History Anime / Patlabor

[[redirect:Franchise/{{Patlabor}}

[[redirect:Franchise/{{Patlabor}}]]

[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Patlabor_5425.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:328:It's such a clear day you can see Mount Fuji[[note]]That's NOT Mount Fuji.[[/note]].]]

->''"Labor: The common name for robots designed for heavy industrial use. The rise of labors sparked a revolution in construction and civil engineering, but labor-related crime skyrocketed as well. To combat this new threat, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police created a patrol labor unit, the Special Vehicles Unit Second Section. This was the origin of Patlabor."''
-->-- Tagline used in the Early Days [=OVA=]

''In the Criminal Justice System, HumongousMecha-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In Tokyo, the dedicated officers who deal with these vicious felonies are an [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits elite squad]] known as the [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Special Vehicles Unit.]] [[Series/LawAndOrder These are their stories]].''

Set in the not-so-far-off future of 1998, this late-80s/early-90s anime, ''Mobile Police Patlabor''[[note]]pronounced ''pat-lay-ber'' (Patrol labor), not ''pat-lah-BOOR''[[/note]], is the story of police officers fighting crime with giant robots. The Special Vehicles Unit's Division 1 are a corps of competent, hard-working police who always get their man -- but ''Patlabor'' isn't about them. No, it's Division ''2'' that gets the spotlight, that scruffy, rag-tag band of half-competent cops with a propensity towards massive property damage.

Quite possibly the quintessential TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture [[HumongousMecha giant robot]] anime, ''Patlabor'' is notable for treating its mecha not as insanely powerful miracle machines, but actual vehicles with clear limitations that require constant maintenance. In fact, although there's action aplenty, most of the series focuses on the daily life of the police officers who pilot the mecha, and big robot smash-ups often take up only a minute or two, if that. It is, truth be told, a SliceOfLife series disguised as a HumongousMecha show.

Patlabor was created in 1988 by "Headgear" -- a group of creators including Creator/MamoruOshii (who pretty much kickstarted the OVA boom of the 80s and would later earn international recogition with ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell''), Masami Yuuki (of ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty'' fame), Akemi Takada (character designer of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'', ''Anime/KimagureOrangeRoad'') and others. ''Patlabor'' was planned from the start as both a manga (1988 to 1994) and {{OVA}} (The Early Days started from 1988 to 1989), and a theatrical movie and TV series followed not long after.

By turns a CopShow, PoliceProcedural, slice of life comedy, political thriller, and of course, a MechaShow, ''Patlabor'' had no trouble switching between genres from one episode to the next. (For the most part, though, the TV series and {{OVA}}s tended more towards comedy and light drama, whereas the movies were much more adult and sophisticated.)

''Patlabor'' was unique for its time in that it examined the impact that giant robots might have on society. Not war machines but glorified forklifts, hijacked labors (hence the name) provided a new avenue for crime and terror, thus the need for a police organization trained to deal with them. Otherwise, the Japan seen in the series was virtually identical to the Japan of today, just with slightly more advanced tech. On the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, it fell somewhere in the middle -- it wasn't some wonderful new age of technological miracles, yet the tone was still generally hopeful and optimistic. (However, the tone of the movies, most notable in the third and final film, is decidedly more cynical and pessimistic, almost a denouncement of the original premise.)

Most of the narrative focuses on Officer Noa Izumi, an eager, fresh-faced, tomboyish young woman who's just graduated from cadet training. Noa's a mecha {{otaku}} -- the only reason she applied for the job was so she could ride around all day in her own personal robot (nicknamed "Alphonse"). One of the main themes of the series is Noa learning to take her job as an enforcer of the law more seriously.

Other main characters include:
* Asuma Shinohara, the dispossessed heir to a mecha construction company and Noa's "backup" (this is the English term used in the series--with Noa being the "forward" -- although his role would be better described as "spotter", or possibly "field commander", as there is an implication of the backup being a superior officer).
* Captain Kiichi Gotoh, Division 2's easy-going (but supremely observant) commander. A BenevolentBoss (and occasional [[ThePrankster prankster]]).
* Captain Shinobu Nagumo, Division 1's reserved, [[ByTheBookCop by-the-book]], commander and the [[LoveInterest target of Gotoh's affections.]]
* Hiromi Yamizaki, a GentleGiant who drives the Division's patlabor-carrier truck.
* Isao Ohta, another pilot and [[HotBlooded red-blooded]] alpha male gun nut. An honorable, impulsive JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
* Lt. Kanuka Clancy, a [[TheAce hot-shot]] Japanese American NYPD officer sent to observe Tokyo's mecha operation.
* Lt. Takeo Kumagami, an ultra-competent {{Bifauxnen}} policewoman brought in to replace Kanuka after she returns to the States.
* Mikiyasu Shinshi, a mild-mannered computer expert and family man. [[BerserkButton Woe to whoever]] [[BewareTheNiceOnes insults his wife]].
* Seitaro Sakaki, the gruff old chief engineer who oversees the nigh-constant patlabor repairs.
* Shigeo "Shige" Shiba, Sakaki's assistant and protege, an ineffectual gearhead.

Although very popular over in Japan, ''Patlabor'' never really took off in North America, although it has a cult following among anime fans. The first two movies were dubbed by Creator/MangaEntertainment in the mid-90s, and released to VHS and DVD in English-speaking countries around the world, but the OVA and TV series weren't imported and dubbed by Creator/CentralParkMedia until more than a decade after they ended their Japanese run. In addition, [[Creator/{{Geneon}} Pioneer]] released the third movie, [[Creator/BandaiEntertainment Bandai Visual]] re-released the first two movies with new dubs, and recently, Maiden Japan (sister company of Creator/SentaiFilmworks) has licensed the franchise and is currently re-releasing it to remastered DVD and Blu-ray. Surprisingly, the only part of the anime franchise that hasn't been dubbed in English is the last 12 episodes of the "New Files" sequel series. As for the manga, only the first two volumes were released in the U.S. and Canada. For French-speaking areas, only 18 out of 22 volumes were released. As of 2018, the TV Series, OVA series and first three movies are available on [[Creator/AnimeNetwork HIDive]]

In 2013, the Patlabor franchise appeared in their first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' game in ''Super Robot Wars: Operation Extend''.

A live-action project, set in 2013, [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-01-06/live-action-patlabor-to-feature-real-life-mecha is a sequel,]] not a reboot, of the series. Known as ''Film/TheNextGenerationPatlabor'', thirteen episodes were shown in theaters in seven parts, and a feature-length film aired in spring 2015.

A 10 minute animated short called ''Patlabor Reboot'' aired on October 15, 2016 as an extra short for the Anime/JapanAnimatorExpo. It's released on DVD and Blu-Ray in Japan, although it has been officially streamed on its website in Japanese with official English subs.

Several mecha from the franchise, such as the AV-98 Ingram, Type-5G/1C Grau-Bear and the CRL-98 Pyro-Buster, showed up in the 2017 SurvivalHorror game ''VideoGame/CityShroudedInShadow''.

Watch ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', ''Anime/ArmoredTrooperVotoms'', or ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' if you are interested in more RealRobotGenre shows. Compare with ''[[Anime/MazingerZ the]]'' ''[[Anime/GreatMazinger Mazinger]]'' ''[[Anime/UFORoboGrendizer trilogy]]'', ''Manga/GetterRobo'', ''Anime/VoltesV'' and ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'' to have an idea of what the SuperRobotGenre is about. Contrast with ''Anime/GunBuster'' or ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'' to see what the opposite end of the scale is.

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Do note that the franchise has [[AlternateContinuity different timelines/story arcs]], owing to when the said series/movies were first aired/retailed on video.

