Synopses for Patlabor New OVA Series

9   VS (Versus)
Captain Gotoh treats all of Divison 2 to a break at hot spring. Things seem to be going well until Kumagumi tells Kanuka that she has put away the underwear she left in the change room. Kanuka is quite angry at Kumagami. She finds it an invasion of privacy. This causes both of them to argue with each other. The other members try to stop them from fighting, but it only causes them to argue even more. Division 2 give up trying, so they decide to drink themselves into a stupor and try to forget about it. The arguing only gets worse with more alcohol. Meanwhile Captain Gotoh escapes and decides to call Shinobu just to get away from them.

Screenplay by Michiko Yokote. Released 22 August 1991.

10   It's Called Amnesia
Ota has a strange dream where he kills his team mates who have all become criminals. He wakes up to find himself in Shinshi's house where Hiromi, Asuma, Shinshi, and Shige are dead from gun wounds, and Ota is holding a gun in his hand. He runs screaming from the house, but he soon can't remember who he is. Did he kill all those people? He looks in his wallet and because he has Shinshi's wallet, he believes he's Shinshi. Meanwhile the SV2 search for Ota. Gotoh believes he has amnesia. They must find him before he hurts someone else or himself.

In Ota's dream Ota makes a comment that he can't believe that Hiromi was a monster. This is a reference to the "The 450 Million-Year-Old Trap" OVA from the original 1988 OVA series. Also in the same sequence the part were he meets Shinshi is a homage to the scene in "Blade Runner" where we first see Deckard. When Ota looks through Shinshi's wallet, the video card says "Banzai". It's in the same font as Bandai's logo. Bandai is the company that released and financed this series. The convenience store Ota goes into is called the Sunris (sic). This a misspelling of Sunrise, the studio who produced the series. Screenplay by Mamoru Oshii. Released 26 September 1991.

11   The Day Goma Came in from the Rain
While riding back to the hanger in the rain, Noa spots a cardboard box near the gate. Inside is a small kitten that was abandoned by someone. She sneaks it inside and asks Hiromi to help care for it. He says it's very weak and might die, but Noa is determined to help it survive. Being called out to Labor incidents doesn't really help, so she asks Asuma to talk Shige into helping while their called out to crime scenes. The kitten survives and is doing very well. Unfortunately it looks like Captain Gotoh might know, and it's getting harder and harder to keep it under wraps. During cleaning of the hanger, the kitten escapes and nobody can find it. Division 2 are called out to a crime and Noa discovers the kitten sitting in the cockpit of Alphonse. Unfortunately it wants to play and causes Noa to loose control of her Ingram.

On the table in the room where they keep the kitten is a model of the robot from the episode "Long Live CLAT". We can also a bunch of model kit boxes. Screenplay by Kazunori Ito. Released 21 November 1991.

12   Our Karuizawa
Gotoh and Shinobu are returning from a conference in Karuizawa. Shinobu has sprained her ankle by falling down the stairs as she left and Gotoh has had to drive her back. Unfortunately a typhoon is headed for Tokyo and they end up in the middle of the storm. Every way they turn there are traffic jams and road closures. Shinobu refuses to return to the conference because of the embarrassment of spraining her ankle. There's no way to get back to Tokyo. Instead of waiting it out, Gotoh suggests they stop over at a motel for the night and drive back the next morning. The only problem is that there is only Love Motels in the area, not normal ones. Feeling a little nervous about the prospect Shinobu reluctantly agrees to spend the night at one of these places. Gotoh of course doesn't really care where he spends the night. But could this be Gotoh's lucky day?

A hilarious episode which explores Gotoh's unrequited love for Shinobu, and shows that perhaps she might have feelings for him. Screenplay by Kazunori Ito. Released 19 December 1991.

13   The Dungeon Again
A urethra stone made of pearl is excreted from the captured albino alligator (now in the Tokyo Zoo) that was found in the labyrinth of tunnels under the reclaimed land beneath the SV2 hanger. With the stone being worth over ¥200,000,000, some of the mechanics try their luck to see if there are anymore albino alligators excreting the stones down there. They don't return and nobody is particularly happy about staging a rescue mission to find them, especially after what happened last time. Sakaki wants to seal the manhole up, but Asuma decides to help and ropes in most of Division 2 to help him. Meanwhile Matsui calls Gotoh to tell him Tadayama Fumihiro, the man who lived down there and occasionally stole food from the SV2, has escaped the mental institution he was in and is most likely headed back the the underground passages. This information comes a little to late for the team and they fall prey to most of his traps, causing Ota to accidentally shoot up most of their equipment. Will they ever get out of there alive?

A follow on episode from "The Underground Mystery Tour". The character Tadayama Fumihiro is based upon the anime director Takayama Fumihiko, who would later go on to direct "WXIII Patlabor the movie 3". Screenplay by Mamoru Oshii. Released 23 January 1992.

