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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