Actor Allusion: In episode eight of the second OVA, when Shige is attacked by some of the Division 2 staff in a bathhouse, he briefly distracts them by saying, “Look, a UFO!” This is a reference to one of Oshii’s other works, The Red Spectacles, where the main protagonist, Koichi Todome says the same thing at one point in the movie to get away from the villain, Bunmei. The joke here? Koichi was played by Shigeru Chiba (Shige‘s VA).
The first two films were re-voiced in Japanese in 2005 for the 5.1 remix with the same voice cast. The new performances aren't considered as good.
The two films were also redubbed in English. They had originally been dubbed in 1995 by Manga Entertainment with a UK-based cast. These dubs were broadcast on the US Sci-Fi channel, and were also included on the 2000 DVD release. While they had some detractors, these dubs were some of Manga UK's most acclaimed, with Peter Marinker's performance as Goto in the second film being particularly praised. Bandai Visual redubbed the films in 2006 with a Los Angeles-based voice cast for their DVD reissue. While these dubs have an impressive voice cast and an experienced director, their reception was mixed, with many saying they weren't any improvement from the Manga Entertainment dubs. This is the only dub on Maiden Japan's Blu-ray release.
The original fan-favorite dubs for the movies from Manga UK. The out-of-print DVDs from Manga Entertainment from the late 90s are the best legal way to obtain them.
No Dub for You: After 7 OVA episodes and 47 TV episodes, CPM canceled the dub 4 episodes into The New Files sequel series (the end of a story arc that began in the TV series), with only 12 episodes remaining. When Maiden Japan reissued the series to DVD and Blu-ray, they once again left those 12 episodes subtitled-only.
Four different English casts exist for the franchise with no overlap. The first two movies were originally dubbed in the UK in 1995 by Manga Entertainment and World Wide Group, the OVAs, TV series, and first 4 episodes of New Files were dubbed in New York City from 2003-2005 by Central Park Media and Matlin Recording, the third movie was dubbed in Los Angeles in 2003 by Geneon and Media Concepts, and the first two movies were redubbed in LA in 2006 by Bandai Visual USA and Elastic Media with a fourth cast.
After You Inoue died, Yuri Amano took over as Clancy Kanuka for all later appearances of the character, starting with Super Robot Wars: Operation Extend.
Due to Daisuke Gōri's tragic suicide in 2010, Kenji Nomura took over as the voice of Hiromi Yamazaki beginning with the CR Patlabor pachinko game.
Kingdom Come: The Bat-Bots are modeled on the mechs from Patlabor.
The Dekaranger Robo from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (also known as the Delta Squad Megazord from Power Rangers S.P.D.) has a gun holster in the lower part of the leg, like the Patlabor mechas.