[[folder:Manga Timeline]]
[[index]]
* ''Manga/MobilePolicePatlabor''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Movie Timeline]]
* ''Anime/MobilePolicePatlaborTheEarlyDays''
* ''Anime/PatlaborTheMovie''
* ''Anime/WXIIIPatlaborTheMovie3''
* ''Anime/Patlabor2TheMovie''
* ''Film/TheNextGenerationPatlabor''
* ''Film/TheNextGenerationPatlaborTokyoWar''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:TV Timeline]]
* ''Anime/PatlaborTheTVSeries''
* ''Anime/PatlaborTheNewFiles''
* ''Anime/PatlaborEZY''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Games]]
* ''VideoGame/MobilePolicePatlabor'' (Several titles had the name used for the games sold in Japan)
* ''VideoGame/MobilePolicePatlabor98ShikiKidouSeyo''
* ''VideoGame/MobilePolicePatlaborGriffonHen''
* ''VideoGame/MobilePolicePatlaborGameEdition''
* ''Videogame/PatlaborComeBackMiniPato''
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOE''
* ''VideoGame/CityShroudedInShadow''
[[/index]]
[[/folder]]

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!!''Patlabor'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* AceCustom: Even though the Ingrams are considered prototypes, the Labor operating systems work by "learning" the most effective movements of its pilots, customizing their functions. Visibly, all continuities give the three units different head designs after the first OVA.
* AdaptationDistillation: Shinobu is far more expressive in the manga adaptation, as opposed to the anime where she's a DeadpanSnarker instead.
* AesopAmnesia: Episode 29 centers around virtually all of the SVU getting crippled by issues with their usual lunch place, first because Ohta offends the owner and gets them blacklisted from delivery for half the episode, followed by their order being contaminated by a disgruntled delivery driver and causing them all to get food poisoning once they're back in the restaurant's good graces. Takeo notes that they can't allow themselves to be too dependent on a single source of food again. Then Noa comes by to pick up the day's lunch orders, from the same restaurant, and Takeo makes her order without thinking. Of course, it should be noted that the reason they always buy from that one restaurant is because they have no choice - their base is so far out of town that nobody else will deliver there, and that one restaurant likely makes an exception for them because the entire base orders lunch from them every day.
* AffectionateParody: of both videogames and itself with an in-universe Patlabor arcade game, complete with missspelled ScoreScreen.
* AlternateContinuity: Three of them - the comic; the first {{OVA}} and the three movies; and the TV series and second {{OVA}}.
* AlternateHistory: Global warming got a bit more serious that sea levels started to rise up during the Cold War. This led to [=R&D=] of labors in the construction industry before various police forces and militaries found some benefit in using them. Otherwise, everything else is the same.
** [[http://imgur.com/EbqRwQ5 The opening credits to the TV series feature]] [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht Bundeswehr]] labors ("Brocken" models shown later in the Phantom arc) standing guard at the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall.
* AndYouWereThere: Shige's bizarre dream visit to New York is mostly populated with blonde American versions of [=SV2=] personnel, down to the old maintenance chief threatening to chuck people into the Hudson.
%% * AnimeThemeSong
* ArmCannon: While most armed humanoid Labors use handheld weapons, the Helldiver paratrooper Labor is equipped with an enormous chain gun that attaches to a hardpoint on its right forearm, possibly to leave its hands free to use the massive combat knife it carries on its back.
%%* ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Eichi Hoba leaves behind several clues that reference the story of the Tower of Babel before he commits suicide in the first movie.
%%* BadassAdorable: Noa
* BadassCrew: Division 2. Everyone has a little bit of Badass in one form or another.
* BatmanGambit: Nagumo gets rid of the SRX-70, and more importantly, the corporate maintenance crew trying to steal its operational data for use in weapons development, by telling the chief that she'll only accept it as a permanent piece of equipment if the trigger-happy Ohta is transferred to Division 1 and made its pilot. The chief returns the Labor rather than risk what might happen if Ohta gets his hands on the SRX-70's 42mm autocannon.
* BeachEpisode: The TV series, episode 40. Although it's the last scene of the episode that treats the viewer with a view of the team enjoying beach games and suntanning.
* BellBottomLimbedBots: Labors tend to have disproportionately large lower legs and feet as a concession to "realism", as keeping their centre of gravity low would be the main design concern on something so huge that's meant to walk upright.
* BerserkButton:
** Word to the wise - ''do not insult Shinshi's wife''.
** Every time Alphonse gets damaged, Noa is not going to be happy about it.
** Even though Ohta is a living, breathing BerserkButton himself, it's worth mentioning that he really, ''really'' hates when someone disrespects the police. This applies to his patrol partners as well, and it's the reason why him and Shinohara are constantly at each other's throats.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: As mentioned above, Shinshi is an extremely mild-mannered, helpful, ''nice'' individual, but if he feels you've insulted his wife--or even ''the institution of marriage''-- he ''will'' go berserk on you (and probably injure himself as a side effect).
* BoringButPractical: A lot of the Labors are fairly unimpressive, but functional.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: This happens at several points in the manga --
** One of the earliest examples occurs in the first chapter. Noa complains she can't keep track of all the geographical data, so Asuma tells her [[MrExposition he'll explain]] two pages later. And ''he does '' - complete with a map and pointer!
** Noa breaks the 4th wall, herself, by turning her back to the reader while taking her physical exam so we can't see her topless. While in another scene, she notes that the manga's becoming more like a cartoon.
* BrokeEpisode: On a number of fronts, as [=SV2=] is on reclaimed land in the middle of nowhere, and simply getting food to feed the on-duty officers and maintenance crew justifies some spotlight time. Among other things, they grow their own vegetables and use the local patrol boat to fish the bay.
* ButNotTooForeign: Lt. Clancy, who is half-Japanese and half-American.
* ChanceMeetingBetweenAntagonists: Happens once in both the OVA and ''The Mobile Police/New Files'' continuities.
** About midway through ''"The [=SVU's=] Longest Day part 1"'', Asuma happens to meet Kai, while he's eating at a ramen noodle stall. He'd later learn, from Gotoh, that Kai was the leader of the rebel army that was laying siege to Tokyo.
** In the ''Mobile Police'' continuity, Asuma and Noa go to an arcade center on their day off and end up running into [[AffablyEvil Richard]] [[ChessMaster Wong]] and [[TheDragon Bado]], who would later become the [=SVU's=] main antagonists during [[WhamEpisode the Griffon arc.]]
%%* ClipShow: Episode 23 of the TV Series. ZERO CONTEXT EXAMPLE
* CloseRangeCombatant: While nearly all Labors, with the possible exception of the [[SpiderTank Hal and Radha military Labors]], are this to some degree, the Griffon really takes the cake. Despite being described as a military-grade Labor, it has no weapons other than its sharp, clawed fingers. Designed for sheer brutality, the Griffon's only viable method of attack is to descend upon enemies with its powerful jet thrusters and rip them to shreds with its bare hands.
* ColonelBadass: Gotoh was too observant for his superiors' liking and they didn't want him underfoot, [[ReassignedToAntarctica so they reassigned him to a command position with Special Vehicles.]] Which, as Detective Matsui observed, [[BatmanGambit "is right where he wants to be."]]
* ContrivedCoincidence: "Black Trinary" is set in motion by one. First, the SVU base bathing facilities suffer a breakdown, forcing everyone to head into town to use a public bathhouse. While traveling there, they encounter a wounded police officer who had been chasing a wanted serial bomber, with the only place said bomber could have run to is said bathhouse. Most of the hijinks in the episode center around the fact that the only identifying mark the wounded man could pass to the heroes to identify the suspect was a description of the bomber's ''armpit''.
* CoolPlane: The fictional [[http://mekamo.web.fc2.com/021_HELLHOUND.html AH-88 Hellhound]] actually out-cools most of the HumongousMecha.
* CopShow: On paper. But Special Vehicles 2 gets called out maybe a few times during a busy week, so the show leans more towards a SliceOfLife.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Schaft Enterprises is a ruthless corporation that produces military mecha, among other things, and uses highly illegal means to test their vehicles. An odd case, in that it remains a monolithic entity with no BigBad in charge of it, though their agents Kurosaki and Richard Wong/Utsumi give it a human face. Schaft even has its own private army of mercenaries that operates in a great part of Southeast Asia.
* CrossCounter: Alphonse vs. Griffon in the TV series and manga.
%%* CrossPoppingVeins: Ohta, mostly.
* DarkerAndEdgier:
** Every one of the movies gets progressively darker than the last but surprisingly enough the first two are really low on violence and serve more as psychological thrillers. However, the third movie got away with some rather gruesome deaths and a gloomier mood.
** The Griffon Arc in both the television series and second {{OVA}}s is slightly edgier than the rest of the other episodes, but still has some comedic charm scattered about it.
%%* DayInTheLife
* DeadlineNews: Momoko Sakurayama won't let a little thing like danger get in the way of a good story--or being made into unknowing hostages by a criminal labor pilot. Her antagonistic relationship with Section 2 just makes all the more fun to see Otah stuff them back in their news van by hand.
* DeconstructorFleet: Of HumongousMecha in general.
