Image source: Press release — via Anime News Network
Good Smile Company started streaming a trailer for it and developer Chime Corporation's Patlabor the Case Files, a new 3D action game based on the Patlabor franchise, on Monday. The video reveals the game's September 17 release date.
The game's Steam page describes the story:
Labors. The generic term for robots developed for industrial use. Widely adopted in construction and civil engineering, crimes involving Labors rapidly increased. The Metropolitan Police Department established the Special Vehicle Section 2 Patrol Labor Squadron to counter this threat. Thus the "Patlabor" was born.
The game features multiple missions and side missions from hero and adversary perspectives, with scenes based on the anime. There are over 20 Labors.
The developers credit three members of the franchise's creative unit Headgearfor supervising three elements of the game: Yutaka Izubuchi for mechanics, Kazunori Itō for the script, and Akemi Takada for character animation.
The Patlabor franchise's original concept of police officers piloting robotic mecha (patrol labors or "Patlabors") was developed by HEADGEAR, a group consisting of director MamoruOshii (Ghost in the Shell, Sky Crawlers), script writer Kazunori Itō (. hack, Dirty Pair), mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi (Eureka Seven, Mobile Suit Gundam franchise), character designer Akemi Takada (Kimagure Orange Road, Urusei Yatsura, Fancy Lala), and manga creatorMasami Yuuki (Birdy the Mighty). The franchise spawned two original video anime, a television anime series, and three anime films. The last anime film, Patlabor WXIII, opened in theaters in Japan in 2002.
Maiden Japan has licensed the Patlabor OVA series, Patlabor the Mobile Police: The New Files OVA, Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, and Patlabor WXIII.
The franchise's new Patlabor EZY anime project will consist of eight episodes, and will debut theatrically as three films on May 15, August 14, andin March 2027. "File 1" and "File 2," which debuted on May 15 and August 14, consist of the anime's first six episodes, are in an omnibus format with stand-alone stories. "File 3," debuting in March 2027, will contain the last two episodes, and will tell a two-part story.