Patlabor OVA is comedy first, robot show second, and it never apologizes for that trade-off. Mamoru Oshii directs like he's making fun of the entire premise while somehow making you love these cops more for their complete incompetence at actual police work. You watch Ingram pilots chase crocodiles through Tokyo and get drunk on stakeouts, and it works because the show trusts its cast enough to let them be ridiculous without winking at the camera.

Special Vehicles Division 2 returns to duty in Tokyo, working alongside its Ingram Patrol Labor robots, known as Patlabors. Captain Goto leads a mismatched team of officers who rely on both their nerve and their Ingrams to fight crime across the city. Between cases, the squad also handles the ups and downs of their own personal lives, along with the occasional brush with the supernatural. The result is a mecha comedy with a science fiction edge, told over sixteen OVA episodes.