A stage greeting event celebrating the release of the first chapter of " Mobile Police Patlabor Mobile Police Patlabor " series, was held on May 16th at Shinjuku Piccadilly (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo), with Sumire Uesaka, who plays the role of Towa Kuga, in attendance. Uesaka, who said she is not from the "Patlabor generation" but was a fan, expressed her love for the series, saying, "For some reason, many of the people who support me are those who watched it in real time, and I consider myself 52 years old, so I want to share the feeling that Patlabor is great! Our youth has returned!"
It has been said that Towa, the character played by Uesaka, resembles Isao Ota more than Izumi Noa, the protagonist of "Mobile Police Patlabor," and Uesaka revealed her thoughts, saying, "When I play Towa-chan, I'm not trying to imitate Mr. Ota, but I understand the feeling of wanting to do so when you have a weapon in your hand," and struck a pose with a toy gun that the staff had prepared.
In addition to director Yutaka Izubuchi, Kikunosuke Toya(who plays Kippei Amatori), and Chikahiro Kobayashi (who plays Akihiko Hazama), Michihiro Ikemizu (who plays Ota) made a surprise appearance at the stage greeting.
"Mobile Police Patlabor" is a multimedia project created by the legendary creative group "HEADGEAR," consisting of Masami Yuki, Izubuchi, Kazunori Ito, Akemi Takada, and Mamoru Oshii. It began in 1988 with six OVAs (Original Video Animations) called "Early Days," and has since expanded into manga by Yuki, television anime, theatrical anime films, novels, audio dramas, games, and more.
"Mobile Police Patlabor EZY" is set in Japan in the 2030s, a time when the working population is declining and automation through AI technology is advancing. Labors, once cutting-edge technology, have become an established part of supporting the social infrastructure. Standalone Labors piloted by humans are being replaced by autonomous robots and are becoming obsolete. No matter how times change, the work of Special Vehicles Division 2 remains the same: protecting people and the city. The Second Platoon, along with the AV-98Plus Ingram, a tuned-up version of the old Type 98 AV Ingram, confronts new technological crimes with wit and courage. The series consists of three chapters and eight episodes in total, with Chapter 1 released in theaters on May 15th. Chapter 2 will be released in theaters on August 14th, and Chapter 3 in March 2027.
