In the shadow of much more popular mecha franchises such as Gundam and Macross and even eclipsed by its own movies and later TV adaptation this OVA is likely to fly under most peoples radar. It shouldnt. If youre looking for something bitesized entirely enjoyable and dotted with hints of absolute yet unassuming brilliance watch Patlabor. Premise: at 7 episodes this show offers a look into the work of some of the industrys most talented writers and directors in particular Mamoru Oshiihttps://anilist.co/staff/99097/MamoruOshii and Kazunori Itohttps://anilist.co/staff/97941/KazunoriIto on their day off the kinds of fun artists still experimenting with their craft get up to when nothings expected of them. Though it is a decent mecha anime set in a pretty interesting and realistic universe itd be a lot easier to compare this show to something like Scooby Doo or Brooklyn NineNine than Gundam for how little it focuses on robots. Far from the heroic cast of similar series in the genre the group at the forefront of Patlabor is arguably the most realistic bunch of cops Ive seen in anime: childish poorly managed and bad at what they do. The series tentative lead Noa Izumi is absentminded and naive. Ohtas overly zealous about delivering justice and you get the sense that he joined the force just so hed have a legal entitlement to use a gun. Shinohara the son of a labor manufacturer doesnt even want to be there but he stays out of combined feelings of laziness and attraction towards Kanuka. Thats not to say they arent loveable their flaws play off of each other beautifully making for some really comedic moments thatre elevated by great writing and direction. I actually burst out laughing at some of the shows quieter moments of humor scenes that had the same flavor of absurdity as a Wes Anderson movie. Which brings me to my favorite thing about this OVA: the writing and directing. The lighthearted tone of this show makes the beautifully directed shots and tightlywritten scenes in each episode glide by without notice but not without impact. A series like this almost doesnt deserve this kind of attention to detail. The animation isnt always great theres one scene in the earlier episodes where a characters unblinking eyes in his cars rearview mirror gave me nightmares but when it is its simple and gorgeous the way only 20thcentury animation can be. None of the series high points overstay their welcome making this one Im looking forward to rewatching in the future. My final recommendation: 220https://media2.giphy.com/media/z3gt9ZYLd2D8k/source.gif Give it a shot