Shigeru Chiba made a surprise appearance at an early screening and stage greetings event on Thursday for the first of three films “File 1” in the Patlabor EZY anime project to reveal that he is reprising his role as Shigeo Shiba in the anime.

Chiba has played the role since the original anime’s debut almost 40 years ago.

The anime will consist of eight episodes, and will debut theatrically as three films on May 15, August 14, and March 2027. “File 1” and “File 2,” debuting on May 15 and August 14, will consist of the anime’s first six episodes, and will be in an omnibus format with stand-alone stories. “File 3,” debuting in March 2027, will contain the last two episodes, and will tell a two-part story.

The story is now set in the 2030s, with Japan facing increased labor shortage and increased automation via AI. Labors, the piloted mecha that was once considered cutting edge technology for manual labor, has become just another part of life, with piloted Labors themselves increasingly being replaced with autonomous robots. SV-2’s job of preventing Labor crimes remains the same even in this age, as they use a tuned-up version of their original SV-98 Ingrams.

Previously announced cast members include:

• Sumire Uesaka as Towa Kuga, the 22-year-old pilot of Ingram-01
• Kikunosuke Toya as Kippei Atori, the 23-year-old commander of Ingram-01
• Ami Koshimizu as Saki Hirata, the 25-year-old commander of Ingram-02, and a native of Aichi Prefecture
• Chikahiro Kobayashi as Akihiko Hazama, the 29-year-old pilot of Ingram-02, and a Fukuoka native
• Setsuji Satō as Yūta Yanai, the 25-year-old carrier driver for Ingram-01, who hails from Kanagawa
• Yume Matsumura as Hachikuma Yuzuki, the 24-year-old carrier driver for Ingram-02, who comes from Gifu Prefecture
• Megumi Hayashibara as Kimika Saeki, SV2’s 34-year-old captain

The AV-98Plus Ingram is the updated refit of the original AV-98 Ingram. The Ingram frame has seen service for almost 40 years, and is called by some officers as an “old piece of junk.” Nevertheless, the “Ingram Plus” features an upgraded frame, mechanical capability, and software. The pilot helmet features a helmet-mounted display with augmented reality projection to display vital information to the pilot, and complements the heads-up display physically in the cockpit.

Yutaka Izubuchi (Patlabor mechanical designer) is directing the anime at J.C. Staff. Kazunori Itō (Patlabor the Mobile Police) is writing the script. Masami Yuuki (Patlabor creator) is designing the characters. Takamitsu Satou (Lostorage incited WIXOSS) is the chief animation director and character designer. Kenji Kawai (Patlabor) is composing the music. GENCO representative director Tarō Maki (Patlabor the Mobile Police, Nodame Cantabile, Millennium Actress) is producing. GAZEN is handling CG production. The HEADGEAR group is credited for the original story. 

Other staff members include Kōzō Kaihō as line director, Yoshinori Sayama for display design, Yukiko Itō as color key artist, Yoshio Ōkouchi as the compositing director of photography, Maki Sendo (REAL-T) as editor, GAZEN and J.C. Staff CG Dept. for CGI production, Kazuhiro Wakabayashi as sound director, Kaori Yamada for sound effects, Magic Capsule for sound production, and Yūji Matsukura as animation producer.

Akemi Takada (Patlabor character designer) is collaborating on the costume design. Kanetake Ebikawa (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury) and Toshiaki Ihara (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time) are the mechanical designers. Masanori Kikuchi (Star Blazers 2199) and Yūta Akiyama (Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma) are credited for art. Yoshinori Moriizumi (Pokémon movies) is the CG director.

Mori Calliope performs the opening theme song “Reimei Compass” (Daybreak Compass), and Mariko Nagai performs the ending theme song “Baton.”

GENCO revealed the Patlabor EZY anime project with a booth at the MIFA film market at Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2017. The pilot for the project debuted in August 2022, and then played alongside a one-week 35th anniversary revival screening run of Patlabor: The Movie that started on September 20, 2024.Izubuchidirected the video.

The Patlabor franchise‘s original concept of police officers piloting robotic mecha (patrol labors or “Patlabors”) was developed by HEADGEAR, a group consisting of director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Sky Crawlers), script writer Kazunori Itō (.hack, Dirty Pair), mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi (Eureka Seven, Mobile Suit Gundam franchise), character designer Akemi Takada (Kimagure Orange Road, Urusei Yatsura, Fancy Lala), and manga creator Masami Yuuki (Birdy the Mighty). The franchise spawned two original video anime, a television anime series, and three anime films. The last anime film, Patlabor WXIII, opened in theaters in Japan in 2002.

The “Mobile Police Patlabor Reboot” anime short debuted in Japan in October 2016 and began streaming on the Japan Anima(tor)’s Exhibition‘s (Japan Animator Expo) official website in November 2016.

The live-action The Next Generation -Patlabor- project, which debuted in 2014, consisted of a seven-part series and a feature length film.

Maiden Japan has licensed the Patlabor OVA series, Patlabor the Mobile Police: The New Files OVA, Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, and Patlabor WXIII.

Source: Oricon