Patlabor movies and tv

[Mafty]

Just how tied to continuity is the Patlabor series? Do you need to watch the tv/OVA series to understand the movies? and do the movies need to be watched in order or are they stand alone?

[MythSearcher]

Just how tied to continuity is the Patlabor series? Do you need to watch the tv/OVA series to understand the movies? and do the movies need to be watched in order or are they stand alone?

The TV and OVAs are retelling of the stories, and you can pretty much understand the story without problem even if you pick up mid season, since most of the episodes are not related to each other and all you need to know is that they have this ragtag team formed for adapting the new labour for show.

[yazi88]

You need to watch the original OVA series for the movies as they are in the same timeline although the movies are far far more serious than the more light hearted nature of the OVA series. Timeline wise the order goes: OVA-MOVIE 1-MOVIE 3-MOVIE 2. Although you can skip movie 3 as it barely has much to even do with Patlabor.

Like mentioned above, the TV series and its sequel NEW FILE OVA series are a expansion of the original OVA series. Mostly light hearted but some serious moments.

[Mafty]

Thanks , I was wondering how the separate timelines worked.

[MythSearcher]

Thanks , I was wondering how the separate timelines worked.

Patlabour is more of a slice of life type of story with only a few longer arcs. You are fine reading them as separate stories and do not really need to care what comes first. I don't recall anything that changed the world too much between the OVA and TV series where they cannot be integrated as a same timeline with only a bit of discrepancies.(At most it will be like the difference of Gundam TV vs Movie type of discrepancy)
Movie 2 and 3 is a little harder to see as sequels though, Movie 2 had the Ingrams decommissioned and ready for dismantling, Unit 2 even had the back of its head taken off and they had to us a Helldiver(the military model) helm force welded to it as field repairs. But Movie 3 had them using the Ingrams without any mention about them being decommissioned or recommissioned as I recall.(But Movie 3 is almost another genre, most screen time is more like a typical Japanese police investigation drama.)

BTW, the manga is also a completely different timeline, the TV versions sticks more to the manga, but still quite different from it, especially the Griffon arc.

[Chris]

Just how tied to continuity is the Patlabor series? Do you need to watch the tv/OVA series to understand the movies? and do the movies need to be watched in order or are they stand alone?

Honestly the movies are different enough in tone that they can be watched by themselves. My first exposure to the franchise was the old Manga Entertainment release of the first two movies, and I had no issues understanding the world or the backstory. They're quite serious works akin to other Mamoru Oshii movies, whereas the OVAs and TV series are much more comedy-focused. As mentioned before, the 3rd movie takes place before the 2nd, and the Patlabor team is only minorly involved as it's mostly a detective story about different cops.