The story takes place in what was, at the time of release, the near future of 1998-2002. Robots called "Labors" are employed in heavy construction work. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has its own fleet of Patlabor robotic police officers to combat crimes and deal with accidents involving Labors. The story arcs usually revolve around Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2. Noa Izumi is the main protagonist of the series, but all of Division 2 play roles. The feature films follow separate continuities, referred to as the "movie timeline" and the "TV timeline." The different OVA series follow either the movie or TV timelines.
Set in the year 2000, when the level of Labor accidents begin to escalate around Tokyo Bay, police detectives Kusumi and Hata are assigned to investigate. What they discover leads to a series of government cover-ups, conspiracy concerning a new biological weapon entitled WXIII-Wasted Thirteen and a tragic, personal connection to Hata. The only hope to stop this threat is to cooperate with the military and lead WXIII into a showdown with the Labors of Special Vehicle Division 2.
as Detective Shinichiro Hata (voice)
as Senior Detective Takeshi Kusumi (voice)
as Saeko Misaki (voice)
as Kiichi Gotoh (voice)
as Noa Izumi (voice)
as Asuma Shinohara (voice)
as Isao Ota (voice)
as Patrol Department Manager Yamadera (voice)
as Hiromi Yamazaki (voice)
as Mikiyasu Shinshi (voice)
