Originally serialized in Shounen Sunday Comics weekly, Mobile Police Patlabor was a successful 22 volume manga created by Masami Yuuki. A project conceptualized by him along with the other members of Headgear including such industry giants such as Mamoru Oshii, Kazunori Ito, Akemi Takada and Yutaka Izubuchi. Soon enough after the success of the manga and original 7 part OVA series it became the first anime ever to make the transition from video to television series which lasted for 47 great episodes. To top it off an extra 16 OVAs were created and 2 spectacular feature films came out the Patlabor craze. On the surface Patlabor is simply a cop show with giant robots. Yet there's so much more to it's appeal that such a description doesn't even begin to do it justice.

It is a sci-fi and mecha show like no other. Unlike with most examples of the mecha genre, this series places a particular emphasis on the human equivalent rather than focusing on the machines. More than anything else Patlabor is mainly a comedic series that follows the life experiences among the odd cast of characters that make up the Tokyo Metro Police's Special Vehicle Division, Section 2 commonly known as the SV2. With the ways in which the cast interacts with each other the show is most often silly and comical. Yet at times Patlabor can become quite serious and thought provoking. Full of dramatic tension, political intruigue and mystery. There's a hint of romantic involvement and human relationships added to keep things grounded and as you would expect, there also is plenty of action for those of you who crave the physical element.

Through all this Patlabor remains surpisingly believable. It is a work of fiction that presents a vision of civilization in the near future that feels very tangeable and true to life. This is because instead of trying to create a fantastical sci-fi reality, Patlabor attempts to realistically mimic contemporary society in a way that the viewers can relate to. Behind all of the hilarious hijinks and the awesome action scenes, there is an underlying message in Patlabor. It shows very effectively that there is always a price to pay for progress and most of all that technology shapes our world in ways we can never quite anticipate, for better and equally for worse.