Films like Patlabor 2: The Movie.

Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993) reads as Sombre, measured, measured animation / sci-fi, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, epic, cold. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

Ghost in the Shell (1995) poster
1. Ghost in the Shell1995

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987) poster
2. Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise1987

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

The Dead Zone (1983) poster
3. The Dead Zone1983

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a world-sized stakes.

Patlabor: The Movie (1989) poster
4. Patlabor: The Movie1989

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the dense, packed storytelling; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Hero (2002) poster
5. Hero2002

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008) poster
6. Ghost in the Shell 2.02008

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Bathory: Countess of Blood (2008) poster
7. Bathory: Countess of Blood2008

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the dense, packed storytelling; trades toward a world-sized stakes.

Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) poster
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four1984

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Prince of Homburg (1997) poster
9. The Prince of Homburg1997

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace; trades toward a intimate, personal stakes.

Tarang (1984) poster
10. Tarang1984

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace; trades toward a world-sized stakes.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2006) poster
11. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society2006

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

No, or the Vain Glory of Command (1990) poster
12. No, or the Vain Glory of Command1990

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a heightened unreality.

These are Patlabor 2: The Movie’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

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