Movies like Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993)
The best movies like Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993) are Patlabor WXIII the Movie (2002), Genocidal Organ (2017) and Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007). If Patlabor 2: The Movie hooked you with its animation and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFinal Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)7.2/10 from 1,305 votes
- NewestLiberated from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart (2026)Released 2026
- In JapanesePatlabor WXIII the Movie (2002)Also in Japanese
Patlabor WXIII the Movie (2002)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGenocidal Organ (2017)
The war on terror exploded, literally, the day Sarajevo was destroyed by a homemade nuclear device. The leading democracies transformed into total surveillance states, and the developing world has drowned under a wave of genocides. The mysterious American John Paul seems to be behind the collapse of the world system, and it's up to intelligence agent Clavis Shepherd to track John Paul across the wreckage of civilizations and to find the true heart of darkness—a genocidal organ.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAppleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
As members of ESWAT, the elite forces serving Olympus, Deunan and Briaereos are deployed anywhere trouble strikes. Olympus finds itself under a stealth attack - cyborg terrorism, deadly nanotech zealots, and rioting citizens are just some of the threats that Deunan must contend with as she fights to save Olympus!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMazinger Z: Infinity (2017)
When the evil Dr. Hell attacks the Earth, the mighty giant mecha Mazinger Z is formed to stop him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGintama: The Final Chapter - Be Forever Yorozuya (2013)
What would have happened if the Shiroyasha never existed? Edo is thrown to chaos by a mysterious cause. Sakata Gintoki, now lives in a world where the future has changed, without him. What has happened to the Yorozuya? Gintoki, who is now a ghost of the past, must once again carry the burden in order to save his friends. He must finish the biggest job ever, which may be the final job of Yorozuya.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPromare (2019)
Galo and the Burning Rescue Fire Department face off against BURNISH, a group of mutants who are able to control and wield flames, and the fire disaster they have unleashed on Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like this009 Re:Cyborg (2012)
009 Re:Cyborg follows a group of nine cyborgs, each of them created by a shadowy organization for use as weapons against humanity. The group turns on their creators to protect the population instead, using the powers given them to fight their creators.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGurren Lagann The Movie: Childhood's End (2008)
Simon and Kamina live in an underground city monitored by the village chief. When Simon stumbles upon an artifact and beastmen invade from the surface, Simon and Kamina rebel against them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGurren Lagann the Movie: The Lights in the Sky Are Stars (2009)
Seven years have passed after the battle of Teppelin... Humans have since reclaimed the surface of the earth and enjoy an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity. However, humanity's increasing population growth triggers the sudden emergence of an unknown, powerful enemy. The fearsome, manipulative power of the mysterious Anti-Spiral proves too overwhelming for humans to even fight back. When everyone becomes desperate and loses hope, Team Dai-Gurren members reunite to stand up once again!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMacross: Do You Remember Love? (1984)
It is A.D. 2009 and the human race is caught in a war between giant humanoids, male Zentrans and female Meltrans. Returning from the edge of our solar system after making a space fold, the SDF-1 Macross makes the long journey back to Earth with survivors of South Ataria Island.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet (2021)
At the opening ceremony of the WSG (World Sports Games) Tokyo Games, a sports festival held once every four years, it is announced that the world's first vacuum superconducting maglev with a maximum speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour will open. While attracting attention from around the world, top executives of large companies are kidnapped from the party venue where WSG tournament sponsors gather. Conan moves toward a solution and eventually finds a connection with the WSG abduction case that occurred 15 years ago in Boston, USA.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Man: Rise of Technovore (2013)
Iron Man enlists the help of ruthless vigilante the Punisher to track down War Machine's murderer. All the while, he's being pursued by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Black Widow and Hawkeye, who suspect his involvement in a recent terrorist plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGintama: The Movie (2010)
Odd Jobs Gin has taken on a lot of odd work in the past, and when you're a Jack of All Trades agency based in a feudal Japan that's been conquered and colonized by aliens, the term "Odd Jobs" means REALLY ODD jobs. But when some more than slightly suspicious secrets from the shadows of Gintoki Sakata's somewhat shady former samurai past and a new pair of odd jobs collide, the action is bound to get so wild and demented that only a feature film will do it justice!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMacross Plus: The Movie (1995)
Three decades after the great war between the humans and the Zentradi, the U.N. government is developing new technologies to use in their transforming fighter aircraft by running tests on the colony planet Eden. Military test pilots and former childhood friends, loose cannon Isamu Alva Dyson and the Zentradi mixed race Guld Goa Bowman, are selected to each pilot a new aircraft (Shinsei Industries' YF-19 & General Galaxy's YF-21) for Project Super Nova, to choose the newest successor to the VF-11 Thunderbolt variable fighter which is currently still in use by the U.N. Spacy military forces. Their own personal grudges end up disrupting the tests, and begin to wreak havoc on the program.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAppleseed Alpha (2014)
The Third World War (2099–2126) devastated part of the Earth. Former nations are reforming while new powers emerge, and groups of humans struggle to survive in ruined cities. The story follows Deunan Knute and her partner Briareos as they search for the legendary city of Olympus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991)
