I think it’s one of those great historical tragedies that Mobile Police Patlabor came about before modern fanfiction culture. There are a handful of fics, scattered here and there about the net, but for a well-regarded show with plenty of episodes, an ensemble cast, and two of the best anime movies of all time, it feels like there should be far more. Alas, Patlabor blossomed in the late-80s/early-90s, too early to experience the explosion of the World Wide Web, and apart from the vastly-underwhelming WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 it had no major releases in the era of social media, web shrines, fan sites, of FFN or Tumblr AO3.
Which is a shame, because I’m hard-pressed to think of a franchise better optimized for fanfic. There’s enough plot, continuity, and supplementary information that world-building is a straightforward enough task – it’s not one of those shows that’s so vague about its own universe that actually setting new scenes is a challenge. At the same time, there isn’t so much information that it becomes intimidating – no continuity craziness, no impenetrable legendarium. Best of all, the world is still incredibly open to new innovations. You could skip up or down the timeline, jump around the world, add new players or sideline others, all without the narrative surgery a more tightly plotted franchise would require. Any AU can be imagined just be changing the characters’ jobs.
You want to write a crime mystery? They’re already cops. You want to write a political thriller? See the movie continuity. And while there are giant fighting mecha aplenty, Patlabor benefits from never really being about them. Every incarnation of the franchise lives and dies on its character dynamics, from the fluff-filled New OVA to the complex psychodrama of Patlabor 2.
And the characters are just begging to be picked up and played with. There’re cute characters, serious characters, joke characters who could be serious characters, sad characters, driven characters, characters with a plane full of baggage and characters living their best lives. They all have more than enough depth and complexity to give any writer something to work off of – think of Asuma’s complex relationship with his father, Goto’s lazy Machiavellianism, Noa Izumi’s desire to be seen as ‘more than just the girl who likes Labors’. What’s Noa like in Hokkaido, how were Shinobu’s police academy days, what did Kanuka Clancy take back with her to New York? There are so many plot threads just asking to be pulled on.
And that’s without even touching the shipping. To its credit, the franchise didn’t force any characters together, but the chemistry between everyone was so great that I hardly would’ve objected if they had. Which, really, just leaves so much potential on the table. How do Noa and Asuma finally get their first real date? Does Shinobu ever reconsider Goto? Is there something more than simple rivalry between Kanuka and Kumagami? What’s Mikiyasu’s domestic life like? Can Oota ever find love?
It’s like the franchise was stockpiling barrel after barrel of fuel for fanfiction, only to be long forgotten by time that anyone was actually making a fire. The moment for the magic – for a fandom to grow and coalesce around something – has passed.
“For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!'”