I've been given the dvd of patlabor2 the movie and I was wondering if I should watch it without ever having seen any of the shows or the previous movie! so I know if I should first see those...
shareThe film is much more enjoyable if you are familiar with the characters based on what's establisehd in the 2 OVA series and the TV series. The 2 movies assume the audience is already familiar with them.
You can watch it without first seeing the first movie or the OVA/TV series, but the experience might be somewhat diluted. For example, in the 2nd movie, you see hints of Gotoh's romantic feelings towards Shinobu Nagumo, but the TV series establishes such hints in even more subtle ways, so when you see what he did in the movie, you realize he was being less subtle than before, indicating that he has taken a slightly more active approach to pursuing Shinobu Nagumo.
One of the earlier scenes where Otah was being chewed out for destroying public property during a budget crunch will also have less of a payoff when you don't know that the person chewing him out was a real wuss back when they were colleagues. He's now acting high and mighty in that scene only because of his promotion within the police organization.
The Patlabor TV series is very comical and light-hearted compared to the two movies, which are aimed squarely at a more adult audience, but I do recommend the TV series for its entertainment value.
Cool Prosser! Thanks for clarifying some of these issues. Especially the "chewing out" scene, which I thought was a bit odd but now it makes sense. I've never seen any of the series. But I'm a big Macross/Robotech fan. So I thought I'd give this movie a go.
shareThe first two Patlabor films can be enjoyed in a familar fashion as to how one who isn't into the Star Trek franchise can enjoy the films (Star Trek: First Contact being a good way of measuring how non-Patlabor fans can enjoy the two films).
So to answer the question, yes! They can be enjoyed without prior knowledge.
I'd strongly advise seeing other Patlabor episodes, even if it's just the first movie, before watching this. It's set after the break-up of the original Patlabor team, and it's not as much fun seeing what they're doing now when you don't know what what they were doing before. This movie, unlike the first one, assumes some knowledge of Patlabor. The characters aren't given much introduction, and the worst example is former maintenance chief Sakaki. He was a major part of the team before, but he's a retired old man in the movie. He has a connection with the Patlabor team, and probably as part of the maintenance staff, and Goto obviously respects him, but if you didn't know who he was, you'd never find out who he was.
The movie is still enjoyable, since it focuses on Goto and Nagumo, and you know pretty quickly who they are, but I'd still advise familiarizing yourself first. Believe me, the rest of the series is well worth watching.
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It's best to be familiar with the franchise, I first viewed the movies and didn't know the charater's backgrounds well. After seeing the TV series and OVAs I knew each of them like the back of my hand.
In my judgement watch the movie Patlabor 1 before watching Patlabor 2.
I've not seen the ova series, but I ended up loving both the first and second movie. The first one is much easier to follow, but the second movie is the better of the two. They're both great, I would not have know what the heck was going on if not for watching the first.
shareAll three movies are fine as standalone films (the third being an unrelated side story) but you'll get more out of it if you're familiar with the characters from the OVA. Patlabor 2 especially has the whole getting the band back together thing at the end that makes more sense and has a bigger impact if you're already a fan of Patlabor.
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