The "storytelling" fun of "Mobile Police PATLABOR ON TELEVISION," in which the contents of an order to a Chinese restaurant are repeated ad nauseum [Nostalgic Anime Memoirs Vol. 74

In the previous issue, we touched on the robot fight scene at the end of the animated feature film "Mobile Police Patlabor the Movie. This time, we will focus on an episode of the TV series "Mobile Police PATLABOR ON TELEVISION," which started airing three months after the theatrical version was released.
The director of the TV version was replaced by Naoyuki Yoshinaga, and the series became rich in variety, weaving in episodes from the original manga as well. The four episodes written by Mamoru Oshii are unique. The 29th episode, "Special Vehicle Section 2 is Destroyed! is Oshii's favorite food story, and robots do not play any part in the story.

The outline of the story is as follows.
During lunch time, Akira Izumino asks the members of Special Vehicle Section 2 about the menu in order to order a delivery from Shanghai Tei, a Chinese restaurant. However, the order is so large and complicated that Shanghai Tei delays the delivery. The members of Section 2, unable to bear their hunger, go to Shanghai Tei, but due to the treachery of a part-time waiter at Shanghai Tei, they are forced to eat on unclean plates, and they all end up getting food poisoning.
The fun of this episode lies in the meticulous detail with which each of the unnamed mechanics of Special Vehicle Section Two orders a particular menu item. Conversely, if the menu contents are sketchy, such as "50 servings of ramen," it does not create a persuasive sense of urgency to "not be able to fulfill the order. In addition, the stress of the members of Section 2 explodes because they do not receive the menu items they ordered with great care, so the menu contents must inevitably be very detailed and precise. So, what did the members order?

Just by replacing "large portion" with "extra-large portion," we can get a sense of the characters' feelings.

Yuuma: "I'll have the wonton noodle soup and dumplings.
Ota: "I'll have the yakiniku set meal in a big bowl.
Shiba: "I'll have fried rice with tanmen".
Mechanic A: "I'll have miso ramen and rice".
Mechanic B: "Large bowl of chashu ramen".
Mechanic C: "Chashu won-ton ramen, large portion".
Mechanic D: "Fried leek and pork miso soup with a big bowl of rice".
Mechanic E: "Curry and rice, large portion, without pickles".
Mechanic F: "Fried green bell pepper with meat and a big bowl of rice".
Mechanic G: "Soba noodles with bean sprouts and fried rice, please".
Mechanic H: "Large bowl of Miso Butter Ramen with half a bowl of rice".
Mechanic I: "Large bowl of Chinese rice".
Mechanic J: "Stir-fried meat and leeks with garlic in Szechuan style and leek ball rice".
Mechanic K: "Same thing without garlic and chives
Mechanic L: "Extra large bowl of pork cutlet rice
Mechanic M: "Shrimp fried rice and half ramen
Mechanic N "Eggplant miso set meal, large".
Mechanic O: "Bean-curd soup ramen and rice with dumplings".
Goto "Fried pork ramen and half rice
Nagumo: "Shrimp fried rice

As Noaki listens to the above orders, folding his fingers, he seems to remember all of them. However, he forgets on the phone and asks all the members again.
Yuma, Ota, Shiba, mechanics A to E, and mechanics J and K have the same order, but the following members order differently from the first time.

The second time

Mechanic F: "Fried green bell pepper with meat, a large bowl of rice, and an extra half ramen".
Mechanic H "It was a large bowl of miso butter ramen and half a bowl of rice, but I'll have egg soup with kikurage mushrooms".
Mechanic I: "I don't want a large bowl of Chinese rice, I want a large bowl of pork cutlet rice".
Mechanic L: "Katsudon extra large, Tenshindon extra large".

However, Shanghai Pavilion's delivery was delayed, and after long negotiations, Section 2 decides to order one more time by phone. Nomei asked each member to repeat the order from the beginning.
The following is an excerpt of the member whose order was different from the previous one.

Third time

Ota: "Yakiniku set meal, large portion, medium rare.
Shiba: "Five-meat fried rice without green peas, and won-ton ramen without one.
Mechanic A: "Miso ramen and a large bowl of rice".
Mechanic B: "Cha-shu ramen with extra large portion".
Mechanic C: "Chashu ramen with wonton noodle and a large portion of rice".
Mechanic E: "Curry and rice, large portion, without fukujinzuke pickles, with raw egg".
Mechanic H: "Egg soup with kikurage mushrooms, and a large bowl of miso butter corn ramen and triple portion of rice".
Mechanic I: "Stop the Chinese rice bowl, and add a super extra large bowl of hot bean curd and hot spicy sauce".
Mechanic J: "Stir-fried meat and green onion with garlic in Szechwan, a large bowl of leek egg rice, and three raw eggs".
Mechanic K: "I'll have more garlic and five raw eggs.

Did you notice?　Mechanics A, B, and C, who did not change the contents of their second order, increased "rice" to "large portion of rice", "large portion of chashu ramen" to "extra large portion", and "large portion of chashu wontan ramen" to "extra large portion". Similarly, mechanic E added a raw egg, and mechanic H, whose "large bowl of miso butter ramen and half rice" atrophied to "egg soup with kikurage mushrooms" the second time, added corn to revive his miso butter ramen and greatly scaled up his "half rice" to "triple rice".
Dramatically, Mechanic K, who only followed Mechanic J's "Stir-fried meat and leeks with garlic and Szechuan noodles and leek egg rice" by "no garlic and leeks," turned to "more garlic" to follow. The additional raw eggs are "five" over "three" for mechanic J. In other words, the unnamed mechanics' lines are only about what they ordered and not a single word of anger, but by increasing the options on the menu, they are communicating their hunger in their words.

This kind of laughter, in which long, practical lines are repeated, has its roots in rakugo (traditional Japanese comic storytelling), such as "jugeimu" and "toki soba. This episode reminds us that animation, like rakugo, is a "storytelling art" performed by voice actors.


(Text by Keisuke Hirota)