Director: Takuji Endo, Fumihiko Takayama

Release Year: 2002

Studio: Bandai/Honneamise

Region: All (DVD Region 2)

Video: MPEG-4/AVC - 1080p - 16x9 - (±34Mbps)

Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 (1.5Mbps - 16-Bit/48kHz), Japanese Dolby 

TrueHD 5.1 (±2.0 Mbps)

Subtitles: English, none

Disc: Dual-Layered Blu-Ray (50 GBs) + Dual-Layered DVD

Runtime: 102 min.

Extras: Trailer, Booklet

Release Date: October 2nd, 2007

Package: Blu-Ray + DVD special box

The Film:

WXIII” is a “side-story,” taking place within “Patlabor’s” universe one year after the events of the first movie and two years prior to the second one. Side-stories are a well-used gimmick in Japanese animation, with “The Animatrix” being an example of a “Matrix” side- story. “WXIII” features a new creative team led by director Takuji Endo and co-writers Yuuki Masami and Tori Maki, with animation production by Madhouse Studios (”Ninja Scroll”).

The movie focuses on two brand new characters, Detectives Takeshi Kusumi and Shinichiro Hata of the Tokyo Metropolitan PD, with original “Patlabor” cast members appearing in cameo roles. The story is a police procedural, involving the search for those responsible for a series of attacks on labors around Tokyo Bay. As the movie opens, Hata is pitching for the police division’s baseball team when he’s called to the scene of a labor attack, where Kusumi is waiting. Later, Hata meets and gives a ride to Saeko, a woman whose car broke down. Thus begins an odd courtship between the soft-spoken cop and the mysterious woman.

During the course of their investigation, Kusumi and Hata happen to tag along with some uniformed patrolmen assigned to check out a labor worksite during a power blackout. There, they come face to face with a giant monster — part fish, part reptile, and all carnivore. Hata and Kusumi escape (the two uniforms aren’t so lucky) and focus in on discovering exactly what the creature is and how it came to be. And somehow tied into the investigation is Saeko, who is still haunted by the deaths of her husband and daughter, and is presently in the employ of a genetic research firm.

....

To its credit, “WXIII” does feature high-level production values that are readily evident. The police labors, as well as the city of Tokyo itself, have never been animated this well in any previous “Patlabor” incarnation, thanks in part to some very subtle and nearly invisible CG. Additionally, as bizarre as the title creature is (it looks like a giant mutant salamander with the head from H.R. Geiger’s Alien), the animators have given it a very real and tangible onscreen presence, the kind that’s lacking in many live-action movies.

Excerpt from Beyond Hollywood located HERE