at Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The pilot for the project aired in August 2022.

Yutaka Izubuchi (Patlabor mechanical designer) directed the video. GENCO representative director Tarō Maki (Patlabor the Mobile Police, Nodame Cantabile, Millennium Actress) previously confirmed that he produced the Patlabor EZY anime series.

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 Japan Anniversary Association officially recognized August 10 as Patlabor Day.

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.

Sources: MOVeLOT's Twitter account, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web