** The mechas are rarely over a dozen meters tall, so as not to crush their own feet. And one tripping will still take out a house. They don't even walk long distances, since they're stored at construction sites like any other piece of heavy equipment, and the Patlabors are transported to combat scenes in their own specialized trucks.
** FallingIntoTheCockpit is impossible as they're complicated as hell. Noa does ''literally'' fall into the cockpit in the first episode of the anime series, but she was already a trained if not yet licensed pilot, and only needed help figuring out the model-specific features of the Ingram. Noa teaching her mech to tie a shoelace knot is considered proof of her being a genius pilot. Most people can't do much with even a SuperPrototype robot even if they find themselves piloting one.
** Weapons are scaled-up versions of conventional firearms. A laser shows up in a single two-part episode, but never seen again -- it destroyed all its foes, but it was ''[[AwesomeButImpractical too delicate and expensive]].''
** WarForFunAndProfit is neither fun nor profitable. Schaft Enterprises makes an attempt to pit one of their military prototypes against the police's Ingram in pursuit of combat data. What followed was ridiculously stupid, as the only people they could find willing to do such a ridiculously stupid thing were some deadbeat stoner BombThrowingAnarchists -- who fled the scene once they ''realized'' how ridiculously stupid the whole thing was.[[note]]Of course, the whole Griffon plotline, from Brocken fighting Ingram to collect its data to the Griffon itself, is a ''huge'' ShoutOut to [[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin No. 28]]. Simply replace Brocken and Griffon with Baccus and Black Ox and the whole thing should be clearer.[[/note]]
* DependingOnTheArtist: While not too jarring in the long run, the designs differ between each incarnation as a result of them being produced by different studios- Creator/StudioDeen for the original OVA, Creator/ProductionIG and Creator/{{Madhouse}} for the films and Creator/{{Sunrise}} for the series and ''The New Files'' OVA. The most noticeable difference, apart from the proportions and Unit 3's head being the design of the Ingrams' backpacks. The original Headgear design used in the manga version depicts them with a pair of cooling fans at the bottom, positioned in such a way as to invoke the iconic Anime/MobileSuitGundam's jump thrusters, whereas most subsequent versions replace them with a set of modest vent slits.
* DetachmentCombat: The Griffon sacrifices its hydrojet pontoons to draw Noah's fire while the rest of it climbs out of the water to ambush her.
* DisqualificationInducedVictory: How Outa got the job of piloting Unit 2 in the anime despite constantly causing problems by being a blindly aggressive trigger-happy dumbass. Kanuka beat him during the mini-tournament used to select the pilots, but since she's only on loan from the NYPD for six months to train with the Special Vehicles squad, it would be cost-prohibitive to train a Labor on her movement patterns and then have to reset it for a new pilot when she returns to the United States.
* DistractedByTheSexy: In the 12 episode (''"Two in Karuizawa"''), Gotoh gets distracted twice by checking on [[FairCop Shinobu's]] sprained ankle, while also [[CovertPervert sneaking peeks]] [[LegFocus at her legs]]. She catches him both times and firmly reminds him to keep his eyes on the road instead. At one point, he even adjusts the rearview mirror so he can look at her while he's driving, but her woman's intuition kicks in again; [[Funny/{{Patlabor}} making him put it back the way it was.]]
* DivergentCharacterEvolution: All three Ingram units in SV2 initially look identical, but Ota's Unit 2 eventually gets a different head (explained in the manga as part of a cancelled prototype donated to the police by Shinohara Heavy Industries after the Special Vehicles Unit ran out of spare heads due to Ota's [[LeeroyJenkins insanely aggressive fighting style]]) and slightly different shoulder armor. The seldom-seen Unit 3 also gets a new head in the second movie with retractable sensor antennae (and a different, more stripped-down one with a beefed-up upper camera eye and no visor in the TV series and 2nd OVA continuity).
%%* DownerEnding: Done humorously at the end of episode 13 of ''The New Files'' (covered extensively on the [[Funny/{{Patlabor}} Funny Moments page]]). ZERO CONTEXT EXAMPLE
* TheDreaded: Sakaki. Even the labor pilots fear Sakaki. Considering he's in charge of the mechanics that maintain their machines, their fear is somewhat justified.
* DreamSequence: Twice. Once with our heroes fighting supervillains in New York, later with them fighting alien invaders in space. The latter was subverted at the end when we find that the main character of the DreamSequence wasn't the one dreaming it - [[spoiler:he had actually nodded off listening to the star of the ''first'' sequence describe that episode!]].
* DrumBathing: [=SV2=] uses a bath cobbled together from a propane burner and an oil drum until the propane tank has an accident, forcing the officers to use a distant public bath.
* DrunkDriver: The first Labor criminal shown in the anime is some random idiot piloting his Labor while drunk. And he isn't the last one to turn up.
* {{Eagleland}}:
** In the Aforementioned New York dream sequence. Type 2 for the most part, but the [[ShoutOut shout outs]] rampant throughout make it even more humorous.
** It's mentioned that the U.S. has threatened to take military action if the Japanese can't get their house in order in the second film.
* EasyLogistics: Subverted. The logistics woes affecting [=SV2=] are so bad, Ingram Unit 3 is rarely deployed, because most of the time it's being cannibalised for spare parts (in fact, it only gets used once in the TV continuity, and that required the maintenance staff to cannibalise [=SV1=]'s backup unit for parts before it was in working condition). And due to where Special Vehicles 2 is located, there are severe difficulties with feeding the maintenance staff: they farm and fish for a lot of their own food while not working. [[spoiler:Gotoh apparently came up with a solution, that frankly ''worries'' Nagumo about what he'd do if he didn't happen to be one of the good guys.]]
* EnergyWeapons: Only one Labor type ever uses one, and it's quickly abandoned by the corporation building them because they're too expensive and not as effective against cannons and good old-fashioned pummeling as they thought. It was likely deemed AwesomeButImpractical, as we only see it fighting the AV-98s.
* EscalatingWar: The Seven Days of Fire that result when the mechanic team's PornStash is confiscated.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Richard Wong isn't exactly ''evil'' per se, but he otherwise adheres to this. (If he'd been a bit more ruthless, for example, there would have been no need to throw so many Schaft Labors at the Ingrams, given that security at Special Vehicles 2 is practically nil. [[spoiler:And in the manga, they take advantage of this.]]) Of course, his objective isn't to destroy the Ingrams, it's to be seen defeating them, and sabotage or attacking them while they were down for maintenance would not have provided proof of the superiority of his own designs.
* EveryCarIsAPinto:
** Played straight with cars, but averted with [[HumongousMecha Labors]], which require a self-destruct to explode.
** Played straight with at least two labors in the 2nd movie, when [[spoiler:helicopters]] from [[spoiler:the JSDF]] attacked the [[spoiler:2nd division]].
* {{Expy}}:
** The members of Division 2 are very similar to the characters from ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' in various ways. Most obviously, Ota is [[GunNut Tackleberry]] born into a society with strict gun control laws and Hiromi is [[GentleGiant Hightower]].
** A redheaded new recruit of an armored police division? Are we talking about [[Anime/DominionTankPolice Leona Ozaki]], or her future equivalent, Noa Izumi? In addition, Noa fusses over her labor, Alphonse, just as Leona fawn over her tank, Bonaparte. Both shows came out nearly simultaneously, and had the same woman voicing the fangirl.
* EyeBeams: The Phantom, the Labor that uses the aforementioned EnergyWeapons, has a creepy, skull-like face & fires the beams out of the skull's "eyes", but the main camera is actually located in the "mouth".
* EyesAlwaysShut: Richard Wong/Mr. Utsumi. They open from time to time.
%%* {{Facefault}}: CONSTANTLY.
* FailedFutureForecast: The last episode of the original OVA premiered less than five months before the Berlin Wall fell, so in 1998, there is still a Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall still exists (with West German "Brocken" labors standing guard). Judging by the 2nd movie, it has ended, so it either [[AlternateHistory ended later than in]] RealLife or it was a {{Retcon}}.
* FarEastAsianTerrorists: Some of the antagonists the units face off in the course of the series. Ranging from radical environmentalists, Japanese-based mercenaries to rogue [=JSDF=] officers and soldiers.
* FishEyeLens: Seen often in the first & second films, particularly from the perspective of some poor bastard getting a royal ass-chewing.
* FlatCharacter: The mechanics are never really given much development, aside from Sakaki and Shige. A few of them get ''names'' in the second movie, but that's about it.
* FloodedFutureWorld: The HumongousMecha were originally developed to construct barrier dams to protect coastal cities from being flooded due to GlobalWarming. {{Downplayed|Trope}}, as the flooding is not catastrophic and is merely part of the background.
* FrothyMugsOfWater: Averted, there's no censorship regarding the episode where everyone but Gotou gets drunk. (And it wouldn't make any damn sense to do so, for one.)
* FuroScene: Notably OVA episode "Black Trinary", but [=SV2=] has a small bath the characters occasionally use.
* GatlingGood:
** The [=AH88=] Hellhound helicopters, Extor battle robots, & AL-97B Hannibal labors in the movies are all armed with 20mm rotary cannons. A JSDF helicopter flying over Tokyo in the second movie can also be seen fitted with a three-barreled door-mounted machine gun.
** On the good guys' side, Ohta is unsurprisingly a big believer in this, and [[spoiler:Clancy hooks him up with what looks like a ''GAU-8 Avenger'' towards the end of the first OVA series. Somehow.]]
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Section 2 goes toe-to-toe with a few biotechnologically-enhanced Kaijus in addition to other labors, most notably W-XIII, a genetically-engineered horror created from a combination of alien microbes and human cancer cells.
