PATLABOR

'''PATLABOR[1]: THE MOVIE. (Kidô keisatsu patorebâ: Gekijô-ban). OSHII Mamoru, director.''' Japan: Bandai Visual and Tôhokushinsha (production), 1989; subtitled DVD Manga Video, 2000 (Christopher Bolton). Production: Headgear, I.G Tatsunoko (animation assistance), Studio DEEN, Sunrise / Shochiku (initial 1989 Japanese theatrical distribution), Bandai Visual USA (2006 US and Canadian distribution). See IMDb for complexities.

Storyline from IMDb A mysterious suicide and a series of unmanned robot run-aways sparks off a Police investigation into the suspicious software on-board thousands of industrial robots around Tokyo. Step by step, the police find themselves tangled up by the web of a perfect crime which awaits the approaching Typhoon to activate thousands of virus affected robots. As time runs out, Asuma and his team must complete a task that is doomed to be a failure before the Typhoon lands Tokyo. Written by Tzung-I Lin 

See Wikipedia entry for longer summary.

His emphasis is on Patlabor 2, but discussed in detail in Christopher Bolton's "The Mecha's Blind Spot: Patlabor 2 and the Phenomenology of Anime, with Patlabor 2 in italics.

RDE, Initial Compiler, 1June19