Patlabor: Early Days Ep. 2: Long Shot

SV2 gets a call that a heavily armed labor is on the rampage in Shibuya. The entire team is surprised to see an Ingram with wings, and Goto explains that the AV-2 has a power booster and wings like Noa suggested. Noa takes off in the massive AV-2, which quickly loses propulsion and falls back into the hangar. Noa then wakes up from her dream and falls out of bed. Later, while riding in the command car with Asuma, she tells him about his dream and he says flying labors are at least a decade away. She isn’t happy about having to go to the airport on her day off, and he explains that they have to pick up an NYPD sergeant named Kanuka Clancy. Noa asks why Kanuka is in Japan, and Asuma theorizes it may have something to do with security arrangements for the rumored visit from the mayor of New York. At the airport, Asuma and Noa pick up Kanuka. Later, the entire team is assembled at the SV2 station house for a meeting regarding their mobilization during the mayor’s visit. The men cheer when Kanuka speaks in English and Japanese, and she explains that terrorists from the Terrorist Network might try something during the mayor’s visit. Their information comes from an arms dealer whom they arrested and cut a deal with. Noa asks Asuma what the Terror Network is, and when he says he doesn’t know, Shinshi explains that it’s a terrorist mutual aid society where they table their differences to accomplish their goals. Kanuka explains that the mayor will be visiting Tokyo and seeing the Babylon Project, so Shinobu guesses that the Beach House terrorists are behind the plot. Asuma asks what those are, and Shinshi explains that the Babylon Project is a massive construction effort to stop the rising tide and reclaim land from Tokyo Bay to solve the city’s land problem. However, there is opposition to the plan, including the eco terrorists called Beach House. Ota teases Asuma for not knowing those things, but Goto tells them both to shut up. Kanuka wraps up her briefing, and the men ask for her measurements and phone number. Later, heavy security is set up at the airport in anticipation of the mayor’s arrival. Kanuka comments on the thoroughness of Shinobu’s deployment, but Shinobu says it isn’t enough. Kanuka thinks that the most effective target for Beach House would be a luncheon tomorrow at the Diet Building. In the city, Ota and Shinshi are placed on traffic control duty and get yelled at by angry drivers. Elsewhere, Noa and Asuma are stationed outside the Diet Building. Asuma wonders why a security officer like Kanuka is working with a labor unit, and Noa says she must like labors. Asuma gets out of the car to find a toilet, and an old lady complains to him about a police mobile command trailer parked nearby. He says the mayor of New York is coming and that he can’t move. She asks who can, and he walks off.

At night, the mayor and his entourage arrive at Hotel New Otani several hours late due to engine trouble and a bomb threat. At the SV2 station house, Asuma and the others watch TV. Shige brings Shinshi a bag of clothes Tamiko dropped off, and Ota calls Shinshi a pansy. Goto asks someone to go out and get dinner, so Asuma tells Noa to go. Hiromi volunteers to go on Noa’s scooter, so she changes her mind and begins writing down everyone’s orders. Later, everyone sleeps in a cramped room, and when Goto gets a foot stuck in his face, he assumes it’s Shinobu’s and starts kissing it. The next morning, Division 2 is deployed on guard duty. Asuma is tired because he had feet in his face the whole night, so Goto tells him to sleep with his eyes open and not drool. Asuma wonders why they’re stationed where they are, and Goto says they’re in the most photogenic spot. Asuma complains that they should at least get to use the mobile command center, and Goto asks what he’s talking about. Asuma explains that he saw it yesterday, and Goto tells him they don’t have a command center. Asuma then realizes what’s happening and tells Noa to wake up. He hops into his command car and tells Goto to dispatch the bomb squad to the park. Noa tells Asuma to stop because she’s at an elevated crosswalk and can’t go over or under it. Asuma then sees a police blimp flying overhead and asks them to tow Unit 1. The blimp begins to descend, and Asuma tells Noa that she’ll get to fly like she wanted to. Noa sticks Alphonse’s hands through the blimp’s cabin and kicks off the ground to get over the crosswalk. Noa and Asuma arrive at the park just as the trailer opens up and reveals a pair of missile launchers. Goto calls Asuma and tells him that the bomb squad was sent out to disarm another trailer that turned out to be a dummy. However, because they’re so far away, they won’t reach Asuma’s location in time. The luncheon is still proceeding anyway, so Goto tells Asuma to dismantle it based on Kanuka’s instructions. Kanuka tells Noa to rip off the trailer’s top, and Asuma freaks out when he sees lots of complex gadgetry. Kanuka tells him that’s all a decoy, and the actual control system is under the trailer. Asuma slides under the trailer and follows Kanuka’s instructions to cut wires and disarm the device. There’s only a red and blue wire left, and Kanuka tells him to pick a color he likes and cut that wire. She says only the terrorist knows which wire is real, so he has a 50 percent chance of being right. Asuma asks Noa which one she’d cut, but she says she doesn’t know. Noa prays to God for help, and Asuma can’t decide which wire to cut, so Kanuka steps in and cuts the red wire. Later, the terrorist is identified as Ine Ito, and Asuma says he’ll kill her if he sees her again. Ota tells Asuma it could’ve been avoided if Asuma did his job and checked the wanted fliers beforehand. Asuma tells Goto he wants to quit, and Goto says he can, even though he’s the hero of the situation. Kanuka then joins the team for a one year study period, and Asuma changes his mind about quitting.