* GlobalWarming: While HumongousMecha are AwesomeButImpractical in RealLife, the crisis of global sea waters rising is what made their development a priority in this universe, where they were primarily valued as powerful and versatile construction machinery for efficiently building things like seawalls and levees. The police models frequently shown (and military models infrequently shown) are outgrowths of the technology used to deal with the crisis.
* GratuitousEnglish: Averted most of the time with [[InformedAbility Ameri]][[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent can]] Kanuka Clancy, who still [[JapaneseRanguage pronounces "Roger" with an L]]. Everyone else plays the trope straight.
* GratuitousRussian:
** According to the translation and the Japanese subtitles, the Soviet labor pilot said "You Japs betrayed me", but in reality he said something like "Japanese No Hooray" or a tremendously mispronounced "Japanese nowhere" and continued to savagely violate the Russian language during the rest of the episode. [[note]]Averted with the English dub, where he speaks English.[[/note]]
** The name of the KGB general, who wanted to [[spoiler:defect]] even was "Ivan Ivanovitch Ivanovsky", a common Russian placeholder name.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: In the first manga volume, Noa gets her first awesome moment when she rips a leg off a four-legged labor, then beats the labor into submission with it. (This particular application of the trope shows up from time to time throughout Patlabor).
* GroupPictureEnding: The finale of ''The Mobile Police/New Files'' continuity ends with a group photo of the members [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zy_-d_wvsg SVU's 2nd Unit]], along with Shinobu, the 1st Division's captain.
* GuysSmashGirlsShoot: Inverted by Noah and Ota, the latter being a notorious GunNut while the former prefers to engage enemies in hand-to-hand combat and/or break out the shock baton.
* HardDrinkingPartyGirl:
** Noa and Lt. Clancy, though not "Party Girls" by any stretch of the imagination, can hold their liquor. The first time they start to bond is when they're both screaming drunk and drinking competitively. [[spoiler:Noa wins, by not having any hangover whatsoever the next day.]]
** Lt. Kumagami. Kumagami and Clancy getting drunk together at the hot springs [[spoiler: and poor Ohta paying for it]] is classic.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Division 1, which is constantly depicted as TheAce when it appears in full force (but rarely does). The final episode of the TV series even has Division 2 getting OvershadowedByAwesome within a couple of minutes when the other Division arrives with brand-new upgraded Patlabors.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Division 2 is regarded as a pack of reckless, trigger-happy idiots who cause massive collateral damage whenever they deploy. This is mostly Ohta's fault, as he represents 50% of the pilots in the Division, and ''is'' a reckless, trigger-happy idiot. Occasionally, this reputation works in their favor: some villains of the week surrender rather than face Division 2 and end up with whatever their objective was getting destroyed in the process.
* HotSpringsEpisode: In the second OVA series.
* HumongousMecha: Labors come in on the smaller side, being at most about 8 meters tall. One of the Mini-Pato shorts explains that, if they were any taller or shorter, the Ingrams (and the Labors in general) wouldn't be able to do their job. Too tall, and Labors are mass-produced house-sized bulldozers (and in the way). Too short, and they're as useful for construction as [[Anime/ArmoredTrooperVotoms ATs]].
* IdolSinger: Kana from the TV series (most of [=SV2=] is a fan of hers). Also a {{Bokukko}}, though no one comments on it.
* IDontKnowMortalKombat: Izumi did badly on a ''Patlabor'' arcade game largely because she was too used to piloting a real HumongousMecha. The trope is very apt, amusingly, as the difference between the game (depicted only in the anime, as a 'hunt-and-kill' simulator) and Noa's job is about as big as the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series and a UFC event.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Loudmouthed and trigger-happy Ohta. Who gets to shine in the episode where he goes into an ''omiai'' ([[ArrangedMarriage very formal arranged date]]) and ends up helping his prospective girlfriend, who he ''did'' like, ''save the man she loves''.
** In one episode, Noa discovers that Ohta, known for causing massive property damage, especially with his trigger-happy use of his labor's revolver, is actually a perfect shot. When she asks Gotoh about this, he points out that none of Ohta's shots have ever injured anyone.
* {{Kaiju}}:
** Used in episode 3 of the first OVA series, where [[spoiler:the monster walks off into the sea immediately after it appears]]. It has an appearance similar to Gaira from ''Film/WarOfTheGargantuas'' ...and Hiromi Yamizaki.
** The fourth and 19th episodes of the TV series feature different monsters. The first is a mammal of some sort, a genetic experiment that escaped, and the audience only catches a brief sight of it -- it's an animation [[TheCameo cameo]] of ''LightNovel/DirtyPair''[='=]s Mughi. In episode 19, the monster is an underground-adapted [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragon]], which Noa insists on calling it a real Kaiju, while Kanuka [[HypocriticalHumor insists on calling it a surviving Dragon]] descended from the ones in the middle ages.
** The manga contains a different {{Kaiju}} story that involves an airline crash that accidentally releases a genetic experiment that rapidly grows into an amphibious monster that Division 2 (among others) get called out to deal with. ''Anime/WXIIIPatlaborTheMovie3'' was loosely based on this story.
* KillerRobot: In addition to the various HOS virus infected Labors in the movie, a few other unmanned weapons occasionally turn up, such as the Shinohara Heavy Industries' Caldia security robots, resembling upsized red velvet mites armed with FrickinLaserBeams, the American military's Extoll battle robots in the second movie, and the TV series' Phantom, which is described as a military Labor, but appears to be unmanned, having an electronic warfare suite inside its torso instead of a cockpit.
* LawmanBaton: The Ingrams are equipped with an electromagnetic baton that can disable a hostile Labor if thrust into a vulnerable spot.
* LowerDeckEpisode: A few eps revolving around the mechanic team. (Shige ''insists'' that this was supposed to be the Upper Deck, in one of the Mini-Pato shorts...)
* MagicFloppyDisk: Especially prevalent in the movies where the 5" type is standard and the 3" indicates something advanced.
* MechaMooks: West German Brocken military labors, particularly in the first Phantom arc.
* MechaShow: ''Patlabor'' is the first of a rare sub-genre, that of civilian-owned and operated mecha ''not'' largely used for combat.
* MidseasonUpgrade: Almost inverted in the TV series where there are plans to downgrade from the Ingram to the cheaper Economy Model Ingram mk. I, but its performance is simply too poor. Played straight for SV1, who trade in the obsolete Pythons for AV-0 Peacemakers, a massproduction version of the PsychoPrototype "Zero" from the first movie (which was in a different continuity, but whatever). The Griffon also gets one in ''The New Files'', replacing its wings, which broke off after it crashed into a mountain, with a pair of back-mounted hydrojets.
* MoodWhiplash: From the mostly serious and adult movies, to the comical, sometimes juvenile television and OVA series.
* MotionCaptureMecha: The Ingrams have a pair of retractable arm harnesses inside the cockpit to allow the pilot to control the mech's arms directly for precise movements like opening doors, though these are optional and most of the finer details of its actions are handled by the on-board computer. One notable scene features Noah practicing with the mo-cap harnesses by tying a piece of steel cable into a butterfly knot.
* TheMovie: Three of them, though the third is actually a [[GaidenGame Gaiden Story]] in which our heroes appear only briefly.
* MundaneFantastic: It's a cop show with giant robots.
* MusicalSpoiler: In the TV series, at one point Nagumo and Fuwa are at a restaurant, discussing who's responsible for the mystery labor that's been running around. The song playing over the radio is Schaft's theme song, with the only lings being "We are Schaft, Schaft! We are Schaft!
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** In the anime series, Nagumo's decision to reject the SRX-70 Saturn because she knew the manufacturer would use its data for military purposes leads indirectly to the disastrous events of the Gryphon Arc.
** ''Anime/PatlaborTheMovie'': With the team outnumbered by rampaging Labors during the assault on the Ark, Kanuka installs a clean Labor Operating System on the Type Zero and takes it out to try to improve their odds. Unfortunately, the HOS virus hung on in hidden memory and quickly reinfects the Type Zero, which then ambushes Ohta and then has a LastVillainStand against Noa.
* NoFourthWall: The manga, multiple times, for the sake of comedy.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Richard Wong/Mr. Utsumi, the cold and calculating agent of Schaft Enterprises, hides behind a happy-go-lucky facade. (Mind, he actually ''is'' that happy-go-lucky under most circumstances -- he just ''stays'' that way as he calmly orchestrates a calamity.)
* {{Omake}}: The third theatrical movie was packaged with three humorous "Mini-Pato" shorts, which explained the mechanics behind the Revolver Cannon the Ingrams use, the background to the creation of the series as a whole (as well as a cynical look at the MechaShow genre), and how the perpetually cash-starved Special Vehicles 2 was able to keep feeding itself (hint: Gotoh worked some magic, apparently some of his finest).
* {{Otaku}}: Several Mecha Otaku, most notably...
* OtakuSurrogate: Noa is a borderline example as she's obsessed with giant robots, but in a very girly way. She seems to be working her way out of it by the time of the second movie.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: It's six legged (two hands, four legs), eyeless from being underground for a thousand+ years and has sensory tentacles that it can use offensively growing from the back of its head.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Episode 27 of the TV series features a pretty standard group of ghosts and poltergeists with unfinished business, the only thing being that they're made up of former inhabitants of ever era all the way back to Sengoku...
