Section23, Houston-based distributor of Maiden Japan anime, has announced the 4-volume Blu-ray release of Mobile Police Patlabor TV, the classic 47-episode, Naoyuki Yoshinaga-directed series originally broadcast from 1989-90. Complete technical specifications, cover art and special features have yet to be revealed, but both Japanese and English audio are included.
Mobile Police Patlabor TV is being released via four volumes, the first of which streets on July 16th. Volumes 2-4 are set to be released every other month, in September, November and January 2014 respectively.
Official Synopsis: Giant Robots, sociopaths, madmen waving guns: these aren't just the problems the Mobile Police have to deal with every day, these are the Mobile Police! But in a world where giant robots called Labors are frequently used for criminal purposes, the boys and girls in blue have to face things that are even bigger and scarier. So when police cadet Noa Izumi comes in to take a pilot aptitude test and instead initiates a high speed chase after a stolen Police Labor, it's clear that she's got exactly the right combination of guts, brains and just plain crazy that the Second Special Vehicles Division desperately needs. But fitting into the frequently insane lifestyle of SV2 won't be easy. She'll have rivals for the pilot seat of the mech that's stolen Noa's heart, and her patrol duties will include herding whales, exorcising hauntings and fighting rogue military units on top of the usual terrorists. On the other hand, she gets to carry the biggest handgun ever. The wheels of justice keep turning (or, in this case, running on giant metal legs) as SV2 hits the street in Mobile Police Patlabor TV.
As previously reported, Section23 is also bringing the PatlaborOriginal OVA Series to Blu-ray on April 30th. The OVA collection is currently available for pre-order.
Official Synopsis: Drunk drivers are bad, but put a drunk driver in a giant robot called a Labor and you've got a disaster waiting to happen. And when REAL criminals get their hands on those same giant robots, the cops need giant robots of their own just to maintain the status quo, right? Well, that's the logic behind the development of the Patlabor program and special Labor Crime units like Japan's Section 2 in any case. But what logic fails to take into account is where to find police officers who're equally conversant with both robots and the regulations? And that's where the motley crew of Section 2, Division 2 comes in. With ridiculously perky tomboy Noa Izumi and gun-happy madman Isao Ohta as primary Labor pilots and the impossibly laid back Captain Goto in what passes for command, SV2 is ready to hit the streets with their twenty ton feet. But will they be taking a byte out of crime or have they bitten off more than they can chew? The law of the land and the laws of robotics are about to collide in the first Earth shattering collection of Mobile Police Patlabor.