Mobile Police Patlabor, Vol. 1

Rating:
Summary: Amusing, but forgettable.
Review: "Mobile Police Patlabor" began as a parody of the famous Gundam series, and it's very hit-or-miss. While some of the series will evoke chuckles, some of it is downright dull.

Yuki's art is entertaining, as is the storyline, but the story can often take far too long to get to where it's going. Often, one can turn past seven or eight pages and really feel like they didn't lose anything. Some people will argue this can be done with most manga, but I disagree.

If I seem like I'm being down on Patlabor, I don't mean to be, because I did enjoy reading it, but it isn't the kind of thing I will hold up and say is spectacular. It's the perfect thing for a lazy afternoon, as you can read it fairly quickly and once you're done with it, you aren't really yearning for the next book, although you might read it if you had it handy.

It's fun while it lasts, but easily forgettable.

Rating:
Summary: Amusing, but forgettable.
Review: "Mobile Police Patlabor" began as a parody of the famous Gundam series, and it's very hit-or-miss. While some of the series will evoke chuckles, some of it is downright dull.

Yuki's art is entertaining, as is the storyline, but the story can often take far too long to get to where it's going. Often, one can turn past seven or eight pages and really feel like they didn't lose anything. Some people will argue this can be done with most manga, but I disagree.

If I seem like I'm being down on Patlabor, I don't mean to be, because I did enjoy reading it, but it isn't the kind of thing I will hold up and say is spectacular. It's the perfect thing for a lazy afternoon, as you can read it fairly quickly and once you're done with it, you aren't really yearning for the next book, although you might read it if you had it handy.

It's fun while it lasts, but easily forgettable.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most famous of Masami Yuuki's works.
Review: A lighthearted look at the everyday adventures of a special vehicle police unit in Japan. Yuuki Masami delivers odd and subtle comedy with slightly eccentric characters in an every so slightly futurized word. You should also check out "Grooming Up!" another of his works about a young man and his trasposition from city and school life to working on a horse farm. Grooming Up has the same wit and even more superb character development.

Rating:
Summary: It's really good.
Review: I read Patlabor a few days ago, and i find myself flipping through the pages again and again. My parents read it after they found out i traded it for my allowance, probably to see if it was appropriate or not. My dad particularly liked it because he's the techie-battle type. they let me keep it, and my dad said that he'd buy me the second volume on one condition- if i put a review on amazon.

Rating:
Summary: Quite Good
Review: Sadly, I fear the sales of this series of manga suffered from the movies. I believe people go into these books expecting to see what was shown in the three Patlabor movies... and find something completely different.

Patlabor, in each incarnation (Manga, OAVs, and TV series), has been a comedy. The movies were not. And so, a lot of the audience who had been hyped up by the earlier US release of the movies were... disappointed... by finding that the predecessor to those movies were comedies. Which is a shame, because these are such good works -- funny, smart, and well developed. Episodic in parts, yes, but with enough of a main storyline not to fall into a 'villain of the week' type format.

The TV series was a great series. The OAVs were a great series. The MANGA is a great series. None of them have sold as they should have, however, and I fear that is why this manga series release in the US was prematurely discontinued. I sincerely hope that one day, the remaining volumes are published... because it's a shame that this is all that we have.

Rating:
Summary: Quite Good
Review: Sadly, I fear the sales of this series of manga suffered from the movies. I believe people go into these books expecting to see what was shown in the three Patlabor movies... and find something completely different.

Patlabor, in each incarnation (Manga, OAVs, and TV series), has been a comedy. The movies were not. And so, a lot of the audience who had been hyped up by the earlier US release of the movies were... disappointed... by finding that the predecessor to those movies were comedies. Which is a shame, because these are such good works -- funny, smart, and well developed. Episodic in parts, yes, but with enough of a main storyline not to fall into a 'villain of the week' type format.

The TV series was a great series. The OAVs were a great series. The MANGA is a great series. None of them have sold as they should have, however, and I fear that is why this manga series release in the US was prematurely discontinued. I sincerely hope that one day, the remaining volumes are published... because it's a shame that this is all that we have.

Rating:
Summary: Mean Mechs, Chain Smokin' Goto, Gun happy Isao Ota...
Review: This manga is the BEST. I absolutley love mech manga, and Masami Yuki's graphic novel based off of the hit T.V. series and movies was excelent. The first part of the book starts off with introducing the one of the main characters, Noa Izumi. The second unit consists of 5 goofy members, and their comatose commander Captain Goto. I thought that Isao Ota was especially funny in the sense that he's obsessed with guns, needs to fire one to be happy, but is a terrible shot. Goto smokes in the bathroom because he can't smoke in the captains' offices, and always has some cheesy grin as if he's mocking everyone he comes in eye-contact with. After everyone is introduced, the plot goes really fast. I think that anyone would get a kick out of this book. I sure did.