WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3
7 /10 1 Votes
Country Japan | 6.8/10 IMDb Duration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Director Takuji EndoFumihiko Takayama (chief) Release date March 30, 2002 (2002-03-30) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 (WXIII 機動警察パトレイバー, Weisuteddo Sātīn Kidō Keisatsu Patoreibā) is a 2002 Japanese anime science-fiction/thriller film. It was chiefly directed and storyboarded by Fumihiko Takayama, directed by Takuji Endō, written by Miki Tori based on the concept by Headgear, animated by Madhouse and produced by Bandai Visual and Tohokushinsha.
Contents
The movie is the third and the final installment of the Patlabor film trilogy and it takes place in between Patlabor: The Movie and Patlabor 2: The Movie and serves as a side story.
Plot
In 2000, a series of unknown attacks on Labors have led to two police detectives, Shinichiro Hata and Takeshi Kusumi, being assigned to investigate these string of events, assisted by members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's SV2 unit.
As they begin to unravel the mystery behind the attacks, the two detectives find reason to suspect that the attacks may have something to do with the American military stationed in Japan, elements of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces, and a female scientist involved in a biological weapons program known as Wasted XIII.
Development
It is based on a part of the manga and has a similar premise to a story in the original OVA series.
Release
WXIII premiered out of competition during the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival, which had special screening on December 10, 2001. WXIII's Japanese theatrical release took place on March 30, 2002 to coincide with the release of Minipato. Geneon Entertainment licensed WXIII for its North American theatrical release on January 10, 2003 and DVD release on May 2003, which was eventually followed by later DVD releases to Europe and Oceania. It was licensed in Australia by Madman Entertainment. Section23 Films has licensed all three Patlabor films for North America. Section23 Films released the movie on Blu-ray and DVD on September 8, 2015.
Reception
Based on the reviews of 11 critics, it holds a score of 47 on Metacritic.
Animerica gave it a more favorable review calling it an "ambitious work which holds its own with both Oshii's justly acclaimed Patlabor movies and with the best works of Japan's live-action horror cinema."
References
WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 WikipediaWXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 IMDb WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 themoviedb.org