The sound effects for "seeing the invisible" are buried like a code in "Mobile Police Patlabor 2 the Movie" - [Nostalgic Anime Memoirs Vol. 76

In the previous issue of this column, we discussed the competition among the voice actors in the "Mobile Police Patlabor NEW OVA". This time, we will focus on the animated feature film "Mobile Police Patlabor 2 the Movie" ("P2"), which was released in August 1993.
The Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), equipped with the general-purpose humanoid machine "Reaver," is dispatched to a war-torn country in Southeast Asia as part of a peacekeeping operation (PKO). However, the leader of the Reaver Platoon, Yukihito Tsuge, is not allowed to use firearms and loses his men on the battlefield. Upon his return to Japan, Tsuge forms a secret organization within the Self-Defense Forces, which pits the Self-Defense Forces against each other from the shadows, plunging Tokyo into a virtual war situation.

P2" is a thoroughly "visual" film.
At the beginning of the film, Tsuge, who leads a platoon of PKO reavers, sees what is happening on the battlefield through a monitor.
Izumino Akira, who is testing a new type of Reaver interface, sees a CG city through the "visual operation mode.
Other images are frequently shown through the eyes of machines, such as the sighting camera of a missile attacking the Yokohama Bay Bridge, news reports from a helicopter, and analysis of home videos and karaoke videos. The highlights of "P2" are its exquisite layout, which looks as if it were shot on location, and its many digital image treatments that evoke a strong sense of reality.

In this column, however, I would like to talk about "sound" rather than images. Sound effects in most films, whether animated or not, are used to supplement the information in the images. If it is raining, it is the sound of rain. In a battle scene, there are gunshots and explosions.
Let me give you two examples.

A fighter pilot hears birdsong that should not be there

Example 1《The sound of birds

Scene 1: At the beginning of the film, Tsuge loses all of his men in front of him, and his command Reaver is also attacked and injured. Tsuge, who is left alone, silently turns around and sees a statue of a god with ivy entangled in it. A bird perched on the statue makes a piercing cry.

Scene 2: In the middle of the film, the BADGE (automatic alert and control organization) system is hacked, nearly causing the Self-Defense Forces aircraft to engage in friendly fire. Two aircraft teams (code-named "Wizard" from Hyakuri Air Base and "Priest" from Komatsu Air Base) are launched to intercept the enemy aircraft (code-named "Wyvern"), which only exists on the monitors of the BADGE system. The air traffic controller believes that they were shot down by the Wyvern. Just before that, the pilot of the "Wizard" looks up when he notices something, and at that moment, the same birdcalls that Tsuge heard are heard (the birds are not shown on the screen).

Scene 3: As Tsuge's operation steadily progresses, Goto and Nagumo, the Special Vehicle Section 2 commander who had been following Tsuge's movements from early on, are summoned to a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Department. Goto and Nagumo, fed up with the incompetence of the police brass, escape from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department building in a mini-patrol. Behind them, the communication antenna on the roof of the main building is destroyed by a combat helicopter. Just before that, the same birdcalls that Tsuge heard are heard (the birds are not shown on the screen).

The birdcalls in Scene 1 represent Tsuge's anger and despair after his subordinate is killed by an unreasonable rule.
Scene 2 may be the moment when Tsuge's sentiments formed an image in the sky over Tokyo. The off-screen birdcalls of the Self-Defense Forces aircraft that attempts to intercept a non-existent enemy aircraft is shot down by that non-existent enemy aircraft, a symbolic moment that marks the occurrence of a "fact that should never have happened.
The birdcalls in scene 3 are difficult to interpret, but the helicopters attacking key locations in Tokyo embody Tsuge's will, so perhaps birdcalls were also necessary for the scene in which the police department is attacked.

Why is there a raver camera sound in the scene where Detective Matsui is knocked down?

Example 2 《The sound of the camera driving》

Scene 4: At the beginning of the movie, Akira Izumino is on a Reaver test plane for a simulation. When he enters the "visual operation mode," the head of the test plane is close-up and the camera moves quickly on the rails. The sound of the motor driving the machine is heard as it moves.

Scene 5: Goto and Nagumo are sent on a security mission to the Nerima Garrison of the Self-Defense Forces, and the Patlabor team stands at the gate of the garrison. A close-up of the head of the Patlabor on guard duty. The camera moves on rails and the same driving sound as in Scene 4 is heard.

Scene 6: Detective Matsui of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, who has been in contact with Goto to find out Tsuge's objective, infiltrates an airship company in the suburbs of Tokyo. Tsuge's subordinates are watching Matsui's movements through surveillance cameras. They decide not to kill Matsui, but to knock him unconscious and lock him up. When one of them orders them to "do it," Matsui is attacked in the surveillance camera and passes out on the spot. The same camera driving sound as in Scene 4 is heard as Matsui is attacked.

While scene 4 is just a sound effect to match the picture, scene 5 is a tense scene in which the police and the Self-Defense Forces face off. Reporters and cameramen from TV stations are filming Patlabor standing guard. The Patlabor looks back at them with its head camera. The pilot, who is supposed to be in the cockpit, is not shown. Instead, an inorganic cut shot of the camera from the inside is inserted.
In this cut, the same camera's driving sound sounds colder than in scene 4. A machine that only "sees," but lacks a "seeing" subject. The eeriness and emptiness of the machine are emphasized by the driving sound.

The difficult part is scene 6. The camera in the scene is a classic surveillance camera, not the latest, movable camera mounted on the raver. Nevertheless, at the moment Matsui is attacked, the camera's driving sound is heard. Is the action of Tsuge's men, mechanically cold ......, a directorial aim?
Probably not. I dare say that the sound of the camera driving is the sound of "seeing. As mentioned earlier, "seeing" dominates the film.
To reinforce the structure of the film, the same sound effects are buried here and there in unrelated scenes like a code, are they not?　The birds are not present in the scene, nor is the driving camera. Yet, Tsuge's emotions and the act of "seeing" are latent throughout the film. In animation, the invisible cannot be depicted or filmed. However, by using sound effects to connect from behind the scenes, it is possible to make us feel the structure of the invisible.


(Text by Keisuke Hirota)