* ParanormalEpisode: The anime is, at its heart, a SliceOfLife, CopShow[=/=]PoliceProcedural, with HumongousMecha. But, during the 27th episode of the TV series, the [=SVU2=] encounter ghosts, while holding indoor training execrcises in an abandoned building. It turns out that the ghosts were [[spoiler: the spirits of earthquake victims, who once lived there. Their spirits couldn't rest because of an undiscovered burial site, which contained the remains of slain samurai, directly beneath the building [=SVU2=] was training in.]] The spirits were lain to rest, once it was discovered, and rites were performed on the site.
* PhenotypeStereotype: In the New York city dream, most of the characters who appear are blond haired, blue eyed versions of the core cast--with a few exceptions -- as is everyone else in New York City. They're also all [[GunNut gun crazy]]. ''All'' of them.
* PoliceProcedural: To a point.
* PornStash: The maintenance staff has a truly impressive one, hidden in numerous sub-caches all over the base. The Seven Days of Fire started when Sakaki found and destroyed ''all'' of them.
* PostCyberpunk: You get the feeling that the Cyberpunk period happened a few years ago in-universe, and now everyone has to go back to work.
* PublicBathhouseScene: Episode 7 of ''The New Files'' has the officers of [=SV2=] searching for a bombing suspect at a bathhouse after their improvised bath explodes. All they know is that the suspect has three moles in the right armpit, so the search turns into a naked brawl. [[spoiler: The bomber turns out to be a woman, meaning the men never had a chance of finding her.]]
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: AND HOW. They're frequently referred to as such in-universe (with "cash drain" usually added for good measure), to the point that it's a RunningGag.
* RealRobot: About as close to realistic as you can get, aside from some slightly whimsical giant police weaponry. Even military Labors are pretty delicate and lightly armed.
** The close-range Griffon (and the Phantom in a lesser extent) is an obvious exception, since it wasn't going to be mass produced and it was built without cost in mind and lots of overtime from the engineers in Schaft's Project Division Seven. Its flight, for example, was extremely limited and was brute thrust all the way, ending in crashes both times. Everybody got utterly shocked when the Griffon flew, since neither of them thought possible a Labor was able to fly (since it was earlier mentioned that making flying a Labor would be very complicated, due to its weight).
* RevolversAreJustBetter: The Ingrams carry scaled-up Colt Pythons. This is at least partly due to the fact that they're easier for the ground crew to load by hand than a magazine-fed weapon would be.
* {{Roboteching}}: Seen in an episode that parodied ''[[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross Macross]]'' (as well as ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' and a few other classic sci-fi shows).
* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: The series in general remains on the Enlightened end of the spectrum and relatively idealistic - even in the worst of times. Generally, humanity growing to live with mechs coexisting with them and how they are used in society is the end result, and all other things are just consequences of it.
* RunningGag:
** Noa frantically running from something, almost fainting, quickly recovering. Happens at least three times in the course of the series. Usually from something monstrous--like albino {{sewer gator}}s.
** Gotoh using Shinohara's hot-headedness and curiosity in missions to confirm suspicions that he has already glossed over ''waaaaaaay'' before. Which is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Shinobu during the first film, when she comments on Gotoh's habit of manipulating Asuma. He ''also'' usually does this to avoid the higher-ups noticing that he is the one that is actually ruffling the feathers.
** The unit sometimes tries to hide stuff and sneaks out from Captain Gotoh. They never succeed in getting anything past him. It shows that they are somewhat unaware of just how curious he can be.
** The unit's apparent informality towards ''everything'' in the opinion of most outsiders.
** Ohta's trigger-happy approach to ''every mission''. It's good thing that he is actually [[spoiler: an excellent shooter]].
** Shinshi's tendency to get absolutely livid when he and/or his wife is ridiculed.
** Sakaki's line to get everyone going when there's a call goes something like "Hurry up, or I'll throw the lot of you into the sea!" Even Shinohara makes fun of this at one point in the series.
** The public's perception of Division 2 is constantly mentioned to be on the lines of "violent", "freeloaders" and "a huge waste of taxpayer money". The high command's efforts regarding Division 2 is to put them into a positive publicity stunt as frequently as they can so that the public opinion aims for the better. It's apparently not enough that the Division 2 has saved Tokyo multiple times and has even backed up Division 1 when they fall short; [[spoiler: it's worth mentioning that the high command likes captain Nagumo of Division 1 way more than Gotoh of Division 2, so they don't quite help to the cause]].
** Shinohara and Noa have a habit of bickering that translates into the field. Labor 1's operation during missions usually has Noa going on a multitude of unlikely tangents while on the Labor while Shinohara pulls her down to Earth from the commanding car. He is never above making her mad or making her do stuff she doesn't want to do, she doesn't mind, except when he stops bickering... because ''THAT's'' when something's wrong.
* SchematizedProp: The opening narration of the last half of the TV series included a [[TechnoBabble detailed description]] of the AV-98 Ingram, the show's titular patrol labor, using what was for the time ''highly'' detailed Computer Animation.
* ScoobyDooHoax:
** An episode featuring a "sea monster."
** The first OVA series has Goto playing one of these on his team about the ghost of a civilian killed in a negligent discharge accident in the hopes of scaring Ota onto the straight and narrow regarding his trigger-happy nature. It doesn't work because Kanuka exposes the hoax.
* SecretDiary: Kanuka was writing an ongoing report on her coworkers during her time with [=SV2=]. It's somewhat less than flattering.
* SeriousBusiness: The two Maintenance Division centric episodes end up with [[spoiler: most of Division 2 going mysteriously missing one by one, and a small civil war among the unit including beatings, [[PuttingOnTheReich nazi-esque]] "security squads," kidnappings and (non-lethal) hangings, respectively.]] The culprits? [[spoiler: Some spoiled food and the confiscation of a sizable porn stash.]]
* SewerGator: [=SV2=] encounters large albino alligators underground on two occasions --
** In the TV series episode "Underground Mystery Tour", the team learns of sewer-like tunnels beneath the reclaimed land while investigating a series of thefts at the station. Inhabitants include a horde of rats, numerous feral cats, the homeless culprit, and a giant alligator that chases everyone for the last third of the episode.
** In the New Files OVA series episode "The Dungeon Again", after a giant albino alligator is captured in the tunnels beneath [=SV2=], some of the mechanics hear a rumour that it secreted a giant pearl somewhere down there. They go missing, a rescue team is sent in, they run into booby traps left by a crazy sewer-dweller, and [[spoiler: the "pearls" turn out to be eggs]].
* ShooOutTheClowns: Cutesy mecha-fetishist Noah & wacky gun-nut Ohta get progressively less & less screentime with each progressively darker & more cynical film. Somewhat rectified in the manga & TV continuity with the Griffon Saga, which, while still mostly serious & featuring an escalating level of danger still has a major focus on Noah.
* ShootingGallery: [[TriggerHappy Otah]] gets chewed out for not only shooting an automated target, but [[CoupDeGrace charging in to smash it up with his baton afterwards]], destroying an expensive piece of equipment.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: [=SV2's=] most powerful weapon is a riot shotgun scaled up for use by an Ingram. Thanks to the fact that shotguns are not precision weapons, and the collateral damage from a shotgun pellet that big would be huge, it gets used precisely five times - once in the TV series against the Griffon, once in the first OVA series against a Kaiju, once in the second OVA series against the upgraded Griffon, and in the climactic battles of the first and second movies.
* ShownTheirWork:
** Seen in the manga version, which used an actual map of the city of Tokyo for accuracy. Also seen in the following link with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwNRv-lubCg the intercept sequence]] of the 2nd Movie.
** The series as a whole went out of its way to depict a real and modern Tokyo, deviating only when copyright or trademarks got in the way.
** The Ingram's design is an astonishingly well-thought out representation of how a (relatively small) humanoid mecha might work. While the proportions vary DependingOnTheArtist, they're generally depicted with a stocky, compactly-built (not to mention mostly hollow) torso atop comparatively long legs with short, thin thighs and large, flared lower legs and feet. This keeps the machine's center of gravity low, a crucial consideration in something that tall. Additionally, using extensible armatures to draw the revolver cannon from the retractable ankle holster inside the aforementioned flared legs rather than simply bending down to grab it reduces wear and tear on the joints of the Ingram's limbs and body, which are noted in the anime to need constant maintenance due to the massive loads they carry.
%%* ASimplePlan
* SittingOnTheRoof: Particularly egregious, as the Special Vehicles 2 building (formerly a manufacturing facility) has a couple of decks on the roof, and yet they still go onto the actual roof on occasion.
* SlidingScaleOfRealisticVersusFantastic: It differs depending on the media you are watching or reading.
