The courageous hero walks the tightrope from robot to robot!　Watch "Mobile Police Patlabor the Movie" as a giant robot action movie! Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No. 73

In the previous issue, we examined the role of standing buckwheat noodles in the plot of the first OVA series, "Mobile Police Patlabor: Early Days. In this issue, we will explore the appeal of "Mobile Police Patlabor the Movie," the first feature film in the series, as a fighting robot animation.

In the near future, the Tokyo metropolitan area is undergoing a massive redevelopment project, and as many as 8,000 "Reavers," work machines, are in operation. However, a virus is embedded in the "HOS (Hyper Operating System)," a new type of operating program that is indispensable for the operation of the Reavers, and the "Ark," a super-sized platform on Tokyo Bay, must be dismantled. The "Ark," a super platform on Tokyo Bay, must be dismantled, or else all the reavers in the Tokyo metropolitan area will go berserk at once.
The film is a detailed and convincing depiction of the reasoning and verification that led to the dismantling of the Ark by the main characters and other members of the Special Vehicle Section 2. When the Ark is successfully dismantled, the suspense surrounding the "HOS" created by the mysterious programmer comes to an end for the time being.
At the same time, the protagonist's Patlabor, Type 98 AV Ingram, and the latest Patlabor, Type Zero, which has gone haywire due to the implementation of the "HOS," begin a one-on-one battle on the wreckage of the collapsed Ark.
The word "suspense" is said to be derived from the word "suspend," meaning to put on hold or suspend. The battle between Ingram and Zero is a series of breathtaking "suspensions" that take place in a suspended state. Let's take a closer look.

Action and plot build up an inescapable conflict

The 2nd Platoon of the Metropolitan Police Department's Special Vehicle Division 2 (Patrol Reaver Company, Special Vehicle Division 2), led by two Ingrams running on an outdated operating system, board the Ark. However, Ingram 1, with Akira Izumino aboard, heads to the top floor to search for survivors who may be in the sub-control room. Meanwhile, the purging (disassembling and crumbling to the sea surface) of the Ark's individual blocks continues, and behind Noaki's Ingram, the floor is disappearing one after another.
Meanwhile, the unmanned reavers housed in the Ark are affected by the "HOS" virus and begin to move on their own. Isao Ota's Ingram Unit 2 has to fight against a large number of unmanned reavers. In other words, there are two crises going on at the same time: "Unit 1 must rush to the top floor of the Ark as the scaffolding collapses," and "Unit 2 must prevent the swarm of Reavers that have begun to run amok with a single plane. Fearing that Unit 2 alone will not be able to defeat the massive number of enemies, Kankanuka Clancy decides on his own to board the new Patlabor equipped with the "HOS", Type Zero, which is placed inside the Ark. The virus causes the Zero to lose control, destroying Ota's Ingram Unit 2 and turning it into his worst enemy (just like in a zombie movie).

When Zero goes out of control, the scene is easy to understand: the visor on its face opens and a red light runs across it, but it is the startup scene of Zero that should be noted here. Zero faces a group of reavers prowling the corridor, and in order to attack them, he readies his right hand and quickly thrusts it out as if it were a handheld sword. Then Nomei's Ingram falls. Zero is still under the control of Kanuka, while Nomei's Ingram has just gotten on the elevator to head to the top floor.
Both are in different places, but when the two shots are continued, the action is connected and it appears as if Zero is fighting Ingram. In other words, by connecting the two separate actions through editing, the composition of their confrontation is implied.

Now, Noaki finally arrives at the sub-control room on the top floor and discovers that it is completely unoccupied. She is ordered to activate the "concentrated ignition line" that can purge all the blocks of the Ark at once. The purging of so many blocks at once causes the floor on which Noaki's Ingram walks to collapse.
The outburst of the unmanned ravers leads to two events: "activation of the virus-infested Zero" and "activation of the concentrated ignition line as an emergency measure. It is a reasonable plot.
Now we have both a powerful enemy called "Zero" and a stage called "the collapsed Ark. You can see that the flow of the climax of the film is a "one-on-one battle of robots divided into two sides" in an easy-to-understand manner.