14   Snow Rondo
Asuma discovers a postcard inviting him to a school reunion. However he doesn't remember receiving it. He goes to the reunion and sees Yuki Kasama, a girl whom he once had a crush on when he was at school. He feels rather embarrassed and doesn't speak to her, but she goes over to talk to him after the reunion. After talking to her, he reluctantly asks her on a date. The next day they go to the museum and planetarium. Asuma has to go to the toilet but when he returns to his seat Yuki has gone. In the seat where she sat there is a postcard from an exhibition of photographs. Rather confused he goes to the exhibition the following day and meets Yuki who is looking at the photographs. She apologises for leaving and they both sign the guest book. While walking her out she mysteriously disappears again.

The following day at a crime scene, Noa is about to fire upon a criminal labor. Suddenly Asuma sees Yuki standing behind the labor and orders Noa not to shoot. Noa eventually stops the labor, but his team mates are confused at his actions. They could not see anybody behind the labor. Later that night, Yuki comes the the SV2 hanger to apologise for actions that day. She tells him that she will be leaving the country and she'll never see him again. She runs out but Asuma can't catch up with her. The next day he finds the invitation to the school reunion again, but the date is the following day. At the reunion he asks about Yuki. His old school friends tell him that she hasn't been seen in years and no one could get in contact with her. Asuma goes to the exhibition and cannot find his or Yuki's name in the guest book. Did she actually meet him or is it all just a dream?

Note that Asuma is wearing a Headgear jacket in the beginning of the episode. Yuki in Japanese means snow. You will notice that every time we see Yuki Kasama, it is snowing. Screenplay by Yutaka Izubuchi. Released 20 February 1992.

15   The Woman Who Came from the Stars
Noa has had a very hard day. She comes back to the hanger and heads straight for bed. She wakes in the middle of the night and notices a light on in a small building at the back of the hanger. She investigates, but can find no one inside. She places her hand on a poster on the wall, and a portal opens below her feet. She ends up in some sort of underground base, and finds the whole of the SV2 down there in strange uniforms. It is in fact the base for CLAT Japan (Creature from Luna Attack Team), an organization dedicated to fighting aliens, and the SV2 is just a front to keep the organization secret. Before Noa can react aliens attack CLAT's orbiting base. Ota and Shinshi fly out to help Shinobu as her Labor has been hit by enemy fire. But Shinobu returns safely and reports Shinshi and Ota were shot down. Strangely both of them return sometime later, but they are actually aliens in disguise. The other team members are not fooled and shoot them dead before they can attack. The real Ota and Shinshi have been captured and Noa and Asuma head off to rescue them. Meanwhile the rest of the team fight off the hoards of UFOs currently attacking Earth. Noa and Asuma manage to rescue Ota and Shinshi, but in the process a monster emerges from the UFO they were being held in. Noa however has a secret, she can transform into Ingraman, a giant alien from the AV-98 Nebula who defends Earth.

This episode is a parody of "Farewell Ultraman", the final episode of the 1966 TV series "Ultraman", though there are some elements of the final episode of "Ultraseven" mixed in. The space battle above Earth looks suspiciously like a parody of "Mobile Suit Gundam". The monster which looks like the Griffin Labor is based on the Zetton monster from the final episode of Ultraman. This episode follows on directly from the end of the TV episode "Long Live CLAT". Screenplay by Kazunori Ito. Released 19 March 1992.

16   All Quite at the SV2
Division 2 are on holiday. Noa is doing some spring cleaning at home, but can't find a personal item she had since she was a child. She goes to work but can't find it there either. She meets Kumagami there who is writing up a proposal to create two extra Divisions. Ota is also there, dismantling and cleaning his Labor's gun. Kumagami submits her plan to Captain Gotoh and Shinobu. He tells her that they are already planing something like this and ask if she would be interested in being captain for the third division. She says that she would have to think it over, which surprises both Gotoh and Shinobu. The next day Kumagami is taking a trip to see some of the new cadets who will eventual form the third division, and asks everyone to come along. Asuma says he and Noa can't and tells them they have something important to do. Despite her protests Noa goes along with Asuma.

Meanwhile the rest of the team arrive at the Police Academy to meet the new cadets. Ota decides to prove that he can take on the new cadets, and surprises everyone by using hand to hand combat instead of a gun. He easily defeats the cadet he's up against. When the team are just about to leave, the cadet that Ota had beaten hands over a bag with an item that a former cadet left behind. Asuma takes Noa to a graveyard. He takes her to the Shinohara family grave. He explains that today is the anniversary of his brother's death and that he committed suicide, perhaps to spite his father. On their way back to the car Asuma spots his father coming towards him. He tells Noa to wait in the car so he can talk to him. Asuma and his father have always been on bad terms.

A rather sombre but excellent ending to the series. Perhaps one of the most serious episodes in this series. On the border of the photo of the SV2 during the end credits it says "Sunrise Color". Sunrise were the studio which animated the New OVA Series. The end credits of this episode include credits for the entire New OVA Series. Screenplay by Kazunori Ito. Released 23 April 1992.

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