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Masami Yūki Draws 2nd New Patlabor 1-Shot Manga

This year's combined 36th and 37th issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine announced on Monday that Masami Yūki will publish a second new one-shot story for the Patlabor franchise in the magazine's next issue on August 17. The same issue will also feature a joint interview between Yūki and producer (and Patlabor fan) Nobuyuki Sakuma, a collaborative manga with Snowball Earth creator Yuhiro Tsujitsugu, and the magazine's second manga panel sticker bonus supplement.  

Yūki published the first new one-shot story on May 18.

Yūki was part of the Headgear creative group that originally conceptualized the Patlabor franchise. Yūki drew the manga adaptation of the franchise in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine from 1988 to 1994, which was compiled in 22 volumes. Viz Media released the first two volumes in English in 1998, but did not release the rest of the manga.

Naoto Tsushima recently launched a manga crossover between the Patlabor and Zoids franchises titled Zoids x Patlabor -Code Name B.U.D.D.Y.- on IMAGICA Infos' Hero Comics website in September 2025.

The Patlabor franchise's original concept of police officers piloting robotic mecha (patrol labors or "Patlabors") was developed by HEADGEAR, a group consisting of director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Sky Crawlers), script writer Kazunori Itō (.hack, Dirty Pair), mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi (Eureka Seven, Mobile Suit Gundam franchise), character designer Akemi Takada (Kimagure Orange Road, Urusei Yatsura, Fancy Lala), and manga creator Masami Yūki (Birdy the Mighty). The franchise spawned two original video anime, a television anime series, and three anime films. The last anime film, Patlabor WXIII, opened in theaters in Japan in 2002.

Maiden Japan has licensed the Patlabor OVA series, Patlabor the Mobile Police: The New Files OVA, Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, and Patlabor WXIII.

The franchise's new Patlabor EZY anime project will consist of eight episodes, and will debut theatrically as three films on May 15, August 14, and March 2027. "File 1" debuted on May 15, while "File 2" will debut on August 14. The two installments will consist of the anime's first six episodes, and will be in an omnibus format with stand-alone stories. "File 3," debuting in March 2027, will contain the last two episodes, and will tell a two-part story.

Source: Weekly Big Comic Spirits website