** The two movies helmed by Creator/MamoruOshii are highly realistic with situations that could happen in the real world, as the antagonists in both are terrorists that utilize methods that can be and have been used in real life.
** The TV show is mostly realistic in its portrayal of labor crime until the main story arc kicks in, and the [=SV2=] battles Schaft and their super-robot prototypes... and monsters, dragons and ghosts too.
** The ''Film/TheNextGenerationPatlabor'' live-action series plays with this, considering that Oshii is in the helm of the project and it's a sequel to the animated movies.
* SnowMeansLove: An episode of the second {{OVA}} revolved around this trope.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The Central Park Media release prefers to use "Gotoh", for instance, instead of "Gotou" or "Gotō". (The reason likely being that that third syllable, the "u", is typically meshed with the second when pronounced correctly in Japanese.) Maiden Japan, however, uses "Goto".
** This is also the case where Bado/Bud is concerned, since his name alternates between both spellings, as seen in the subtitles of different episodes of the anime. This is also the case of the manga version, which initially referred to him as "Baddo" (with two d's, rather than one), but eventually settled on calling him "Bud".
* SpiderTank: Many military Labors use this design rather than the bipedal form of most civilian models. (An episode of the TV series notes that, in a city, Labors have to worry about their width and turning radius.)
* StrictlyProfessionalRelationship:
** Captains Gotoh and Shinobu, Played Straight in the TV series, with [[HopelessSuitor Gotoh]] nursing unrequited feelings for Shinobu, who strictly enforces a professional relationship between them. In the Movie Continuity it's played with near the climax of the first film, where Shinobu almost confesses her feelings to Gotoh just before Division two heads into a massive Typhoon. Ironically Gotoh remains oblivious or deliberately ignores it. Their UST is a central plot part of the second movie.
** Played straight by Noa and Asuma in the {{OVA}} continuity. However, near the end of the ''Mobile Police/New Files'' continuity, their relationship [[MaybeEverAfter shows signs of becoming]] [[RelationshipUpgrade "more than friends"]]. In the Movie Continuity, by the second film they are living together, with the implication that they are a full couple.
* StupidCrooks: A lot of the criminals [=SV2=] go up against are really dumb, but the cake goes to the villains in "Save the Terrorists" who are a pair of bombers so inept that the reason that they are independent is because no serious eco-terrorist organization would take them. They end up setting off their own bomb prematurely and in the wrong place by accident and have to be rescued by the police.
* SuperDeformed: The "Mini-Pato" {{omake}} shorts.
* SuperPrototype:
** [=SV2=] has three prototype AV-98 Ingram mechs. One episode of the series focused on the introduction of a mass-produced line of Ingrams, subverting the trope in that the prototypes weren't exceptionally good so much as the mass-produced ones were exceptionally shoddy. Also, other kinds of mass-produced military mechs are shown to be close in quality to the Ingrams, if not flat out ''better'' in certain regards, but the Ingram has a distinct lead in agility and the experience of its pilots, aided by the fact that since the [=SV2=] Ingrams have been used by the same pilots for months at a stretch, they have been gradually custom tuned and optimized for the operation styles of those pilots by the maintenance staff, while any machine fresh from the factory floor would be at a more generic default setting.
*** Shinohara Heavy Industries is actually savvy about this trope. After the poor showing their first mass production Ingram makes, they get [=SV2=] to help them develop a new one. The resulting "Economy Model Ingram mk. II" is actually superior in some respects to the original AV-98.
** The first film has the AV-X0 "Type Zero" which was supposed to be an advanced replacement for the AV-98. It proved to be a fearsome opponent in melee combat against other labors, and when it was overtaken by the Babel virus it completely mopped the floor with Ohta's Ingram and Noa only barely managed to subdue it with a shotgun to the brain. Seeing as the Type Zero wasn't seen in the subsequent films (the AV-02 Valiant shows up instead), it can be assumed that the design was abandoned.
** The Type Zero also shows up near the end of the manga, piloted by [[spoiler:Noa]]. It actually does quite well, until [[spoiler:the bad guys deactivate the computers that did the calculations for the Type Zero -- since it was a prototype it relied on an outside unit rather than having all the hardware inside the chassis]]. In the TV anime and [=OVAs=], the Type Zero is fully functional on its own, but the software is ''designed'' to avoid collateral damage, which gets them all trashed.
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Present in the original Japanese dub for the intercept sequence of Movie 2. It's in Japanese-accented but correct English.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** A large point of praise for the series is how it takes great pains to not depict just a realistic robot in the Labors themselves, but in how it incorporates Labor and technological development into something coherent and unique. Just about every element of the series is accounted for in some way, be it the Labors being extremely fragile so they can support their own weight, or the fact that the Patlabors are usually supported by multiple small vehicles to relay orders and intel on-the-fly thanks to Labors having shielded cockpits and thus limited ability to see. Plus for every actual robot in the field, they have about twenty people back at base to do the maintenance.
** The series touches upon a significant aspect of public bureaucracy in the fact that the [=SVU2=] is seen as a huge liability and a waste of taxpayer's money. In one episode of the series, Ohta is put under insurance review following some property damage he produced during an operation, recounting the events and how everything happen. The insurance reviewer approves the claim in favor of the [=SVU=], as she deems that it would be nigh impossible to prevent property damage, and that Ohta acted on good faith and protecting the public order, justifying the damage.
* SuspectIsHatless: A good part of the plot of "Black Trinary" is SV-2 trying to identify a suspect based on a description of their ''armpit''. [[spoiler:They'd have had a lot more success if they had at least been told that it was a ''woman's'' armpit.]]
* TeamShot: Both ending themes of the TV series, as well as the final shot of the second OVA, which brought the franchise to a close.
* TeamSpirit: Notable in a couple of ways. The maintenance crew has greater importance in the series than is usual for a Mecha Show, and Division 2 (despite being labeled a RagtagBunchOfMisfits in-universe) shows strong teamwork when the chips are down.
* TechnoBabble: The opening narration for the second half of the TV series has a bit of this. What the heck is an SCB or SCLM system?
* ThemeNaming: Most of the ''career'' cops are named for WWII admirals (Gotoh[[note]]named after Gotohda, and even sharing his nickname of "Gotoh(da) the Razor"[[/note]] and Nagumo), Ohta is probably named for the inventor of the Ohka (Baka) glider bomb - he looks frighteningly like his namesake.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The franchise started in 1988, but was set in 1998. Aside from underestimating the leap in technology, they got just about everything else right.
* UltramanCopy: The series has a dream episode where Noa homages Ultraman and transforms into a giant hero with a similar color scheme, to fight a [[Characters/UltramanTVSeries Zetton]]-like monster as a recreation of the famous [[Recap/UltramanEp39FarewellUltraman final episode]] of the original series.
%%* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: In giant robots, even.
* UsedFuture: To a point, as nothing is really much worse for the wear in 1998 than it was in 1988, aside from what a decade might do to something.
* VerticalMechaFins: The Griffon first bears a pair that houses a [[https://www.mahq.net/mecha/patlabor/patlabortv/type-j-9.jpg flight system]], before being upgraded with another that houses an [[https://www.mahq.net/mecha/patlabor/patlaboroav2/type-j-9-waterunit.jpg aqua unit]].
* VillainTeamUp: Episode 42 of the TV series, titled appropriately enough "The Men Who Returned" features 3 previous villains teaming up--and forming a TerribleTrio.
* WelcomeEpisode:
** As far as Noa is concerned, she was the only one who got an introduction in the TV anime. The first OVA has the entire Division 2 transfer to Special Vehicles 2 the same time[[note]]Noa actually gets to the building before the others, since they took the bus and she has a scooter[[/note]], and the manga starts with Noa still in training ''before'' getting any sort of Labor instruction.
** Played straight with Kanuka[[note]]the exact method of which changes with each continuity - she notably arrives ''after'' Kumagami in the manga[[/note]], and with Kumagami to a less jarring extent.
* WhipItGood: The Ingrams have a power winch mounted on their lower torso, the tow cable of which is occasionally used as an improvised weapon.
%%* WholeEpisodeFlashback
* WholePlotReference:
** An entire (dream) episode devoted to an ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' homage, specifically harking back to the series ''Series/UltraSeven'' with the squad acting secretly as a monster/alien defense team. They even go for some of the classic sound effects and the big bad of the episode is an {{Expy}} of Ultraman's classic enemy: Zetton. Noa gets to transform using a Beta Capsule version of the Ultra Eye into ''Ingraman''. In fact, all the monsters and Ultramen who appear have the faces of military or police labors. The Zetton has the face of the Griffon, Ingraman is Noa's Ingram "Alphonse", "Zero" is the AV-0 Peacemaker.
** The third episode of the first OVA is a hilarious ''Film/{{Gojira}}'' send-up, down to the one-eyed MadScientist and the "Oxygen Destroyer" (actually a bit of dry ice in a plastic tube).
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Takeo Kumagami is extremely afraid of ghosts. She hides it initially with skepticism, but the mask soon falls away. One the Ghosts spirits are put at rest, she presents the spirits with an offering of flowers, sake and an incense stick.
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->''[[TheStinger "This page is about a work of fiction... but in ten years, who knows?"]]''
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Do note that the franchise has different timelines/story arcs, owing to when the said series/movies were first aired/retailed on video.

