By Shinobu types up a report that can’t be included in any official documents. A thought came to her mind as this is the last episode, which has no connection to any previous Patlabor production. SV2 gives people the opportunity so explore their own philosophies as they fight for justice. Shinobu’s mind wanders as she writes the report, causing many typos. There is one incident in the long, shameful history of SV2 that has never been publicly disclosed, and Shinobu feels that if she doesn’t tell the story now, it’ll never be told. Shinobu knows she might be betraying loved ones, but she feels she has to tell the story. Shinobu notes that SV2 is an expensive division within the police which makes the brass uneasy. Because the labors cost so much, the staff gets shortchanged to make up the budgetary slack. The mechanics have no personal lives because they work all the time, and everyone’s food is delivered only by the Shanghai restaurant. Everyone fishes in the bay for food by catching goby and drying them. Shinobu notes that dried goby is very delicious and became highly addictive amongst the staff. As the problem began to grow out of control, a prohibition on goby was proposed. Goto took on the problem and decided to commercialize the production of dried goby, but there were obstacles to mass production. Goto solved the problem by acquiring a fishing ship, although Shinobu doesn’t know he he was able to accomplish that. Goto and the mechanics set out for Tokyo Bay with no fishing permits. Afterward, Goto set up a website to sell the dried goby and build up SV2’s financial independence. The business continued to build up, leading to the creation of a large warehouse full of dried goby. Shinobu feels a sense of uneasiness and wonders what Goto is doing and what kind of fate awaits them. She thinks another opportunity to tell a new story will probably never come.
The final episode of Minipato turns its attention to Shinobu, who has a story to share. This episode makes use of a common storytelling technique from the TV series where a character is narrating a report that they’re typing up. Like the other episodes, this one also breaks the fourth wall since Shinobu wants to tell her story before the series ends. This episode is full of visual references to the first two movies, along with appearances by Arakawa, the Oshii dog and a goby warehouse that is an obvious reference to the famous closing scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Fishing for food to survive is another element explored in the TV series, so it’s no surprise that Goto somehow engineers the creation of a vast dried goby empire. In the end, these three episodes of Minipato provided a nice opportunity to spend some more time with the old SV2 cast since they had such a small role in WXIII.
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