Synopsis for Patlabor 2 the movie

The second Patlabor film takes place in early 2002, three years after the events of "Patlabor the movie". Most of Division 2 have moved on from their old jobs. Only Yamazaki, Captain Gotoh and Shinobu remain with the SV2.

Shinobu is driving back from a conference when she becomes stuck in a traffic jam. She contacts a police traffic labor, who tells her a car has been parked on the bay bridge, and somebody has phoned in a threat saying it has a bomb inside it. Before they have a chance to look at the car, it explodes, causing the middle section of the bridge to collapse. Later that night on the news reports, a amateur video of the event has surfaced. It shows a Japanese Self-Defence Force F-16-J fighter jet flying overhead seconds after the explosion. The fighter fired a live missile into the car on the the bridge.

A man named Arakawa Shigeki comes to the SV2 to visit both captains. He explains to them he works for an organization named Ground Defence Force. He shows them a video taken of the bridge, but from a different camera, showing a different plane than what was shown on TV. He claims the TV footage was doctored. It wasn't a Japanese plane, it was an American plane that left a Japanese base. He explains that this is the handiwork of the National Defence Family, a group of military contractors. They essentially wanted to stir up some business in Japan. The only problem was the missile wasn't meant to be armed, and the plane did not return to base. They are already planning another attack. He shows them a file on the main suspect who organised this attack; Yukihito Tsuge, a founding member of the National Defence Family. In 1999, he lead a UN Peacekeeping mission in South East Asia using military labors. It was a failure and every Labor was destroyed. No one heard from him after that.

Later that night, somebody hacks into the Japanese Defence Force radar system, and fakes an attack on Tokyo. Arakawa later tells Gotoh what happened. He also tells him that Tsuge formed one of the earliest Labor schools called the Tsuge School. Shinobu Nagumo studied there and was a top student. She also had an affair with him. He was married at the time. Before he leaves, Gotoh asks him if Tsuge is trying to start his own little war. Arakawa tells him it's already started. Gotoh arrives back to the hanger to find Shinobu on the phone with the police chief. The SV2 has been ordered to surround the Nerima Army Base, where the Bay Bridge plane is said to have come from. The police have ordered all planes to be grounded. The Base commander was driving to Tokyo to to protest, but was arrested. The base has cut communications and is preparing for a siege. Gotoh doesn't want to have any part in this, but eventually caves into Shinobu.

The next morning the police surround the military base. Arakawa phones Gotoh and tells him that the head of each division of the military resigned. They're going to tell the public what happened in the Tokyo Bay Bridge incident, but no one is going to believe them. The US will deny it, and the police will be blamed for arresting the military. Arakawa tells him that Tsuge wants Japan under the same conditions his troops were in during their East Asia deployment. Later that night, the military occupy Tokyo.

A day later, mysterious helicopter gunships takes out communication networks, bridges, the SV2 hanger and police headquarters. Tokyo is in utter chaos. Three mysterious blimps are also hovering above Tokyo. They are emitting jamming waves which are interrupting all communications. Detective Matsui discovers they were bought by company that's actually a front for Tsuge. One of the blimps is shot at by the military, and even though they miss it crashes down into the streets below, and a mysterious yellow gas seeps from it. It causes some panic, but is actually harmless. It is a warning. If they shoot down the other two, one of them might actually contain real mustard gas or even worse, a nuclear device.

The SV2 are reunited by Captain Gotoh to stop Tsuge. He is on a piece of reclaimed land, and is sending regular pulses to the blimps via a radio station truck. They can enter a disused tunnel to get to him, but it's also a perfect place for an ambush. But can they rely on Shinobu? Will her feelings for Tsuge get in the way of the mission?

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