Patlabor EZY Video Introduces SV2 Members Ahead of First Film
The Patlabor EZY project revives a franchise that has not had a new anime film since 2002, and the first film's grounded, comedic approach to mecha as mundane machinery has drawn positive early reviews.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime News Network, The Fandom Post.
Bandai Namco Filmworks released a new video for the Patlabor EZY anime project on Thursday, introducing the main characters of the Special Vehicles Division 2. The project consists of eight episodes released as three theatrical films. The first film, File 1, debuted on May 15, 2026, and contains the first two episodes in an omnibus format. File 2 follows on August 14, 2026, with episodes four through six, and File 3 arrives in March 2027 with the final two episodes as a two-part story. The story is set in the 2030s, where Labors have become commonplace and are increasingly replaced by autonomous robots. SV2 still uses a tuned-up version of the SV-98 Ingram. The cast includes Sumire Uesaka as Towa Kuga, Kikunosuke Toya as Kippei Atori, Ami Koshimizu as Saki Hirata, Chikahiro Kobayashi as Akihiko Hazama, Setsuji Sato as Yuta Yanai, Yume Matsumura as Hachikuma Yuzuki, and Megumi Hayashibara as Kimika Saeki. Shigeru Chiba reprises his role as Shigeo Shiba. Yutaka Izubuchi directs at J.C. Staff, with Kazunori Ito writing the script. Mori Calliope performs the opening theme, and Mariko Nagai performs the ending theme.
The review notes that the first film's second episode is a "story-within-a-story" device. Bored pilot Towa Kuga writes a fake after-action police report that reads like fan fiction. The rest of the cast find the incomplete log and each continues the story in their own way, giving the audience a peek into each character's personality. The third episode sends Division 2 to a film set to oversee the use of custom Labors for a director who insists on practical effects over CG or suit actors, a sequence the review calls a parody of moviemaking.
The mechanical design team includes Kanetake Ebikawa (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury) and Toshiaki Ihara (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time). Akemi Takada, the original Patlabor character designer, collaborates on costume design. GAZEN handles CG production alongside J.C. Staff's CG department. The AV-98Plus Ingram, the updated refit of the original, has seen service for almost 40 years and is called "old piece of junk" by some officers, but features an upgraded frame, mechanical capability, and software. The pilot helmet uses augmented reality projection to display vital information.
The review grades the first film a B overall, with animation graded B+ and music B-. It praises the show for making mecha "as boringly mundane as possible" but notes that the characters remain "extremely one-note." The franchise's last anime film, Patlabor WXIII, opened in 2002. The project was first teased at the MIFA film market at Annecy in 2017, and the pilot debuted in August 2022 alongside a 35th anniversary revival screening of Patlabor: The Movie.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Anime News Network Patlabor EZY: File 1 Anime Film Review
- The Fandom Post ‘Patlabor EZY’ Anime Debuts 2nd Film Promo & Key Visual