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It’s not every day you get to see an enormous robot being lifted up to tower above you. That’s why fans of science-fiction series Mobile Police Patlabor were excited to see an 8-metre high humanoid robot from the series being put up in the Toyosu area of Tokyo’s waterfront.

The robot in question is the AV-98 Ingram, which appears in the latest movie addition to the franchise, a live action series called The Next Generation Patlabor. Fans gathered to watch the robot, which is built “actual size” at just over 8m high, being raised into place on March 17th.

For the uninitiated, Mobile Police Patlabor is a long-running anime and manga franchise which has been around since the 1980s. It’s set in a near-future world in which robots called Patrol Labors (shortened to “Patlabor”) are used by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police to fight crime and terrorism.

The newest addition to the Patlabor franchise is The Next Generation Patlabor, a series of live action films consisting of thirteen episodes and a final feature film. The first episode is scheduled for release on April 5th.

▼ The robot was brought in on the back of this huge truck.

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After a bit of preamble and a lot of bowing, the AV-98 Ingram starts to be levered up…

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▼ …and up…

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Mano Erina and Toshio Kakei, who star in the live-action movie, were there to see the AV-98 Ingram go up, as was director Mamoru Oshii.

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Source: Oricon News