Patlabor 2: The movie
機動警察パトレイバー 2 the Movie
Hordes of tanks roam freely around the city. Police and military are on every corner of the street. The summits of power are in complete chaos: police against army, army against army; secret services against all.
What is happening? Is the Venetian army trying to occupy the Vatican? No, none of this. It is simply one of the many inconveniences that can be encountered living in Tokyo, and it is also what happens in the second film by Patlabor.
While returning from a conference on the evolution of the use of labor in the police following the latest developments of the "Babilon Project", Shinobu (commander of the 1st special vehicles section) witnesses a terrorist attack.
The Yokohama bridge that connected the Honmoku and Daikoku quays is hit and destroyed by a missile. Through a video mysteriously obtained from an American network and broadcast on television, it is discovered that the missile was released by an F16 J aircraft supplied by the Japanese ASDF.
The ASDF denies any involvement in the incident. Unconvinced of the veracity of the video, Goto (commander of the 2nd special vehicle section) instructs Matsui (investigator friend of Goto) to investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, a man named Arakawa contacts Goto and Shinobu (who, for those unfamiliar with the series, is a woman) introducing himself as a member of the JSDF (Joint Staff International Investigation Bureau) and showing an alternative videotape on the facts concerning the attack. In the new videotape we can see, half hidden, the presence of an F16 S, an aircraft model different from the one observed in the video passed on TV and not supplied to the ASDF. Arakawa also reveals that the night of the bombing of the bridge, a USAF plane disappeared during a training flight. The USAF unofficially admits that it is the same F16 S spotted in the offending area shortly before the explosion.
The JSDF believes that behind what has happened there is a paramilitary group to which members of the army, politics and the war industry belong.
The goal of this group is to drastically change the political situation in Japan, which is now too accustomed to peace. The leader of this group is a man named Shige Yakihito (Shinobu's old flame in the days of the police academy).
Arakawa asks for Goto's help with the investigation. At first Goto refuses, but later, due to a second incident, he decides to cooperate in the investigation.
USAF Misawa Air Base and ASDF are involved in the second incident. As a result of the accident, Misawa and the other airbases are surrounded by police forces including the 1st and the 2nd sections.
Deeming the intervention of the police to be insufficient, the chief secretary of the cabinet decides to call in the forces of the JSDF to maintain order in the metropolitan area and in preparation for future emergencies. The possibility of a full-blown civil war looms, prompting the United States to intervene.
It is in this scenario that Tsuge and his group act to accomplish their goal, while Goto gathers the members of the old 2nd section (Noa, Asuma, Shinshi, Hiromi, Ota) to track down and block Tsuge.
In short, a big mess!
The film, released 4 years after the first episode, can boast the direction of Mamoru Oshii and an accurate technical realization.
The animations are very good, with the introduction of a good dose of computer graphics, which even without reaching the levels of "Ghost in the Shell", is used wisely without resulting in ugly overlaps and helps to create that sense of reality, present in Patlabor 2.
The film alternates long moments of dialogue with moments of close and incessant action in the typical style of Oshii. An abundant use is made of the wide angle and the typical shots of large urban and non-urban spaces, accompanied only by music without speech.
The character design is entrusted to Akemi Takada, whose trait is hardly noticeable, and Masami Yukii. The final effect is a bit atypical for those accustomed to the design of the OAVs and the previous film (even though there were differences between them too). The mecha design is from the usual Yutaka Izubuchi.
The music is entrusted to the ubiquitous Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the shell).
The fundamental meaning of the film lies in the motivations that push Tsuge to attempt the coup, what he experienced in the jungle when he was wounded and the considerations that these events led him to make. All this is summed up in the long-distance dialogue between Goto and Arakawa after the meeting at the aquarium.
It almost seems that Oshii denounces a certain type of attitude of the industrialized world that supports war in less developed countries and intervenes only if it can have a political and economic advantage.
The question that hovers throughout the film is: is it better an unjust peace or a just war?
The question that more than any other tormented me after seeing Patlabor 2 was: why did they call it Patlabor?
As an old Patlabor fan, I always thought that it was mainly made up, in addition to the labor, by the members of the 2nd section (Noa, Azuma, etc ..), Shinobu, Shige and the other supporting characters.
In Patlabor 2: the movie, the members of the second section, as well as the labor, appear for less than 15 minutes throughout the film.
Matsui appears more than Noa and all the other characters combined. The real protagonists are Goto, who while pretending to submit to Shinobu, takes the lion's share and Shinobu who in fact does not combine much except in the final part.
Final judgment: a must see, especially if you are a lover of Patlabor or Oshii.
