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Synopses
for Patlabor On Television
11
Eve's Shudder
Noa fights
the the Brocken labors, but Kanuka and Ota's Labors
are defeated. The Phantom Labor has appeared and
through the use of Electromagnetic waves causes the
Ingrams to cease functioning. The Labor also has a
beam weapon which has already destroyed the arm on
Ota's Labor. Ota is captured and taken away by one of
the Brocken Labors. Noa is forced to retreat as she is
out numbered. She soon bumps into Captain Fuwa of the
military. Fuwa is on a covert mission to stop the
Labors. Ota soon finds himself in a hotel room locked
up with the missing Division 1 members, other police
officers and civilians. Meanwhile the remaining
members of the SV2 regroup and Captain Gotoh decides
it's time for a new strategy. Gotoh believes that the
head of this operation is hiding nearby and orders the
SV2 to find them. Detective Matsui and Shinshi who
have been ordered to find Kaunaka's grandmother
finally locate her. She tells them that she doesn't
want to see Kanuka die in battle like her husband did
in the Korean war, and wants to take her back to
Hawaii. Noa goes back into battle helping the
military, but soon ends up facing the Phantom Labor
alone... Screenplay by Kazunori Ito. Originally
broadcast 27 December 1989. |
12
Ota's Afternoon of Puzzlement
Ota has
been set up to meet a young woman by his Aunt. Ayano
Fuji is a young beautiful woman who is apparently into
Labors. After a disastrous first meeting, Ota is
surprised she would like to see him again. Is this the
start of a great romance? What does she see in him? As
always though, true love never runs smoothly.
An excellent episode which shows that Ota is more than
just a one-dimensional character. This episode also
highlights arranged marriage, or as they are know in
Japan, "Omiai". Surprisingly nearly 10% of couples
still meet and marry this way in Japan. As in Ota's
case, it's usually a relative that sets it up,
particularly if the person seemingly has no desire to
obtain a spouse. Screenplay by Michiko Yokote.
Originally broadcast 10 January 1990. |
13 Please Be Generous Your Highness!
The SV2
are hosts to the young Prince of Oasis, a middle
eastern country rich in oil. The prince is here to
observe how the Patrol Labors work, and hopes to set
up something similar in his own country. The prince's
presence ruffles a few feathers at the SV2, but the
Prince soon takes a shine to Noa and Alphonse, and a
friendship soon develops between the two of them.
Meanwhile someone has stolen one of the captured
Brocken labors from the Tokyo Port Tunnel case. Could
this be connected to the prince's arrival? Is someone
out to harm the prince?
From this episode, a slightly altered opening credit
sequence begins, with an animated computer graphic
sequence explaining the workings of the Ingram AV-98,
in place of the back-story to "Patlabor". There is
also a animation error early in the episode. As the
prince gets acquainted with Alphonse, in one scene his
hair is painted the same colour as Noa's. Screenplay
by Naota Kimura. Originally broadcast 17 January 1990. |
14
You Win!
Division 2
are forced to enter an all Police Judo Tournament and
are being beaten quite badly. In the middle of the
match they are called to duty. Only problem is Ota has
a sprained ankle, and Asuma can't even speak. Captain
Gotoh instructs Kanuka to give orders to Noa. This
doesn't go too well, and Noa disobeys Kanuka's orders
to shoot the labor and the situation gets out of hand.
Noa and Kanuka get on even worse than before after
this incident. Captain Gotoh can see only one solution
to bond the team together; take them out to a bar. A
drinking competition immediately begins between Noa
and Kanuka, and the rest of Division 2 are drunk too.
Will Gotoh's plan really work? Screenplay by Mamoru
Oshii. Originally broadcast 24 January 1990. |
15 The Whale Who Sang
A Humpback
whale enters Tokyo Bay and causes a ruckus in the
media and the general public. The bay is polluted and
not really fit for a whale to live in. Under public
pressure, the government decides to rescue the whale
and forms a committee. Division 2 is called into to
provide crowd control due to the fact hundreds of
onlookers are on the shore of the bay. The rescue
committee try several times to lure the whale out into
open waters, but it keeps coming back. Why does the
whale keeps coming back to the heavily polluted waters
of the bay?
Yes it is a bit bizarre to think that the Japanese
Police Force would be protecting whales. At the time
of broadcast, Japan was being attacked for
slaughtering Minki whales in great numbers for
"scientific purposes". I've read articles that during
the late 1990's it became rather unfashionable to eat
whale. In fact whale meat consumption per person
dropped dramatically during the 1980's. Perhaps this
the episode was one of the things which caused people
to look at the Japanese tradition in a different
light. Momoko Sakurayama makes a brief appearance, but
for some reason Megumi Hayashibara does not provide
her voice. Screenplay by Michiko Yokote. Originally
broadcast 31 January 1990. |
16
The Division Crosses the Sea
Division 2
are assigned duties at the Sapporo Snow Festival
in Hokkaido. A splinter group of the terrorist group
Earth Defence Force is planning to attack the
festival. Two Labors have been stolen, so the chances
are they will be used in the attack. Apart from the
terrorists, the SV2 have to deal with a small child
who is making trouble for them. He has just moved from
Tokyo where apparently his house was destroyed by a
Labor. He used to like Labors, now he hates them. Noa
is quite upset that may have been Alphonse that
crushed his house.
