Patlabor WXIII - Reviews

The Labors of Special Vehicle Division 2 have about 5 minutes of screen time in this flick. The stage is stolen by detectives Kusumi and Hata investing the destruction of the Labors on the oceanfront. They uncover a biological weapon in Tokyo Bay along with a government cover-up.

With relatively obvious foreshadowing, the human antagonist is easy to guess in this detective drama. The biological weapon, on the other hand, was a surprise. Watch this sci-fi detective drama to its bittersweet conclusion.

Although this movie is part of the Patlabor Series, it is only in name, as it barely has any relation to either the Patlabors or their characters, which only appear as a cameo and could have been replaced by any other robot or character, as their roles are non-essential for this story.

This is more of a detective story in a sci-fi setting, but its executed very well, especially considering its time of release. It feels slow at times and if you watch a lot of sci-fi and detective stories, then the plot may be a little predictable, but it's still a good watch.

The quality of the animation is good, but not as impressive as the other Patlabor Movies. This story, by the way, happens chronologically between those movies, but since it's a side-story, it is probably best to watch afterward.

The music is similar to the other Patlabor movies and is used sparingly leaving lots of quiet moments that convey a feeling of isolation and dread.

Overall, is a good movie if you like serious stories & detective dramas. Although the setting is sci-fi, I wouldn't watch it just for that as it's more about the detective story than the technology and action.

The dub is ok.