Patlabor – The Labor Industry Art Book Review

Posted By yonghow on March 17th, 2009

Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book

20 years after its release, Patlabor remains ever popular amongst anime fans, perhaps in part due to its highly realistic portrayal of a mecha augmented society that isn’t too far removed from the world we live in. There’s already a dozen or so artbooks dedicated to Patlabor’s artwork and materials, but there seems always room for just one more – “The Labor Industry” is the latest.

Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book

For the record, “The Labor Industry” isn’t exactly an artbook, because a huge chunk  of the contents are text filled pages dedicated to detailed explanations of Labor technical jargon, mechanics, operating software, weapons systems, and the like.

Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book

The book however, does contain (to the best of my knowledge) the most complete collection of full colored Labor illustrations in the Patlabor series/movies, well worth the purchase of the book, in my opinion.  (Those nasty critter Labors that the team battled at the end of Patlabor II The Movie isn’t in this book though.)

Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book

(above) The Mobile Police’s flagship unit Av-98 Ingram. (below) The Hell Diver, I remember having both the Ingram and Hell Diver DIY figure kits as a kid.

Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book

(above) The Phantom’s formidable plasma cannons were a big challenge for the Ingram. (below) The sleek and intimidating Griffon made short work of the Alphonse in the TV series.

Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book

(above) Fans of Oshii Mamoru or Patlabor II will of course remember the Labor unit above, used for UN Peacekeeping missions. I had no idea it was called Hannibal though.

Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book
Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book

So what’s your favourite Labor ? It doesn’t seem like the most obvious of choices, but my is the type X10, it’s an unstoppable badass that kicked the s**t out of the Ingram in the episode it appeared.

“Patlabor – The Labor Industry″ art book details :

– Dimensions – 10.1 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
– Soft cover, 148 pages
– Full color

Patlabor - The Labor Industry Art Book Amazon Purchase Link
Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon CA | Buy From Amazon UK

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10 Responses to “Patlabor – The Labor Industry Art Book Review”

Enrique

AAAHHH…. Patlabor! way over my head as a child, but still entrancing enough to watch!!!

Snark

Oh shit, I now have a reason to learn how to read Japanese! >=D

yonghow

Enrique – Same for me too !

Snark – Haha, that’s not a bad idea. :]

Tim Maughan

OK…I MUST own this! Will be contacting you when payday arrives….

Will go nicely with the four Patlabor artbooks I picked up In Akihabara last year:

http://timmaughanbooks.com/2009/01/11/patlabor-art-books/

smac27

I wanna come to your house and spend about a week going through your artbook collection! Otakugasm! HA!

smac27

Oh yeah, The Hannibal for sure. My first exposure to Patlabor was the opening sequence from Patlabor 2. It blew my mind!

yonghow

Tim – Sure no problem, let me know when you’re ready to get the book ! :]

smac27 – Haha, that’s the first time I’ve heard the term “Otakugasm”. Thanks for visiting !

hilscreate

Ah Yes… Mr Vong. Yes pls!

btw check this out

http://godaizer.blogspot.com/2009/03/teaser-poster.html

Wetterfrosch

Does anyone know where I get these book?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47369667@N00/3164841332/

Can anyone help me please?

Thanks

Wetterfrosch

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  1. Mecha Magnificent - Junji Okubo’s “Industrial Divinities” | Halcyon Realms - anime|photography|film

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