Information and High-Res Images from the Live-Action Movie Source: Shochiku Co., Ltd., Tohokushinsha Film Corporation Official Site: patlabor-nextgeneration.com (Japan) Special Thanks to Mai Kato and Kentaro Yoshida

A SCIFI JAPAN EXCLUSIVE

The live-action theatrical series THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR- (? ???? ???????? -??????-, Za Nekusuto Jenereeshon – Patoreibaa -, 2014-2015) concludes with a feature length film opening during the Golden Week holiday. Japanese theatrical distributor, Shochiku Co., Ltd., has provided information and high-res images from the movie, which has been tentatively titled THE NEXT GENERATION PATLABOR -TOKYO WAR- (THE NEXT GENERATION ?????? ????, Za Nekusuto Jenereeshon Patoreibaa Shuto Kessen) by production company and international sales agent, Tohokushinsha Film Corporation. In recent years, Hollywood studios have brought giant robots to the big screen in PACIFIC RIM and the TRANSFORMERS movies. But the genre started in Japan, and now Japanese-style Super Robot action will be presented with realism and on an epic scale in THE NEXT GENERATION PATLABOR -TOKYO WAR.- At the end of the 20th century, there was a rise in crime due to the illegal use of Labors, humanoid robots specifically designed for heavy industrial work. To combat these new Labor crimes, the Metropolitan Police Department created the Special Vehicle Section 2 Patrol Labor unit. But by the early 21st century, the decline in Labor crimes has many thinking the so-called “Patlabor” program is no longer necessary and should be discontinued due to its high cost and maintenance. As Special Vehicle Section 2 faces demobilization, a state-of-the-art combat helicopter is stolen from the Self-Defense Forces by terrorists who now threatens Tokyo and the city`s 10 million inhabitants! Lurking 500 meters above the city and fully armed with cannons, air-to-surface rockets, missiles and the latest thermo-optical camouflage, the "Invisible Helicopter" Gray Ghost launches an attack on the Rainbow Bridge. Special Vehicle Section 2 becomes the police`s last line of defense, but will they be able to stop the violence or discover the true goal of the terrorists? The battle between the old-fashioned police Robos and the most advanced combat helicopter begins!

  NOTES Created by Headgear -- the manga/anime group made up of Mamoru Oshii, Kazunori Ito (GHOST IN THE SHELL, the Gamera Trilogy), Masami Yuki (Birdy the Mighty), Yutaka Izubuchi (RAHXEPHON, Gundam series, DYNAMAN) and Akemi Takada (GATCHAMAN, URUSEI YATSURA) -- MOBILE POLICE PATLABOR (??????????, Kidoo Keisatsu Patoreibaa) began as a manga series in 1988 and has continued with two OVA series, an animated television series, and four anime films. After gaining international attention and influencing a new generation of animations with his masterworks GHOST IN THE SHELL (GHOST IN THE SHELL/?????, Goosuto in za Sheru / Kookaku Kidootai, 1995) and INNOCENCE (?????, Inosensu, 2004, nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Festival de Cannes), Oshii decided to re-envision PATLABOR as a live-action project! The seven chapter THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR- series, which began screening in April 2014, built up to the feature-length movie version which will significantly expand the world depicted in PATLABOR. Produced with the full cooperation of the Ministry of Defense, THE NEXT GENERATION PATLABOR -TOKYO WAR- uses the latest in CG VFX combined with real footage of a full-scale Labor to reveal a combat helicopter that disappears using thermal-optical camouflage; a battle between helicopters in the skies over Tokyo; skyscrapers being destroyed one after the other; and the police Robo challenging the combat helicopter for to determine the fate of the capital. The curtain will soon rise on a movie world depicted with verisimilitude!

CREDITS Theatrical Release Date: Friday, May 1, 2015 (Nationwide) Running Time: 94 Minutes Cast Keiji Gotoda: Toshio Kakei Akira Izumino: Erina Mano Yuma Shiobara: Seiji Fukushi Kasya (Ekaterina Krachevna Kankaeva): Rina Ohta Shigeo Shiba: Shigeru Chiba Rei Haihara: Kanna Mori Onodera: Kotaro Yoshida Kei Takahata: Reiko Takashima Isamu Otawara: Yoshinori Horimoto Hiromichi Yamazaki: Shigekazu Tajiri Shinji Mikiya: Kohei Shiotsuka Yoshikatsu Buchiyama: Yoshikazu Fujiki Staff Director: Mamoru Oshii Screenwriter: Mamoru Oshii Executive Producer: Toru Uemura Co-Producer: Junichi Sakomoto Executive Producers: Kiyotaka Ninomiya, Tadashi Osumi Production Producers: Kentaro Yoshida, Toshihiro Takahashi Chief Producer: Shun Miyashita Producers: Takeshi Date, Junichi Takagi, Yasuhiro Miyamoto, Akira Takei 2nd Unit Director: Takanori Tsujimoto Action Director: Kensuke Sonomura Cinematographer: Hiroshi Machida, Tetsuya Kudo Lighting: Makoto Tsukayama, Takamichi Fujita Recording: Akihiko Kaku, Hisashi Iwamaru Art Director: Anri Jojo Decoration: Masahide Nakazawa, Tetsuji Tatsuta Editor: Yoshinori Ohta Music: Kenji Kawai Sound Effects: Kenji Shibasaki Sound Department: Tsuyoshi Murozono Sound Design: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi VFX Supervisor: Kyoyu Ishii Recording: Tetsuko Kai, Yoshiko Kagami Haibara Pilot Suit Design: Dango Takeda Costume: Kyoka Sugimoto Hair: Miho Shimizu, Tomoko Karasawa Casting: Koji Nakamoto Assistant Directors: Taiichi Sugiyama, Isao Kaneko, Katsuhito Motegi Production Managers: Kosaka Masato, Jun Shimane Labor Design Artwork: Katsuya Terada Labor Design: Hideki Hashimoto Labor Sculptor: Eisaku Kito Original Work: HEADGEAR Production: TOHOKUSHINSHA VFX Production: Omnibus Japan Distributor: Shochiku Worldwide Sales: TOHOKUSHINSHA © 2015 HEADGEAR/ "THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR-" PARTNERS

---

For more information on THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR-, please see the previous coverage here on SciFi Japan:

• THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR-
• New THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR- High-Res Photos
• THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR- /Part 2
• THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR- Movie Trailer
• THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR- Series Guide