U.C. 0123. After a generation of peace, the Earth Federation has begun to build new space colonies to house humanity's growing population. But a new force, the aristocratic Crossbone Vanguard, plans to seize the colonies of the newly constructed Frontier Side for itself. As their home becomes a battlefield, a handful of young civilians struggle to escape the conflict. To save his friends and family, the reluctant warrior Seabook Arno becomes the pilot of a new Gundam which bears the code name F91.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAppleseed (1988)
In the futuristic city of Olympus, built on the ashes of the third world war, a police officer and her cyborg partner fight terrorism.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky (2010)
A terrorist group invades a laboratory containing a deadly bacteria and destroys the lab with an explosion. They later announce via the internet they have gained possession of the bacteria and declare themselves to be the Red Siamese Cats, a terrorist group that was eradicated a decade ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare (2016)
On a dark night, the Japanese police is raided by a spy. Different countries' intelligence agencies - such as England's MI6, Germany's BDN, and America's CIA - as well as the FBI's secret files are going to be taken, but public safety officers lead by Tooru Amuro arrive just in time. The spy steals a car and escapes. The spy and Amuro are then locked in a dead heat on the highway, and just as it is about to cause an accident with multiple cars, the spy's car is hit by FBI agent Shuichi Akai's rifle bullet and falls of the roadway. The next day, Conan and his friends go to a newly-remodeled aquarium in Tokyo. Under the main attraction, a Ferris wheel, Conan finds an attractive woman alone and injured. Her left and right eyes are different colors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoraemon: Nobita and the Space Heroes (2015)
Nobita and friends decide to make a movie inspired by the space adventures of their heroes, but their fiction turns into a reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDigimon Adventure tri. Part 5: Coexistence (2017)
Meicoomon rampages after witnessing Meiko Mochizuki being injured by the man bearing Gennai's likeness. "It would have been better if you hadn't been born..." Meicoomon disappears into the Real World, which has since become distorted. Possessing overwhelming power, she's the key to the world's destruction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLiberated from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart (2026)
In 2400, most of humanity still lives without physical bodies inside the digital paradise DEVA, but Angela Balzac's rebellion left consequences its security forces could not erase. During the chaos, numerous agents escaped to Earth after stealing material bodies and hardware containing their personal data, then vanished from DEVA's surveillance. These fugitives, now called the Fallen, have become a threat whose true purpose is unknown. Agents Gabriel, Arma, and Daniel are sent to track them across the surface, where the lingering Nano Hazard makes the environment itself dangerous. The closer they come to the Fallen, the harder it becomes to trust everything they were told about Angela's revolt and the 'paradise' they have been ordered to protect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & science fiction
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)
Two years have passed since the final battle with Sephiroth. Though Midgar, city of mako, city of prosperity, has been reduced to ruins, its people slowly but steadily walk the road to reconstruction. However, a mysterious illness called Geostigma torments them. With no cure in sight, it brings death to the afflicted, one after another, robbing the people of their fledgling hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNakshatram (2017)
A young boy is made to realise that the police form the backbone of society and every cop is akin to Lord Hanuman the protector. He then makes up his mind about becoming a cop when he grows up.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Metro (1997)
Roper, a hostage negotiator catches a murderous bank robber after a blown heist. The bank robber escapes and immediately goes after the man who put him behind bars.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSteamboy (2004)
In 1860s Britain, a boy inventor finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly conflict over a revolutionary advance in steam power.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya: Vow in the Snow (2017)
Despite his adoptive father's warnings that the girl found in the remnants of a destroyed city is too dangerous to be considered anything other than a tool or weapon, Shirou Emiya comes to treat Miyu as a younger sister. But when Shirou relaxes his guard and Miyu starts normal school, the Ainsworth family and their agents swoop in, kidnapping the girl with the goal of sacrificing her! Faced with the realization that Miyu's ability to do good will always be equaled by her capacity for destruction, Shirou must attempt to both rescue his adopted sister, and decide how to confront the threat that her powers will always pose.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & animation
Strange Days (1995)
In the last days of 1999, ex-cop turned street hustler Lenny Nero receives a disc which contains the memories of the murder of a prostitute. With the help of bodyguard Mace, he starts to investigate and is pulled deeper and deeper in a whirl of murder, blackmail and intrigue.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlbino Alligator (1997)
While escaping from a foiled robbery attempt, three thieves find themselves surrounded by police at a New Orleans bar--only they're not the people the police are searching for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisReservation Road (2007)
Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Patlabor 2: The Movie and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Patlabor 2: The Movie?
The closest matches to Patlabor 2: The Movie are Patlabor WXIII the Movie (2002), Genocidal Organ (2017) and Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Patlabor 2: The Movie?
Start with Patlabor WXIII the Movie (2002), the closest match to Patlabor 2: The Movie.
What is the highest-rated movie like Patlabor 2: The Movie?
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005), rated 7.2/10 by 1,305 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Patlabor 2: The Movie?
Liberated from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Patlabor 2: The Movie?
Yes: Patlabor WXIII the Movie (2002), Genocidal Organ (2017) and Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007).
How are movies similar to Patlabor 2: The Movie chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Patlabor 2: The Movie, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.