Mamoru Oshii talks about the early days of "PATLABOR" with Yutaka Izubuchi, who had been insulated from him!　Producer Shin Unozawa plays Cushion!

THE NEXT GENERATION PATLABOR" is a live-action version of the classic anime "Mobile Police Patlabor," and the seventh edition of "Mamoru's Room" was held.

→Live-action version of PATLABOR, 7 chapters will be screened at the event from April 2014! Completely original new "THE NEXT GENERATION PATLABOR".

The film, which has attracted attention for its total production cost of 2.2 billion yen, including the 8-meter-long full-scale Type 98 Ingram and the fully realized Section 2 building with its own Laberdog, was released sequentially starting with Chapter 1 (Episodes 0-1) on April 5, and the final Chapter 7 (Episode 12 "The Greatest Legacy") will be screened from January 10, 2015. The seventh and final chapter ("The Great Legacy") has been screened since January 10, 2015.

To commemorate the release of the seventh chapter, the seventh "Mamoru's Room" talk event, hosted by general director Mamoru Oshii, was held on January 22. Guests this time were Mr. Yutaka Izubuchi, a member of Headgear and long-time friend of Mr. Oshii, and Mr. Shin Unozawa, producer of "Mobile Police Patlabor" and vice president and representative director of Namco Bandai Games Inc. The three, who were deeply involved in "Mobile Police Patlabor," an unprecedented hit in the history of animation, spoke passionately about the pioneering period. Below is the report.

[1/27 addition] Part of the text has been revised.
[1/29 addition] The title has been revised.



Oshii: This is the seventh time, and finally the last. It is hard to choose a guest every time, and this time, that man finally came! I think he is the one who comes. I think he is the one who comes, too. The other one is the man who was behind the original Patlabor, and now works for Namco Bandai (Games). I think Mr. Unozawa came so that Mr. Izubuchi and I would not fight (laughs).

Unozawa：I came here because of my old relationship with Mr. Oshii. I saw Toshio Suzuki's installment and thought it was scary.

Izubuchi：I am at HEADGEAR, and recently I was the general director of the "Space Battleship Yamato 2199" series. I am an adult, so there is nothing to worry about.

Oshii: I first met Unozawa when he was in the department that made plastic models. The first thing he said to me was, "Can you make a toy based on "Urusei Yatsura"? He said, "How about Ram-chan? How about Ram-chan? He said, "How about Ram-chan? I don't remember the middle of the encounter, but one day, Nabe-san (Shigeru Watanabe, then a Bandai employee), Unozawa, and I had a "tennis court oath" together at a Chinese restaurant or somewhere. At the time, all of us were newcomers, flat employees. We vowed that if all three of us became great in the future, we would work together. As soon as they became big, they forgot about it! I brought a project to them and they said no.

Unozawa：No, that's not true!

Oshii：You also destroyed Garm, didn't you? You also destroyed the live-action Patlabor, didn't you? They said, "What are you going to do with Patlabor now? I have been in such a relationship for about 30 years. I have known him since I was young, and although he has become a different person over time, he has become a great person as a result.

Unozawa：Because my career work is a pato.

Oshii：I told you that I would take you to Hawaii if it sold one million copies!

Unozawa：Will you go?

Oshii : I will go if you take me there.

Oshii: The first time I met Buchan was in "Red Glasses". Kazunori Ito (scriptwriter of the animation series) introduced me to him. So I made a request for the product.

Izubuchi: After "Red Glasses," I worked on Patlabor.

Oshii: After that, we had many fights, insulated ourselves, and the last time we met was about 10 years ago! I still have a lot to say.

Izubuchi: Mr. Oshii is one-sided! Mr. Oshii told me that he would introduce Patlabor and Buchan in a series of a model magazine next time, and I agreed. And when I asked him to send me a sample magazine, Mr. Oshii said, "That's OK. I will make it into a book at the end, so I will send it to you then." I thought it was strange. I thought it was strange, and when the serialization started, I read it at a bookstore and fell apart. At that time, people I knew were worried about me. I myself was probably upset because Garm had been aborted, and I wanted to say something. I thought that he wanted to say something.

Oshii: I don't remember much.

Izubuchi: I never thought I would be asked to write the afterword of the book!

Oshii: That was a good story. There were not so many mechanical designers in the first place, and they were usually the same person. So I thought that one day there was a certain Lord's critique on mechanical designers, or I wanted to discuss it. So I thought it would be the most obvious way to write Buchan. I thought it would be misunderstood during the series.

Debbuchi: When I heard that there was love at the end, I thought, "So this is it. It's the last word in the book.

Oshii: So I thought it would not be understood during the serialization. ...So, these are the two of us.