ivision 2 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Special Vehicles section never gets glamorous, high-profile cases. Like Division 1, they deal exclusively with situations requiring Labors--mecha exoskeletons designed for heavy construction work, but occasionally appropriated by criminals or terrorists. Unlike Division 1, they have a reputation for ineptitude and unnecessary property damage. This is why they get stuck, in these latest episodes, with critical assignments such as handling traffic control, babysitting a young foreign dignitary and capturing a whiny, drunken Labor operator who's just been dumped by his girlfriend.
These installments do continue an intriguing story arc begun in Vol. 2 of the series, regarding a police officer's grandmother, who left a cryptic message behind before disappearing, and a team of terrorists with a frightening new anti-Labor weapon. But the former plot comes to very little, and the latter is mostly left for the future. Episodes 11-15 deal primarily with Division 2's often-strained personal interactions. One chapter focuses on the fractious Officer Isao Ota's fumblings toward a possible arranged marriage. Another revolves around Captain Goto's decision to resolve increasingly troublesome inter-team rivalries by getting everyone drunk together. A third deals with a lost whale wandering into Tokyo Bay and arousing a wave of public sympathy. Eventually, each of these episodes does deal briefly with police work--but sometimes only as an afterthought.
Lights, camera, very little action
Patlabor's only distinction as a mecha comedy adventure is the degree to which it defies all expectations for a mecha comedy adventure. For the most part, the humor is low-key and placid. So is much of the action. The machinery, often a focal point of mecha shows (and usually to the detriment of character development), is almost an afterthought. While a great deal of time is spent in discussion and admiration of Labors by characters clearly afflicted with a deep-seated love of machinery (or at least big guns), increasingly little time is spent piloting them. The technology itself isn't particularly impressive--the Labors' weapons in particular amount to oversized police batons and handguns. The animation is flat and basic in all respects.
Amazingly, there's a lot left behind when these frills are stripped away, and most of it amounts to those oft-forgotten hallmarks of storytelling: character and plot. Earlier episodes of Patlabor came across as fairly dry and unadorned, but as the members of Division 2 continue to develop increasingly complex personalities (especially in the surprising drunken-bonding-party episode), the simple storylines become progressively more appealing. The diversity of subjects makes for a livelier, more human installment than the previous two volumes.
Granted, it may be an uphill fight to get into the series enough to appreciate these relatively subtle aspects. But as the stories continue to improve, it seems less and less like a battle and more like a worthy investment.
