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Live-Action Patlabor's Premiere Dates, Visuals Unveiled

Further details of the previously Mamoru Oshii and other directors. Then, Oshii is directing and writing a feature-length film that will open in 2015.

The first part is set to premiere on April 5, 2014 in the Shinjuku Piccadilly theater, followed by the rest of the seven parts:

Part 1: April 5, 2014

Part 2: May 31, 2014

Part 3: July 12, 2014

Part 4: August 30, 2014

Part 5: October 18, 2014

Part 6: November 29, 2014

Part 7: January 1, 2015


Each episode is projected to be about 48 minutes long, with the prequel episode 0 scheduled for about 10 minutes. Finally, the feature-length film will open during Japan's Golden Week holidays in spring 2015, and it is expected to run about 100 minutes long.

The Next Generation -Patlabor- project is not a remake of the earlier Patlabor anime stories, but a completely new work. The story is set in Tokyo in 2013, and it represents the "third generation" of Patlabor. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has disbanded its Section 2 Division 1 of police robots, and Section 2 Division 2 barely survived the budget cuts due to the long recession.

Former Hello! Project singer and actress Keiji Gotōda (the successor to the anime's Captain Kiichi Gotō).

The production is budgeted at 2 billion yen (US$20 million), and principal photography is running from June to the end of December. The two life-size Ingram robots were built at the cost of several tens of millions of yen (several hundred thousand US dollars).

Oshii commented that the seven-part series will have a "slapstick" ambience, while the feature film will be serious. Oshii and Kenji Kawai is returning to the franchise to compose the music for both the series and the feature film.

The production company Evangelion films.

The series' original concept of police officers piloting robotic mecha (patrol labors or "Patlabors") was developed by HEADGEAR, a group consisting of director Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, announced the rights for the video anime series in January.

Source: animeanime
Images © 2014 THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR- Production Committee