A gust of wind from the sea, a blown cockpit, and a heightened sense of danger

At the top of the collapsed Ark, on top of the helipad, Nomei's Ingram and Kanpukka's Zero face off. Kankanka tells Ingram that the only way to stop the runaway Zero is to destroy the "SRAM" in the back of its neck. From that point on, Kanuka does not speak or appear on screen, leaving Nomei alone on stage.

With only his right arm left, Zero throws a special move into Ingram, but Ingram holds his right arm at his side to stop Zero's movement. I got it!" shouted Noaki, blowing Ingram's cockpit cover off with gunpowder and reaching for his shotgun. However, the Zero easily lifted Ingram and pushed him to the edge of the helipad. Ingram's left arm is ripped off and she falls on her back, but the cut as she falls is the profile of Noaki sitting in the exposed cockpit. Her face stops just above the floor of the helipad. In the next cut, the flooring of the helipad is cracked, and a large pull reveals that the floor on which Ingram has fallen is about to come loose and fall. The next shot is also of Nomei in profile, with her bangs shaking in the strong wind blowing directly from the ocean.
Nomei has eliminated the cockpit cover in order to destroy the "SRAM" with her own hands, but this has put her in danger. This is because the helipad is directly under the ocean. The sense of danger that "we might fall" or "if we fall, it's the end" begins to dominate the screen. The forelock, which sways violently in the wind from the sea, is an extremely effective way to heighten this sense of danger.

The main character transfers from robot to robot like a ...... tightrope walker.

Over Nomei's profile, his partner Yuma Shinohara's "Run, Nomei, run! You can't beat Zero! over the profile of Nomei's partner, Yuma Shinohara. However, within the same cut, Nomei decides to do something. Ingram stands up, pulls out the wire equipped between his legs, and spins his right hand to reel it in. Since Nomei's right hand is hidden, it appears as if Nomei himself is manipulating the wire with his giant hand. At this moment, the robot Ingram and the pilot Nomei become one. Ingram wraps the wire around Zero's neck and tries to keep it away at all costs. The two fall into the sea ...... as they remain assembled.

But they did not fall. Zero's body was barely caught on a thin pipe at the edge of the helipad. To that Zero, Ingram is only barely hanging on, by his right arm and wire,...... and there is nothing beneath his feet. It's the ocean. Just when the sense of danger that he might fall was at its highest, Nomei slipped out of the cockpit and, relying on a thin wire, jumped onto Ingram's chest, and then, like a monkey climbing a tree, he put his foot on the elbow of the huge right arm and held onto the wrist,....... He then leaps from robot to robot, like a monkey climbing a tree. Yes, even though he "might" fall!　From Noaki's frustratingly detailed theatricality and each arrangement, we sense her straightforward will. Her courage and adventurous spirit are inspiring to us.
The camera patiently PAN-UPs Nomei's small body as she climbs from the Ingram to the Zero, but the Zero's face visor unexpectedly opens and Nomei's body floats in the air. In the following cut, Nomei's body luckily falls onto the back of Zero's neck, but his left hand firmly grabs a part of Zero's collar. The small act shows that Nomei is a man with a strong will, even though he seems to be swept away by the situation.

Finally, Nomei finds the SRAM in the back of Zero's neck and tries to shoot it with a shotgun. But as Zero turns his head, his long antenna almost hits Nomei. The only background is the ocean. If the antenna hit him, he would be thrown headlong into the sea. While just barely avoiding the antenna with his back, Nomei fires at the SRAM. This time, the Zero moved its upper half of its body as if it was struggling. Nomei grabbed the antenna he had just avoided with both hands this time!　He does not want to be shaken off!　Then, straddling the base of the antenna, he fires several shotgun pellets, finally stopping Zero Shiki's movement.
How about this sticky, thick and deliberate stunt!　Zero is not trying to kill Nomei. It is merely a spinal reflex within a living circuit. The robot has a robot body, and the human being sometimes leaves the robot, sometimes clings to the robot, gives his life to the robot, and tries to carry out his own will. The relationship between the program, the robot, and the human being is depicted concretely, one by one, in the production and in the drawings. The strong will of the creator shoots through our hearts like an arrow.


(Text by Keisuke Hirota)