patlabor 1 | 2 | 3 WXIII

not surprisingly, patlabor 3 was pathetic.
the first two films were both directed by mamoru oshii, and while i won’t say anything he does is automatically good, it just happens to be the case that everything i’ve seen of his has been outstanding.  avalon was much less of an emotional story for me, but i still thought it was brilliant.  in both patlabor one and two, much time is taken to tell a very deep and intelligent story, but as with many of the good anime films and series’, the true heart is hidden behind the elaborate story arc.  either way, the excecution of the films is brilliant.  i must say that i liked patlabor 2 the best.  yes, it did have the most elaborate story arc, but it had such emotional artwork.  it actually had montages almost to the calibur or ghost in the shell and innocence.  not bad for one of oshii’s slightly older films.  not bad at all.  characters in the first film were comedic but loveable – in the second, some are still quite humourous, but there’s a greater sense of gravity in it.  to see japan under martial law and fighting itself was very symbolic – tied in with that were so many expressions of love as-well.

patlabor 3 – WXIII was so bad.  i couldn’t believe how bad it was.  the story arc was so cliched, and there really was nothing else to it.  perhaps the focus on the two detectives and their lives was supposed to be different, but it’s been explored so many times before.  i know malkovich’s dancer upstairs was made after patlabor 3, but it’s just one example of a better execution of a cop being involved with someone who ends up being central to criminal or terrible activity.  there was some impressive animation in the thrid film, but in terms of technical and artistic achievement, the first two films i feel reached much greater heights relative to the times they were made.

patlabor 2 has become one of my favourite anime films now – i ranked it above spirited away and she and her cat (a short film i know, but i still pay it’s merrits against features), but bellow innocence: ghost in the shell.  i really might rank patlabor 2 higher, especially since i didn’t like the story of innocence much at all, but damn it had some amazing visuals, like nothing ever before.  i think they both warrant a second viewing – after watching innocence again i think i’ll have a better idea of it’s spiritual meaning.  it’s not that it’s terrible hidden at all, and i’m not easily distracted, but i was fully aware of my eye-candy oggling first session with the film.  i identified more readily with patlabor 2 emotionally – but i’ll have to watch that again too.

hmm – good and bad anime.  i wish i hadn’t watched patlabor 3 now.  it really was crap.

must complete witch hunter robin local and get the second ghost in the shell: stand alone complex disc.  they’re all out.  hmm – and i really should get the texhnolyze first disc and box too.