[[folder:Movie Timeline]]

[[/index]]

[[index]]

[[/index]]

[[index]]

Patlabor was created in 1988 by "Headgear" -- a group of creators including Creator/MamoruOshii (who pretty much kickstarted the OVA boom of the 80s and would later earn international recogition with ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell''), Masami Yuuki (of ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty'' fame), Akemi Takada (character designer of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'', ''Anime/KimagureOrangeRoad'') and others. ''Patlabor'' was planned from the start as both a manga and {{OVA}}, and a theatrical movie and ongoing TV series followed not long after. By turns a CopShow, PoliceProcedural, slice of life comedy, political thriller, and of course, a MechaShow, ''Patlabor'' had no trouble switching between genres from one episode to the next. (For the most part, though, the TV series and {{OVA}}s tended more towards comedy and light drama, whereas the movies were much more adult and sophisticated.)

Watch ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', ''Anime/ArmoredTrooperVotoms'', or ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' if you are interested in more RealRobotGenre shows. Compare with ''[[Anime/MazingerZ the]]'' ''[[Anime/GreatMazinger Mazinger]]'' ''[[Anime/UFORoboGrendizer trilogy]]'', ''Manga/GetterRobo'', ''Anime/VoltesV'' and ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'' to have an idea of what the SuperRobotGenre is about. Contrast with ''Anime/GunBuster'' or ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'' to see what the opposite end of the scale is.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Nagumo's decision to reject the SRX-70 Saturn because she knew the manufacturer would use its data for military purposes leads indirectly to the disastrous events of the Gryphon Arc.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: In the first movie, the team's efforts just mean they got the least terrible option in the BigBad's XanatosGambit. [[TheBadGuyWins The bad guy still got what he wanted]].]]
* BlueWithShock: Happens to the pilot of a virus-infected rogue construction Labor in the first movie when he realizes that the ''Second'' Section (and in particular, Ohta) is here to rescue him. "I'M DEAD!!" (They have a reputation for collateral damage.)

* CuttingCorners: The villain's plot in the first movie would not have been possible had Shinohara Heavy Industries thought of having their new operating system code reviewed before pushing it to production - something that is standard procedure for any professional engineering firm.

* KarmaHoudini: No mention is made of [[spoiler:Shinohara Heavy Industries]] suffering any consequences in the movie for [[spoiler:failing to notice that their new Labor OS had a virus embedded in it before installing it on every SHI Labor in Tokyo]].

* LawOfInverseRecoil: In the first movie, Hiromi test fires an anti-tank rifle at a mothballed patrol car, hitting it with enough force to not only blow the doors and wheels off but to blast the entire vehicle several feet into the air. Despite this, not only is Hiromi still alive after using it but healthy enough to participate in the climactic raid on the Ark facility.

* NeverFoundTheBody: Hoba in the first movie, after jumping from the Ark into the ocean. [[spoiler: In the climactic finale they pick up a signal from him in the building they're trying to demolish. Noa goes after him, but it turns out he really was dead: The employee badge with the tracker was attached to the leg of his pet raven.]]

** The first OVA series has Goto playing one of these on his team about the ghost of a civilian killed in a negligent discharge accident in the hopes of scaring Ota onto the straight and narrow regarding his trigger-happy nature. It doesn't work.

* ThanatosGambit: The first movie starts off with the BigBad jumping into the ocean. As a result, the police can't find out in time how his virus works. A second, [[EpilepticTree less clear gambit]], may be that [[spoiler: he attached his employee badge to his pet raven to set off a NeverFoundTheBody-paranoia, and give his pursuers a SecretTestOfCharacter. Division 2 is only able to prevent the destuction of Tokyo because they decide to try and save Hoba when they think he's alive. They wouldn't have made it to the backup-system in time if they had decided to collapse the Ark with him still in it.]]

