Watch Order
0 / 5 watchedOVAs first, then TV and films as tracks.
About Patlabor
Patlabor began with the Early Days OVA run (1988, 7 episodes) about Division 2's labor police in Tokyo. The TV series aired 47 episodes from 1989 to 1990 retelling the unit with new cases. The films split tracks: Patlabor 1 (1989) and Patlabor 2 (1993) from Oshii follow the movie continuity, while WXIII (2002) closes the film line around the waste-disposal labor.
The TV and film tracks share characters but not events, with Griffon and the Schaft plots differing between them. Creator Headgear designed the split on purpose, so neither track spoils the other beyond the unit roster.
Good to know
Watch the Early Days OVAs first, then either the TV series or the two Oshii films, since both continue the unit separately. The TV run plays lighter with weekly labor cases, while the films turn political and slow. WXIII fits after the Oshii pair as the film track's finale rather than inside the TV run.