At the beginning of the episode, Noa makes mention of
a movie called "Gondam", which is an obvious reference
to "Mobile Suit Gundam". One of the snow sculptures
featured in the show is of Mughi, Kei and Yuri's very
large pet cat, from the 1985 TV series "Dirty
Pair". Asuma leaves Noa, a can of
"Sunrise Café", which I'm assuming should be Sunrise
Coffee. Sunrise were the studio who animated the
series. Screenplay by Tetsuko Takashi. Originally
broadcast 7 February 1990. |
17
Captain Gotoh is the Target
Out of the
blue, Captain Gotoh begins to receive death threats,
somebody tampers with his lunch and his finds cat
excrement in his shoes. While he tries to figure out
who is after him and why, the rest of Division 2 try
to account for his bizarre behaviour by testing him
out to see what exactly is wrong with him. Things get
serious when someone drops a pot plant on Gotoh's
mini-patrol car and one of the SV2's missions is
sabotaged when the hydraulics on one the carriers is
damaged. Division 2 now know somebody is out to get
the Captain, but only Gotoh figures out who it is, and
apparently he has nothing to fear.
I think this the only episode ever in Patalbor to
feature a home made Labor. Screenplay by Michiko
Yokote. Originally broadcast 14 February 1990. |
18
I Love You Miss Noa
Idol
singer Kana Matsumoto joins the SV2 for a week to
learn how to use an Ingram. It's a blatant public
relations exercise by the police chiefs, but Noa is a
little apprehensive having Kana piloting Alphonse.
Everyone else seems delighted to have such a big star
staying as the SV2, especially Ota, who is her number
one fan. After Kana almost wrecks Alphonse, she pleads
with Noa to train her. Noa does grudgingly at first,
but soon takes the task seriously. Unfortunately a
criminal group is out to kidnap Kana, but accidentally
kidnap Noa instead. They want to trade her for one of
the Ingrams. Division 2 have to sort out this mess
before Captain Gotoh finds out.
The chant the mechanics cry when Kana first arrives is
a rather stereotypical chant that fans (mostly men)
yell at Japanese Idol concerts. Screenplay by Hibari
Arisu. Originally broadcast 21 February 1990. |
19 The Shadow of the Geo-Front
Workers on
the underground Tokyo Geo-City Project uncover a
series of limestone caverns. However one of the
workers is a member of the Earth Defence Army,
militant anti-Project Babylon terrorist group. He has
set off a bomb and threatens to set off more in a aim
to destroy the project. The SV2 are called in to help.
Noa along with Kanuka who has anti-terrorist and bomb
disposal training, set off in their Labors to defuse
the bombs and apprehend the criminal. While searching
for the bombs they come across a large creature in the
water which attacks them. Meanwhile Captain Gotoh
manages to apprehend the criminal. He discovers that
he has set up a large bomb near the ocean entrance of
Tokyo Geo-City that will cause the whole area to be
flooded. Unfortunately Division 2 has lost contact
with Noa and Kanuka and they can't tell them about the
bomb. Meanwhile Kanuka and Noa have their hands full
trying to get away from a monster that keeps attacking
them. Screenplay by Yutaka Izubuchi.
There's a number of Tokyo-centric and specific
Japanese culture references in this episode. Gotoh and
Hiromi climb out of the caverns into a small shrine at
a Shinto Temple. Kanuka
makes mention of the
Tomb of Masakado
and Gotoh mentions the Tokugawa Era (AKA the Edo Period, 1603 to
1868) Originally broadcast 28 February 1990. |
20
Dark Troubles Rising
Private
security firms have started to use Labors in security
work. One of these firms is Holly Security Services,
who have been invited to test out their new Labor the
Saturn (formally Schaft's SRX-70) against the
Self-Defence Force. But Holly Security Services (HSS)
is actually another front for Schaft. Kurosaki is here
incognito as a negotiator for HSS to test out the new
version of the Phantom, providing him the perfect
alibi. Destruction of a military Labor by the Phantom
Labor hits the front page of every newspaper.
Meanwhile at the SV2, the spare Labor is going back to
the factory for improvements. Jitsuyama is on hand to
pick up the Labor, and suggests Asuma should visit his
father. Asuma is a little upset with this and walks
away in a bad mood. Noa tries to talk with Asuma about
it, but he won't open up and this causes a major fight
between the two of them. Meanwhile The Phantom Labor
appears off the coast of Oshima. Captain Fuwa of the
military is called in again to fight the Labor
covertly. Division are ordered to take on the Labor,
even though Captain Gotoh knows the who thing has been
set up to provide battle data for the Phantom Labor.
Before heading off to Oshima, Gotoh sends Asuma to the
factory to pick up the Labor. He won't be there to
help Noa. Noa is quite upset at the fact she hasn't
patched things up with him yet, and that he won't be
there. Screenplay by Kazunori Ito. Originally
broadcast 7 March 1990. |
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