* XanatosGambit: Mixed with the ThanatosGambit above: By killing himself, the BigBad has left the police with only three choices: [[spoiler: Do nothing and let Tokyo's infrastructure get wrecked, destroy all Labors, or destroy the Ark thereby dooming the Babylon Project.]] Since the BigBad is TheFundamentalist who feels that LuddWasRight, all three options suit him.
* XanatosRoulette: The BigBad's scheme is dependent on a typhoon passing by Tokyo Bay to set off [[spoiler:the trigger condition for his virus across all of Tokyo]], which does happen at the climax of the film. The problem is that he [[spoiler:commits suicide]] believing that his plot has progressed past the point where it can be stopped over a week prior. Meteorological science is nowhere near good enough to predict the path of a typhoon that far in advance, so his plan coming to fruition before it is discovered and steps taken to thwart it beyond [=SV2's=] desperate effort to avert catastrophe was pure luck.
* ZombieApocalypse: The big battle in the first movie is a HoldTheLine action to prevent civilization from being destroyed against an onslaught of slow moving, dumb, but relentless horde of opponents that are afflicted with a highly contagious virus that infects one of the good guys and turns it against his friends. Only instead of living dead humans, it affects ''construction mecha'', the kind that were meant to ''easily demolish buildings'' and are used throughout the Tokyo Bay area.

''"This page is about a work of fiction... but in ten years, who knows?"''

* {{BFG}}: The SVU labors are armed with scaled-up versions of police firearms. Other labors also use scaled-up versions of actual firearms. The ''general'' rule of thumb is that a Labor weapon has a bore diameter of a bit less than 1mm for every hundredth of an inch for the real world weapon; the Labor version of a .38 caliber revolver is a 37mm cannon, and the .44 caliber revolver scales up to 42mm - with exceptions.
** One of the Mini-Pato specials points out that they're probably using hollow-point bullets (with caps on the tips for whatever reason) to cut down on collateral damage. ...and that they're almost certainly ''not'' 37mm, being closer to ''75mm'' in all depictions.
** The big guns aren't restricted to labors, as Hiromi gets to use (hesitantly) a 20mm anti-materiel sniper rifle in the first & second films. For that matter, on the Griffon arc, Hiromi and Ohta are able to squeeze a single shot to the Griffon Labor while they have Ohta's Ingram's gun mounted at the top of the Command Car. It levels the playing field between Alphonse and Griffon by wasting the latter's monitors. Tremendously impractical, true, and it ends up injuring Hiromi... but it was totally worth the trouble!

* BringTheAnchorAlong: Detective Matsui is caught snooping around the disguised base of the conspirators, so they knock him out and leave him handcuffed to a pipe while they carry out their plan. He wakes up to see their airships taking off; desperate to get to a phone, Matsui just detaches the pipe and carries it with him. The pipe comes in handy for [[HeroStoleMyBike forcibly stopping a passing car]] so he can use its carphone.

* TheChessmaster: Yukihito Tsuge, the stoic BigBad of the second film, fits this quite succinctly, driving Tokyo to the brink of civil war while never once getting his hands dirty himself.
* ClipShow: Episode 23 of the TV Series.

** FallingIntoTheCockpit is impossible as they're complicated as hell (Well, Noa does ''literally'' fall into the cockpit at one point, but she was already a trained if not yet licensed pilot, and only needed help figuring out the model-specific features of the Ingram). Noa teaching her mech to tie a shoelace knot is considered proof of her being a genius pilot. Most people can't do much with even a SuperPrototype robot even if they find themselves piloting one.

** A redheaded new recruit of an armored police division? Are we talking about [[Anime/DominionTankPolice Leona Ozaki]], or her future equivalent, Noa Izumi? In addition, Noa fusses over her labor, Alphonse, just as Leona fawn over her tank, Bonaparte.
*** Both shows came out nearly simultaneously, and had the same woman voicing the fangirl.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Loudmouthed and trigger-happy Ohta. Who gets to shine in the episode where he goes into an ''omiai'' ([[ArrangedMarriage very formal arranged date]]) and ends up helping his prospect girlfriend, who he ''did'' like, ''save the man she loves''.

** Subverted in episode 3 of the first OVA series, where [[spoiler:the monster walks off into the sea immediately after it appears]]. It has an appearance similar to Gaira from ''Film/WarOfTheGargantuas'' ...and Hiromi Yamizaki.

** Captains Gotoh and Shinobu, Played Straight in the TV series, with [[HopelessSuitor Gotoh]] nursing unrequited feelings for Shinobu, who strictly enforces a professional relationship between them. In the Movie Continuity it Subverted near the climax of the first film, where Shinobu almost confesses her feelings to Gotoh just before Division two heads into a massive Typhoon. Ironically Gotoh remains oblivious or deliberately ignores it. Their UST is a central plot part of the second movie.

** XanatosRoulette: The BigBad's scheme is dependent on a typhoon passing by Tokyo Bay to set off [[spoiler:the trigger condition for his virus across all of Tokyo]], which does happen at the climax of the film. The problem is that he [[spoiler:commits suicide]] believing that his plot has progressed past the point where it can be stopped over a week prior. Meteorological science is nowhere near good enough to predict the path of a typhoon that far in advance, so his plan coming to fruition before it is discovered and steps taken to thwart it beyond [=SV2's=] desperate effort to avert catastrophe was pure luck.

* ColonelMakepeace: Division 1 as a whole and Lt. Gomioka especially.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Division 1, which is constantly depicted as TheAce when it appears in full force. The final episode of the TV series even has Division 2 getting OvershadowedByAwesome within a couple of minutes when the other Division arrives with brand-new upgraded Patlabors.

* DownerEnding: Done humorously at the end of episode 13 of ''The New Files'' (covered extensively on the [[Funny/{{Patlabor}} Funny Moments page]]).

* EagleLand: In the Aforementioned New York dream sequence. Type 2 for the most part, but the [[ShoutOut shout outs]] rampant throughout make it even more humorous.

* EasyLogistics: Subverted. The logistics woes affecting [=SV2=] are so bad, Ingram Unit 3 is rarely deployed, because most of the time it's being cannibalised for spare parts (in fact, it only gets used once in the TV continuity, and that required the maintenance staff to cannibalise [=SV1=]'s backup unit for parts before it was in working condition). And due to where Special Vehicles 2 is located, there are severe difficulties with feeding the maintenance staff. [[spoiler:Gotoh apparently came up with a solution, that frankly ''worries'' Nagumo about what he'd do if he didn't happen to be one of the good guys.]]

* DistractedByTheSexy: In the 12 episode (''"Two in Karuizawa"''), Gotoh gets distracted twice by checking on [[FairCop Shinobu's]] sprained ankle, while also [[CovertPervert sneaking peeks]] [[ShesGotLegs at her legs.]] She catches him both times and firmly reminds him to keep his eyes on the road instead. At one point, he even adjusts the rearview mirror so he can look at her while he's driving, but her woman's intuition kicks in again; [[Funny/{{Patlabor}} making him put it back the way it was.]]

Set in the not-so-far-off future of 1998, this late-80s/early-90s anime, ''Mobile Police Patlabor''[[note]]pronounced ''pat-lay-ber''(Patrol labor), not ''pat-lah-BOOR''[[/note]], is the story of police officers fighting crime with giant robots. The Special Vehicles Unit's Division 1 are a corps of competent, hard-working police who always get their man -- but ''Patlabor'' isn't about them. No, it's Division ''2'' that gets the spotlight, that scruffy, rag-tag band of half-competent cops with a propensity towards massive property damage.

A live-action project, set in 2013, [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-01-06/live-action-patlabor-to-feature-real-life-mecha is a sequel,]] not a reboot, of the series. Known as ''Film/TheNextGenerationPatlabor'', thirteen episodes were shown in theaters in seven parts, and a feature-length film airied in spring 2015.

* FailedFutureForecast: In 1998, there is still a Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall still exists (with West German "Brocken" labors standing guard). Judging by the 2nd movie, it has ended, so it either [[AlternateHistory ended later than in]] RealLife or it was a {{Retcon}}.