I'd strongly advise seeing other Patlabor episodes, even if it's just the first movie, before watching this. It's set after the break-up of the original Patlabor team, and it's not as much fun seeing what they're doing now when you don't know what what they were doing before. This movie, unlike the first one, assumes some knowledge of Patlabor. The characters aren't given much introduction, and the worst example is former maintenance chief Sakaki. He was a major part of the team before, but he's a retired old man in the movie. He has a connection with the Patlabor team, and probably as part of the maintenance staff, and Goto obviously respects him, but if you didn't know who he was, you'd never find out who he was.
The movie is still enjoyable, since it focuses on Goto and Nagumo, and you know pretty quickly who they are, but I'd still advise familiarizing yourself first. Believe me, the rest of the series is well worth watching.
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